Cruising to Mexico, Disney Style: Sept. 25 - Oct. 2, 2011 - ~*~UPDATED 10/30!~*~

[LimoFam5]

Looks like u guys had an amazing time. We were on that same cruise... We werre a crazy group of 13.......and it is soooo nice to see familiar faces posting TR about what a great Disney time they had!!!

 

[Christy323]

Great TR! I am getting fired up for my MR cruise next month! Wonderful pictures! I have been never participate in the trivia games, but I think I will give it a go, which is all thanks to your post.

Who was the cruise director?

Thank you! The trivia really was so much fun, and there were plenty of opportunities to play different kinds of trivia: 80's music, movie quotes, DCL trivia, name that TV tune, etc. Our cruise director was Christiaan and he was really friendly.

Looks like u guys had an amazing time. We were on that same cruise... We werre a crazy group of 13.......and it is soooo nice to see familiar faces posting TR about what a great Disney time they had!!

Wow! 13! Now that I've been on DCL I'm trying to encourage my family to book a big family trip too.

 

[trente33trois]

Congrats on passing the bar! What area would you like to practice? I am a paralegal at a personal injury firm and I love it.


Loving your trip report so much! You and BFF are hardcore trivia buffs!

 

[LuvIt]

Loving your trip report! Getting me in the mood for our first ever cruise on oct 23 on the wonder.
In reading about the ship I noticed there are 3 or 4 different lounges or areas for adults to hang out in in the evenings. What's the difference between them? Is one more of a bar where you sit and listen to music thing while another has acts that perform? Some one said just sitting in the lobby area is even fun! Lol. And what isnthe ESPN skybox all about? I saw it on a wonder ship layout and it seems to be the top of one of the towers....

 

[Christy323]

Congrats on passing the bar! What area would you like to practice? I am a paralegal at a personal injury firm and I love it.

Loving your trip report so much! You and BFF are hardcore trivia buffs!

Thank you, but I haven't quite passed just yet I took the bar exam in July, but we don't receive our results until November 18th. I hope to practice employment law but with the economy the way it is, I'm open to anything, really. I'm glad you're enjoying my report! It's motivating me to keep writing!

Loving your trip report! Getting me in the mood for our first ever cruise on oct 23 on the wonder.
In reading about the ship I noticed there are 3 or 4 different lounges or areas for adults to hang out in in the evenings. What's the difference between them? Is one more of a bar where you sit and listen to music thing while another has acts that perform? Some one said just sitting in the lobby area is even fun! Lol. And what isnthe ESPN skybox all about? I saw it on a wonder ship layout and it seems to be the top of one of the towers....

You are going to have such a great time on the Wonder! It was my first cruise as well and I think it really has spoiled me for future vacations. I don't think ESPN Skybox is there anymore; I believe it was replaced by a teen hangout.

Wavebands is the largest of the adult club-type areas. It has events every night: some are cabaret acts, some are karaoke, and some are game show-style events. Events are usually hosted by someone, and on our sailing it was Dave. There's also a DJ (on our sailing it was DJ Frankie, who's the guy we took a picture with above when we won our "winner" medals) who plays music between and after events.

The Cadillac Lounge is definitely more like your classy lounge where you can sit in a calm, laid-back environment and enjoy some drinks and conversation. We actually went there one night for "Name that tune" but it was much different from the trivia we played during the day. It was this really awesome guy named JD Daniel who just played different theme songs from movies and television on the piano, and maybe 15 or so of us adults trying to identify them. He told us all these cool stories about working with Beyonce and Janet Jackson and Donnie & Marie . It was actually a really great time and I highly recommend it if you're into that sort of thing.

We didn't spend much time in Diversions, now that I think about it. We went in there once during the day to play chess (SO nerdy) but there were some chess pieces missing from each board, and after trying to collect enough pieces from all of the sets to play, we got bored. But it felt more like a neighborhood pub type of place.

 

[marciemouse]

Loving the report! Can't wait for the rest!

