Getting our DCL fix-Nov 7th 2010 The Party has Started Come on IN! Updated 12/2

[Va-NanaTink]

Great updates, Amy!!! glad to hear you are having such a good time! Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[Michelle2]

We are leaving in just a few days for our cruise on the Magic, so I have loved reading about your adventure! It has been getting me excited and wanting to go back on the Wonder again someday.

 

[aacmt5]

We were on the cruise with you and had an awesome time! Thank you for coordinating the FE exchange it was soo much fun, great goodies from everyone. We enjoyed almost all the food too, but I also got the lobster macaroni and cheese and did not like it either.

 

[Mom2CJ&Kitty]

I'm in. Love reading your TR Amy, it's great!!

 

[DMMarla07860]

love your report so far

 

[ibouncetoo]

Enjoying your report, Amy. I too am a big Panna Cotta fan and also prefer it over the souffle. Also like the chocolate decadance (my last one was Amaretto flavored) over the souffle.

Also glad to hear I will have Christiaan as the CD on the 2 day cruise to nowhere. I've heard such great things about him.

Patiently waiting for the next installment.

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

Great updates, Amy!!! glad to hear you are having such a good time! Can't wait to hear more!!

Thanks We had a blast and More is on the way!

We are leaving in just a few days for our cruise on the Magic, so I have loved reading about your adventure! It has been getting me excited and wanting to go back on the Wonder again someday.

OOOOHHHH the Magic!!! I'm jealous! I would love 7 days onboard I hope you have a MAGICal trip and I am glad I can get your excitement built for your trip!

We were on the cruise with you and had an awesome time! Thank you for coordinating the FE exchange it was soo much fun, great goodies from everyone. We enjoyed almost all the food too, but I also got the lobster macaroni and cheese and did not like it either.

Glad you had an awesome time!! Your quite welcome I know it was a bit confusing but it was fun to get and give all the goodies! Yeah the Lobster Mac was really awful!

I'm in. Love reading your TR Amy, it's great!!

Thank you so much I am glad your enjoying it

love your report so far

Thank you very much! I am glad I can entertain

Enjoying your report, Amy. I too am a big Panna Cotta fan and also prefer it over the souffle. Also like the chocolate decadance (my last one was Amaretto flavored) over the souffle.

Also glad to hear I will have Christiaan as the CD on the 2 day cruise to nowhere. I've heard such great things about him.

Patiently waiting for the next installment.

Patiently??? really??? and yes I could live on Panna Cotta I am so jealous that Christiaan will be in CA and then on the Dream not the Fantasy as our next cruise will be on the fantasy! So enjoy your 2 day criuse


More coming up

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

We wanted to be off the ship early for Castaway Cay as we really wanted a shady spot and a hammock for the day to use and so we set the alarm for 6am again and we were going to try Beach Blanket Buffet but I had a better strategy. See by the time we were ready and out the door BBB had been open for a bit already, and most people go there for breakfast in the morning. So I knew it would take us longer to get there and longer to eat so we went to Parrot Cay which opened at 7:45am. so while we would end up waiting 15 minutes for them to open we would be able to get in eat and get out and we'd only have to go down 2 decks to get off the boat! So we were 1st at Parrot Cay and were seated right by the buffet the only complaint we have with PC are the chairs they have. they are not Pooh size friendly but it was only for a quick breakfast so we suffered through the chairs. Eggs, toast, donuts, coffee, juice, and chocolate milk were the order of the morning.

After we ate we loaded up the scooter with our bag as I carried it to the table but we left the scooter by the door. We were down to Deck 1 after we ran back upstairs for something (what it was I can't remember right now) and then on off to the island. They were doing a 5k so we were about the 4th family off the ship. (Oh it was our licenses we forgot but they never asked us for them so guess better to be safe then sorry)

Mom took the scooter and I took the Tram, she beat me because well the trams aren't built for ease of access to those of us with big hips and it took me a few tries to figure out how to get out of it :rofl2: Wonder if I could live on the Island if I hadn't gotten free? :rofl2: Anyways Mom as about maybe 100ft ahead of me anyways so we pulled to the left of the gift shop and walked onto the beach from there.

We were 1st on the beach!!!! We found an umbrella and set of chairs in the shade, and I found a Hammock to lay on and we settled in. First I had to get into the Hammock and well we have video (if I can figure out how and where to load it up to I will post it later) of me flipping onto the Hammock and then promptly flipping OUT of the Hammock.

