Completed w/ Photos 8/26 Seven Days on the Magic, Western...err make that Eastern.

[cntkg1]

Formal photos in the atrium including one with Captain Tom. Talking to Captain Tom, I am thinking we need to turn this ship around and go back to port to find his personality. Maybe they should look in the lost and found for it. I was not expecting Captain Stubing from The Love Boat…but I could have had more fun with a cardboard cutout.

 

[oybolshoi]

Grumpydude, I think you may be my long lost brother...your trip report writing style reminds me of me!

Needless to say I'm enjoying every word and will be looking forward to the next installment.

 

[grumpydude]

Thanks to all of you for your kind words of encouragement. I am sorry that I am not farther along in my reports. Unfortunately we have experienced an incident this past Friday and the little bundle of joy we were expecting in April is not to be. I have been rather busy making sure LOP is getting what she needs right now. I promise, when all settles down I will complete this report.

Thanks again.

 

[tjeagle]

My thoughts and prayers are with your family! Take care!

 

[LindaBabe]

So sorry to hear your sad news. I've been really enjoying your reports and will wait for you. This time too, shall pass, Grumpydude, and the sun will shine again.

 

[Raindrpz]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[poohssmum]

So sorry to hear of your loss. Take all the time that you and LOP need to grieve. We'll be here waiting for the remainder of your TR whenever you're ready to continue.

 

[Karen Mouse]

I have just finished 5 pages of your fantastic and hilarious report to read of your loss. I am so sorry, and my thoughts are with you and your family.

Take care
x

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

So sorry to hear of your loss. Take all the time that you and LOP need to grieve. We'll be here waiting for the remainder of your TR whenever you're ready to continue.

I could not have said it better myself.

 

[zweihund]

We will be here grumpydude.....thoughts and prayers coming your way.

 

[Lindy Loo]

So sad to hear you news. Please do take time to make sure LOP is having alot of TLC, and come to mention it, you take care of yourself too.

Sadly we lost babies, before we were blessed with our dd who is now 4. We wont be able to have any more, however we are truely lucky to have her. Many people rightly remember and take care of the lady. even the guy is often so focused on helping her, he forgets he may need a hug/chat/time to grieve too.

The dis is a big family, we are all here to support you. Take all the time you need.

Linda xx

 

[grumpydude]

Thanks for all of your thoughts. We have been brooding about it since Friday. Writing this has been good therapy. I have had the opportunity to revisit one of my happy places. So here goes.

I had to throw this one in. I forgot to download it from my phone before we left.

Installment #5 (I think)
Day two (Monday) at sea starts much like day one at sea. Except, I am startled awake by a loud, rapid banging type sound. Think jack hammering. I think we are under attack. The real Pirates of the Caribbean are firing machine guns at us and attempting to board. Maybe, someone is trying to cut the ship in half. Maybe it is the Kraken. Perhaps it is a NJDOT Road crew way off course trying to patch some potholes. I quickly dress and head up to deck 4 for my walk around. It is here I discover the source of the rattle. We are under attack alright, but by a bunch of Philipino men all dressed in bright banana yellow jump suits with “Disney Magic” on their backs. It is the maintenance crew, and they are removing sections of the plexi-glass shields around the railing to do some paintings. Turns out they are using some type of pneumatic tool to remove rust spots before painting. It is this sound that carries two decks below that has awakened me from my leisurely slumber. I make the best of it and do my two miles then head up to the gym for some bike time. I do few miles on the bike, having another confab with my new guitar playing buddy JC and return to collect LOP and Mr. KIA for some breakfast. We did Topsiders again and I fell in love with the omelet bar. Plus they have fresh yogurt with all kinds of stuff you can put in it. So I would get a plain bowl of Cream of Wheat and add a bunch of stuff from the middle bar and some yogurt and order an omelet. Works for me. Now after breakfast, LOP did not feel so well. Her only bout with a little seasickness. So we hung out on deck 4 for some time while she tried to feel better. Unfortunately, we sat right next to the shuffle board court and Mr. KIA wanted to know what that was all about. Now because I do not live year round in Florida, and I am not 72 and wear my pants around my chest, I do not know much about shuffle board. I know those little discs are supposed to slide more than two feet when you “shuffle” it with that stick. So Mr. KIA and I had a good time making up our own rules as we went along while LOP was trying to un-nauseate herself. Note to DCL; work on that shuffle board court a little. I had to really thrust those discs to get them all the way down to the other end of the court. Maybe it is in everyone’s best interest that friction keeps those discs from moving too much. I thought of a better game called “Shooting Discs at Joggers and Watch Them Fall Down” but I could not get those discs to move fast enough or far enough so it was pretty easy for the joggers to avoid my shooting discs at them.

