DisneyZell
Likes Adventures on the High Seas
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2004
- Messages
- 1,102
OK, OK, OK, I get it. I'm a *tad* slow on the posting. But it's an art people! An art! "You Can't Rush Art!". (name that movie!). I suffer for my art! Suffer I tell you! 
(yes I had to search for just the right smily for that one.
Ahem...well ok, I'm sorry that it took me so long to make it back. And naturally I am on a day that doesn't even have very many pictures so you are just going to get a bunch of typing from me. How boring is that? So go grab that extra cup of coffee (or 5 hour energy! So much faster than coffee! I hate those commercials!). The procrastinator's club meeting is now in session. As no one else has arrived I have named myself president and CEO.
Today is a sea day...so not much to rush around to do. But of course if you have been following along I don't do a lot of rushing around anyway, and DW will tell you that even at home there is no rushing out of me in the morning. I thoroughly enjoy vacation weeks because I get to sleep in...and sleep in I do. Apparently I don't sleep at night anymore as I lay awake letting my brain work...or having my brain decide my stomach is upset...but I digress.
DW apparently got up around 8am...but the rest of us got up later and we lollygagged around until about 9:30. The adults were headed to Palo for brunch, so no breakfast for us...thus my stomach wasn't leading us upstairs quite as early as it might otherwise! We finally rolled out the door about 9:30and headed up. They got their usual assortment of food and we watched and were hungry. That's the worst part of Palo...is having to wait! I enjoy my food.
We cruised back to the room and lotioned (my word program says lotioned isnt a word. So I lay claim to it as my word and my word only. If you wish to use it you must pay me $.000000000000000000001 per use). up the kids up as they were going to be on their own while we were at Palo. Let me just say how nice it is to reach the point when you can kick them out to the pool area on their own and trust they won't get into too much trouble. Gone are the days of forcing them to be checked into a club and ignoring their pages (well, ok except that first day, but that was Connor's choice! Really! Really...oh never mind). They headed up to the pool to wreak havoc with Ellie and John.
Around 11:45 we headed up to Palo to begin the gluttony. Palo and Remy are on the same level so took a quick peek into Remy which looked really cute. Palo also looked great, neat marble flooring with dark wood. Beautiful. Two major flaws in the design in my opinion. One was the head room wasn't great. While I didn't have to duck...I felt like I needed to because the ceiling was so close. But that wasn't the worst design issue here...the worst was that directly above Palo was....the sports court! So the entire time you could hear people running and jumping right on your head. Very strange.
But today is all about the food...and like any good Palo visitor we ate our fill. They had a lot of the standards that we always liked about the buffet..but in general...and I hate to even say this...Palo was much better on the Magic and Wonder. I don't know why, maybe it was the spacing of the restaurant so they didn't have enough room to do things the same way...cooked the same way, but the food just wasn't quite the same. It was good, just not great, you know? They only had one pizza available...they didn't have the Stolen bread which we both loved from the Magic/Wonder.
Either way, though, I still prefer the brunch to the dinner. Just a little less formal, and still yummy. So my recommendation here is that if you can only do one, pick brunch. We were not willing to pay the high price for Remy...so you won't get any Remy review here unfortunately. Maybe someday...when DW and I take a cruise on our own.
Naturally we did manage to spend a lot of time there and ended up chatting with Brian and Jennifer until almost 1pm. While this doesn't seem like a lot of time...it is to us. Let me explain. If I've explained this before feel free to fall asleep for the next few minutes.
DW and I are fast eaters. If restaurants knew that about us they could turn our table in a short period of time. This was demonstrated on the first cruise we ever took together. It was before we were married
(of course we slept in separate beds).
We were at a table for 4 people, and frequently our table mates were late for dinner. This was a Carnival cruise. The servers were very efficient. As soon as your fork stabbed the last bite on your plate the plate was gone and replaced with the next course. I'm pretty sure we were in and out of dinners in about 15 minutes. DW can back me up on that. They were so darned fast. But we were ok with it as we would move on to other things.
Obviously when you travel with friends, etc...things are different. As we have always gone on at Disney Cruise with friends and family our meals are longer...and yes we tend to chat. But DW and I can blow through a meal. We are a restaurants dream! But I digress (again).