I lathered on the sunblock and put my sunhat on and promptly went back to bed. Yep I slept 3 hours in the hammock, enjoyed the cool breeze and the sound of the waves lapping near by. Mom did whatever she wanted probably read a book. I only woke up because a 3 year old thought it would be fun to make the sleeping woman "swing fast" and well It took every ounce of my being not to just reach over and Smack the kid upside the head. Seriously no parent around and then realized who their parent was...the one laughing their heads off at how funny it was to see the fat girl try not to fall out of the hammock. Yep at that point I got out of it, and we went to have lunch.

I guess you don't need to have manners, and common sense to go on a Disney cruise, thankfully it was only a 4 night cruise so I didn't have to deal with the rednecks for more then just 1 more day. Also the reason I don't wear bathing suits in public, and don't swim...ok vent over....

So we had lunch at Cookies where again people have no common sense, they hand you a tray with utensils on it and the line goes around so that you don't need to jump from one side to the other if you just go around you will get to see everything there is and take what you want. Nope another group of "i'm too entitled to wait, so I am going to push and shove my family ahead of everyone else and in between so that we can just cause the rest of you to have to move" people were there and reminded mom and I why we prefer to dine at the order off a menu get your own table kind of restaurants.

But the food was good, they had hamburgers, hotdogs, ribs, chicken of some sort, potato salad, coleslaw, tomato and onion salad, corn on the cob, cookies, brownies, chips and a few other items but non were appealing to me so I don't remember what they were sorry.

We took our trays got our drinks and condiments and found a table the food was good, and it was a nice option but the whole buffet thing just isn't for us. Next time we will just stay on the island until we want to get off and then eat on the ship instead. We had some ice cream and our beverage server Jaime came over to talk and see how we were doing and did we need anything special at dinner that night. We knew we were going to Parrot Cay so we asked him for chairs without arms and he said he'd make it happen!

We went back to our chairs and relaxed for another hour or so and then went to the gift shops where we bough a few items. I got a new visor Pink Camo with castaway cay on it, some scrapbooking items and then some postcards. Well this is where we realized we forgot something else.

We forgot....cash and the addresses in the room! Mom took the scooter and went back to the room, she parked the scooter outside the ship and explained she was coming right back down so they didn't say anything. She couldn't find the address list but got cash and came to the post office where we wrote out the ones we knew the addresses of and mailed those and the others will get mailed from here this week at some point. Orlando, Bahamas close enough right?

We mailed the postcards and headed onboard I felt so bad as I knew the ones we couldn't send would be disappointed but when we got to the room I tore it apart and the only place the list could have gone was in the trash when we threw the fish extender stuff away as the list was with the FE list

Once back onboard we freshened up and then relaxed on our verandah watching everyone heading back to the dock slowly as we were back onboard by 3pm. Tonight was Secretariat and while we really really wanted to see it we wanted a good spot for the Pirate Party so we planned on eating Dinner and then we would do some shopping so that we could plan how much we had for space packing wise and didn't leave it to the last day. Then we would go get spots for the Pirate party and just enjoy the evening.

So dinner was at Parrot Cay we were right on the main aisle which was great for mom to videotape the pirate parade and the food was a new menu "A taste of California" we were testing it for the Panama Canal cruise we weren't impressed but we aren't really into those types of dishes but the food was good.

Witt our Head Server for the whole dining room:

Mom's appetizer artichokes

My Salad I modified it to ranch dressing instead of the one they had:

Our Glow Glass (we got 2 of them)

Mom cut Her steak before i got the photo so not the best shot:

I had the steak as well but forgot to take photo of mine (yes this is night 3 of steak)
I didn't really enjoy the food this evening so Roland asked if I liked mac n cheese as I had left all the "sides" from the steak without eating them. I said yes and this is what I received....

I didn't have dessert I was getting "fooded out" and we had hopes of the dessert buffet later so we skipped dessert.

We headed to the gift shops and spent more then planned but got 3 of the Dooney and Bourke wristlet bags as the large pocketbooks were so expensive and while they are beautiful the straps are not long enough for those of us with big arms and shoulders. so the wristlets were a nice compromise. We got some gifts, some things for ourselves, and some scrapbooking things and then dropped them off in the room before going up to deck 10 for the Pirate Party.

