April 5-12 Western Magic (w/photo & navigators link) FINISHED - updated 5/5/08

[pooh_mania]

yOUR PICS ARE NOT WORKING.

Thanks for the heads up. I have fixed the link (I think).

 

[SUSIEQ]

I bought a 24-pack sized Polar Bear cooler. You can buy them at several different online retailers. Specific bag details can be found at their website:

polarbearcoolers dot com

I don't work for them, I just wanted to let people know how awesome the bags are!! They don't leak or sweat, and they keep ice for several days when indoors. It kept our things ice cold for our whole day excursions. Plus, it doesn't look like a cooler, so I am hoping to use it this summer at the fitness center pool where outside coolers are not allowed. I just want to take some cold water to the pool, but instead they want me to pay $1.50 per bottle! What is silly is that I can bring my own water go to work out at the same location. Go figure.

Thanks! And, great trip report and cute family!

 

[lvstitch]

Great report so far. I love your pictures, makes me want to be there right now. More please

 

[MaryAz]

You hae such a beautiful family! My 4yr old DD loved all the character pics. Thanks for providing so much detail.
Mary
first Disney Cruise in May

 

[pooh_mania]

Day 4 – Tuesday, April 8, 2008 Grand Cayman, Stingray City, Twice Charmed

We were looking forward to our stop at Grand Cayman because we had booked our own snorkeling/stingray city tour with Captain Marvin’s website. We had read favorable reviews in several independent locations (including here) and decided to try it out. I can honestly say that we too were happy travelers with Captain Marvin’s. We ended up paying $135 for 2 adults, 2 kids on a ½ excursion from 10 AM - 1 PM on their boat. We had received email confirmation of our online reservation where we did put a credit card down to secure the reservation. The credit card was NOT charged, but it would have been charged if we were a no-show and the ship made it to port. If for some reason our ship did not make it to port, they said our deposit was fully refundable.

Fortunately, we had beautiful weather and made it to Grand Cayman by 7:30 AM. The instructions for the tendering process were placed in our room the previous night. Basically if you are scheduled on a DCL excursion, you meet at a designation time and ship location stated on your tickets. If you were disembarking on your own, you were to head up to the Buena Vista Theater with your ENTIRE party ready to disembark. We had packed our soft sided cooler, snorkel gear, life vests, and towels from deck 9 and headed to the theater around 8:30. Some passengers were diverted up to deck 9 to get towels, before getting in the queue in the Buena Vista Theater. Again, in typical Disney planning, they had a nice cartoon playing to keep the kids entertained. There were several CMs around to direct people and make it a very organized process. We waited less than 10 minutes before getting word that the next tender boat was ready. I think it cleared at least 10 rows of the theater and we all fit on the one tender boat. I was really surprised by this. For some reason I was envisioning much smaller tender boats, so I initially thought our wait would be very long. I was pleasantly surprised at how short we waited.

We all walked down the stairs to the deck 1 aft gangway (I love that I know all that ship terminology now!) to board the tender boat. We had very calm seas, so it was a simple process. It was a short 10 minute ride to the pier with a great photo op of the Magic in all her glory! There were several ships in port that day, but the Disney area was clearly marked with Disney portable shade covers and uniformed CMs on the pier area. I recognized the Captain Marvin’s building meeting area near the pier from their online photo. We arrived at their location by 9:00. We were told to be there by 9:15 for our 10 AM tour. It was just a small office across the street from the pier where they confirmed our reservation, accepted payment in cash (credit cards incur a surcharge, so plan to bring enough cash or travelers checks for this), and gave us our boarding ticket. There was a Captain Marvin’s shuttle bus right there almost full. We waited outside for a few minutes before they said to go ahead and board that shuttle.

The pier where Captain Marvin’s is located is in what looks like a residential area with a small cove. I did not see much for facilities here other than the dock and boats, but perhaps I just missed it. We handed our boarding ticket to one of the tour guides and he directed us to a boat. There were only 3 families I think on our boat. They said it was a sold out day, but perhaps the other boats were more crowded. I felt like we definitely had the capacity to fit more passengers. In the AM it started sprinkling and then raining some. The boat had enough of a covered area that we all stayed dry…never mind that we were about to jump in the ocean and get soaked. As we headed out to our first snorkeling stop it rained a bit harder and then it looked like we were headed straight for the biggest storm clouds. I am a child of the early 80’s and watched re-runs of Gilligan’s Island…”Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a faithful ship…..” I couldn’t help but hum that tune in my head…a three hour tour…a three hour tour (wait, isn’t 10-1 a three hour tour?! ) The tour guide kept insisting that the storm would clear up and that it would be fine. I was certain that he just wanted to take us to the middle of the ocean, and then tell us that our monies were non-refundable because we did go out!

