Formal night was at Lumier's. Very nice atmosphere, in all the resaurants, really. At dinner, I noticed that all three were kinda loud, but nothing that I wouldn't expect from a busy ship. Again, not everyone could make it. 1 of 2 friends could not make it to dinner.
I don't think I would have minded the late dining without children and I really liked that our shows were before dinner so that the kids could enjoy them without being totally exhausted. But, again, the time of dinner wasn't really the issue with the kids, it was the pace-Very slow. They couldn't hang on, and decided to go with the counselors when they came to pick them up for "Dine and Play." When we brought up this option to the kids before dinner they said no, but as soon as the counselors showed up and it was decision time, they had a definite "Yes." Just the walking to the front of the restaurant to meet the counselors seemed to wake them up a bit and take them out of "whiny mode." As has been posted on the Disboards, they don't make an announcement that the counselors are there for "Play and Dine," and your servers (at least ours didn't) don't look out for you to help spot them. (They are pretty busy!) You have to keep looking for the yellow shirts. Before the kids decided on the kids club, we ordered smoothies to bribe them into enjoying dinnner more, which they of course, drank little of.
Our head server, Leann (sp) was very nice. Our beverage server seemed overwhelmed. When I showed up 5-10 minutes after everyone else due to child toileting issues and ordered a mixed drink, he literally flapped his arms with frustration and said something to the effect of "I just brought your husband a drink and now you want me to go back and get you one?!" So, I said, somewhat taken aback, that I would just have a diet Coke. That's what he brought me and I guess Disney doesn't need to make $ on overpriced drinks. Refills were slow too. After dinner, we got the kids from the club and hung out at the Promenade Lounge and danced to the duo called "Midtown." I just loved them in a "Swingers" (the movie) kinda way.
I think the kids and I got ready for bed around 11ish and huband wandered the ship a little. He said that standing on deck 10 (observation deck?) was a little disarming because it is totally dark up there at night, no artificial lights nearby.
We didn't see "Villains Tonight" that day, because my kids can't even handle the scary parts of "Snow White," so I wasn't even chancing it. We didn't see a lot of the shows, and felt ok about it because there is so much else to do.
Day 3--another Sea Day
We had breakfast at Topsiders, or my husband went up and got us a bunch of food and brought it to the room. Some of these facts/events blend into eachother!
We decided to go to the Princess Gathering. Well, we decided not quick enough--the line was all the way from the lobby to the Promenade lounge. Our ship was full, so I expected this sort of thing. Everytime you think about bailing and just leaving, you keep saying to yourself that you had already invested such and such time, what's a little more? Then a few minutes later you consider leaving again, but you stay, cause who doesn't like to meet the Disney characters?
When we got towards the front of the line, Peter Pan showed up kinda workin the line. Then a sub-line formed for him! I had a pedicure appt at the spa, so hubby took over Princess-meeting duties so I could make it on time. We let the kids look out the window, while we held our spot.
4 year old posing hard again:
I found the family eating some burgers and such by the Goofy Pool. I think this is the day my DD7 was the first to spot a whale in the distance. I have video of it, but it barely discernable, so a little boring. I'll spare everyone. (We also saw dolphins swimming when we were leaving Port Canaveral.)
The girls enjoyed sitting up here to watch the show on the Goofy stage, until the little girl next to them fell onto the floor HARD. The CMs told us no more dangerous sitting. DH. who was opposed to them being up there in the first place, didn't have to say "Told you so." Sigh.
We checked the kids into the club in the pm for our beer tasting at 2:00 (I think). This was great for me, because my one friend doesn't really like beer, so I got to "taste" all of hers.
The price was $15 a person and you registered at Guest Services to get tickets. It was fun, but a little stiff. Seemed a little too much like school. Plus, they didn't have any munchies! We all found this odd that the bars only had snacks at certain designated times. I think Disney would increase their profit margin if they just had some pretzels or something in the bars. One funny thing--my husband insists that the CM teaching us about beers was mispronouncing nitrogen and was saying Nie-trojan. He kept giggling. I had to remind him that he was now a 40 year old man. I'm just sayin...
Deck 10(?) and a beer