First we went to Deck 9 but the view would have been hard for us to see over everyone would be dancing so we took a couple of photos and then went up to Deck 10.

Once up on Deck 10 I got myself a chair and mom pulled up next to me we realized that we were true Floridians now because we were FREEZING! The temp was maybe high 60's low 70's but the wind was so much that I went back to the room and got sweatshirts for both of us. I then decided my legs were too cold so went back and grabbed the extra blanket we had in the room and brought that up to the party with us. We wrapped up and just enjoyed the activities and people watching.

They had the challenge of Davy Jones and then the party started and the fireworks were amazing. We were so impressed with the show and the cast members they do a fantastic job. But while we were on board we had met and talked to a group of travelers from CT it was a group of severely disabled adults and their caregivers we were so impressed with how cast members went out of their way to make sure that the clients had a great time. But we both started to cry as "dale" who was dancing in the crowd took one of the clients hands and danced personally with her and her reaction to how "dale" was dancing with her there was no way to properly explain how special that is for them. (Side note: it was extra special for us as they were from the same set of group homes that my mom's sister Karen lived in when she was alive, she was unable to walk or talk, but it is interactions like that where you would see her light up and you could just tell what she was thinking, feeling, and she couldn't travel this far from the group homes but we could appreciate how special this was for them)

We video taped the fireworks instead of trying to get photos of them but after the party we headed back to the room and put our jammies on and we just relaxed before going to sleep. It was so nice to have a verandah that we could just sit out on and enjoy it without being bothered or bothering others.

Up Next... Brunch...can I have your number... yeah we're the ringers!

 

[tikibirds]

I'm really enjoying your report, Amy! My mom and I will be taking a girls only cruise on December 9th, so you are helping to make me more excited than I already am - great writing and photos (I particularly love the early day Castaway Cay shots) - looking forward to more!

 

[chasingthedream]

Thank you Amy for all of your updates. I am enjoying reading about your trip but to be honest, it is the pictures I love the most! I love seeing the ships and the beaches and the food! I really appreciate all of the people like you that take the time to take and post pictures and trip reports to keep those of us months away from our cruises from going insane!

 

[Juls2989]

Great trip report!! Thank-you

 

[Mindyjoy]

I'm bummed to hear the Taste of California menu was not that appetizing, since that will be the special menu for my cruise. Maybe they are collecting guest feedback right now and it will be perfected in time for my cruise, haha.

 

[AquaDuck1]

Thank you Amy for sharing your cruise!!! It looks wonderful. I am glad that you and your mom have a special bond and can share these wonderful Disney expericences together..I can hardly wait for you next installment. I would say next time just wear your bathing suit and don't worry about what other people think (I know easier said than done. I too am a little over weight but I don't dress for anyone but myself).
Laura aka AquaDuck1

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

I want to apologize for the long break I had to make up the college classes I missed so was doubling them up most of the week. Then I had a tooth pulled yesterday so today was the first chance I had to update. I hope you all didn't have too much of a withdrawl

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

So we had no real plans for today other then mom having a massage at 8am and then Palo Brunch at 10am. So mom set a wake up call for herself and when she left around 7:45 am she woke me up so that I could get ready and would meet her at Palo.

She left and I got ready for the day, I sat out on the verandah for a little bit but I wasn't going to make it to brunch without something to nibble on so I went up to Beach Blanket Buffet and got a donut and some milk to hold me over. I found a table outside and watched the ocean go by as I ate the culinary masterpiece of a Chocolate Frosted Donut!

I then walked around deck 9 and deck 10 to burn off the snack in time for Brunch yeah ok so I threw any semblance of a diet or watching what I eat out the window on this cruise but I made up for it by trying to walk as much as possible I then found a chair on Deck 10 to just sit and watch us sail along until it was time for Brunch. I went on into Palo mom was already there and they sat us right away.

Lorenzo was our server and he gave us a tour of the offerings and then asked if we wanted some Perseco or a Mimosa. we both went with the Perseco then started our tour of the different food selections.

Unfortunately I didn't take photos of the tables this trip but they are pretty similar to the Cruise in December which I do have photos of so these photos are from December 2009!

The food is so good but I was looking forward to the food options that you order through Lorenzo or your own server because the Chicken Parmesan is soooooo good and probably one of my favorite meals onboard.

