ELEVATE! Is that a whale out there? A three-generation cruise to Alaska!UPDATE 8/29

[RGirl]

Yay! You're in Alaska!!

I'm always trying to get my family to find Hidden Mickeys with me, and they're not interested either. I'm glad that you got to find some though!

How awesome to have two surprise Dis Meets! And Willow made a new friend too! Sounds like a great morning. A 90 degree pool is my kind of swim. I don't blame Willow at all.

Can't wait to hear about Skagway!

Willow likes looking for HMs at WDW as a time-killer, but she really just wanted to swim.

 

[RGirl]

What beautiful scenery! I mean, really! To get out there on the deck & look at those beautiful mountains....WOW!

How nice that y'all had such an empty ship for a while. Reid has been asking me if we can get a Hidden Mickey book before our trip. Guess I need to go to the bookstore & pick that up. I started teaching him last year about Hidden Mickey's while we were at WL. He even looks for them at home. He did find one in Ed's truck believe it or not.

That's fun that y'all had a surprise DIS meet! And that's great that Willow had a friend to swim with.

Can't wait to hear about the excursion!

If we weren't going on the cruise, I would sooooo be with you! In fact, I came dangerously close to canceling our cruise this past weekend for a few reasons....not because we don't enjoy Disney cruises. But, Ed is adamant that we not spend our entire vacation at the parks next year. He wants the cruise.

But, we're definitely going back to the parks in 2014! It'll probably be early June since I want to be there for Star Wars Weekends. Y'all thinking about 2014 yet? I know, I know....it's probably just me & my crazy self.

The scenery on this trip really was amazing.

Too cute about Reid and the HMs!!!!

I am thinking about 2014 already, but I'm thinking it will probably be a non-WDW year for us. May sneak in a DLR trip though!

 

[RGirl]

23. What? We’re Actually Getting off the Ship? (Day 4)

When I last left you, we had dragged DD from the Mickey pool and stuffed our faces with some food from Pluto’s Doghouse. And now it was time for our first excursion (I seem to remember that we were booked for 11:30 or so)!

DD, Judy 2 and I would be traveling by train today in Skagway! (Judy 1 decided that morning not to join us - she was worried that the train might be a bit rough for her back.) They had us all meet at the Walt Disney Theater. As you checked in, you were given a sticker to show which group you were in - I believe we were The Beast. Soon, we were led off the ship; we walked along a sidewalk and were soon at our train. Quick shot of the Wonder from OFF the boat!

DD wanted to sit with Judy 2. They were having a lot of fun with Alaska Pluto. (Judy 2 did not really want her image plastered all over the internet so I cupcaked her. )

Some shots as we headed out of Skagway.

Before we had even gotten out of town, DD had moved back to sit with me and had fallen totally asleep. (Luckily, this train journey goes one way and back the same way, so she wasn’t going to miss anything.)

It was a beautiful journey.

At some point, DD woke up with those rosy napping cheeks.

I do believe we made it to the border where the back of our train became the front, we flipped the back of our seats around, and changed sides with other passengers (so those of us on the less-than-stellar view side would have the good-view side on the way back down).

DD wanted to go out on the little platform between train cars, so I obliged. It was a little scary out here, but the views were great!

It was at some point while we were out there that we looked down next to the tracks and saw our one and only Alaska Bear moseying along!

Some more pictures of our journey.

Another train following us down:

Eventually, we caught sight of this:

Up next: 24. DD’s Colorful Dinner (Day 4)​

 

[amandaw]

What a gorgeous train ride! I would definitely do that excursion! Those views.... And how cool that y'all saw a bear!! The views are really making me want to do an Alaskan cruise. I've always said I could never do an Alaskan cruise because I hate being cold. What were the temperatures like?

 

[snarfieca]

I'm enjoying reading your TRs and pictures. It's a great way to spend the time before our cruise.

We leave for Minneapolis in 2 weeks and fly from there on the Saturday.

Brenda
from MB

 

[RGirl]

What a gorgeous train ride! I would definitely do that excursion! Those views.... And how cool that y'all saw a bear!! The views are really making me want to do an Alaskan cruise. I've always said I could never do an Alaskan cruise because I hate being cold. What were the temperatures like?