We headed back to the room to find Connor, Ellie and John hanging out. Again it was very cool that the 4 kids really got along on this trip. It takes a lot of the stress out of things! Nick was off at another animation class. He really, really enjoyed the animation and has continued to carry it forward. For Christmas we got him some pencils and pads to do his animation and he can free-draw many of the major Disney characters. Pretty impressive. For DW's birthday (her 40th! ha!) he designed her card that came from the boys. It was so cute. He has some talent there. Not sure if he will persue it or not.
At 2 was towel folding..so DW took the 3 kids with her to do that. I have no idea what I did during this time as DW didn't bother to write it down. Clearly I was not a priority on this day as I disappear.
My gut tells me I went up and read my book by the pool. I know at some point Brian and I hung out in the chairs looking out at the ocean. Dang this TR has been going on too long as I don't remember what I've told you and what I haven't...so if I already told this part of the story you can have your admission money back.
We were sitting looking out (as I already said...I'm getting senile in my old age). And other than several trips down to the cabins to get beer we hung out for quite some time. Brian and I like to talk football so that's what we did. Meanwhile we had a rotation going on around us. My guess is that people would tire of hearing us talk about football and would leave. We thought that was quite humorous. But we had a great time...very relaxing knowing you just don't have anywhere you have to go...and can go nowhere at whatever pace you want. Niiiiiice.
But back in the towel folding, they learned how to do a Monkey, Elephant and a Dog. At some point Nick finished his animation class and joined them.
At some point I came along too because I remember the next part. We were walking down the hall and they were doing the pre-show for the golden Mickey's. They were doing the interview thing and Ellie got picked...
Ellie strutting her stuff on the red carpet
And then Nick got picked...
Nick doing the same
Enjoy those pictures...there is only one left for this day. I did so poorly taking pics!
Nick and Ellie wanted to see the Golden Mickey's...I did not...so I took the kids up to the room and DW took those two in to see the show.
And then...it was shuffleboard time. again. We headed down there hoping that this time we would actually be able to have the tournament. We waited around...and this time a CM showed up! We were very excited. Originally there were 4 teams (I believe), Connor and John, Nick and Ellie, and two teams we didn't know. I was going to join Connor and John...but then one of the two other teams took off...so I splintered off to be my own team. But then along came Brian..and we joined forces to be the super shuffleboard team. We took on all comers...and it came down to Nick and Ellie vs. Brian and I. Needless to say we won. Nick was not pleased...especially because they were killing us in the final game but we came back to beat them. I should feel bad...but at 12 years old I think I'm allowed to beat my kid, right?
After that it was time for dinner...back to the room to get cleaned up again. We were in the Enchanted Garden. The kids took off before desert as had become their normal thing to do...heading to the aquaduck while there was no one there. After dessert Jennifer and DW headed to the stores...Brian and I up to join the kids at the aquaduck (hey, I want to ride it too!).
After swimming for a while we all decided to go see "African Cats" which was something that Jennifer had wanted to do. So we got dressed grabbed some food (heaven forbid we be hungry at all!) and headed to the theater. The movie was pretty good...I'm not a huge fan of documentaries, but it was pretty interesting following essentially several "tribes" of lions and a couple of other cat families. I am frequently amazed at how they get that footage...and how long they must follow these animals to get all of that.
At some point Donald Duck came wandering in...and sits down to watch the movie. I've seen that type of thing several times in movies and find it funny that they do that. And then Chip and Dale came in, wandered up on the stage and did some funny chip and dale type things. Again pretty entertaining.
We cruised by shutters to look at pictures and then Connor started to not feel so hot. So we took him back to the room to rest while the rest of the kids headed out to play some games.
The adults headed to the adult version of the Ron Pearman show. We found some seats and relaxed ready for the show. It was quite entertaining; this guy is really, really funny. What was also funny was apparently there was a women next to Jennifer who was talking the whole time...until Jennifer asked her to be quiet. Brian is a big tough guy...but believe you me...don't mess with Jennifer!
After the show we headed back to the room...empty of all kids. So I headed out to find where they were...they were all up on deck watching "Up" on funnel vision. We stayed and watched for a bit...and then headed back to the room...time for bed!
Our towel animal:
I have to say the towel animals were not very original. Just Sayin'.
Thanks for getting through that...the next one has lots of pics...so less of me doing my thing!