LOP starts to feel a little better so off we go. The joggers are safe for the time being. We explore some more of the ship. Spend some time in Shutters learning about the Disney Memories Plan. You could at least buy me dinner before you have your way with me. But, LOP is a picture person and we commit to plan B for now. We can always add to it (yeah right). We ask if our formal night photo can be touched up because LOP had a hair out of place (I still looked gooder) and they said no problem. They did fix it up quite nice for us by the way.

We have a quick lunch up on deck 9 and catch some various characters. Mr. KIA wants to go to Kid’s Club to make some Flubber, so we accommodate him.

LOP and I wander around some more and end up attending the St Maarten / St Thomas shopping tour. We arrived a little late and there was some guy running around handing out coupon books. The coupon freak that LOP is takes several of them. The guy asks our room number and we think nothing of it. We listen to the presentations mostly about jewelry and the recommended stores to purchase the aforementioned jewelry. I like buying diamonds, really I do. LOP likes getting diamonds so maybe we will do some shopping. So instead of an actual excursion, we will walk around town a little and see what they have to offer in St. Maarten.

Again, we are paged as Mr. KIA does not want to go with the group to dinner. So we grab a little snack and head down to get cleaned up for the show and dinner. Cruise casual night so I wear my yellow Hawaiian shirt that has Mickey on the back that I bought in Downtown Disney two years ago and some khakis. I look good but not gooder. Today’s D.O.T.D. is Yellow Bird. I enjoyed this drink 13 years ago on my honeymoon in Jamaica. I enjoyed it so much I ended up buying this wood carving of two parrots that are intertwined. Hey I was inebriated and I was on my honeymoon and I thought it was romantic. Something we could display in our home forever. LOP thought it was just stupid at the time and reminds of that every once in a while. When we got back to the Philly airport, immigration asked if we had any wood carvings and I being young and dumb said yes. We were taken to a secured room and searched. THOUROUGHLY. Almost to the point of a colonoscopy search. Turns out, there are some people in this world that will drill holes in wood carvings and try to smuggle dried plant material called ganja back into the United States. Who does this sort of thing? Why would you want to ruin a beautiful wood carving that your spent $2.80?

Anyhow, the show is Twice Charmed tonight. We sit a little farther back so as not to interfere with the chair kicking contests that had occurred the two previous nights. The show again was OK, a little corny, but it killed some time. I do give those show people credit. They play numerous parts and constantly change their costumes. In hind sight, I wish we had done some more of the behind the scenes type activities that were offered on the Navigators. They had one for a back stage behind the scenes type for the theater.

Dinner was Animator’s and again, Not really sure what I ate. Could have been the Yellow Birds or could have been the company that foils my recollecting abilities. I do remember that we did celebrate Mr. KIA’s birthday. It was one of the times we saw our head server guy (still don’t know his name). They brought out a cake and sang happy birthday. He got a big kick out of it.

