From the Sea to the World - Holiday Edition - Completed

[Flossbolna]

I'm back from Florida and all caught up!

I see - and now I am having troubles getting caught up on replies on my thread!!! Hope you had a great time in Florida!

Every vacation goes way too quickly. Drives me crazy.

I have been lucky over the past years and had some amazing three week vacations... And even those end way too quickly.

I love French toast, but I'm glad you are still proving that pineapple and bacon are two of the foods that make everything better!

Stupid me - but yes, this is exactly what happened here!

Ah, someone got the comment. I love it that Michael is not posting himself, so he can't speak back on comments like this. But he truly loves his Ariel two-part swim suit!!

Very cool! I love the art, too.

Yes, lots of really nice art!

Talk about a disappointment--what did he get, 5 french fries?

I know, I was thinking this was a tiny portion, too.

Hogan's Heroes!

I guess I need to google this... Seems like everyone knows this Herr Schulz (which I just picked randomly as it is one of the most common surnames in Germany).

Sounds like Michael and I would get along very, very well. Although I'll add pork and ham to the list.

I take it back. KALE?!?!?!

I love that smiley!! And with regard to kale you and I totally agree!

That sounds really, really interesting to me for some reason. Probably because it's fried.

it does have neither pineapple nor bacon though...

Ok, I thought I had never met Michael. But obviously he has seen me and my family before. Next time, don't be shy! Come on over and say hi!

This is one of those things that rubs me the wrong way about fine dining. I'm the customer. I know what I like. Don't force things on me!

I generally agree, but Sebastien was doing it in a really charming way that was not disapproving, more encouraging to try something new. That was one of the reasons why I thought the service was so excellent!

I think this would be worth visiting for those pretzels alone!

Those looked great, didn't they? I was tempted to buy one, but they were huge!

Thanks! I love the photos. Looks like a charming city.

It used to be even more charming until we started a war in which most of our cities got bombed into ruins. Nuremberg was once nicknamed the "jewel-case" of Germany. In 1945 over 95% of the city center was destroyed... One cannot start to imagine how pretty it must have been before!

Oooh, when do we get to learn German curse words??

That would be a different thread...

I'm trying to remember when Julie stopped feeling this way about me. I think it happened when we had kids. Suddenly she was less interested in having me around than she was in having me keep the kids away.

But your kids are so lovely!! At least from the distance in your trip reports....

Yes, I am really not proud of what we did to that poor ship!!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

In July 1996. So this year it will be 19 years and I was only meant to be in the UK for a year.

That is a long time!! I went to England for one year in September 1997 and nearly got stuck there as well.

Yes, but we got so much more out if those cruises than just a free meal at Palo.

Oh, of course!!

I absolutely loved all the photos. I can't wait to get another chance to see Castaway Cay. Out of my 13 Disney cruises, I only made it to Castaway Cay on for occasions. We have done a lot of west coast cruises and twice when we should have gone to Castaway Cay, we were not able to dock there.

I was so afraid that we would not be able to dock or that the weather would be horrible. Now, after two really great experiences with CC, I feel like I won't be so disappointed if the next one fails me. Of course, the next cruise is not going there at all!

I love all the photos of the Christmas decorations.

I am glad that you are enjoying them!

Initially I was not too keen on this, but the duck tail has grown on me.

I guess I should reserve final judgement until I see it in person (in 23 days!!!).

I did not know this. I suppose the last time I was at Castaway Cay, we were still Silver Castaway Club members.

Then it really was a long time ago!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

So is Michael suggesting I'm old if I understood the Hogan's Heroes reference? .

I guess he is... That is typical of him! Offending all my readers...

I really need to google that Hogan's Heroes thing... (not because I am so young, but because I am so not-American...)

I've really been enjoying your trip report. Maybe we'll bump into you on the Fjords cruise - you are on the first one right?

Yes, we are on the 7-night Norway! I guess from your ticker that you are going to be on the Transatlantic already! Have a great cruise and say hi if you see me on the ship in three weeks!!

 

[ShellB8585]

Catching up after a Disneyland Paris visit - your pictures of the islands are just beautiful!

We aren't going on the Dream or Fantasy in the near future and I always imagined Remy was something we wouldn't really be interested in based on other reviews. However, after reading your write up I am sold! It all looks and sounds so wonderful! Now do go and find a cruise....