Our first stop was a little bit rough waters. It was raining and the water did feel a bit cold in the wind. My DS6 was too afraid to go in the water as this would have been his very first time swimming in the middle of the ocean. My DD7 was brave and hopped in with DH. DH had snorkel equipment issues at first. Then he borrowed DS’s snorkel and all was fine. I was a brave soul and hopped in for a bit. There were quite a few fish to see, but the waters were a tad rough and I’m not a super swimmer. So I took DD7 back to the boat after 15 minutes. DH stayed out a bit longer. The stop was approximately 30 minutes long. Then we went to the 2nd stop. When we first arrived there it was still raining, but not as bad and the water was not as rough. Again, DH, DD7 and I were able to snorkel. DS6 enjoyed watching from the boat. During our 2nd stop, the rain subsided and it was actually pleasant, still cloudy but pleasant. Our final stop was Stingray City and it was the highlight of the excursion!! The water was about 4 feet deep. That’s over my DS6’s head, so we carried him the whole time in the water. It was so neat to see and feel the stingrays up close and personal. DD7 kissed them twice for good luck. The guide gently picked up a big stingray so that we could get a better view of it. They were very helpful so that everyone could get their photos and see the stingrays.

As a side note, ALL of us were wearing lifejackets during the snorkeling stops. Also, use the fins, they help you swim in the rough waters. I am prone to motion sickness, so I took Bonine the day before and I felt fine the whole time. In the past I’ve been sick, and I think these waters were rough enough that I would have felt ill if I hadn’t taken precautionary measures. You really never know what the weather will be like. So if you are prone to motion sickness, plan ahead. Once you feel sick, it’s kind of too late to do anything about it.

I am glad that I brought waters and lunch for us. They offered jugs of water and punch on-board. I preferred my bottled water, and all of us were very hungry from all the physical activity! A kind woman on the boat did give my DS some punch (and he happily drank it) while we were snorkeling, but he never did get sick, so I am sure it’s fine to drink. I am just extra cautious about that when I can be. We returned to the docks by 1 PM and rode the shuttle back to the pier by 1:30. I too would highly recommend Captain Marvin’s for a snorkeling tour on your own!

We were going to browse around the shops for a bit, but the whole family was a bit worn out from the excursion, especially the kids. So we headed toward the pier. There were plenty of uniformed Disney CMs in the area. Even housekeeping was out there collecting all the used towels so we didn’t have to haul them back to the ship ourselves. We were able to walk right on a tender boat with no line. We were back to our stateroom by 2 PM and the kids were still starving! We headed up for some Pinocchio’s Pizza. It was the perfect snack before showers and naptime.

Our dinner rotation was Parrot Cay. There was nothing too exciting to report on the menu or meal. I am sorry to those people anxious to hear about the new menus and options. I don’t have anything to help you here! Sorcerer Mickey was making an appearance with the plain white background. For whatever reason, it was very strict. No autographs. It was one photo per family, taken by the Shutter’s photographer only. The CM would not take any group photos for us. We wanted one photo of the kids and Mickey and then one with the whole family. To play by the rules, we just got back in line before it was too long, and got the 2nd photo.

The show tonight was Twice Charmed – An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story. This was another high quality Broadway level production. I am completely amazed at the flexibility in the different sets they use in these shows! I didn’t see the backstage tour, so I have NO idea how they even store all the different sets, never mind how they all operate. It’s quite fascinating to this engineer mom! The caliber of the performers is also top notch! It really is a true privilege to be able to attend these shows each night and that they are included in our fare. Now I am the first to agree that a DC is not cheap, but if you added up all of the things including: non-alcohol beverages, entertainment, food (even if it is mediocre), towel laundry, housekeeping, etc. Then it is an okay deal overall. I believe in total cost and overall value – which DCL delivers on both ends, IMHO.