We hurried and dropped the kids off and went to the adult only show in Rockin Bar D. I was a little worried because the activity for kids was “Captain’s Closet Fun.” Does anyone else find this just a little disconcerting? Seriously DCL, change that title. It is just a little too pedophilic for me. We arrived in time to order some drinks and catch Match Your Mate. It was typical of the newlywed game except they take a newlywed couple a couple that has a few miles on them and an older couple that has been around the block several times. It was fun to watch and we got a kick out of it. My buddy John Charles was up next and again, I enjoyed his show immensely. We are on the same comedic wavelength and he knows all the tunes I grew up on as well as some I did not. His parody of America’s “Horse With No Name” was absolutely fantastic. He ended the show with American Pie, one of my all time favorites and everybody in the bar was singing that night. The music and DJ afterward was kind of loud so we retired to the sports bar next door. The leash goes off reminding us that we need to pick up our children as the KC is closed. Our kids are the last two to be picked up. I was still trying to forget my secret code word.

I try to settle in for the evening but I am just too wound up. So I wander the ship. All is quiet. There are no crowds. I wander up to the Stack just to check it out. The onslaught of dirty looks from all of those punk teenagers was unbearable. Just looking. Gosh!!! (aka Napoleon Dynamite) I wander the halls of different decks looking for cool door signs and find none as cool as mine.

I find a back stairs aft that leads me to unoccupied decks I think around 7 or 8. There was a little rope across the door but I did not let that stop me, rebel that I am. I talked to the carpet cleaning guys. Caught some cast members popping in and out of secret doors all over the ship. No one would give me a tour though. I have always wanted to do that in WDW. Tour the underground city beneath the park. I would really have liked to do that on the ship too.

I wind down and finally slip on off to my stateroom. LOP and Mr. KIA are sound asleep so I slip into bed and drift off once again.

I don’t know what woke me up. Maybe it was the change in speed or the rocking of the ship. Anyhow, I woke up and looked out the window and Oh my gosh, Land. Did I tell you I have not seen land for two days? I jump up, wake up LOP and grab the cameras and head up on deck to take some photos of St. Maarten. (Note to self: Do not take cold cameras out of the stateroom into humid tropical air and try to take photos. All you get are some great pictures of fuzzy, foggy scenery. You would think you would have learned that from the last two trips to WDW you idiot.) It was land, I was happy. I grabbed some stuff at Topsiders and took it back to the room. LOP was already in the SHUB (not quite shower not quite tub) so I woke Mr. KIA up to look at the boats in the harbor.

We breakfasted at Lumiere’s because they had blueberry pancakes. Real pancakes with blueberries in them…not that IHOP plain pancake with some blueberry pie filling on top. The breakfast was good but the service was not. Sorry. We had some French guy and he really seemed to have a French attitude. The poor girl providing beverages spoke about two words of English and just did not understand that we wanted more coffee, more syrup etc. But hey, we are on vacation and we make the best of it.

We pack a bag with a water bottle and some snacks and cameras etc and we are off the boat. We walk through the port area and I see a restroom sign. Sorry, I just have to use it. After two and a half days of the Super Suck-O-Matic, I rather enjoyed the old American Standard. We catch the water taxi across the harbor and get some great views of the Magic tied up at the pier. The water is amazingly clear. So clear that Mr. KIA comments about it. He is from southern NJ and has only seen gray or brown water. This is a whole new experience for him.

Let the shopping begin. We find Diamonds International and I wander around casually looking at various pieces before someone approaches me. Now it is time to let LOP in on a little secret. I have been looking at anniversary bands since our tenth and the conditions were never just right for me to purchase one. So I tell her I am going to buy one. I could have fit a basketball in her mouth her jaw dropped so much. So I start the negotiations. Let me see that one there my good man. How much? $13,000? What else do you have my good man? I settled on a nice 7 stone round cut (3 big ones and 4 small ones) nice color and clarity in a yellow gold setting, and it was a deal...about ½ of what I would have paid for it back home. LOP’s hand was shaking more than when I gave her the engagement ring. Who’d a thunk she would be so nervous. It would take about 2 hours for them to size correctly so we went upstairs to have a look at the less expensive merchandise. In the coupon book there was a coupon for a free charm bracelet with a purchase as well as a St Maarten charm for $5. I gave Mr. KIA the $5 and told the sales girl that he wanted to buy something for his mother. So the sales girl, the professional that she is proceeds to talk to Mr. KIA about the charm he wants to buy for Mom. Out of his mouth comes, “Is that the best you can do?” I swear. He is six and wants to negotiate a purchase of jewelry out of the country. Is that priceless or what? Turns out he does listen to his old man once in a while.