Here are our "buffett" plates photos:

I love the Stollen Bread with Whip Cream and strawberries on top one of the other favorite foods onboard!!! Oh how I wish I had some right now!

Now the photo doesn't do it justice but here are our foods that we ordered from Lorenzo.
My chicken Parm!

Mom's Eggs Benedict

Here mom and I toasting each other:

Well we had our fill, and it was fantastic we love Brunch at Palo's and Lorenzo had made our cruise for sure but well when we were getting ready to pay the bill he asked my mom for her email address as they had talked about her being full blooded italian and that we live close to the port and she had invited him for dinner so he said he wanted to keep in touch Go MOM! So we gave him our email but I doubt he will actually contact us.

We said our goodbyes and thanked him for making us feel like family and headed on out to enjoy our Sea Day!

We went on down to Deck 9 and figured we would just enjoy the adult area. I ran into a fellow Disney Addict from a different message board we had met a few years ago at WDW and her mother had invited her on the cruise just 2 weeks before we left. So we were surpsied when we ran into each other. Linda and I said our so longs and mom and I walked around the deck for a while. I don't know what it is about being on the cruise ship but every time you look there is something to try or eat and well I paced myself well and had some snacks as well as we ran into Donald Duck before we headed back to the room to enjoy our verandah. It was nice to just relax and enjoy the quiet space of our room and verandah area.

Donald took the time to walk over and stand by my mom so she didn't have to try and get the scooter over to where he was standing so impressed by the Character Interaction on board.

We ran into James who had been our server at Triton's for breakfast and took a photo he was really nice and a lot of fun to interact with I will say the staff on the Wonder is so friendly.

We got back to the room and we started packing everything so that it would be ready to be put out later that evening then we spent the rest of the time relaxing on our verandah.

Up Next....Shopping...Sunsets....and So Longs

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Great update, Amy!!! Sulley actually came over and drooled over the buffet pnotos! One week and 3 days until we are sitting down for our own Palo's brunch!!!!

Thanks for sharing the photos with us!!! I can't wait!!

 

[Normangirls]

AAAAMMMYYYYYY!!!!!!!


We just got back late last night (spent some time at WDW after the cruise), and I'm finally caught up on your TR.

LOVE your pics - it was so nice to meet you and your Mom. I'm glad to see you didn't lose her for good in the elevators!

Can you even believe our luck with the weather on Castaway Cay? I wanted nothing more then to take my girls to that island, just to be able to dock and play in the sand a little bit. But we got the perfect, ideal day.

So, keep the updates coming!!!!!!

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

So I was totally and completely bummed that it was our last day and evening on board the ship 4 nights is SOOOOOOO not long enough and I won't even think about doing anything shorter then 4 nights... not happening uh uh nope forget about that idea! I started listing places I could stow away and hide, but none seemed logical or feasible...So I had to suck it up and just enjoy the rest of the evening!

We headed on downstairs to the stores....yeah we didn't buy them out and there was just a few gazillion things more we just HAD TO HAVE ie...wanted...don't need...no room in the luggage for...things that made sense at the time but really when we were there signing for luggage tags so that we all had matching ones I knew it was time to put the Key to the World Card away and step away from the gift shops

To tell you the truth right now....I have no idea what we bought....that is just how much we NEEDED the stuff see! I know we walked off the ship with THREE Dooney and Bourke Wristlets in Yellow, Blue and White...I said we should have gotten the red one so we had all 4 in the set but both mom and I agreed the red was tacky.

Mom got a bracelet or anklet can't remember which made from the gold by the inch and not a horrible price she wears them all the time so it works for her, we got post cards, scrapbook supplies (since I am NOT doing a scrapbook...ok guess I am now) and just had to have the supplies they were on sale if you got the stuff that said 2010 on it!! love end of the year cruises discounts!!!!

There was a few other things but seriously we had not way to get what we just bought off the ship! Mom took the scooter upstairs and packed it away and our stateroom host was right at the room and helped her put the luggage outside while I went and filled out our Customs forms and filled out our Thank You Envelopes so we'd have them for dinner.

Mom met me on Deck 4 and we went outside to take photos of the sunset and just spend time on the deck since the only time we were out there was when we were doing the Safety Dance I mean Safety Drill and then when sailing out of the Port. It was nice to just walk around and enjoy the quiet of the deck as well as the sound of the ocean....but I think the captain was going the wrong way as he was going to FL and we wanted to go back to Castaway Cay or any point South!