It was high 50s and low 60s pretty much all week. We thought it was very pleasant, but someone who prefers 90s may not enjoy the outdoors as much as we did.

 

[RGirl]

I'm enjoying reading your TRs and pictures. It's a great way to spend the time before our cruise.

We leave for Minneapolis in 2 weeks and fly from there on the Saturday.

Brenda
from MB

Thanks for joining in!

Your cruise is coming up so fast! You are going to love it!!!!!

 

[shan23877]

That seems like a great excursion! Beautiful views with no walking for a little one! Perfect!

Love the shots from the platform, and how awesome that you saw a bear!

 

[megan511]

Those pictures are gorgeous!

I love that Willow got to have the Mickey Pool practically to herself! I bet not many people can say that.

The train ride looks amazing. Chad would be in heaven, he thinks it should be 50s & 60s everyday!

 

[Luv2Diz]

"I had a burger on a gluten-free bun!!!!! I haven’t had a burger on a bun in over a year. It was SO good! (Sadly, Pluto’s never accommodate that request again - I know that they have some very careful requirements about handing out gluten-free stuff, and I am guessing that the guy who made the first burger wasn’t supposed to do it. What I didn’t understand was why, when I asked the next time, the person who told him no."

Can you explain this a little more? I am trying to convince DD to come with me on a future cruise and she needs a gluten-free diet. You can't just ask for a gluten-free bun at Pluto's? They obviously have them if they gave you one, but they aren't supposed to? If gluten-free items aren't readily available (we would definitely advise the cruise line of her needs well in advance) then there is no way she would be interested in cruising. What was the deal with not accommodating your future requests for a gluten-free bun?

 

[CandleontheWater]

Such lovely scenery! How nice to see it from comfy train seats, that's my idea of "exploring the great outdoors"

Your report is really making me dream of an Alaska cruise, it would be a wonderful anniversary trip for me and DH (we were married on July 1st). I think going somewhere cooler would be awesome, because I know it felt like we were vacationing on the surface of the sun during our Mexican honeymoon!

Love the pics of the empty pool, how cool that it was warm enough to swim, even in Alaska!

 

[pixarmom]

Roni, I just love love love this report. I know this might sound funny, but I really appreciate the detail about Willow's less-than-perfect moments because it's reminding me that I need to prepare for those times with our youngest. We invest so much time and money in planning and taking this vacation (we're less than three weeks away from our sailing!) that it's important to remember the reality of a 5-year-old on a ship!

Love to see Willow's pool pictures - how fun! I can guarantee that our three boys will be among the very few in that pool! We just had an unseasonably cool day at home today, and they were in the water bright and early this morning for swim team with temps in the lows 60s. That pool was NOT heated, so the Wonder pools will be a dream!

Beautiful photos of Skagway/train! We have two older boys in addition to our 5-year-old, so we went with the Takshanuk Mountain 4x4 Adventure in Skagway (do I sound like I'm traveling with a husband and three boys?) I hope we'll have the opportunity to see something even close to what you did on the train!

How was Pluto's Dog House? Any reviews of the counter service options on Deck 9? Our youngest is pretty excited about Deck 9 counter service, but we have lots of different tastes in our family, so I'm not sure whether lunch at those locations will be a one-time deal or a regular thing. What did you think?

 

[RGirl]

That seems like a great excursion! Beautiful views with no walking for a little one! Perfect!

Love the shots from the platform, and how awesome that you saw a bear!

It was a very nice excursion. Not very exciting compared to some, but it was just perfect for our particular group. And the views were spectacular!

Those pictures are gorgeous!

I love that Willow got to have the Mickey Pool practically to herself! I bet not many people can say that.

The train ride looks amazing. Chad would be in heaven, he thinks it should be 50s & 60s everyday!

It was truly amazing seeing her swimming in that pool all by herself after seeing all the pictures from Caribbean cruises with that pool so packed you can't even make out any water.

I love weather like that too, so I really enjoyed the entire trip.

Can you explain this a little more? I am trying to convince DD to come with me on a future cruise and she needs a gluten-free diet. You can't just ask for a gluten-free bun at Pluto's? They obviously have them if they gave you one, but they aren't supposed to? If gluten-free items aren't readily available (we would definitely advise the cruise line of her needs well in advance) then there is no way she would be interested in cruising. What was the deal with not accommodating your future requests for a gluten-free bun?