 

[sharon0122]

Christy, during your sailing, when you arrived in Puerto Vallarta, was the port arrival time of 7am ship time (Pacific Time) or Puerto Vallarta time (Central Time)? I made reservations for a zipline excursion on our own for 11am Puerto Vallarta time, so I'm hoping the arrival time on the itinerary is ship time. DH and I are trying to take advantage of the time in PV and want to take a trip to Malecon and Walmart after our excursion. I called DCL, and they said that it's ship time but gave me the disclaimer to check the Navigator when I get on the ship (it took awhile for the rep to find the answer for me). I would prefer to change my reservation time before I get on the ship, if I need to change it.

Thanks!

 

[SanDeeKath]

Thank you soooo much for the awesome trip report! And congrats on finishing law school and taking the bar. I bet that is a huge load off your back. My DH is actually thinking of a career change and considering law school. I PM'd you with a question about that.

I can't wait to be on the Wonder in December! I am looking forward to hearing what you did in ports. Keep it coming...

Katherine

Disney Wonder Dec 18th Christmas Cruise!

 

[princesskayla]

The Disney tunes trivia was actually kind of difficult. They would play different songs, and you would have to name the song as well as the movie it was from, and then also answer a bonus question. For example, they played the song "Cruella de Vil" which is from 101 Dalmatians, and then they asked who played the character in the 1996 live-action film (Glenn Close). You really had to know your stuff for this one, so it was a lot of fun.

Sounds like fun! That will be a must do.

 

[Christy323]

Loving the report! Can't wait for the rest!

Thank you!

Christy, during your sailing, when you arrived in Puerto Vallarta, was the port arrival time of 7am ship time (Pacific Time) or Puerto Vallarta time (Central Time)? Thanks!

By the time you get to Puerto Vallarta, the ship time is the same as PV local time. You are told on the second evening (the night before the 2nd day at sea) to move your clocks one hour forward so that you are on PV time when you arrive in PV. However, they don't ask you to move your clocks one hour back until the night before disembarkation. This meant that when we went to Cabo, we were still on PV time (one hour ahead of local time).

I think the Wave phones are updated automatically to be the correct time. But despite that, and despite the fact that I was pretty sure I understood it and pretty sure that I did it all correctly, I was still that girl who called Guest Services at 7am to say "Hi...so, uh, just to make sure...what time is it?"

Thank you soooo much for the awesome trip report! And congrats on finishing law school and taking the bar. I bet that is a huge load off your back. My DH is actually thinking of a career change and considering law school. I PM'd you with a question about that.

I just responded to your PM. You are going to have such a wonderful time on the Wonder in December! I can't wait until I can sail again.

 

[Christy323]

I’m going to start this day of our trip report by waxing poetic on just how awesome our stateroom hostess was. Willy from Thailand was the most wonderful lady and we were incredibly well taken care of. Not only did she keep us well stocked with toiletries, towels, and cute towel animals, but I give you the following three instances to consider:

1) We asked for ice once on Sunday. We didn’t tell her why, we just asked for ice. No problem, she brought us ice right away. We then put the whole bucket straight into our “beverage cooler that isn’t a fridge” to make sure everything in there stayed nice and cold. For the rest of the cruise, she replaced the ice in there twice a day without us even asking. She just KNEW.

2) The first night of our cruise, BFF didn’t like sleeping with the top sheet, so it ended up all bunched up at the foot of her bed. For the rest of the cruise, while my bed was made with all sheets included, BFF’s bed was made without the top sheet. We never said anything to Willy about it; she just KNEW.

3) I like to scrapbook anytime I go on a big trip, so I always gather lots of things that I think I might use in the scrapbook: handouts, napkins with logos on them, etc. I noticed that the little paper caps that are always placed on the fresh glassware in our stateroom were perfect for scrapbooking, because they’re made of white cardstock and have a large DCL logo printed on them. Every day, after using the glasses for beverages, I saved the caps. I cut off the sides of the caps, kept the flat part with the logo, and threw away the scraps. After only TWO nights of doing this, Willy started leaving 4-5 extra caps on TOP of the ones that she left to cover the new glassware. I never told her what I was doing with those caps or that I wanted them for something. She did this every night for the rest of the cruise even though I never said one word about it to anyone. Maybe she saw the scraps in the trash, figured out I was keeping them, and thought I might like some more of them? I don’t know how she figured it out, but she just KNEW.