Looking forward to seeing more

 

[Flossbolna]

I finished up your last update at CC. Sounds like a nice relaxing day, even if Michael didn't feel all that well. I would like to try a Konk Kooler, but I don't know how I'll feel about the coconut flavor in there.

I love coconut, so for me it was perfect. They have other tasty drinks on the island. The last time I had some blue drink that was really good, too.

We have started picking up food souvenirs and I really like it. I brought home some Amish made Egg Noodles from our trip to Ohio last summer and they were really good. I have half the bag left, and unfortunately can't eat it now. Maybe on a special occasion.

Sorry about the noodles... They sound delicious! The good thing about food souvenirs is that they don't clutter and you actually get subsequent experiences out of them.

The 2 & 3 night cruises were a quick way to boost up our status to Platinum. I did book at 2 nighter in front of our 5 nighter in October when I realized that we were most likely canceling the 2 & 3 B2B. At least I will get the B2B experience. What will be funny is that we will board the 2 nighter as silver and the 5 nighter as Gold. Fran will have to hold off shopping for two days!

Oh! I hope you get the two nighter filled up with other activities so that Fran is not too tempted to spend all her times in the shops! Maybe book lots of alcohol tastings...

That's why I can't wait to sail on the Dream or the Fantasy!

I really hope you can get on them soon!!

That's what we did the very first time we went to CC, although we did snorkel in the bay. It was so new there was nothing growing there. Fran wants to try and snorkel again. Hopefully she will be up to it by December. Then we will hit Serenity Bay for a drink and lunch. I might sign up to go parasailing.

I would love to snorkel at CC. I think the next cruise I am there with Michael I will let him sleep in and go snorkeling on my own in the morning. He is not a big snorkeler (I think he mentioned that before that he thinks the fish laugh at him...), but I love it. Since your cruise in December is going to be a short one on the Dream, I think your plans sound good! Just head back to the ship early and enjoy your time on the rather empty ship!

 

[Flossbolna]

Just finished your update on the Remy experience. All I can say is WOW! What unbelievable food and impeccable service. I am seriously, like really seriously considering doing V&A's on my trip, possibly even all by myself if that's necessary. I've never done a 5 star, but am ready. This is the 2nd review for this kind of meal (yours and one from V&A) and I know I'd really enjoy it a lot.

I can very much understand that you want to experience a meal like this - I can't wait to get back to Remy or try V&A either. But I think this type of meal is really something that is more enjoyable if it is shared with a like minded person to talk about the different tastes and such. Not sure you can find another DISer for your upcoming trip, but weren't we already a party of three for another trip in the future??? I know we arranged it over on Glenn's TR, but I am not sure who was the third person who wanted to take part! Another thing I really liked about Remy was that the meal there was our one big event for the day. Katharina and I talked about maybe going to V&A both of our WDW trips and finally decided against it as we felt that in order to do it justice it would take out too much time from the park experience. To me that type of meal fits better to a very relaxed trip like a cruise (or like my WDW trips are slowly becoming since I have been so regularly over the last decade...).

I enjoyed your reactions and descriptions SO much! Each course had my mouth watering.

I am happy that I could share that experience with my readers!

LOVED your pictures of Nuremburg as well. Such a sweet town; we'd go back and have a do-over in a NY minute if we could. Someday....

I am looking forward to that some day!

Ok, I can't keep my eyes open any longer, so will have to read the "Bonus Update" next time I can sneak a few minutes on the DIS.

Hope you get through your last four weeks really well!

Oh, by the way. I am old and watched Hogan's Heroes everyday after school for years.

I really need to google that...

Loved reading about Castaway Cay...hope I can get there someday!

It is a beautiful place! But that beach in Hilton Head looks quite spectacular, too! And there are Dole whips, no Dole Whips or Mickey Bars on CC!

 

[Flossbolna]

Catching up after a Disneyland Paris visit - your pictures of the islands are just beautiful!

Thanks!! I hope you had a great time at DLP! I still haven't been since the opened the Ratatouille Ride and I really want to experience it. But I also know that they are going through a massive refurbishment program and kind of want to wait until things have gotten a bit better. I am so excited about the big Space Mountain refurb that is coming (or already happening, not sure).

We aren't going on the Dream or Fantasy in the near future and I always imagined Remy was something we wouldn't really be interested in based on other reviews.
However, after reading your write up I am sold! It all looks and sounds so wonderful! Now do go and find a cruise....

