PoohJen
<font color=green>Willing to share a Mickey Bar?<b
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,045
The Cast: me, DH 41, DS 12, DS 7 & 7 - first time cruise for all of us!
One twin and I woke early, excited to start our day. We went up to Topsiders around 7 a.m., just a few people strolling about. The sun was already shining, but the water was rough and the upper decks windy. I made the mistake of trying to carry our trays to a table on Deck 10 - almost ended up wearing our breakfast on my shirt, due to the rocking and the wind! But it was a lovely view!
Observation: While Topsiders generally had a good selection of food at breakfast and lunch, the food itself was not particulary good, and usually only lukewarm. But I did have some excellent desserts there!
TIP: Topsider's had Mickey waffles at breakfast everyday - they are past the main buffet, sitting at the corner of the breads/donut buffet stand. They are easy to miss!
Still couldn't arouse the other sleepy heads, so I took Ry to the Goofy pool. The twins loved the hot tubs at the Goofy pool. They were always filled with kids and not hot at all.
TIP: kids really enjoy the Goofy (not-so-hot) tubs - especially since kids are usually banned from hot tubs elsewhere. Adults can wait til they have a quiet moment to go enjoy the hot tubs in the adult pool area.
Finally DH and the other boys got up for breakfast and a swim. I tried to squeeze in an "Art of Entertaining" class on appetizers before our Palo brunch. It turned out the main feature was a dish I don't care for, so I went back to my room to get ready for brunch. (this was a big step for me! remember, it's okay if you decide something's not for you!)
The boys went to the Club/Lab while we went up to Palo's. I had booked this a while back with my REAS reservation. It seemed to me that they didn't have us down for a ressie, but they showed us right to a nice table nonetheless.
Ann Marie from South Africa showed us around the buffet and explained the pizzas and entrees. We enjoyed some shrimp, cheeses and cold meats and ordered a Palo thin crust pizza - perfection! DH ordered the eggs benedict, while I had the beef tenderloin (I think. whatever I ordered, it was delicious!). Ann Marie offered to order us additonal entrees, but we declined. Instead, we helped ourselves to the stollen with strawberry jam and whipped cream (so highly recommended on these boards!). Again, perfection! Ann Marie was pleased that we took her advice re: the stollen; otherwise, she said, she would have brought us a plate of it herself.
We also enjoyed a few other desserts, and were truly stuffed when it was time to go.
I should note we ran into many DISfriends at Palo that afternoon - what fun to run into people you "know" - we were all starting to feel like old friends! (cheers, GrayFal!)
Next we rounded up the kids to go to the Golden Mickeys matinee. The twins had eaten with the Club. DS12 was able to sign in/out of the Lab as he pleased, and had eaten with friends he met on the ship.
TIP: one way to keep track of your older children is to have them leave a message on your beeper when they leave the Lab. We also had our son check in with us each night, at which time we would set his final curfew for that night.
DCL offered matinees for both the Golden Mickeys and Disney Dreams. This is especially helpful if you have small children who may be too tired for the evening shows, or if you have plans for an evening (as we did that night), or if you love the show so much, you want to see it live twice!
There was a good sized crowd at the matinee. The Golden Mickeys was well done - an Academy Award-style show of classic Disney moments and songs.
After the show we stopped at Mickey's Mates for a little pin-trading with the staff there. Very friendly folks working there! This was DH's first foray into pin trading (the boys were already avid traders), and he really enjoyed the trading and meeting people! The staff let us know there would be an officer's pin trading session that night in the atrium, so we put that on our to-do list!
TIP: I had planned on purchasing several DCL pins, but we ended up trading for many of them! What fun!
Back to the room for a little rest before dinner and to get ready for formal night. I admit, I had stressed a bit about this before the cruise, but settled on a "little black dress" , with a suit for DH and DS 12 (forgot his belt and tie!) and slacks/sweater vests for the twins. We all looked very nice (each of us picked out a Disney pin to wear on our outfits) and went to have a family picture taken.
TIP: The lines for formal pictures were quite long. They have many posts set up with different backgrounds. You can find these posts set up most every night, so don't stress about getting all your pics taken on the first night.
I am sorry to report - but I want to give an honest report - that my children were not the most cooperative when it came to pictures. I don't know if we ever got a picture all week where all three boys were smiling at the same time!
After a lovely dinner at Lumiere's (sorry, nothing memorable....although I'm sure we had some cheesecake!), we changed and went to the pin trading. Really pleasant, chatting with the crew and other traders. Got some great DCL pins!
Off to the Club/Lab with the boys, while DH and I went to Diversions to catch Sunday Night Football. Not that we were hungry, but you can't have football without snacks, and fortunately, Diversions set out a little hors d'ouvres buffet. NOTE TO DIVERSIONS MANAGER: thanks for the wings, but when Buffalo is playing, make them Buffalo wings. and have some blue cheese there too!
As our team was being trounced, I left by half time (fortunately, our "other" team was winning, as we are Bills fans but also lived in Boston for a long time) and gathered the twins for bed. It had been a full and wonderful day. But I must say I felt a little distressed...here it was, the end of day 2 and I had yet to play Bingo or have a Drink of the Day! Things were not going exactly as planned....!