She KNEW, people, because she is like a fairy godmother who makes all of your stateroom wishes come true. Willy is the BESTEST and AWESOMEST and I hope everyone who is lucky enough to have her as a stateroom hostess appreciates her awesomeness.

Moving on.

Today was the morning of our Palo brunch! Our reservation was for 10:30am, so I was kind of excited about sleeping in! But then I realized that since we were asked to move all clocks forward one hour the night before, it was like brunch was at 9:30am. No sleeping in after all. But really, no room for complaint, because hello, we were on the Disney Wonder and we were about to eat at Palo again!

We got all prettified for brunch & moseyed on up to Deck 10. Toni was already waiting for us at the front! He led us to our table, and as we passed through the restaurant, other servers greeted us hello and said things like “welcome back, ladies” and “ah, the pretty California girls have come to visit us again!” Oh, those flirty European men, they sure know how to make a gal feel special. Seriously though, that’s one thing that I grew to love about the Wonder: faces became familiar quickly and it really began to feel like a community.

Toni seated us at our table, and then after taking our drink orders (why yes, I would like a complimentary peach Bellini, thank you for offering), he took us on a tour of the buffet tables. There are two aspects of brunch at Palo: the buffet tables and the hot food to order. There are five tables: an antipasti table, a breads and cheeses table, a seafood table, a breakfast pastry table, a dessert table. Then there’s a counter that has all of the hot dishes that you can order. It was exciting and overwhelming all at once. I remember thinking in my head, “oh man, a warm sticky bun sounds delicious, but then I really want crab legs and shrimp, but then is it wrong that I want a pot de crème right now even though it’s not even 11am? Is it weird to do all of these things at once?” As such, my first plate of food is a reflection of my indecision.

So many choices! (I forgot to take a picture of the bread table, sorry)

My plate on the left, BFF’s on the right. Note the indecision on my plate.​

Carol and I ordered the grape and gorgonzola pizza with port wine reduction to share. I have never had grapes on pizza before, but the saltiness of the gorgonzola and the sweetness of the grapes were perfectly complementary. The only thing is that if you order it, you should eat that first, as it’s on a very delicious thin crust that can get soggy if you wait too long. I also ordered eggs benedict because apparently I wanted the servers to have to roll me out of the joint at the end of brunch. The egg was perfectly poached with a yolk that was just the right amount of runny. Nothing can ruin a brunch experience like an overcooked poached egg, so Palo gets an A+ for that one.

We are not the type of girls to turn down complimentary peach bellinis, let me tell you.​

I didn’t snag a picture of it, but if you like pot de crème, DEFINITELY grab one from the dessert table. There’s this white sesame pot de crème that is served at RN74, one of Michael Mina’s restaurants here in SF. It’s one of my top five favorite desserts that I’ve ever had, even though it’s this teeny tiny dish that costs $11. It used to be the best pot de crème I’d ever had. NOW, Palo wins with its smooth and rich dark chocolate pot de crème! Hooray for pot de crème!

After our meal wound down, Toni brought us a plate filled with things from the dessert table wrapped in plastic wrap. He said it was for us to enjoy later in our stateroom, and not to worry about bringing back the fancy Palo plate because our stateroom hostess would take care of it. We didn’t even ask for it! The thought didn’t even occur to me! But clearly they are mind readers, because at around 11pm that night having a dark chocolate-covered strawberry was heavenly.

So thoughtful.​

After brunch was done at Palo, we knew we wanted to come back. BUT, we’d already had dinner and brunch at Palo! We asked Toni if they had any available spots for tea. Toni said he’d try for us, but that he couldn’t guarantee a spot, because for tea they only open up a small portion of the restaurant to only 18 people or so, and there is only one seating per sea day. He said that if he wasn’t able to get us a spot, we were certainly welcome to have dinner or brunch again, because they still had plenty of spots open(!) for either. Toni went to check with Marco, the manager, we crossed our fingers, & lo and behold Toni and Marco were able to offer us a reservation for tea on Saturday! Hooray!

With that, we settled up our bill, took our dessert plate, and went straight outside to enjoy a stroll in the sunshine. At this point, we were passing Cabo San Lucas on our way to PV, so we stopped to take a picture.