I am glad that you enjoyed my review so much that you want to eat at Remy now! And I hope you are going to be able to find a cruise!!!

Looking forward to seeing more

The cruise is nearly over...

 

[ShellB8585]

Thanks!! I hope you had a great time at DLP! I still haven't been since the opened the Ratatouille Ride and I really want to experience it. But I also know that they are going through a massive refurbishment program and kind of want to wait until things have gotten a bit better. I am so excited about the big Space Mountain refurb that is coming (or already happening, not sure).

The Ratatouille ride was good but the queue is 2 hours (lowest we saw it all week) and it's just not worth a 2 hour wait! I queued for fastpasses instead but that still took 45 mins and they were all gone by about 11am. Also there have been a few closures so I would recommend giving it a little time to calm down!

There is a lot of refurb going on at the mo and space mountain has been shut a few months. we still had a fantastic time though! Think i'll wait until 2017 for my next visit - all the refurbs should be done by the 25th anniversary

 

[Flossbolna]

How We Destroy the Fantasy!!

Remember how much we loved that stateroom we had on the Fantasy. It looked so new! Like there had been no other guests before us. No scratches, dents or anything like that.

Well, we ended that this evening!

WE?!?! I place most of the blame on YOU!

I took a shower and then started the packing process for my stuff. I somehow had accumulated a lot of additional stuff during the cruise… And I had used the closet closest to the stateroom door for most of my things. There really was less drawer space and shelf space in the Fantasy stateroom, but that closet actually had some shelves, so I used those while Michael used the few drawers in the cabinet under the desk. So, I was in the process of transferring stuff from the closet to my suitcase which I had put on the bed. The closets on the new ships have real doors, not sliding doors, and I had opened those. And then I suddenly hear a loud noise from the door. Michael had tried to come in. But because there was the closet door that had gotten caught in the inside handle of the stateroom door, he could not come in. I quickly got the door freed up and let him in.

For whatever reason he had to get out again to take care of something and came back – and the same thing happened again! And then he looked at the stateroom door. And saw it!! The tiny handle on the closet door had left a sizeable dent in the metal stateroom door. We felt so bad of having caused the first dent in the otherwise perfect room. And I felt very guilty of not taking better care after we had found out about the problem… But maybe the dent was already caused from the first incident…

Didn't we have an incident with me coming out of one of the half-baths and you had the door open or am I confused? I know that we twice had incidents of slamming doors into doors. (It might have been the bathroom door and the stateroom door once each, but I am not sure either) The fact that we were the first to do visible damage is surprising considering all the families onboard. But it's also poor design.

In hindsight I have to say that I consider the closet door situation a bit of a design flaw. It can’t be that you can so easily block the entrance door by just leaving the closet door open. We actually looked at it and when the closet door is open, it automatically gets caught by the handle of the stateroom door. I guess there was a good reason for those sliding doors on the Magic and the Wonder!!

Michael also got cleaned up and quickly threw his stuff in his bag and was off to see the last show. I skipped that in order to have a relaxing evening and enjoy the ship some more.

I went down to the shops and had a nice long chat with Tim, the shop manager from Germany. He had mentioned that he had been on a British Isles cruise on a cruise line that mainly caters to the German market. It is called Aida and is owned by Carnival. It is highly successful in Germany. So much so, that half the people whom I tell that I am going on a cruise, immediately assume that I would cruise with Aida. We talked about the differences between Aida and Disney (quite a lot of differences!) and about the cruise market in Germany in general. I also asked him whether there were differences in the atmosphere from cruise to cruise on the Fantasy. He said that certain times of years have very different crowds.

I also wandered around a bit and took some more pictures:

When Michael returned from the show we headed to Skyline to get the last drink from our passport. We had 6 drinks so far, the passport has seven, so one was still available.

Since Michael was not feeling that great due to the developing cold I got that last drink and he chose just to get water:

Michael, honestly, was feeling a lot worse than he led on. He didn't want to end a fantastic cruise on a lousy note, so he kept that detail to himself. I know what you all are thinking, yep, what a prince amongst (Disney) princesses.

I am sorry, I did not take a note which drink I ordered and I can’t make it out from the descriptions either…

Likely a strong one.