The only vent I have about the shows is the entire seat saving thing. They have signs that say No Seat Saving, and the audio recording repeatedly says No Seat Saving. Yet of course MANY people just know they are more special than the rest of us, so those rules can’t possibly mean THEY can’t save a whole row of seats!! At one show a man was saving at least 10 seats, center, and 4th row. Several CMs walked right by him and never said a word. The theater was very crowded and it was 8:29!! Finally around 8:35 about six people show up. By then it is dark and the other prime seats go unused. Obviously the same people, who feel that they are above the rules, figure that the show will wait for them to arrive before starting!! My DH is such a rule follower that he wouldn’t save 2 seats so I could take my DD7 to the restroom! He waited outside the theater until all 4 of us were ready to be seated.

After the show it was lights out for the kiddos. DH was read his book and I made my daily stop by Shutters and Pinocchio’s again for my nighttime ritual snack. I also discovered Cove Café and their selection of late night snacks. I had my book along, so I grabbed a chair and planned to read. There were a group of guys in there chatting away. It took me a while, but I realized that they were character CMs in-training. It was kind of funny to hear them talking about some of the meet and greets from their perspective. Basically how things can get a bit crazy and how the character handler has to help keep things in control with the maniac guests.

As I went to bed I was a bit sad to think that my much anticipated vacation was already half over. I had planned the trip for more than 14 months! Heck, that’s longer than I had to prepare for the arrival of my first born child!! At the same time, I was so thankful to even have the opportunity of a lifetime to be on this vacation. So I wanted to live in the moment and try to savor (and document with a picture) each remaining moment.

Coming up next…Day 5 - Cozumel and Chankanaab Park.

 

[bellebud]

As I went to bed I was a bit sad to think that my much anticipated vacation was already half over.

that is SO me! Whenever we go to disney, I'm always asking dh "which resort should we stay at our next trip????" He always responds "just let me get through this trip first before I start thinking about being here again!" (obviously, he's not so into disney) But at least he's a good sport and goes along!

I used to sadly count down the days... on our first day there i'd say "only 7 days left - snif, snif!"... "only 6 days left"... till dh let me know how totally and completely annoying that was. who knew???

anyway, enjoying your tr very much!! and I love all the details! waiting for more!

 

[burrellfan]

Awesome trip report...thank you. Eagerly awaiting to hear about Chankanaab as we plan to visit there on our cruise in November.

 

[pooh_mania]

Day 5 Wednesday, April 9, 2008– Cozumel, Mexico; Chankanaab Park, Pirate Party

This morning we decided to have breakfast up at Topsiders. On Day 4 we tried room service but we didn’t order enough and still had to run up to deck 9 for some hot food options. We arrived into port near 9:30, so we had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast up at Topsiders. I think the food may have been better up here than the Lumiere’s breakfast.

We had planned to visit Chankanaab Park on our own since I’ve been to Cozumel before this cruise. The park’s website is: http://www.cozumelparks.com/ This island’s primary source of income is tourism, so I felt comfortable with navigating the excursion on our own and saving some money. We packed our soft sided cooler again with 8 bottles of water, sandwiches, cookies, and chips. We gathered our snorkel gear, towels from deck 9, and life vests too.

Some ships have to tender in Cozumel, but we were one of the fortunate ones to dock right at the pier, so we could walk directly off the ship. After passing through a somewhat lengthy open air mall, up the escalators, across the street, and back down the stairs we arrived at the taxi stand. There are signs posted right at the taxi stand that indicate the cost to travel to popular destinations. It was US$10 for our family of four to take a taxi to Chankanaab Park. The drive was about 15+ minutes long. Their website says no outside food and beverages are allowed in, but they never mentioned anything to us about our cooler bag (probably because it doesn’t look like a cooler bag ).

The park employees were friendly and greeted us at the entrance when the taxi dropped us off. Now normally I am a bit stand-offish in a place where I feel like I might get “hustled”. There was a man handing out coupons that listed various park package deals. After I reviewed the flyer, it was all legitimate and he was just being helpful. We just needed the basic park admission and I had downloaded a coupon from their website saving $2 per adult and $1 per child (hey $5 is $5 savings!). It cost a total of $42 (normally $47) for 2 adults, 2 kids. So even with taxi fare both ways, the excursion was under $65 for our whole family! Honestly, that’s a steal considering some of the other DC sponsored excursions. Chankanaab also is where the Dolphin Discovery is located. There are varying levels of dolphin interaction to choose from. We decided to save the Dolphin interaction for a future cruise, but this too can easily be reserved online on your own.