Like I said in the post, I'm not sure what the deal was. However, did not push it because it did not really matter to me - I could get something else, and I don't consider my gluten issues to be dangerous (I could obviously be wrong about that, but at least for now, I am okay if I happen to get a little gluten in my system). I am quite certain that if you let Disney know ahead of time about your daughter's allergy, she will have no problem. I know that I have read reports on here of people traveling on DCL gluten-free - I think they may ask her to order her dinner the night before so that they can specially prepare it. And I am sure that they would be able to tell you what to do to ensure a gluten-free experience at the counter service restaurants too. I just didn't bother to research any further. Please do not let my experience dissuade your daughter - had I tried harder, I know that I could have gotten it sorted out.

 

[RGirl]

Such lovely scenery! How nice to see it from comfy train seats, that's my idea of "exploring the great outdoors"

Your report is really making me dream of an Alaska cruise, it would be a wonderful anniversary trip for me and DH (we were married on July 1st). I think going somewhere cooler would be awesome, because I know it felt like we were vacationing on the surface of the sun during our Mexican honeymoon!

Love the pics of the empty pool, how cool that it was warm enough to swim, even in Alaska!

That is exactly how I prefer to "explore the great outdoors"!

Oh, a July anniversary cruise in Alaska would be amazing. You should do it!!!

Roni, I just love love love this report. I know this might sound funny, but I really appreciate the detail about Willow's less-than-perfect moments because it's reminding me that I need to prepare for those times with our youngest. We invest so much time and money in planning and taking this vacation (we're less than three weeks away from our sailing!) that it's important to remember the reality of a 5-year-old on a ship!

Oh, thank you so much! I'm glad that you are enjoying the report. And I think it is important to try to give some sense of reality rather than sugar-coating everything - I mean, kids are going to have melt-downs!

Love to see Willow's pool pictures - how fun! I can guarantee that our three boys will be among the very few in that pool! We just had an unseasonably cool day at home today, and they were in the water bright and early this morning for swim team with temps in the lows 60s. That pool was NOT heated, so the Wonder pools will be a dream!

Your boys are going to LOVE the pools. Make sure that they know to start checking the water temp after the first day or so so that they know when it has reached toasty warm. If your cruise is anything like ours, others won't realize how hot the water is until quite a ways into the cruise, and your boys will have some very uncrowded pool time.

Beautiful photos of Skagway/train! We have two older boys in addition to our 5-year-old, so we went with the Takshanuk Mountain 4x4 Adventure in Skagway (do I sound like I'm traveling with a husband and three boys?) I hope we'll have the opportunity to see something even close to what you did on the train!

I would totally guess that you were traveling with 4 boys!

How was Pluto's Dog House? Any reviews of the counter service options on Deck 9? Our youngest is pretty excited about Deck 9 counter service, but we have lots of different tastes in our family, so I'm not sure whether lunch at those locations will be a one-time deal or a regular thing. What did you think?

You know, Pluto's was typical CS stuff - hotdogs, burgers, chicken strips. We liked it just fine. Goofy's had some nice sandwiches (I can't eat sandwiches, but others said they were good), green salads, and huge platters of fruit from which you could request what you wanted. Also, make sure to take advantage of the fact that you can pick up food for one member of your family at Pluto's and take it with you somewhere else on the ship. At least once, DD had some food from Pluto's and ate it in Beach Blanket with us while we enjoyed the buffet.

 

[RGirl]

24. DD’s Colorful Dinner (Day 4) (Part 1)

When I last left you, we were just returning from our very first excursion. We got back to the ship at about 4:00, which gave us plenty of time to shower and change for dinner. Tonight, we were scheduled to dine at Animator’s Palate, and it was the show dinner - there is a very cool color-changing “show” that happens in this restaurant (but only during one of your assigned dinners there). Unfortunately (or fortunately ), the adults were set to dine at Palo again tonight.

I wanted DD to experience the color show though, so I took her down to Animator’s Palate for our regularly scheduled dining time. When we got down to Animator’s, the doors were not open yet, so we went to get out of the way of traffic and ran into a good friend of DD’s!