We walk around town some more. I buy a piece for my MIL which surprises LOP. We pick up some more free coupon stuff. We look for some post cards to send back that are not rated NC 17 and converse more than once with some of the locals. We head back to DI to pick up the ring and I negotiate another piece for my mom and we are done. We jump back on the water taxi to get back to the ship, throw everything in the safe and take the expressavator up to Topsiders for some lunch. This is the first lunch buffet we’ve attended other than our embarkation day and it was American day. All American type food. Being from the Philadelphia area, I need to educate DCL cooks on making cheese steaks. I cannot say I recommend them. But in the center was a baked potato bar and they had some chilly. Now both LOP and I are somewhat of chilly aficionados. So we made a meal out several bowls of chilly. That was pretty darn good. It is amazing how sometime the simple foods are the best, especially when you are miles from home.

We went back to the room and changed into our swim suits and traveled back on the taxi to the local beach right there in the harbor. That’s it. I figured I spent enough money without going on an excursion so we just enjoyed the afternoon in the sun and surf. Mr. KIA loves the beach anyhow so it was right up his alley. There was a nice little bar right behind us that provided the requisite refreshment and the water was super great. They had some wave runners you could rent but I thought we could do that on Castaway Cay in a few days. It was time to head back so we caught the taxi back to the dock area. LOP looked in a few of the stores right there by the ship. I enjoyed a beverage at the rum beverage station and Mr. KIA wandered over to the small pavilion where a live band was breaking down. They let him play on their steel drums which was kind of cool.

LOP got in the SHUB to get ready and Mr. KIA and I went top side to get some cold drinks. We went on back to the room to get ready for dinner. No show tonight because it is Pirate Night. So we all got dressed, Mr. KIA in his Captain Hook costume from Halloween and we set off in search of the characters. Photo with Captain Jack Sparrow,

photo with Pirate Mickey and Minnie, photo with Hook and Smee

and photo with Pan (who is just a little bit freaky looking in my opinion). Even LOP thought Pan just “looked” a little strange.

Dinner in Parrot Cay. Other than Palo’s this is the only dinner I remember because they gave us Pirate menus to take with. Jerk chicken salad…good. Honeydew melon mango soup…good. Jack Sparrow’s Musked Smoked Pork Shank…goooooood. Rusty Anchor cocktails…goooooooooooooood. Lost Banana Treasure for desert…..goooooooooood. Coconut rice pudding……bleh!!! Marie ties some bandana on my head to make me look more piratey.

What are you going to do…just go along with the crowd. Of course LOP shows everyone the ring when they asked how our day was. I probably scored some points with the ladies but not so much the guys. I am guessing I put them in an awkward position to go shopping for diamonds when we got to St. Thomas.

We finish dinner and head up to 9 for the party. Way too hot and way too crowded. No breeze what so ever. We jump up to 10 and it is a little cooler but still way too crowded. We could not really se much of the show except for some dancing. I guess that would have been ok if you were one of the ones dancing. We did have a good spot for the fireworks show though. After the fireworks everyone was so hot and tired and full…we just went back to the room. We did not even go to the late buffet because we will still full from dinner. We cruised passed it on our way to the drink station to fill up for the evening. It was so crowded and I was trying to keep up with Mr. KIA, I turned and stepped on some little kids bare toes with my size 13 clod hoppers. I felt really bad about it. It was so crowded I was literally pushed from behind and I could not stop to make sure he was alright. If you happen to be reading this little kid, I sincerely apologize.