Before we headed to dinner we took a bathroom stop in the adult bar area restrooms. Those are rather unusual. You walk through a cave like walkway and there are several doors on both sides. The ladies doors (there are several) lead into smaller restrooms with two or three stalls. They are wonderfully decorated inside with mosaics:

The restrooms are circular and so are the stalls, all very unusual. Michael said the men’s room was just one stall behind the general door. But I am not sure whether he only ever used the handicapped bathroom…

We finally headed to our last dinner in Animator’s Palate. We had been instructed to try to come a bit early on this night as there was something special going on. It is the so called “Animation Magic”. After the Crush show on the first night and the decoration on Pirates’ Night, today we would get another version of fun on screens. A more interactive one.

Michael didn't want to do dinner here the last night to begin with as the menu was uninspiring to say the least. The fact he felt miserable and was worried about that carrying over to the next week at WDW didn't add to his excitement over dinner.

On our seats at the table were “place mats” with instructions to draw your own character.

We started working and this was my work of art:

Once we were done, our servers collected our drawings so that some magic could happen to them. We then got the menus. We knew beforehand that our choices on that night would be limited. There is a set appetizer and then everyone gets the same soup. You choose your entrée as on the other days, but then dessert is again limited in choices.

The standard appetizer is a taste of three things, out of which Michael would only eat one thing. So we asked for other options and were told that Michael could get a salad instead. So, that is what he asked for.

I had the sampler, which was smoked duck breast, mozzarella with cocktail tomatoes and shrimps:

I don’t eat shrimp, so only had 2/3 of my plate. I was not very impressed with the two items I had. It was rather a bit bland.

Michael had the salad:

Very basic, but I think he was happy (after he had passed on the cucumbers to me).

Next came the soup:

I am sorry, I don’t remember what it was, I think some kind of potato soup.

Besides the fact that it already had a skin on top, I found it rather salty and otherwise without a lot of flavor.

For his entrée, Michael decided to order from the “healthy” selection that was available every day. He chose the plain steak with steamed vegetables and white rice. He also asked for Worcester Sauce (if you read the Panama Canal TR, you know the whole Worcester Sauce story and of course he had to test the Fantasy’s dining room’s reaction to his request) and it was delivered quickly without a long search for it! Well done Fantasy!

You mean worcestershire sauce (yes, one of those "false friends", German words that sound English, but aren't. At least I don't write about my "handy" (mobile phone) or about some beautiful "dressman" (male model)) as it is known in the USA. And, yes, there was nothing appealing on the regular menu, so I thought I'd just try a basic steak. It was tasty, but non-remarkable. But the way I was feeling, nothing would have been that good. Have I mentioned enough how happy I am that we decided to not do Remy on the final night as we thought about doing?

I had no idea what I wanted, so I ordered the Seafood Linguini Pasta without the seafood. So it was only pasta with white wine sauce:

It was bland. But that was expected. I just really wanted a plate of noodles at that point in the trip and therefore it hit a spot.

During the meal they kept showing us all kind of animation clips on the screens, it was really very neat and entertaining.

For dessert we had the choice between the dessert sampler or Baked Alaska. I got the Baked Alaska:

Michael got the sampler:

And then once we were finished with dessert, the “magic” started to show itself. Our drawings came to life in all kinds of different animated scenes with Disney characters. They are smart and group the drawings together for the people who are close to the screens. I could see that at the other end of the restaurants there were other drawings jumping around.

My guy was even featured in the very first scene:

And he got to dance with Baloo. So, your characters might appear several times.

Afterwards our servers handed our drawings back to us – with a seal that we are now “Offical Disney Animators”:

Yes. Just without the work contract and cubicle on the lot in Burbank.

All in all neither of us was really impressed with our last meal on the Fantasy. And it was not because we had such a wonderful meal the evening before at Remy. Neither of us expects Remy quality in the main dining room. The meal fell flat compared to the rest of the week in the main dining rooms. I did not like being limited in my choice of starters and dessert. Especially if my choice is limited to things that are not very tasty.

I also did not overly enjoy the show. Yes, it was cute to see your own creation. But really, there is not a lot to the parade of characters. They just dance around a bit. I also don’t like the concept of interactivity in that way. I want to be entertained by professionals and not by my own amateurish drawings or even worse, someone else’s. Being an animator is a great skill that very few people can master. I am all for letting professionals do the job – I am happy to be an inactive consumer. Just as I have no interest in acting out my own movies or writing my own books.

Totally agree. I would have preferred going to Cabanas or even getting room service.

(Cabanas was not an option as it is not open for dinner on the last night...)