Next up: Chapter 12: Second Dip!
(yes I had to search for just the right smily for that one.Ahem...well ok, I'm sorry that it took me so long to make it back. And naturally I am on a day that doesn't even have very many pictures so you are just going to get a bunch of typing from me. How boring is that? So go grab that extra cup of coffee (or 5 hour energy! So much faster than coffee! I hate those commercials!). The procrastinator's club meeting is now in session. As no one else has arrived I have named myself president and CEO.
Today is a sea day...so not much to rush around to do. But of course if you have been following along I don't do a lot of rushing around anyway, and DW will tell you that even at home there is no rushing out of me in the morning. I thoroughly enjoy vacation weeks because I get to sleep in...and sleep in I do. Apparently I don't sleep at night anymore as I lay awake letting my brain work...or having my brain decide my stomach is upset...but I digress.
DW apparently got up around 8am...but the rest of us got up later and we lollygagged around until about 9:30. The adults were headed to Palo for brunch, so no breakfast for us...thus my stomach wasn't leading us upstairs quite as early as it might otherwise! We finally rolled out the door about 9:30and headed up. They got their usual assortment of food and we watched and were hungry. That's the worst part of Palo...is having to wait! I enjoy my food.
We cruised back to the room and lotioned (my word program says lotioned isnt a word. So I lay claim to it as my word and my word only. If you wish to use it you must pay me $.000000000000000000001 per use). up the kids up as they were going to be on their own while we were at Palo. Let me just say how nice it is to reach the point when you can kick them out to the pool area on their own and trust they won't get into too much trouble. Gone are the days of forcing them to be checked into a club and ignoring their pages (well, ok except that first day, but that was Connor's choice! Really! Really...oh never mind). They headed up to the pool to wreak havoc with Ellie and John.
Around 11:45 we headed up to Palo to begin the gluttony. Palo and Remy are on the same level so took a quick peek into Remy which looked really cute. Palo also looked great, neat marble flooring with dark wood. Beautiful. Two major flaws in the design in my opinion. One was the head room wasn't great. While I didn't have to duck...I felt like I needed to because the ceiling was so close. But that wasn't the worst design issue here...the worst was that directly above Palo was....the sports court! So the entire time you could hear people running and jumping right on your head. Very strange.
But today is all about the food...and like any good Palo visitor we ate our fill. They had a lot of the standards that we always liked about the buffet..but in general...and I hate to even say this...Palo was much better on the Magic and Wonder. I don't know why, maybe it was the spacing of the restaurant so they didn't have enough room to do things the same way...cooked the same way, but the food just wasn't quite the same. It was good, just not great, you know? They only had one pizza available...they didn't have the Stolen bread which we both loved from the Magic/Wonder.
Either way, though, I still prefer the brunch to the dinner. Just a little less formal, and still yummy. So my recommendation here is that if you can only do one, pick brunch. We were not willing to pay the high price for Remy...so you won't get any Remy review here unfortunately. Maybe someday...when DW and I take a cruise on our own.
Naturally we did manage to spend a lot of time there and ended up chatting with Brian and Jennifer until almost 1pm. While this doesn't seem like a lot of time...it is to us. Let me explain. If I've explained this before feel free to fall asleep for the next few minutes.
DW and I are fast eaters. If restaurants knew that about us they could turn our table in a short period of time. This was demonstrated on the first cruise we ever took together. It was before we were married
(of course we slept in separate beds). We were at a table for 4 people, and frequently our table mates were late for dinner. This was a Carnival cruise. The servers were very efficient. As soon as your fork stabbed the last bite on your plate the plate was gone and replaced with the next course. I'm pretty sure we were in and out of dinners in about 15 minutes. DW can back me up on that. They were so darned fast. But we were ok with it as we would move on to other things.
Obviously when you travel with friends, etc...things are different. As we have always gone on at Disney Cruise with friends and family our meals are longer...and yes we tend to chat. But DW and I can blow through a meal. We are a restaurants dream! But I digress (again).
We headed back to the room to find Connor, Ellie and John hanging out. Again it was very cool that the 4 kids really got along on this trip. It takes a lot of the stress out of things! Nick was off at another animation class. He really, really enjoyed the animation and has continued to carry it forward. For Christmas we got him some pencils and pads to do his animation and he can free-draw many of the major Disney characters. Pretty impressive. For DW's birthday (her 40th! ha!) he designed her card that came from the boys. It was so cute. He has some talent there. Not sure if he will persue it or not.