This was a long installment, I know. I had some catching up to do. We will talk next time about St. Thomas and our final day at sea before the real adventure on Castaway Cay.

Once again, thank you all for your thoughts. And I really do hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing this. It has been good therapy.

 

[JDBlair]

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Hugs to you and LOP!

Thank you for another installment of your TR. Your DS looks just like you!!!

 

[dreamcometrue]

hi grumpydude...first of all, I am sorry for your loss

Loved reading your latest installment. Nice to see a pic of you too. You look JUST like your DS!

 

[grumpydude]

I am antsy...so I continue the saga. I should get back to work on the project but why do today what you can put off till tomorrow.


Chapter#6 St Thomas, Take it or Leave it…I am glad we left it.

We were up bright and early for our next day’s port of call. So was everybody. We had to be. Some stupid rule about getting up to show your passport to some INS guy and it had to be 6:30 in the morning. Yeah, I know you are in and out relatively quickly but I am thinking they could have done the same thing when you got off the boat. Besides, if some crazy illegal type alien got on board in St. Maarten, do you really think he was going to get up and go to the Walt Disney Studio at 6:30 in the morning? I am willing to bet NO. He has stashed himself in some remote part of the ship and Starsky and Hutch from INS ain’t finding him.

So we shubbed, we ate, we left the ship. We called home because we had cell phone service. No excursions booked so we just did our own thing. Outside the gate, the locals were much more demanding than in St. Maarten and this was America man. We decided to walk on over to the “Go Up the Side of the Hill Skyride of Thrills.” For $45.00, you can get the best panoramic view of the island, not. Don’t misunderstand me, the view of the harbor was pretty, we got some good shots of the Magic. But it was not worth the $45. If anyone wants to see what’s up there, for $5 I will show you the video I shot. Hey if 9 people are interested, I break even.

Here is a little taste of what you could look at for your $5.

Even so, we kill some time up there. There are some shops and a bar and the crazy, hillbilly bird lady. I was looking for her double wide up there somewhere but I could not find it. Hey Jeff Foxworthy, if you leave your trailer and move to St. Thomas and put on a bird show for tips, you might be a redneck. She reminded me of an aunt I have somewhere in Kentucky.

We hiked the nature trail (big thrill) and decided to call it quits. We took the Down the Hill Skyride of Thrills back down.

By this time, Mr. KIA was definitely out of sorts. He would run ahead or worse, run out into the street with those crazy St. Thomas drivers. I think he just had enough. We ended up going back the ship and grabbing an early lunch and putting him in the Kids Club for the rest of the day. We told them we were going off the boat and would be out of leash range and they had no problem with that.

So, for $3 a head, you could ride in the back of a truck to the shopping district. I told you the locals were pushy…we no sooner got out of the truck when people were honking their horns at us asking if we wanted a ride back to the ship. We go in search of a specific alcoholic beverage…Sangster’s Cream Rum. A friend of ours turned me on to it over the summer at a party. She had just gotten back from Jamaica and shared the bottle with a bunch of us. Being the friends that we are…we killed it. So I figured I could find a replacement bottle for her. We went to three different liquor stores, each of them telling me the other stores had it. I finally talked to someone who knew what he was talking about and he told me Sangster’s was only available in Jamaica. However, they had another brand called Cruzan and offered me a sample. Silly fool that he is I had to try it 5 or 6 times before I decided I “liked” it enough to buy it. While I was at it I sampled some other stuff. I ended up getting two bottles of the Cream Rum and some other stuff from Africa. On the way out, I noticed they had flavored rums. Orange, lemon, coconut etc. And vanilla. Now I am a huge fan of rum and Coke specifically Captain and Coke and I am also a fan of Vanilla Coke. Do you see what is about to happen here? I try them all. I test the vanilla and I am in love. LOP says get some to drink on the boat it is only $8 a bottle. Heck if you have two drinks it has paid for itself. That sounds logical, so I buy 4 bottles. (I know…just do the math).