I think in the future, I will try to avoid the night with this show in Animator’s Palate. This will be a good night to eat at Remy instead!

We gave the tip envelopes to our server and assistant server and said goodbye to them. They had really been wonderful and had made the whole dining experience very enjoyable. We knew that we would not go to breakfast the next morning, so this was the last time we saw them.

After dinner we finished up the last of our packing and put our suitcases out. Three minutes later I realize that I packed the pair of shorts that I wanted to wear the next day into the big suitcase! I rushed out but it had already disappeared!! Luckily I found our stateroom host and the suitcase was not yet gone, just waiting to be taken to the holding area. So, I could retrieve it and get out those shorts. It was quite a shock!!

Once that was all cleared up, we took the comment card that you get to fill out and went up to the Cove Café to sit there and fill out the survey. This has become a kind of tradition to do that together on our last evening after dinner. It really is a nice way to reflect on the cruise as well. I always get to fill out the form. It is one of those forms that are designed to be read by a machine, so it has these little circles that you have to totally fill in. You can’t just check off boxes. But besides there being a bit more work involved, it was fun to chat about the cruise. We also had quite a few CMs from this cruise to mention especially as we had really thought they were excellent.

I like surveys, but I hate filling them out. So this works perfect for me.

Afterwards I decided it was time for bed, but Michael stayed up to watch Spiderman 2 on the video on demand in our stateroom.

Up Next: A Tale of Two Busses – Bus 1

 

[Flossbolna]

The Ratatouille ride was good but the queue is 2 hours (lowest we saw it all week) and it's just not worth a 2 hour wait! I queued for fastpasses instead but that still took 45 mins and they were all gone by about 11am. Also there have been a few closures so I would recommend giving it a little time to calm down!

That is crazy!! Sounds like it is worse than the waits fro Crush used to be! But I guess it just shows how much the WDS park needs more attractions...

There is a lot of refurb going on at the mo and space mountain has been shut a few months. we still had a fantastic time though! Think i'll wait until 2017 for my next visit - all the refurbs should be done by the 25th anniversary

Great to hear that you had a good time!! I am sure that it will be 2016 until I get back to DLP. My sister and I are thinking of signing up for a race there when they have the first Run Disney event there next year. But maybe we will sneak in a visit before that in early 2016 with Michael. And I will definitely be at DLP in 2017 during the 25th anniversary celebration! I need to get a pin for my parks anniversary collection (the reason why I MUST go to DL this year. )

 

[Steppesister]

Ok, I'm all caught up with the Castaway chapter. How I'd love to sit on a tropical beach and order a delicious cold drink right from my chair, and take pictures while on a walk of lovely tropical things and shop and get in the water, and, and... you almost have me convinced that maybe we should cruise as part of our trip?? Hmmm....??

I guess we are kind of fellow geeks about stuff like tags on decorations. I too found that actually very interesting and probably would have taken the same picture. Poor Michael; not very fun to wake up sick on vacation, even if it wasn't really bad.

Will return again to read about how you Destroyed the Ship...

 

[rndmr2]

Crazy that you messed up the perfect stateroom door! Definitely sounds like a design flaw.
Sorry your last dinner fell flat.

I love to fill out surveys

 

[dizneeat]

Luckily Michael appeared all happy about his dessert and we got to speak to the captain. He seemed rather bored by the whole process though.

That is just Captain Tom. He is a bit on the stiff side. Not my favourite captain of all the ones we have had so far.

Also, I don’t have a server bringing me a second drink when I am on the balcony.

Isn't that the reason we travel with a gentleman - to bring us more drinks when we feel like them?

I think in Germany everyone would start laughing if a server came to their table and said “Hello, my name is Herr Schulz.”

I wonder if Herr Schultz would then claim 'I know noooothing. Nothing!' Let's see how old this group is by who gets this reference.

(I am pretty old, but have no clue - I guess it is an American thing...)

Magdalene, I am clueless as well.

Would we do Remy again??? Yes, Remy is one of the reasons why we loved this cruise so much.

As much as we loved Remy (and Mathieu, our oh so amazing server - who is married to an Austrian girl ) we really love lunch/brunch or whatever they call it even more. A little less food and still great service! And the Champagne pairing is just perfect with it.
To come back to the wine pairing you denied - we did it when it was still more or less full servings with each course - it was nice but WAY too much alcohol and we won't do it again. We usually get a bottle of white wine (can't have red) or the Fairytale sparkling wine, but we would not do the lunch without the Champagne tasting - so good!!!!!!