At 2 was towel folding..so DW took the 3 kids with her to do that. I have no idea what I did during this time as DW didn't bother to write it down. Clearly I was not a priority on this day as I disappear.
My gut tells me I went up and read my book by the pool. I know at some point Brian and I hung out in the chairs looking out at the ocean. Dang this TR has been going on too long as I don't remember what I've told you and what I haven't...so if I already told this part of the story you can have your admission money back.
We were sitting looking out (as I already said...I'm getting senile in my old age). And other than several trips down to the cabins to get beer we hung out for quite some time. Brian and I like to talk football so that's what we did. Meanwhile we had a rotation going on around us. My guess is that people would tire of hearing us talk about football and would leave. We thought that was quite humorous. But we had a great time...very relaxing knowing you just don't have anywhere you have to go...and can go nowhere at whatever pace you want. Niiiiiice.
But back in the towel folding, they learned how to do a Monkey, Elephant and a Dog. At some point Nick finished his animation class and joined them.
At some point I came along too because I remember the next part. We were walking down the hall and they were doing the pre-show for the golden Mickey's. They were doing the interview thing and Ellie got picked...
And then Nick got picked...
Enjoy those pictures...there is only one left for this day. I did so poorly taking pics!
Nick and Ellie wanted to see the Golden Mickey's...I did not...so I took the kids up to the room and DW took those two in to see the show.
And then...it was shuffleboard time. again. We headed down there hoping that this time we would actually be able to have the tournament. We waited around...and this time a CM showed up! We were very excited. Originally there were 4 teams (I believe), Connor and John, Nick and Ellie, and two teams we didn't know. I was going to join Connor and John...but then one of the two other teams took off...so I splintered off to be my own team. But then along came Brian..and we joined forces to be the super shuffleboard team. We took on all comers...and it came down to Nick and Ellie vs. Brian and I. Needless to say we won. Nick was not pleased...especially because they were killing us in the final game but we came back to beat them. I should feel bad...but at 12 years old I think I'm allowed to beat my kid, right?
After that it was time for dinner...back to the room to get cleaned up again. We were in the Enchanted Garden. The kids took off before desert as had become their normal thing to do...heading to the aquaduck while there was no one there. After dessert Jennifer and DW headed to the stores...Brian and I up to join the kids at the aquaduck (hey, I want to ride it too!).
After swimming for a while we all decided to go see "African Cats" which was something that Jennifer had wanted to do. So we got dressed grabbed some food (heaven forbid we be hungry at all!) and headed to the theater. The movie was pretty good...I'm not a huge fan of documentaries, but it was pretty interesting following essentially several "tribes" of lions and a couple of other cat families. I am frequently amazed at how they get that footage...and how long they must follow these animals to get all of that.
At some point Donald Duck came wandering in...and sits down to watch the movie. I've seen that type of thing several times in movies and find it funny that they do that. And then Chip and Dale came in, wandered up on the stage and did some funny chip and dale type things. Again pretty entertaining.
We cruised by shutters to look at pictures and then Connor started to not feel so hot. So we took him back to the room to rest while the rest of the kids headed out to play some games.
The adults headed to the adult version of the Ron Pearman show. We found some seats and relaxed ready for the show. It was quite entertaining; this guy is really, really funny. What was also funny was apparently there was a women next to Jennifer who was talking the whole time...until Jennifer asked her to be quiet. Brian is a big tough guy...but believe you me...don't mess with Jennifer!
After the show we headed back to the room...empty of all kids. So I headed out to find where they were...they were all up on deck watching "Up" on funnel vision. We stayed and watched for a bit...and then headed back to the room...time for bed!
Our towel animal:
Thanks for getting through that...the next one has lots of pics...so less of me doing my thing!
Next up: Chapter 12: Second Dip!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!! It means you finally took the ear plugs out!!
) we strolled off the ship. Camera in tow this time...so we have lots of pictures to bore...er...to share with you. 
I accidently 
In additition I may be going to the bone doctor to have my fingers looked at from punching those microscopic page numbers on the phone...I have BIG hands and fingers so it took multiple attempts. Don't be surprised if that bill follows.