Oh hey Cabo, see you in a couple days​

The sunshine stroll seemed like a good idea prior to going outside, but man was it hot out there! Hot enough to melt all the chocolate things on that plate within 4 or 5 minutes. We hightailed it back inside to put our plate in our stateroom fridge (which was stocked with fresh ice thanks to fairy godmother Willy).

At this point we had some free time but we weren’t sure what we wanted to do. We knew there was Disney Cruise Line trivia happening pretty soon, but both of us were hesitant to play since this was our first cruise, and we probably wouldn’t know any of the answers. Ultimately, we decided to head down to the Promenade Lounge & give it a try…

We won!​

Mickey head-shaped medals that said “winner” on the ribbon! So cool!

After trivia, we went to go hang out outside for a while. I had brought books with me that I wanted to read, but we ended up just wandering around, people watching and generally enjoying being on the Disney Wonder. We hadn’t even looked at the quick-service food counters before then, so we looked around to see what was offered (but we definitely did NOT eat anything; brunch left us stuffed until dinner).

OH! I totally forgot to mention this before! We had actually gone to one quick-service counter before this. This is my one big complaint of the week. The night before this, after we wandered around and watched Disneynature on the Funnel Vision, we picked up some pizza from Pinocchio’s and took it to our stateroom. That pizza is the WORST PIZZA I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. And that's saying a lot, because I had my share of bad pizza in college. It was rubbery and bland and all in all inedible. I don’t know what’s going on there but it needs to be fixed ASAP. Never have I wanted a bottle of Tapatio or Sriracha more than when I tasted that pizza, and even then I don’t think it would have been fixed.

Anyway.

Soon enough it was time to go get freshened up before heading to the Walt Disney Theatre for “The Hip Hop Comedy of Alfred and Seymour.” On our way to the other side of the ship, we caught up with these two:

I honestly think this is the first time I’ve ever taken a picture with Jiminy Cricket!

See what I mean about character interaction? So cute. You’ll never see Pinocchio laying down and doodling in an autograph book at Disneyland, that’s for sure.​

After our pictures, we went to Mickey’s Mates to check out souvenirs and gifts for folks at home. BFF’s brother-in-law collects Vinylmations, so we were under strict instructions to buy at least one set of the Shipmates Vinylmations and the MR-specific Vinylmation. When we got to the store, we found out that they didn’t get their shipment of MR Vinylmations in time for the first sailing of the season. It worked out okay though, because BFF bought him an Alaska one that they had leftover, and when we got back he was so excited because I guess they are super limited edition or something. I bought an MR scrapbook (even though it lists Mazatlan and Manzanillo) and a matching scrapbook kit. I have a tradition that whenever I travel to somewhere new, I buy a Christmas ornament for my tree, so I also purchased a Disney Wonder ornament.

After we made all of our purchases, I looked at the time and saw that we were still way too early for the show. So, we headed back to the atrium to see what was going on and ran into these two:

Mahalo, Lilo & Stitch!​

Lilo looks just like my younger sister did when she was Lilo’s age, same nose & hair & coloring & everything, so I have a special place in my heart for Lilo & Stitch. In line behind us, there was a little girl who was SOOOO excited to meet Stitch. She had her Stitch stuffed animal and couldn’t wait to show it to him! So, right after we had our turn taking pictures, we stuck around for a bit to watch and see what would happen when she met Stitch. She walked right up to him and thrust the stuffed animal in his face! Stitch acted like he was so happy to see the doll. He took it from her and hugged it...

...and then ran away with it! He ran all over the lobby, in between the elevators, it was too cute! The little girl had this look of confusion on her face, like “I love Stitch…but he took my Stitch…” Finally Stitch came back and Stitch’s assistant “scolded” him for taking the doll. So funny.

Finally, we went back to the theater and caught Alfred & Seymour’s show. HILARIOUS. I was laughing so hard that I was crying! They said that it was their last night on the ship, but hopefully they’ll come back to the ship soon. Someone mentioned that they’re developing a project with Jamie Foxx, so maybe we’ll see them on TV or something!

Tonight’s dinner was in Parrot Cay, so after the show we had to head to the other side of the ship. As we made our way aft, we saw that these ladies were out and about:

Belle asked for any book suggestions and BFF suggested Twilight. Ariel said she liked the “starfish” in my hair.​

Dinner was delish, as per usual. Apparently indecisiveness was the theme of the day for me, because I ordered the Mixed Grill (which is pretty much a bunch of different meats on one plate) for dinner and the Sweet Temptations (three different desserts) for dessert. BFF had the roast chicken with mashed sweet potatoes.

