Disturbing Disney Dreams...Jan 13, 7 night Western

[BethA]

the Cinderellas are not twins--if you are in the first few rows you can tell the difference. they both have the same wigs and are made up the same.

 

[lbgraves]

Quick note on handlers...we had our Bkfst on Thursday am and it was the day after Twice Charmed. So it was still fresh in my mind. I see the handler with Pluto and he was looking extremely familiar to me. It then hit me that this was the person who played Franco, the wicked step-father. When Pluto came up to our table I looked very closely and was convinced but did not say anything. Figured I would just go with my assumption. But, strange as it may seem we were leaving just as Pluto had to take a break and he was playing and chasing my kids out of AP so I was walking with his handler. Of course, inquiring minds want to know so I whispered to him, " You did a great job last night, I thought you stole the show as Franco." He said thanks and that his evil twin appreciates it. So I guess some of the handlers have double duties.

Tim

Yes all of the entertainment staff have double duties onboard during the day. One reason for little to no appearances during port days is they get the chance to practice in the theater.

Also, enjoying your report very much! Just info that I learned on our second cruise in the galley tour, each dining room has their own galley.

 

[lbgraves]

I think you're right. DH swore that Cinderella was the handler for a character he saw once. He also was convinced that in Twice Charmed the Cinderella role was played by twins (because of the quick costume change). Anybody know?

No, they both wore wigs. "Belle" helps to distract you with the switch to the right side of the stage when the fairy godmother is singing & Cindy & the Prince are on the side near the curtains. They both have darker hair. The other performers also make sure that you never see her face very well after the switch before the transformation. Cindy is behind the FGM or facing the back of the stage.

 

[We Love the Mouse!]

Great report! We had Claudio as our asst server on the 12/30/06 cruise and we loved him. We also noticed the handlers as actors from the shows. Who couldn't miss the guy who plays Tarzan.

 

[ldeninge]

Paul left bright and early for his scuba excursion with BIL#2. They were on the first tender boat to Grand Cayman. His brother is a certified dive master, but Paul had to do the ‘quickie’ scuba certification class before he could dive. (Remember, we live in Iowa – being land-locked, it’s not a hotbed for scuba). The class was basically his brother going over the emergency procedures with him in the water.

So, they stuck together and he really liked the experience. He especially enjoyed seeing a sea turtle (and the topless beach on 7 Mile Beach while walking back, from what I understand...)

The kids and I slept in until 8. After getting up and dressed, we went up to Topsider’s to get breakfast for Jacob. He was scheduled for Flounder’s from 9am-1pm. I still hadn’t figured out the food policy in Flounder’s. So, we took the whole tray up and I asked the CM what I should feed him beforehand, what they would keep for snack, and what would happen at lunchtime. She said they’d keep the banana for snack, but we should feed him the pancake and grapes ahead of time. She also said for lunch they provide turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches and fruit. That sounded great to me!

At 9, he was done with breakfast and I asked if he wanted to go and play. “YEAH!”, he shouted, and sprinted off my lap into the nursery. We checked on him (through the one-way mirror) a couple times later in the morning, and the kids seemed to all be playing very happily.

So Katherine and I headed up to get our breakfast. At 10am in the lab was ‘Eggsperiments’ that she wanted to see. So we did that, and then swam in the Mickey Pool from 11-12:30. It was WONDERFULLY deserted. I was glad we took the opportunity to get some pool time on a port day.

We enjoyed running into Oma at the pool, changed clothes and picked up Jacob from the nursery at 1pm. We then got lunch for Katherine from Topsiders (and a snack for Jacob). The OC was having parachute games (one of Katherine’s favorite activities) so we checked her in for that.

Oma and I got our comfy shoes on, put Jacob in the stroller and walked on the promenade deck for a couple hours (Jacob slept 45 min).