Click here for Day 3 - Day at Sea and Spa Day!
One twin and I woke early, excited to start our day. We went up to Topsiders around 7 a.m., just a few people strolling about. The sun was already shining, but the water was rough and the upper decks windy. I made the mistake of trying to carry our trays to a table on Deck 10 - almost ended up wearing our breakfast on my shirt, due to the rocking and the wind! But it was a lovely view!
Observation: While Topsiders generally had a good selection of food at breakfast and lunch, the food itself was not particulary good, and usually only lukewarm. But I did have some excellent desserts there!
TIP: Topsider's had Mickey waffles at breakfast everyday - they are past the main buffet, sitting at the corner of the breads/donut buffet stand. They are easy to miss!Still couldn't arouse the other sleepy heads, so I took Ry to the Goofy pool. The twins loved the hot tubs at the Goofy pool. They were always filled with kids and not hot at all.
TIP: kids really enjoy the Goofy (not-so-hot) tubs - especially since kids are usually banned from hot tubs elsewhere. Adults can wait til they have a quiet moment to go enjoy the hot tubs in the adult pool area.Finally DH and the other boys got up for breakfast and a swim. I tried to squeeze in an "Art of Entertaining" class on appetizers before our Palo brunch. It turned out the main feature was a dish I don't care for, so I went back to my room to get ready for brunch. (this was a big step for me! remember, it's okay if you decide something's not for you!)
The boys went to the Club/Lab while we went up to Palo's. I had booked this a while back with my REAS reservation. It seemed to me that they didn't have us down for a ressie, but they showed us right to a nice table nonetheless.
Ann Marie from South Africa showed us around the buffet and explained the pizzas and entrees. We enjoyed some shrimp, cheeses and cold meats and ordered a Palo thin crust pizza - perfection! DH ordered the eggs benedict, while I had the beef tenderloin (I think. whatever I ordered, it was delicious!). Ann Marie offered to order us additonal entrees, but we declined. Instead, we helped ourselves to the stollen with strawberry jam and whipped cream (so highly recommended on these boards!). Again, perfection! Ann Marie was pleased that we took her advice re: the stollen; otherwise, she said, she would have brought us a plate of it herself.
We also enjoyed a few other desserts, and were truly stuffed when it was time to go.
I should note we ran into many DISfriends at Palo that afternoon - what fun to run into people you "know" - we were all starting to feel like old friends! (cheers, GrayFal!)
Next we rounded up the kids to go to the Golden Mickeys matinee. The twins had eaten with the Club. DS12 was able to sign in/out of the Lab as he pleased, and had eaten with friends he met on the ship.
TIP: one way to keep track of your older children is to have them leave a message on your beeper when they leave the Lab. We also had our son check in with us each night, at which time we would set his final curfew for that night.DCL offered matinees for both the Golden Mickeys and Disney Dreams. This is especially helpful if you have small children who may be too tired for the evening shows, or if you have plans for an evening (as we did that night), or if you love the show so much, you want to see it live twice!
There was a good sized crowd at the matinee. The Golden Mickeys was well done - an Academy Award-style show of classic Disney moments and songs.
After the show we stopped at Mickey's Mates for a little pin-trading with the staff there. Very friendly folks working there! This was DH's first foray into pin trading (the boys were already avid traders), and he really enjoyed the trading and meeting people! The staff let us know there would be an officer's pin trading session that night in the atrium, so we put that on our to-do list!
TIP: I had planned on purchasing several DCL pins, but we ended up trading for many of them! What fun!Back to the room for a little rest before dinner and to get ready for formal night. I admit, I had stressed a bit about this before the cruise, but settled on a "little black dress" , with a suit for DH and DS 12 (forgot his belt and tie!) and slacks/sweater vests for the twins. We all looked very nice (each of us picked out a Disney pin to wear on our outfits) and went to have a family picture taken.
TIP: The lines for formal pictures were quite long. They have many posts set up with different backgrounds. You can find these posts set up most every night, so don't stress about getting all your pics taken on the first night.I am sorry to report - but I want to give an honest report - that my children were not the most cooperative when it came to pictures. I don't know if we ever got a picture all week where all three boys were smiling at the same time!
After a lovely dinner at Lumiere's (sorry, nothing memorable....although I'm sure we had some cheesecake!), we changed and went to the pin trading. Really pleasant, chatting with the crew and other traders. Got some great DCL pins!
Off to the Club/Lab with the boys, while DH and I went to Diversions to catch Sunday Night Football. Not that we were hungry, but you can't have football without snacks, and fortunately, Diversions set out a little hors d'ouvres buffet. NOTE TO DIVERSIONS MANAGER: thanks for the wings, but when Buffalo is playing, make them Buffalo wings. and have some blue cheese there too!
As our team was being trounced, I left by half time (fortunately, our "other" team was winning, as we are Bills fans but also lived in Boston for a long time) and gathered the twins for bed. It had been a full and wonderful day. But I must say I felt a little distressed...here it was, the end of day 2 and I had yet to play Bingo or have a Drink of the Day! Things were not going exactly as planned....!
Click here for Day 3 - Day at Sea and Spa Day!