After dinner, we went over to Wavebands to watch Speakerbox perform for a while before going back to the stateroom to get a good night’s sleep before PV!

My favorite animal of the week - towel elephant!​

Coming up ... Puerto Vallarta! Where you can go to Walmart, KFC, Outback Steakhouse, OfficeMax ... wait a second...

 

[becpee]

Keep it coming!
Loving it, making me look forward to my trip (so far away! LOL)

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

Absolutely loving your trip report! It's bringing back fond memories of our DCL MR cruise last February. Can't wait to read more. Looks like you had a great time and I can't believe how many trivia games you won!!!

 

[ctp365]

This is a great trip report. I hope you get it finished before we fly out on Thursday . I'm looking forward to reading about the ports and about what you thought about tea at Palo. We have booked tea and am hoping it will be good.

 

[Macmaro]

Great report! Keep 'em coming!

 

[dopeyfanatic]

Love your TR! We leave on Sunday and your trip is making me so much more excited. The pictures are awesome. Can't wait to see about PV. Did you get a letter in your room when you boarded about gratuities being automatically added to your bill? Just curious because it's happening on other ships.

 

[Christy323]

Thank you everyone for the feedback! I'm working on my next installment right now and hope to have it up tomorrow morning sometime.

Did you get a letter in your room when you boarded about gratuities being automatically added to your bill? Just curious because it's happening on other ships.

Nope, we didn't get a letter about automatic gratuities, just the letter and envelopes on the 2nd to last evening detailing tipping standards and procedures. Now I haven't gone through that huge thread on the main board, but I did read the OP and I wondered if that letter was a holdover from the Med cruises that the Magic just did. I know that tipping is a very American concept so maybe it was done in response to non-American folks not tipping because they didn't understand how tipping works in the cruise industry?

 

[DMMarla07860]

Great trip report enjoying it so far, and I see you got a picture with Frankie. He is awesome, I haven't seen him in forever and miss him.

 

[Christy323]

This morning when I woke up, I turned on the “View from the Bridge” channel and lo and behold, we were docked! In front of a mall, no less. We got ready, went up to Beach Blanket Buffet for a quick breakfast, and then made our way to the gangway.

Left: Puerto Vallarta from Deck 9 Aft; Right: a Carnival ship that docked next to us.​

BFF and I hadn’t booked any excursions this week, as we just wanted to explore the ports a little bit. Going into this trip, we saw it as a vacation on the Disney Wonder first, opportunity to visit Mexico second. As such, our plan was pretty laid back: take a cab downtown, walk along the Malecón, try some tequila, visit La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, buy some souvenirs at the Mercado, and then head back to the ship.

Getting off of the ship was pretty easy: you walk down to the gangway, you have your KTTW swiped, and you’re on your way! There were taxi vans waiting close by, and we hopped in a van with other people from the Wonder who wanted to head downtown (I think we paid $4 each). On the way downtown, we saw plenty of sights, like Outback Steakhouse, Office Max, Office Depot, McDonald’s, KFC, and Baskin Robbins. I think they’ve Americanized just a bit.

The van dropped us off right in the middle of downtown, and we started walking down the Malecón, which is the paved boardwalk-like path along the beach. Prior to getting to PV, I had all these grand ideas of walking along the coast, enjoying the scenery and doing a little shopping. However, apparently no one told PV we were coming, because everywhere along the Malecón we saw this:

HEY! I’m walkin’ here!​

Since we got tired of walking around the construction along the Malecón pretty quickly, we walked up one block and walked the rest of the way to the Mercado Municipal. This is the main indoor market where you can find all sorts of stuff: ponchos, blankets, sombreros, ceramics, NFL gear (?!? Seriously though.), etc. I found it to be really overwhelming because there is just so much, but at the same time I had a lot of fun bargaining for things. There are just aisles and aisles of mini-stores packed with stuff and people telling you in Spanish to “come into my store, look around, I have something for you!” One random guy yelled at us in English, “Hey, come over here and take a look at my Mexican junk.” One thing that was said to us by several different men (in both Spanish and English) was “are you looking for something to buy for your boyfriend?” which was then quickly followed up by “are you looking for a new Mexican boyfriend?” I said “tengo un novio en los Estados Unidos, gracias” more than a few times that day.