This is the famous Konk Kooler. It is one of those hyped items on the DIS – kind of the cruise line equivalent to a Dole Whip. It has white and dark rum, coconut cream, passion fruit, orange and pineapple juices. It is one of the things where I can understand the hype.

I am glad you enjoyed the Konk Kooler as the last one we had in April was just WAY too sweet and ended in the trash.

Glad to say that I am now officially all caught up again. Sorry it took me so long to come back to the DIS, but it took me forever to get over my bronchitis, and back to work was really hard. Took me a while to get into the groove again. Then we headed to Italy and had to celebrate a birthday. But I am determined to get back to the DIS on a very regular basis.
Loved your day at CC and the idea of the salad wrapped burger patty sounds awesome. I need to keep that in mind.
And YES, that last day on board is always a hard one and having to pack up is a pain even without the door getting stuck several times. Could not agree with you more on that last dinner - not a fan of it either.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

But your kids are so lovely!! At least from the distance in your trip reports....

Sometimes I like them at a distance, too.

Just kidding. Just like anyone else, they're wonderful except for the times when they're not.

The tiny handle on the closet door had left a sizeable dent in the metal stateroom door.

D'oh! I guess you left your mark on the ship so they would remember you!

The fact that we were the first to do visible damage is surprising considering all the families onboard. But it's also poor design.

Oh, sure, blame the design guy...

We started working and this was my work of art:

Much better than I could do!

You mean worcestershire sauce

In the USA, we pronounce it worcesterstersterstersterstsershire sauce.

It was bland. But that was expected. I just really wanted a plate of noodles at that point in the trip and therefore it hit a spot.

I guess sometimes you just want a plate of noodles.

Afterwards our servers handed our drawings back to us – with a seal that we are now “Offical Disney Animators”:

Yes. Just without the work contract and cubicle on the lot in Burbank.

Man, you would think it would at least get you a free day's admission or something.

I also did not overly enjoy the show. Yes, it was cute to see your own creation. But really, there is not a lot to the parade of characters. They just dance around a bit. I also don’t like the concept of interactivity in that way. I want to be entertained by professionals and not by my own amateurish drawings or even worse, someone else’s. Being an animator is a great skill that very few people can master. I am all for letting professionals do the job – I am happy to be an inactive consumer. Just as I have no interest in acting out my own movies or writing my own books.

I'm sure that kids love to see their drawings up on the screen, though.

After dinner we finished up the last of our packing and put our suitcases out. Three minutes later I realize that I packed the pair of shorts that I wanted to wear the next day into the big suitcase! I rushed out but it had already disappeared!! Luckily I found our stateroom host and the suitcase was not yet gone, just waiting to be taken to the holding area. So, I could retrieve it and get out those shorts. It was quite a shock!!

Wow, they couldn't wait to get rid of you!

 

[dolphingirl47]

That is a long time!! I went to England for one year in September 1997 and nearly got stuck there as well.

I can think of worse places to be stuck. This is very much home. Although I technically have had dual nationality since December 2012, I no longer have a German passport as my last one expired last summer. I always said I would give up my German nationality, but this requires a trip to the German embassy in London and seems like too much trouble.

Then it really was a long time ago!!!

My last visit to Castaway Cay was in September 2010 at the end of our Westbound Transatlantic. We were supposed to stop there on our Panama Canal cruise in 2011, but due to the sea conditions could not dock.

I would have thought that the stateroom door would be more solid than that. This really sounds like bad design all around.

The standard appetizer is a taste of three things, out of which Michael would only eat one thing. So we asked for other options and were told that Michael could get a salad instead. So, that is what he asked for.

That is one aspect that I am worried about. I would only eat the mozzarella. Good to know that salad is an alternative.

Besides the fact that it already had a skin on top, I found it rather salty and otherwise without a lot of flavor.

The whole meal sounds less than magical

(the reason why I MUST go to DL this year. )

When are you off to Disneyland?

Corinna

 

[englishrose47]

Enjoyed your latest update !! Have to admit the meal didn't look o great !!Now I do have to add my 2 centss regarding Worcestershire sauce !!Although Worcestershire is a county in England ,in all honesty I do NOT remember seeing it before I came to live in the States , But I have yet to meet anyone here who can pronounce it The best in writing I can do is Woostersheer!!!! My gues is Michael may be able to and you too Magdlena as you speak with a British accent !!!