The park was very well kept up. There was a nice large pool, a beautiful botanical garden, ecological lagoon area, showers, lockers, beach chairs, umbrellas, restaurants, bar, shopping, snorkeling, and even a nice children’s playground. We were coming for some beach time relaxation and the snorkeling. We had a little bit of a walk down the beach to find an open umbrella with chairs. The snorkeling here was quite good, not as good as Grand Cayman off the reef, but significantly better than Castaway Cay (where we saw not much of anything when we visited). We had our own snorkel gear, but no fins, so we wore our aqua socks as the entrance to the water was very rocky. The waters were very calm here, so even DS6 was able to “see lots of marine life”. He didn’t want to use a snorkel, so he wore a mask and held his breath while he looked! It worked just fine for him, and I realized that kid can hold his breath for a LONG time! It was such a nice day on the beach, snorkeling as a whole family, playing in the sand, and just having a good time. All the water and food we packed was consumed throughout the day.

By 3 PM we had our fill of the beach, so we packed up our gear and headed to the main entrance where several taxis are waiting to take people back to the pier. Again, it was $10 for our family to return to the pier. I wanted to browse around a bit in town, but again the troops were tired! So we skipped the t-shirt shops and headed back on board for showers and naps. As we were returning my DH said, “This cooler bag is so awesome!” I thought it was funny after the amazing day we had, his first kudos went to the cooler bag.

Dinner was at Lumiere’s and it was the Pirate IN the Caribbean menu. There was no stage show this evening, due to the pirate deck party, so they showed the movie College Road Trip in the Walt Disney Theater. We skipped the theater and I made my poor family get in formal wear so that we could take a lifestyle formal portrait. The photographer really rushed and we didn’t get our best shot. Next time I will take our family formal portrait the first time that lifestyle background is offered, earlier in the cruise. Too many people wanted pirate portraits, so it was a busy time to go. This was just another mini lesson learned.

DD7 and DS6 were begging to stay up for the Pirate party and fireworks. Their normal bedtime at home is 8 PM. We’d been pushing it to 9:30, right after the main evening shows. I was so disappointed that the pirate party didn’t even START until 9:45 and lasted until 10:45. Even with a decent afternoon nap, the kids were visibly tired at the party. I saw lots of little pirates sleeping on shoulders at the party. We were just about to leave (at the request of the kids) when the fireworks started near 10:15. I am so glad that we didn’t miss the fireworks, seeing how we’d already blown bedtime by several hours, what are a few more minutes? The fireworks were a nice touch and the kids were so excited about it. Then it was lights out!

…up next Day 6 – Day at Sea, Palo brunch, semi-formal night, Disney Dreams show

 

[dvanhazel]

Really enjoying your TR ! Your pictures are great too! May I ask how far in advance you booked with Captain Marvin's?

 

[pooh_mania]

Really enjoying your TR ! Your pictures are great too! May I ask how far in advance you booked with Captain Marvin's?

I believe it was about 4 weeks prior to our trip through an online reservation. I did hear that it sold out, not sure if that's true or not. I traveled during a busy spring break week too.

 

[castlegazer]

Thanks for taking the time to do this - it's a great report.

I wanted to sympathize with your husband and being a rule follower. I am so bad about this. I am not an uptight person, but something somewhere in my upbringing (thanks Mom and Dad) made me such a rule follower that it gets kinda embarassing at times like when I was 10...... well, anyways, no need to go into details, but suffice it to say that I too follow rules precisely and sometimes we rule followers may be laughed at or a bit stodgy, but I think in the long run we are better off for it. The seat saving thing, lounge chair issue on DCL drove me completely nuts. But in the end, I ended up with better seats a little back in the theater with my whole family by my side and just made due with sitting on the stairs or the edge of the pool while my son swam in the Mickey Pool. I can't sit still for long anyways, so "whatever" became my mantra.

I also thought that vegetables could be a bigger highlight on the menus too.

But overall these were the little things and I just wanted to chime in with an "I here ya" from the peanut gallery.

I am so excited to explore those loungers by Quiet Cove - I recently saw a picture of them and I am soooo going to seek them out next cruise! The whole Quiet Cove area needs further exploration by me and DH next cruise, I think.