So anyway…it is hot we are tired, I am buzzed and we don’t want to leave Mr. KIA alone on the ship for too long as there is no telling what he was capable of because of the mood he was in. So we head back..lugging 7 bottles of various rum. We stop at a couple of other places to pick up some free stuff from the coupon books we got the other day and wander through the straw market. A polite, entrepreneurial local lady sees us and asks if we would like a cab back. Sure I say. Follow me she says. So off we go through the tent city, through the parking lot to her van. She opens the door to the surprise of the 3 people sitting in the back of a VERY HOT, VERY STINKY van. I am just as surprised to see them. Who knows how long they had been sitting there? I am not drunk enough to know that I am not getting in this van. I take LOP’s hand and we are out of there. For all I know, those people are still sitting there in the back of that van waiting for the cab driver to get a few more passengers. We walked back out to the street and jumped on one of those truck type cabs and I’m glad because we hit a little traffic jamb and I could not imagine sitting in that van waiting in traffic.

I talked to some people and they just loved St. Thomas. I was not one of them. I felt it was dirty and the locals were really obnoxious trying to get you into their cabs. It reminded me of any city in the USA. There was a Wendy’s and Burger King and Kmart right off the ship. Even the fenced area where the ship docked reminded me of a compound…not like St. Maarten. Sorry, I just did not like it. Maybe had we gone on an excursion we would have seen better parts of the island, I am sure we would have. I just did not care for the parts I saw.

On board, we pick up Mr. KIA and I fill my Disney Mug with some delicious vanilla rum and ice. It is so good I simply forget to add the Coke to it. We all decide to go catch a movie. The Shaggy DA remake with Tim Allen. LOP brings her stash of Pirate Peanut M&M’s and I am in heaven. M&M’s and rum, quite the combination. The movie was pretty good… but I am an Old Disney Diehard Movie Fan, the remakes just are not the same.

Back to the room and shub up for the show. I fill up my Disney Mug with some more delicious vanilla rum on ice and off to the show. Rich Purpura by the way is pretty funny too. I miss my buddy John though. This is the day he seems to have disappeared. We catch Pocahontas and Sorcerer Mickey before dinner in Lumiere’s.

I just don’t get her pose. Is her left leg longer than the right one? Or is that how American Indians just stood around? Viewing other photos in Shutters, that is how she stands with everybody.

The boat is really rocking tonight (for some reason). We need to stop off at the room before dinner to grab a fresh bottle of vanilla nectar to share with my table mates. Just about everyone enjoys a round or two during dinner. Sonya is quick with the cokes…thank you dear, that is why we love you. We drop the kids off to the club for some Goofy PJ party where they colored some pillow cases, and we caught the adult show.

Unfortunately we got there a little early and had to sit through the remaining set of XOP. Sorry, just do not like them. They appear to be a band that likes to just shout at me…and I did not even do anything to them. Does XOP stand for Xiao Ong Ping? (translates angry Chinese singers) DCL, just my opinion, but shop for a new house band. It is the Caribbean, mon. Surely you can find a UB40 or Jimmy Buffet wanna be. Even a Bob Marley wanna be would be better.

Now here is where it gets a little interesting. We are in the Rockin Bar D, ordering some Cokes not filled so we can supply our own. Our waitress informs us after about the second round that her manager told her she needs to charge us for an uncorking fee. NO WAY JOSE. You just send Mr. Manager over here and I will straighten him out. He comes over, I offer a seat, he accepts. I offer a drink, he declines. I explain that first of all, technically there is no cork in the bottle as it is a twist off cap. Secondly, I untwisted it, so therefore there is no need for me to charge myself for providing this task. And third, the bottle is empty and we have no recollection of how it got that way or into the Rockin Bar D for that matter. (One word; Plausible Deniability…ok two but in the state I am in give me a break) It must have worked. He shrugged and excused himself and we watched the rest of the show, David DiMuzio the juggler, not funny. We listened to some of the 80’s music then retired to one of the more quiet bars. We had to cut the evening short again when we received our pages that the Kids Club is now closed and pick up our offspring. This seems to be a habit, but the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