Oma and I also went up to Shutters to see if there were pictures up from Formal night, but it was closed. (By the way, Paul always gave a big SHUDDER when I said ‘Shutters’…is that the response people have when they see their pictures? Or when they get the bill?)
*Side note – I was pleased with the fact that we only spent $70 on pictures from the ship photographers. BIL#1 bought copies of our big family shot for everyone. Besides that, we got a few nice family photos, but didn’t buy any of the character ones (and never ran into a photographer taking spontaneous photos). We were able to get decent ones of the characters ourselves, and can’t bear the thought of spending $10 each on 5x7 (with silly borders) or $20 on 8x10. Also, I was aggravated that they couldn’t change the sizes. I would have happily purchased a CD with all the pictures for $100 or so, so I could print them (borderless) at whatever size I wanted later.

Anyway, I checked on Katherine – they were now playing Ultimate Challenge in the Studio Sea. She enjoyed this at first, but ended on a sour note - she was grumpy and disappointed that she didn’t get selected to be a contestant in the Hula Hoop contest (and show off her newly acquired skills).
Here’s a picture of the exhausted group (Katherine is the cross little one in the peach shirt front and center):

Paul and BIL#2 were now back from scuba excursion, so they took Jacob to play in the club together. That was really fun for Jacob - to play 'with the big kids' and climb and run, and we didn't mind hanging out with him in there. Katherine and I relaxed back in the room.

Dinner Tuesday evening was at Lumiere’s. Opa was coming down with a cold, so wasn’t feeling very well. Oma & Opa had not been thrilled with their excursion on Grand Cayman. It was the Nautilus Undersea Tour & Reef Snorkel. They liked the glass bottom boat, but had not worn their swimsuits under their clothes. So when it was time to ‘strip’ for the snorkel part, there was no place to change on the boat. Also, Oma wasn’t interested in the shopping on Grand Cayman, so they had just come back early and relaxed on the boat.

Upon getting back to the room after dinner, Jake had learned that the cool towel animals (this was the cobra) hide little chocolates. Here he is stealing them from our bed. Apparently next door, our little Ne4 would clear out all the chocolates from both of their rooms upon returning after the show!

The show that night was Twice Charmed. Jacob fell asleep in the room by 8:30 - facilitated by the antihistamine I slipped him for his rash from the sun block. Both Katherine and Paul really enjoyed the show – although during much of the performance she was pretty concerned that it wouldn’t come out ok.

Next installment – adventures in Cozumel, and the family is VERY late returning from the Ruins excursion...

 

[tamim]

Your report is really well done. I am enjoying the read thoroughly. Glad you were able to pop in the pictures along the way. Keep it up you have an audience!

 

[ldeninge]

thanks for the encouragement - it's fun to review the trip and glad others like it.
I'll get Cozumel posted as soon as I can.
Lauri

 

[PrincessMom2002]

I like how you are being so candid about everything. I am too much of a planner by nature. I have 8 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days to get used to the idea that while we are on our cruise I should not expect everything to go as planned! And also it sounds like some mom alone time is necessary for mom sanity.

 

[plutospup]

It sounds like Jake made quite a discovery! I know it's always a battle between DD & I to see who finds the chocolates first.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

I'm so disillusioned that Mickey is a girl...

I had the same reaction when I read that!!!!

 

[pierresgirl]

Great report!!! Keep it coming! Your kids are just adorable!

 

[ldeninge]

I decided to do some laundry first thing Wednesday morning.
Since we were up anyway, 7am is a good time, I discovered. The laundry room was pretty much abandoned. I had brought a travel size bottle of Tide ($1 at Target for 4 washes) and a little ziplock bag of a few bounce sheets. (Did I mention already how GREAT the pop-up laundry hamper was? Well, it was GREAT! I grabbed the handles, put my money and laundry items in the side pocket and sauntered down the hall to the laundry room.) The machines took $1 each, and I had to run the dryer loads twice each.

After breakfast, we were off the boat about 10am. I had gone through the buffet line and made PB&J sandwiches to go with our water bottles in the cooler. I’d also brought some little Tupperware dishes and filled them with melon (which I realized upon disembarking was illegal. Uh-oh. After some furtive discussion, Paul and I decided that since no one appeared interested in searching our small soft-side cooler, we’d just try to slide past and no one questioned us about it.