Thanks again for the hard work putting this together for everyone - it's so fun!

 

[johns107]

Here is a link to several photos of our week. Enjoy!

We were on this cruise too and had a fantastic time. I'm glad that you posted the Navigators, too. I saved ours, too. Each night as we were getting ready to go to sleep, I would highlight all of the things that we might want to do, not necessarily that we had to do them. Then I just had the Navigator in my pocket and looked at it every once in awhile to see if there was anything interesting going on. About a week before our cruise I found some Navigators posted on the DIS home page. Most of these were pretty old. The latest ones I found from the western caribbean were from 12/07.

 

[jj4]

I'm so enjoying your review. We are going on the same trip this coming November and I'm so glad you liked Chankanaab Park. We are planning on going there too so it's great reading how much you liked it. Thanks for sharing
your trip and thoughts with everyone.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Loved your TR so far! The pics are great too!

 

[pooh_mania]

Day 6 – Thursday, April 10, 2008 – Day at Sea, Palo brunch, semi-formal night, Disney Dreams show

This was our first DC and we had been looking forward to our Palo brunch. We opted for brunch because we didn’t know which dinner to miss, since it was all new to us. We ordered room service breakfast for the kids and let them have a leisurely start to the day. I loved having a SPH room, but I could really see enjoying a verandah on these slow start mornings. I just don’t know if I’d enjoy it enough to justify the price difference. I have sailed on a non-DC with a verandah. But that was pre-kids, so DH and I had the luxury of peaceful, relaxing time just watching the ocean go by and having deep “meaning of life” discussions. Life with kids tends to be a bit more active, but this was one morning I did wish for a verandah.

The Club was making Flubber again (made it on Sun morning already), so we waited to check the kids into the club until that activity was almost finished. It worked out well that we had 10:30 brunch reservations and the Club was feeding the kids lunch at 11 AM in Animator’s Palate. This was the first time they kids were eating with the club. My DD7 was not happy with lunch because in her words, “They just gave us a plate full of stuff without asking what we wanted.” It kind of stressed her out because her plate was filled with things that she did not want, but she felt guilty letting it go to waste. Fortunately DS6 was having an “eat anything” kind of day, so he ate his food and happily helped his sister out! DD7 was hungry when we picked them up, so we fed her lunch up on deck 9. Tip: If you have a picky eater, just be aware that they may or may not eat when the club takes them to a meal.

It was time for our Palo brunch. The one that my DD7 kept saying, “Mommy, Palo is just for adults so that you can have a romantic meal together.” WHAT?! She memorized the whole DC promo DVD and sounded like a walking commercial for DCL! Promptly at 10:30 AM the doors to Palo opened and we were seated at a lovely window table for 2. They even switched the white napkins that were at our table for black napkins, since we were dressed in dark pants.

Side note: Animator’s Palate coordinates their table clothes opposite their napkins so that you have a nice black/white contrast. Unfortunately, we had a black tablecloth, so we were stuck with white napkins leaving lint all over our dark colored clothes (that we were planning on re-wearing). On the first night, DH asks if he can get a dark napkin, but he is told that the napkins have to contrast with the tablecloth. It seemed to me the server didn’t want to get us different napkins, even though they obviously had them available, since ½ the tables had white napkins and ½ the tables had black napkins. Do you think that I should make a special request on my next cruise to be seated at a white tablecloth table (ensuring that I receive black napkins to match my dark pants)? Anyway…back to Palo…

Have you ever been the last person to see a blockbuster movie? You know, the one that EVERYONE is raving out? The one that everyone says is so funny, exciting, touching, <insert adjective of your favorite kind of movie here>. It is the movie that wins all the awards? And have you ever been let down after you finally see the movie after hearing all the hype? Do you feel that maybe you’ve set yourself up with big expectations for the movie, too big of expectations? Honestly, that’s how I felt about our Palo brunch. I know that everyone has different likes, dislikes, preferences, etc. So when I kept seeing such rave reviews from lots and lots of different people about Palo, and how it is a “Must Not Miss” I had set myself up with big expectations. Honestly, it was good, but not as good as I had built up in my own mind. I was a little afraid of this anyway, so I didn’t tell DH how wonderful I was expecting it to be. I just booked the reservation and told him that I wanted an adult only meal. He did enjoy it, but I didn’t feel it was necessarily worth the extra $50 (fee and extra tip). I would not feel like I missed out on anything if I had not been able to get Palo reservations. Perhaps dinner is different and better. Or perhaps I am not a Palo appreciating kind of gal. Perhaps it is a combination of factors. I think everyone should try it once so they can see for themselves. Just don’t make the mistake I did, and have unrealistically high expectations.