I was under strict instruction to bring back “something weird and/or funny” for my younger (adult) sister, so I bought her this awesome black lucha libre mask that had hot pink and gold Aztec birds on either side of the face. I would show you a picture, but the only picture I have is of me wearing it, and that picture will NEVER be posted on the internet because I look RIDIC. The woman I bought it from asked for $25 for it, but I was able to get the price down to $12. BFF bought a few magnets and a couple shot glasses for friends back home.

It got pretty hot in the indoor market, so we decided to cross the river and check out the Mercado Isla Cuale, which is the outdoor market. Pretty much the same stuff as in the main Mercado: same magnets, same t-shirts, same old dudes asking us if we had boyfriends. I did buy a cute pair of handmade coconut shell earrings in the shape of stars for $2, and BFF bought a few more knick knacks before we decided to head back and check out the church.

TIP: everyone took US cash. I suggest bringing plenty of small bills, that way when you're bargaining for a good price, you can pay the exact agreed upon price. It also pays to play the "walk away" card, both because they won't say no to a sale if they're still going to make a profit, and also because if they don't want to make the sale, there are plenty other sellers who are selling similar wares and will take your price.

Clockwise from left : Crossing the Cuale River, the Mercado Isla Cuale, a fountain!, the beach.​

It was just a short walk over to check out the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe (La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe). The exterior of the church was beautiful, of course, but I didn’t want to go inside because I was wearing a tank top & I know that bare shoulders aren’t allowed inside of most Catholic churches (outside of the US anyway).

There was a little old nun outside of the church sitting at a table with all sorts of rosaries and other religious wares. I bought my mom a pretty rosary (but I did not haggle with the nun, because who haggles with nuns?) and then we walked back down to the Malecón. BFF & I decided we’d had our fun in PV, so we hopped in a cab and told him to take us back to the ship.

As we got closer to the ship, we remembered that Walmart was across the way from where we were docked. Were we really going to go into Walmart? It seemed wrong, somehow. BUT, BFF & I grew up in a city in the middle of CA where the only things to do at night when you’re a teenager are (1) go to the movies, (2) go to Denny’s, or (3) go to Walmart and wander around. So, for old-time’s sake, we told the driver to drop us off at Walmart instead.

We wandered around in Walmart for a little bit, but it got old pretty quickly, seeing as it’s Walmart. I bought some Mexican Coca-Cola and Manzanita Sol, and we headed back out into the heat.

I see what you did there, PV Walmart, with the “Siempre” instead of the “Always.”​

We also went into the Galleria Vallarta, which is the mall across the street from where the ship docks. It was your average mall, so we were in and out of there pretty quickly.

TIP: There is a Starbucks inside of the Galleria Vallarta. I tell you this not because I am a Starbucks addict, but because when I walked by it, I noticed that EVERYONE around the Starbucks was on their laptops…hello, wi-fi! I didn’t bring my laptop on the ship with me, but hopefully one of you can take advantage of this!

Getting back onto the ship was pretty easy as well. Mexican authorities ask to see your KTTW Card and your photo ID, they search your bag, they run a metal detector over you, and you’re good to go. Quick and painless.

Bye, Puerto Vallarta!​

We made it onto the ship just in time to play more trivia. This time it was general Disney trivia, so it was all sorts of random, obscure stuff. For example, did you know that Walt’s plane that he used to scout locations for WDW was called “November Two Three Four Mickey Mouse?” We didn’t, but we guessed. And guess what? Haha yes. We won two more DCL baseball caps! This was PERFECT, because the day that we had won our first set of baseball caps, we showed them to our tablemates at dinner and they both said, “man, I want a DCL baseball cap! We need to come play trivia with you guys!” So, at dinner that night, we surprised Valerie and Ben with their own DCL baseball caps. They were very happy.

Our trivia winnings so far. It was getting a little out of hand.​

After quick showers and a costume change, we went to see Toy Story: The Musical. I loved it! The actress who played Sid was great, and the costumes they used for the mutilated toys in Sid’s room were really well done. I also liked how they did the aliens in the claw machine. You definitely don’t want to miss this show.