Right off the pier, there were lots of cabs. They even had a big sign posted with the prices (in $USD from about $10-$20) to various locations. It seemed very tourist friendly, clean and safe. Paul and I used our ‘conversational Spanish’ and got along fine. Quite frankly, most everyone we encountered spoke English much better than we do Spanish, but we wanted to be courteous.

Our original idea was to check out a bicycle rental shop that I had heard about (Isla Bicycleta) and ride bikes on the moped trails that circle the island. I had come across some information that suggested it was a nice way to tour. However, upon asking our driver, he said that although there was the bike shop I asked about, he would not recommend riding on the trails with children. Although I was disappointed, Paul reminded me that we could do the bike rental on Castaway Cay and that would most certainly be safer. As we rode along in the cab, I could see that the trails were right by the road (sometimes part of the road (like a shoulder) and our driver was correct – it would not have been safe with a baby seat on one of our bikes, and our 5 year old riding alone. I appreciated his advice.

So, our plan B was to check out Paradise Beach. It’s a public beach, about 7 miles from the port. It’s free entry and includes use of lounge chairs. There is a small fee for floats, to use the climbing structure in the water, etc.

Behind me in this picture you can see the water trampoline and the climbing structure, as well as parasailing.

They have a bar/outdoor restaurant, gift shop, and bathrooms/changing rooms. The sand was lovely, and the beach (although crowded with lounge chairs) was very clean.

In my haste to try to get everything together I had forgotten to bring towels from the boat. Of course, we had thought we might be traveling by bike, so we had tried to pack extra light. Anyway, it was so sunny and warm, we just dried off with our t-shirts and wore the swimsuits home. I was glad I had packed some quick-dry shorts to wear over my suit.

The only (minor) disappointment I had with Paradise beach was my drink. Paul ordered a beer and it came in a bottle. Good enough. When I ordered, my diet Coke came not in a can or plastic bottle, but in a syrofoam cup with ice. I’ve heard repeatedly that it’s not advisable when traveling in Mexico/Caribbean to have drinks with ice, since it’s not for certain the ice is made with bottled water. So, I took a sip of my soda and left the rest. After enjoying the sand/surf for about an hour, we dried off and ate a snack in the bar. Paul and I got nachos and the kids ate the PB&J sandwiches (and we all quickly ate our contraband watermelon!)

The flowers and trees were gorgeous – Katherine wanted desperately to pick one of the hibiscus (anyone – corrections if I’ve got the flower wrong?) and put it behind her ear. We refrained, but instead took a picture of her with the whole tree behind her.

The cab we took to the beach was a newer car – it even had seat belts in the back. I was feeling rather smug that so far, my kids had sat so well on the plane, and on the Disney bus, without car seats. On the trip out to the beach, Katherine just sat in her seat with the lap belt and Jacob sat quietly on my lap and we rode out to the beach. Remember that pride cometh before a fall…

The return cab was an older car – there were no seat belts in the back seat, and the windows seemed to be stuck down. Katherine decided this would be a perfect opportunity to be dangerously disobedient. She was bouncing around the back of the car and leaning to look out of the window. This second driver was also driving much more aggressively. I think he was using brake and accelerator simultaneously, and red lights were obviously just a suggestion. I was terrified the kids were going to get hurt if we stopped quickly or got into an accident. I tried to explain my concern to Katherine and wanted to have my arm on her to try to restrain her. This spiraled out of control to a battle of epic proportions. We all were at the end of our rope. By the time we returned to the port at 2pm (which was Punta Lagosta, not International Pier, like our stateroom map had indicated) I was completely ready to offer her for adoption to a nice Mexican family (or anyone else who would have taken her). It was a miserable moment. It was one of those low times as a parent when you are stuck in a losing battle and had nothing at hand to use as incentive (reward or punishment). Reasoning made no effect on her, and any physical force I tried only made it worse as she squirmed to get further from me. Of course, Jacob then also decided he didn’t want to be held and was also squirming like a cat at the vet’s.

Voice of experience: If you are concerned about car safety, you may want to wait (and maybe even offer to pay extra) for a cab that has seat belts in the back. I certainly would have happily done so. Restraining 2 uncooperative children by myself was impossible.