The presentation of the food was spectacular. If you judge a book by its cover, then this is a good book! The server walked us through the different buffet lines explaining what the different items were. I tried to take a few photos before everyone started digging in (see photo link on page 1). I sampled a bit of everything (seafood buffet, breads, Danishes, thin crust pizza, chicken parmesan, and a pasta dish). DH ordered a different entrée. The server brought the pasta dish, even though we didn’t order it (maybe he used to work in the kid club ). It was white sauce pasta, and I am lactose intolerant, so I can’t eat cream sauce. I felt bad that we each had one bite and the rest went to waste. (Hmm, I wonder why DD doesn’t like to waste food? Apparently the apple doesn’t fall far!) The quality of the food here is definitely higher than in the standard dining rooms or buffet lines. I also liked that the portion sizes were reasonably small, so I could try a little bit of everything. We don’t drink, so we were given 2 glasses of sparkling cider instead of champagne and we had water. I was really surprised that the server didn’t ask or offer to bring us any other beverages. I am a Coke Zero addict (or Diet Coke if no CZ is available) and I really could have used a soft drink! So after the cider, it was just water. Of course I could have asked for a drink, but the opportunity didn’t conveniently present itself. Our server really allowed us to eat a slow, leisurely brunch. He seemed almost invisible, re-folding our napkins and removing dirty dishes when we were up at the buffet. So I liked that I didn’t feel like he was rushing us out the door. In fact, when we were finished, my DH asked me, “What do we do? How do we settle up on the bill? Will they just bill the stateroom?” because our server was not jumping to present us with the bill. To answer the question though, eventually the server did ask if we were finished and brought the bill for us to sign for the additional $15 per person fee, and of course we added a tip on top of that too. So our assessment of Palo is that it is a nice restaurant with a great atmosphere and view. The food selections may or may not be to your specific tastes. There’s enough selection that I am sure most people will find something they enjoy. I definitely ate plenty and left quite full because the kids weren’t there so I ate a cinnamon roll for my appetizer, raspberry Danish for my “salad”, pizza, and then 2 desserts!

After Palo we take out our Navigator to figure out what we want to do next. Ironically there is a class at the spa about to start called, “Eat More to Weigh Less”. After a Palo brunch, I am thinking that is a class I’d probably fail right now!! We decided to get the kids and enjoy the ship together. This is when we hear about the club lunch from DD and proceed to feed her lunch. I was feeling a bit sad that it was already Thursday so we walked around the ship taking more photos on the Deck 7 “secret” deck, deck 4, deck 9, and deck 10. I love having the wide open, blue ocean meeting the blue sky as a background to my photos. If you’ve read my earlier posts, you’ll recall my DH is a rule follower. As I was leading the family to the secret deck 7 area, he was all worried that I was forcing him to break the rules. I could almost hear him thinking of his speech to anyone who may have stopped us, “I’m so sorry. I was just following HER and I had no idea this was a restricted, crew only area!” Of course, it is not a restricted area, and he was pleasantly surprised at the beautiful view we had on a virtually empty sun deck. The pool deck areas were a mob scene. The kids took one look and did not want to go in the pools. We did stop by for the ice carving demo they had up on deck 9.

During our stroll around the decks we saw someone pre-selling bingo cards. I am not much of a bingo player, and we had not played at all on the cruise yet. Well the jackpot had conveniently made it to the Final Jackpot round, which was scheduled for 3:45 PM. There are the traditional paper bingo cards, and these nifty handheld bingo computers! The bingo computers could play up to 72 (I think) games at once. We decided to spend the $99 for the bingo computer for a chance to win up to $7000. Needless to say, we did not win the big jackpot or else my trip report title would read, “I WON I WON I WON!” It was still fun to “play” the final jackpot bingo. I am not sure you can really call it playing, since you do not have to do a single thing. The computer basically does all the playing, and you just “rent” the computer for that round of bingo and you hold the computer. If you are holding the lucky computer that wins bingo, then you as the human win the money! The final jackpot bingo was held in an almost FULL Walt Disney Theater.