 

[franandaj]

In hindsight I have to say that I consider the closet door situation a bit of a design flaw. It can’t be that you can so easily block the entrance door by just leaving the closet door open. We actually looked at it and when the closet door is open, it automatically gets caught by the handle of the stateroom door. I guess there was a good reason for those sliding doors on the Magic and the Wonder!!

This definitely sounds like a design flaw to me! I wonder why they moved away from the sliding doors on the Magic and Wonder?

When Michael returned from the show we headed to Skyline to get the last drink from our passport. We had 6 drinks so far, the passport has seven, so one was still available.

That's a pretty good record to keep up!

On our seats at the table were “place mats” with instructions to draw your own character.

I heard about this whole thing at a D23 Convention about Imagineering the Fantasy, and wondered just how entertaining it really would be.

I had the sampler, which was smoked duck breast, mozzarella with cocktail tomatoes and shrimps:

That bites that they don't give you a choice on that night, at least let you choose one of the three or the sampler. That way they aren't making too many different things, but if you only like one or two out of three you can have your choice. I understand that they are streamlining things so they can throw you off the ship the next day, but still!

Besides the fact that it already had a skin on top, I found it rather salty and otherwise without a lot of flavor.

The fact that it had a skin on the top is kind of nasty.

It was bland. But that was expected. I just really wanted a plate of noodles at that point in the trip and therefore it hit a spot.

Sometimes, I just want a plate of noodles. Oh yeah, they need to be made of Quinoa and Brown rice for me to have them now.

For dessert we had the choice between the dessert sampler or Baked Alaska.

Neither one sounds particularly good to me.

Yes. Just without the work contract and cubicle on the lot in Burbank.

I also did not overly enjoy the show. Yes, it was cute to see your own creation. But really, there is not a lot to the parade of characters. They just dance around a bit. I also don’t like the concept of interactivity in that way. I want to be entertained by professionals and not by my own amateurish drawings or even worse, someone else’s. Being an animator is a great skill that very few people can master. I am all for letting professionals do the job – I am happy to be an inactive consumer. Just as I have no interest in acting out my own movies or writing my own books.

I was kind of thinking the same thing. I actually enjoyed the show on the Wonder as the pictures came to life or color.

Once that was all cleared up, we took the comment card that you get to fill out and went up to the Cove Café to sit there and fill out the survey.

I'm surprised you have the energy for that. By the time I'm at the last dinner, I'm struggling to pack up the suitcases and get them out the door before I fall flat on my face in bed! But perhaps I indulge in a little more wine than you do!

 

[Poolrat]

Finally caught up here. Was back in San Juan. That looked like a nice little sight seeing trip.
Remy looked awesome but quite a few times I was wondering if I could have that or in some cases knew I couldn't.

Beautiful day on Castaway Cay and dang - you dented the door.

I knew I am probably missing some things here but it was kind of nice catching up to the end of the cruise in one sitting.

Will have to keep in mind that last dinners tend to be pared down and maybe what is left over by the last day.

Do you think that the sliding doors would have moved in the weather you had? Maybe the reason for the switch?

 

[Flossbolna]

Ok, I'm all caught up with the Castaway chapter. How I'd love to sit on a tropical beach and order a delicious cold drink right from my chair, and take pictures while on a walk of lovely tropical things and shop and get in the water, and, and... you almost have me convinced that maybe we should cruise as part of our trip?? Hmmm....??

Your big family trip?? I can't see your DH enjoying being on a ship with 3500 of his closest friends...

I guess we are kind of fellow geeks about stuff like tags on decorations. I too found that actually very interesting and probably would have taken the same picture.

I knew my fellow DISers would appreciate it!

Poor Michael; not very fun to wake up sick on vacation, even if it wasn't really bad.

We both got really sick on our last cruise, so I think I just forgot about this because it seemed a minor inconvenience. But I felt guilty that I had all forgotten about it...

Will return again to read about how you Destroyed the Ship...

It was so embarrassing!

 

[Flossbolna]

Crazy that you messed up the perfect stateroom door! Definitely sounds like a design flaw.
Sorry your last dinner fell flat.

I love to fill out surveys

I think that dinner is just not our thing...

We really enjoy chatting about our cruise while filling out the survey, too.