The stateroom is spinning out of control…so I must wander aimlessly about the decks for the evening. Cast members and other worker bees in the night must wonder who this inebriated insomniac is. I end up in a nice comfy deck chair on 4 and the lights go out in Georgia, and on the Magic too. This is the only morning I glimpse the sunrise as I am still on 4 in one of those chairs. I go back to the room and quietly slip into bed to catch a few more winks. This is the start of a sea day and I need my rest.

I awake a few hours later to the inquisition of LOP. She thought I may have fallen overboard in the night and was preparing herself to leave sleeping child in the room and go in search of me. Alas my dear, I was fine. I was just enjoying the evening air. It was time for our Character Breakfast. We fueled up, I rehydrated and I was ready for action.

OK, sorry just giving my opinion again. Not crazy about the character breakfast. Not enough characters and they did not stay at the table very long. Our poor table mates from Wisconsin did not get pictures with Mickey and Minnie because they were too busy taking pictures of our kids with the characters. I am sure it is not the characters fault…but hey DCL put us in the dining predicament and we were three families so everyone should have had the opportunity to get pictures with the characters. Typically, when we go to the World we schedule last seating at Chef Mickey’s and get way more time with the characters. Last time we went, we scheduled last seating at the buffet at the Crystal Palace for lunch. We were the last to leave and I have pictures of Mr. KIA sitting with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eyeore because there was no one else there and Daddy was still going up to the buffet to get his money's worth. The character meals are the only times when there are no long lines and the characters come to you. Pay attention and make sure you give everyone at the table the opportunity to visit with you.

We checked out shutters, picking some more shots to round out our package B and it was time for an early lunch. We ran into our table mates and shared a quick bite and all decided to go see Cars. Nice way to kill an afternoon. I think none of us were up to anything more strenuous than sitting in a nice cool dark theater. I know I was not. The afternoon passes by and it is time to take Mr. KIA to the KC for his Celebrate the Journey preparations.

We go to the Celebrate the Journey show/ceremony. It was nice. I could not believe how many kids were on that ship. I did not see this many during the week. Mr. KIA got a nice T-Shirt and a Mouse Ear mortar board for “graduating”. He really did enjoy his time in the club and it was nice for us to not have to entertain him the entire time.

We jump back in line to be first for the Disney Dreams Show. I liked it. A little too mushy for my taste but hey it is the “feel good” show of the year. We sat up front again so we were pretty close to freaky looking Pan for the whole show. Afterwards, I took Mr. KIA up to topsiders to grab some dinner because he was going back to the club because LOP and I had Palo reservations. I had purposely controlled my food intake for the day because I was going to feast up there on the back deck. They were going to have to fly in some more food after I got done with them that night. Yeah baby.

Up next: Palo’s unbelievable. Adventures on Castaway Cay and Our Last Night Together.

 

[Babs417]

Thanks for your time. Loving your report.

 

[Raindrpz]

You had me LOL went you said the band was yelling at you and you didn't even do anything.

Thanks for the great report!

 

[oybolshoi]

Funny stuff! I totally agree about St. Thomas - at least on the main drag - it looks like anyplace USA (which is kinda depressing on a tropical island). We actually took a kayaking / mangrove tour while in St. Thomas and were fortunate enough to see some truly lovely areas.

So sorry to hear about your troubles - I do hope you and yours begin to feel better soon.

 

[curlybop]

Still loving the report. Thanks for sharing!

 

[dreamcometrue]

thanks so much!! The Sky Tram in St. Thomas...was that $45 for all of you or just one person? Please say all of you! I really want to do this, but not if it's outrageously expensive!