After losing at bingo DH and I quickly showered and dressed for dinner. In the mean time, DD and DS were already with the Club counselors preparing for the “Celebrate the Journey” graduation. All of the kids paraded into the Walt Disney Theater and lined up across the stage. There were TONS of kids. It took a good 15 minutes to have them all walk in, coming in on both sides of the theater. There was a short slideshow of different photos from the week. We even saw one picture of our kids! The kids loved the graduation caps with Mickey ears and t-shirts that they received for participating in the show. After the graduation there was a magic show scheduled in the Lab and then a pizza party! DD and DS had done amazingly well all week eating dinner in the dining room each night. They opted to join the kids for a pizza party instead this night. So DH and I had our second meal in one day without kids. I forget what the menu selections were for the Captain’s Gala menu, but I am glad the kids were enjoying a pizza party instead.

After dinner we picked up the kids and had a wardrobe change back into our formal wear…again. I just have to say that I have an extremely understanding family! The night before, I had promised no more tuxes or fancy dresses….oops. I didn’t realize that Mickey, Minnie and Goofy would be coming out in their formal wear for semi-formal night!! Earlier in the day when we were at Shutters, I noticed a display case that says, “These Photo Opportunities Tonight” and it shows pictures of where characters will be out, what they will be wearing, and what backgrounds are available. I couldn’t believe that it was THURSDAY and I was JUST now figuring out how that works. Every night so far, I was trying to run around and see what the characters were wearing and what backgrounds were available to see which ones I wanted to get. I was all proud that I had read my Navigator so at least I knew when & where the characters were going to be! Anyway, when I realized that the characters were going to be in formalwear tonight, I begged my family to humor me one more time…and they did. We were able to get nice photos with Mickey in his tuxedo, Minnie in her evening gown, and Goofy in his tuxedo. My DS6 even had Goofy helping him straighten out his bow tie.

Unfortunately after standing in line for all the character meetings, there was no time for us to go back and change clothes before the Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic show. At this point the kids had pretty much spent half of their vacation in formalwear and were getting used to it, and did not complain one bit. DH on the other hand…. Disney Dreams was one of my favorite shows of the week. Again, the talent is really beyond what I would ever expect for a show performed at sea. The whole family was mesmerized at the transformations and live stories unfolding before our very eyes. A few different times my DH would tap my arm and point to the kids' expressions. I was thinking: fuel for road trip $200, tips for the week $300, cruise $4000, the memory of DS and DD astounded expressions…priceless!!!! I know that sounds corny, but it was really true. Seeing the kids so thoroughly enjoying themselves was really the highlight of my whole week and made it all worthwhile. I can see how DCL can be addictive! After sampling that kind of magic, who wouldn’t want more of that?

If there is anyone who had read this far , I am almost done…coming up next Day 7 - Castaway Cay and disembarkation.

 

[dmi188]

Great report...still reading and reliving our week.
Sorry you did not enjoy Palo as much as expected. I had the same feeling with AP our first cruise. As much as I love the dis, certain things get built up to the point of unrealistic expectations.

 

[MaryAz]

Great report, I am loving it!! I appreciate the info about Palo. We have not secured a reservation-now I feel like it may not be the end of the world! My 4 yr old DD also loves ur pics!!
Mary
first DCL cruise May 2008

 

[Kim1964]

Thank you so much for posting your report. I can only hope my family will be just as understanding about the photo ops as yours was.

Your report was very helpful and I am going to go back through and take notes.....I just booked our cruise last week and I have 15 months to plan....I don't want to forget anything!

 

[cyndid]

Here is a link to several photos of our week. Enjoy!


Your children are beautiful! Your photos are exquisite. The window reflection photos were exceptional. The colors and choice of backgrounds really made me feel like I was in the Caribbean.

We're doing our first Disney cruise in October this year. I can't wait to go!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[WeluvGoofy]

I have enjoyed your TR! We were on the April 5-12th Western cruise also- me, my DH, DS12 and DS14. We had a great trip also and I plan to write a TR soon. This was our second Disney cruise after being on the Wonder in July 2006. I just joined the Disboards and am having a great time reliving our cruise! It was magical and it is hard to be back in reality! Can't wait to plan another one!