After getting back to the room, I showered and Paul took Jacob for a stroller ride to get a little nap. Katherine had some ‘thinking time’ in the room. I was still so angry with her. Eventually, she apologized and we made up. We talked about how if she doesn’t obey (even when it doesn’t make sense to her), we can’t trust her and can’t take her places to do fun things. I pointed out all the fun things we could have stayed to do in Cozumel, and how we weren’t able to do any of that because she had been so naughty. Anyhow, she seemed to ‘get it.’

 

[ldeninge]

Dinner was at Animator’s Palette that night - it was Pirate Night, so we all were looking forward to that. We all dressed in our finery (ok, it wasn’t that fancy, but fun). Of course, Jacob wasn’t at all interested in wearing a scarf or eye patch, but at least had a tropical shirt. Here is a picture of BIL#2 and Paul looking fierce…

Jake & me - not so fierce…

and Katherine with Pirate Minnie (downright cute!).

There was one VERY noticeable difference about our dining party that night. We were missing Oma, Opa, BIL#1 and family. Hmmm… where could they be? They were to have done the Mayan Ruins tour – which involved a ferry to the mainland and a ride to the ruins. It was supposed to have been back around 4pm. It was of course 6pm now as we were sitting at dinner, and the ship was to leave port at 6:30. By 6:15 we started looking around and realized there were lots of empty seats. Are all these people really at Palo? Maybe there is a delay with the excursion? Thank goodness they were on a Disney-linked excursion –hopefully they won’t be left behind?!?!?! We kept thinking they’d dash in the door at AP, but nope. Mo said he’d be happy to order a variety of dishes that we think they’ll like, so we did that, but we didn’t really know what anyone would want to try.

At 6:30 we heard the boat start moving, so realized it was now or never. I went to a house phone and called Opa & Oma’s room. Thankfully, Opa answered – yes, they were back on the ship – but just by 10 minutes! The excursion was just really REALLY longer than advertised!

Opa & Oma came down about 7pm, but BIL#1 and family just went to Topsiders’ and got ready for the pirate party. Mo had kindly ordered a lovely fruit plate for Oma (just what she loves) and Opa ate some of the entree that came. They said the excursion was interesting. On the way back to the room, I ran into Ne11 in the elevator. He said it was a great excursion – he especially liked the cave river. He was disappointed to have missed dinner, so to be kind I remarked ‘oh, it wasn’t that great, anyway. You didn’t miss much!’ After getting off the elevator, another gentleman (who appeared to have had one too many Pina Coladas on the beach that day) proceeded to rant about how I was sure right about how the food wasn’t any good on the cruise, just bland and crappy, etc. I remarked that any place that didn’t have a clown serving cheeseburgers was gourmet to me! (Hmmm… I wonder if a serving ice cream is really any better…oh never mind! )

After dinner, Katherine (who made up for her earlier atrocities by being a model citizen at dinner) and I went downstairs in search of character photos and autographs while Paul got Jake ready for bed. After seeing Pirate Minnie (see photo above), we went together to Shutters. She enjoyed seeing all the pictures and helping me spot her in the walls of children’s photos.

On our way back to the room, we meandered around past Studio Sea and saw they were playing Family Karaoke. I asked her if she wanted to go in and watch, and since it had just started, we even decided to participate. There was a book of songs, but I wanted something we’d both know really well, so tried to pick something from one of our favorite Disney movies (aren’t I a good DCL guest!?!) I tried to steer her towards something from Mary Poppins, but she wanted Bippity Boppity Boo. A cute song, I figured she can’t read, so what does it matter if the lyrics aren’t actual words…we can wing it, right?