DD and I went out on the deck for a bit after saying good-bye to Tiana. We watched the excursion helicopters taking off and landing.

Eventually, Animator’s opened, and DD and I headed to Table 71. When we first arrived, the restaurant and art were all black and white. Even our servers’ vests were black and white.

[continued in the next post]

​

 

[RGirl]

24. DD’s Colorful Dinner (Day 4) (Part 2)

DD did not want an appetizer tonight, so instead of making her wait through all the courses that were being served elsewhere in the dining room, our servers brought out her entree right away.

Juni made her a Pluto paw out of ketchup.

And Doulson suckered me into buying this light-up Ariel.

I, of course, ordered a cocktail! I think this was the Renaissance - Absolut vodka, triple sec, raspberry puree, lime juice, and sparkling wine. Wish I had one right now….

I loved the details in here.

As DD dined, various of the wall art would change to color. DD was really intrigued with it.

The paint brush columns turned to color as well.

Despite all of this, DD wanted to leave for the kids club. I kind of forced her to stay. I knew she would really enjoy the “show” if she would just stick it out.

Some pudding helped a little.

And soon Sorceror Mickey appeared to make the entire restaurant come to life. When the servers reappeared, their vests were colored as well.

Unfortunately, I don’t have more pictures because DD really did want to zip out of there and get to the kids club.

Up next: 25. More Fine Dining with The Judies (Day 4)​

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

Oh! More now tonight please! I want to see how you like it the second night! I've only done it once a Cruise. My mother and I are going to try to do it at LEAST twice on our two week trip...maybe more if we can. Mostly because *and I don't know if they gave it to you* at the end you get a lemoncello shot with lemon sorbet. Its the BEST THING EVER! And we plan on asking them for a few of them during our meal....we don't mind paying for them. And I may even ask for them during my ACTUAL meals in the other restaurants.

Also, those Princesses LOVE your daughter! They all seem so connected with her! But she's so adorable I don't know who wouldn't want to spend time with her!

Can't wait for more!

 

[RGirl]

Oh! More now tonight please! I want to see how you like it the second night! I've only done it once a Cruise. My mother and I are going to try to do it at LEAST twice on our two week trip...maybe more if we can. Mostly because *and I don't know if they gave it to you* at the end you get a lemoncello shot with lemon sorbet. Its the BEST THING EVER! And we plan on asking them for a few of them during our meal....we don't mind paying for them. And I may even ask for them during my ACTUAL meals in the other restaurants.

Also, those Princesses LOVE your daughter! They all seem so connected with her! But she's so adorable I don't know who wouldn't want to spend time with her!

Can't wait for more!

You are so sweet.

We had three Palo meals, and we loved them all! You know, we were boozing it up so much at those meals that we never did have the lemoncello. Next time (and, yes, even next time when it will just be me and DD, I will totally be going to Palo), I will make sure to try it!

DD and the princesses go way back. Seriously, those girls are just lovely - they make every little princess-in-training feel so special. DD loves meeting them so much. And Tiana was especially great on this trip.

More soon - I am itching to get this wrapped up so that I can start my Pre-Trip Report!!!!

 

[shan23877]

I'm so obsessed with Animator's Palate. I saw it on a Travel Channel show years ago, and have been so intrigued ever since.

I love that the server's change their vests too! What a cool restaurant experience.

Too bad Willow wasn't super into it. Those kids' clubs must be great!

I CANNOT wait for Fine Dining with the Judies Part 3!

 

[RGirl]

I'm so obsessed with Animator's Palate. I saw it on a Travel Channel show years ago, and have been so intrigued ever since.

I love that the server's change their vests too! What a cool restaurant experience.

Too bad Willow wasn't super into it. Those kids' clubs must be great!

I CANNOT wait for Fine Dining with the Judies Part 3!

I really liked AP, and Willow did too - but she was just over the eating-out-in-a-nice-restaurant-every-night thing at this point, I think. Or maybe she is just particularly impatient with restaurant meals? I'm not sure.

Either way, it is a really neat restaurant and worth going to see the transformation even if you do have a Palo reservation that night.

One more Palo dinner and a brunch coming up soon! But the trip will be winding down to the end soon. *sigh* Why does that happen so fast????