Dinner was at Triton’s, and was the regular French menu. I ordered the duck confit for my appetizer, and it was okay. We also ordered the escargot for the table. I learned that I do not enjoy escargot, but at least I gave it a try. For my entrée I ordered the sea bass with mushroom risotto, which was delish (but not as delish as the sea bass at Palo!), and BFF had the three-cheese lobster macaroni (excellent).

For dessert, I couldn’t decide, so Goran brought me both the brioche and pannetone pudding and the Grand Marnier soufflé. Both were lovely.

Throughout the evening, the characters came out in their Mexican outfits, so of course we had to snag some pictures with them. I cannot get over how cute Minnie’s outfit-a-la-Carmen Miranda was! Fruits on her head! Adorable!

Okay, now here’s where something craaaaazy happened. Like I mentioned before, BFF & I love playing along with the characters, making small talk with them in response to their gestures. For example, a running joke that we had with Minnie was that the first couple of times we ran into her, I always told her that I loved her dress (and I did! The various costumes that they had for Minnie were so cute!). By the third time I saw her (and every time after that) anytime we ran into her in a new outfit, she demonstrated to me that she was showing off her dress, and I always said “Ooh girl, I like this one too!”

Anyway, when we met Mickey in his mariachi outfit, we “chatted” with him a bit, and then we thanked him for the picture and walked away. As we walked away, BFF looked back and noticed that Mickey made some sort of hand motion/signal to his handler (I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s true! Oh, and the handler was Princess Tiana’s “friend,” if you know what I mean). Then the handler came running after us and said (I kid you not) “Mickey would like to know your names and stateroom number, please.”

Say whaaaaaat?

Without even thinking I rattled off our names and stateroom number, and she wrote it all down on a piece of paper, said “Thanks!” and went back to Mickey.

BFF & I were excited and kind of confused, to be honest. What on earth would Mickey want our stateroom number for? Clearly it’s something that has happened before, since there’s some magic hand signal that specifically meant “ask for their stateroom number please.” Were we going to get a creepy 3am visit from Mickey? Unlikely. But what could it possibly be for? A gift? A letter? A report to Guest Services that the girls in Stateroom 5637 were crazy?

...

We didn’t find out until Friday, so you won’t find out until that day of the trip report. How’s that for a cliffhanger?

At the end of the day, we retired to our stateroom and found this little dude:

I thought it was a dinosaur, but then my friend told me later that he thought it looked like an armadillo.​

Coming up: Beautiful Cabo San Lucas...from the ship.

 

[becpee]

Okay, now here’s where something craaaaazy happened. Like I mentioned before, BFF & I love playing along with the characters, making small talk with them in response to their gestures. For example, a running joke that we had with Minnie was that the first couple of times we ran into her, I always told her that I loved her dress (and I did! The various costumes that they had for Minnie were so cute!). By the third time I saw her (and every time after that) anytime we ran into her in a new outfit, she demonstrated to me that she was showing off her dress, and I always said “Ooh girl, I like this one too!”

Anyway, when we met Mickey in his mariachi outfit, we “chatted” with him a bit, and then we thanked him for the picture and walked away. As we walked away, BFF looked back and noticed that Mickey made some sort of hand motion/signal to his handler (I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s true! Oh, and the handler was Princess Tiana’s “friend,” if you know what I mean). Then the handler came running after us and said (I kid you not) “Mickey would like to know your names and stateroom number, please.”

Say whaaaaaat?

Without even thinking I rattled off our names and stateroom number, and she wrote it all down on a piece of paper, said “Thanks!” and went back to Mickey.

BFF & I were excited and kind of confused, to be honest. What on earth would Mickey want our stateroom number for? Clearly it’s something that has happened before, since there’s some magic hand signal that specifically meant “ask for their stateroom number please.” Were we going to get a creepy 3am visit from Mickey? Unlikely. But what could it possibly be for? A gift? A letter? A report to Guest Services that the girls in Stateroom 5637 were crazy?

...

We didn’t find out until Friday, so you won’t find out until that day of the trip report. How’s that for a cliffhanger?

You got me! Now i'm hanging for it!