It was fun – friendly crowd! Did I mention that I discovered after sitting back down, that my fly was open? Thank goodness I had a big scarf style belt on, so I convinced myself no one had seen anything, and that their applause was just being supportive! We enjoyed the rest of the participants. One family in particular made the night. It was four girls, ages 3-8. I don’t know if they were sisters, friends, or cousins. Problems started because there were 2 microphones and 4 girls. So – someone’s got to share. Not good when 4 *divas* are on stage. The 2 littlest ones started crying and throwing a fit because they couldn’t bear to share a mic. The MC tried to offer his for them to use and they shrank from him like he offered them a burning torch. Eventually, the 3 year old ripped the cord from the mic so then they were down to one mic for 4 girls. The two older ones tried valiantly to continue the song, and the mom even came up and tried to help. It was such a hilarious scene. All of us parents enjoyed that it wasn’t OUR children up there, as we’ve all been there before, and the girls were just so earnest about their desire to each have their OWN microphone! After the song, the MC remarked, ‘wow, there was so much HEART in that performance. I’m afraid, though, that this band will not be together after this album.’ We all just roared!

Karaoke was finished at 9, so we headed back to the room. Jake was already asleep and Katherine went to bed easily. Oma came over about 9:30 while Paul and I went up to the Pirate party. It was fun – kind of like the sail away party, but much later at night. I understand they need it to be dark for the fireworks, but it seems like during the winter months, they could move it up to 8:45 start and still it would be plenty dark by 10:30, instead of 11:30.

SIDE NOTE: we had brought ear plugs, but forgot to take them up to the party – would have been helpful. If you’re up on deck 10 looking down, it probably doesn’t matter, but we had fun being right in the middle dancing, and so it was deafening.

up next – our second day-at-sea, and Jacob discovers the delicious magic of Mickey bars…

 

[cepmom]

I am loving your trip report! We were on the same cruise ~ had the same rotation and also went to Paradise Beach! I wonder if that's my DH and DD's on the iceberg in your picture....they were on that thing all day!

 

[ldeninge]

I am loving your trip report! We were on the same cruise ~ had the same rotation and also went to Paradise Beach! I wonder if that's my DH and DD's on the iceberg in your picture....they were on that thing all day!

could have been them - it looked like alot of fun!! Wasn't that beach pretty? I loved the little fish swimming around my feet while wading.

did you eat at the restaurant there?

 

[cepmom]

yes we ate there too...I was also worried about the ice/water issue. I brought bottled water with us ~ I ordered a beer that came in a bottle and DH had a ginger ale that came in a can, thank goodness! I was worried about any fresh produce too, so I wouldn't let anyone eat anything that wasn't cooked! The food we had was great ~ I had the quesadillas, and DD17 had fajitas. I forget what the rest had, but they liked it whatever it was!

Did you meet the owner? He was walking around introducing himself and asking if everything was okay, how did we hear of Paradise Beach etc. He seemed like a great guy.

The whole place was great ~ if we are ever on a Western cruise again, we will definitely return to Paradise Beach

 

[ldeninge]

Did you meet the owner? He was walking around introducing himself and asking if everything was okay, how did we hear of Paradise Beach etc. He seemed like a great guy.

The whole place was great ~ if we are ever on a Western cruise again, we will definitely return to Paradise Beach

We didn't meet the owner, but all the staff was friendly and helpful. We would definitely return, as well!

 

[Bytor01]

We had a lot of fun in Cozumel also. Possibly the best excursion of the three we did. I decided to jump on the trip report bandwagon also. I will be posting mine on here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1342280. Keep them coming.

 

[sopandbass]

Lauri ~

It's so fun reliving the cruise through your report! You made some scary pirates there!!!!

Sharon

 

[akdaisy]

Loving your report!

This is the best quote, and it bears repeating:

If she wants to hop on all the blue squares in the carpet (for 20 minutes) and that is fun for her, we’ll do that – even if it means missing the princess in the atrium. Instead of trying to squeeze her into my idea of what a ‘perfect’ vacation should be, I needed to try to let go of my ‘travel agent’ mode and try to get into ‘spontaneous fun’ mode. I struggled with that because Disney doesn’t have a lot of room for ‘spontaneous fun’. If you aren’t there on time, or don’t make your reservation, you miss out. However, we didn’t spend much money for this trip, and my in-laws were happy that everyone was together having fun, so that’s what I should try to allow to happen.

I love it. You and I have very similar philosophies!