We stopped took a few photos before heading inside to go down to Dinner at Parrot Cay.

Now I am debating whether to show photos or not of dinner...see they aren't the most appetizing shots and well I guess since I like to be thorough I should include them so if you want to skip the photos after my talking about Dinner you won't hurt my feelings just don't miss out on the after dinner shots.

So dinner was at Parrot Cay for the last 2 cruises we had really not found a love for the restaurant and well we felt by the end of this cruise that it wasn't as bad as we felt before and it started growing on us a bit. Now by no means does it replace Lumiere's, then Tritons as our top picks but we wouldn't be upset if we were dining in Parrot Cay more then once again. We did miss Animator's Palate this cruise which we were a bit bummed about but in honesty we have seen the show twice already and I am ok with it being missed this time the next time we see AP it will be on one of the new ships so it will be different which will hopefully be better.

Our servers were so sad they said more then once that the table next to us and mom and I were the nicest cruisers they had had in the last few cruises I think its because we really treated them like family. We took interest in their lives off the ship and made them feel like they were serving family not just guests. I know our Assistant server Jaime teared up and Witt the Head server he just didn't want to leave our area he kept coming back to talk more. Roland our Main Server he was very quiet until we got him to open up about why he was so quiet....he was already missing us and we had mentioned when we sat down that we'd miss breakfast as it was far to early for us to get up and be ready and so at the end he went running off and here came Witt and Roland back to the table telling us to just come to the Later breakfast and there will be seating available to us. Normally they might have trouble doing this but the table we sat at for dinner the people sitting there during late dining were WDW Cast members and they had already told Witt that they were getting off when it first was allowed as they all had to work that day!! Score for us!

It was a great meal and the food was good You guessed it I had steak again, as well as the Chicken but the chicken was dry. The steak was hard to eat for me because well....My Wisdom tooth had started to cause me trouble the last couple of days and by Dinner tonight I was really in agony when I tried to eat. So mom cut it up so that it basically could be swallowed whole just so I could get protein in. Roland asked what was wrong and he brought out more Macaroni and cheese so that I had something soft to eat as a side. Can I just say its the Cast Members, the attention to Detail, the care and concern that they show as to why we will pay extra to cruise with Disney! and love it so very much too!

Mom had the steak as well and we both skipped Dessert I was in no mood for more eating.

We said our Goodnights (we'd save our See ya Real Soon's for breakfast)

Jaime behind Lorenzo and Christian he was #3 on the list of DCL male Cast members i'd marry if given the opportunity

After Dinner we headed to the show mom wanted to grab a sweater so she left me the scooter and took the elevator up to our room without it since everyone was on the move it seemed. So I went and waited by the gift shops........Wait for it.......

Where when she met me we proceeded to.........

Meet the Captain ... you thought I was going to say go shopping huh???!????

Ok yeah we did we bought a rolling Suitcase and small duffel bag for $15 and two windbreakers for $7 each. Then we bought a few other things we happened to see and had missed the last few trips through the store... by now the castmembers just saw dollar signs walk in when they saw us and had shopping bags already to start putting things into :rofl2: before we got to the counter.

Mom ran back up to the room and dropped that stuff off and then it was time for the last show. So when she got back we went into the Theater and I had a Mudslide and relaxed while we waited for Disney Dreams to begin. We stayed through the show watched Carlton I mean Clayton do the "I'm on Vacation Dance" and then it was time to go see the "Till We Meet Again" event.

Well it was a very sad part of the evening, the stress of knowing tomorrow was going to be long, tiring, back to reality, the sadness of having to say goodbye, and the just over all blahs of the fact it was over caused mom and I to have a pretty big tiff. Yep even on a Disney Cruise and on vacation there wasn't enough Pixie Dust in the World to stop it from happening and by the end of it one...ok both of us were upset and had to suck it up and just get over both ourselves and enjoy the rest of the evening. We got over it pretty quick as the Characters came out and well who can't help but not be happy when you see Mickey and Minnie and all the other characters ! They did autographs and photos for a bit then did the farewell performance. I was truly awed and amazed at how they performed "Now its time to say goodnight to all our company.... M I C K E Y MOUSE" they did it in American Sign Language and it was so heartwarming that they had taken the time to learn it so that they could add that as a special touch!

Here is a video that someone else took of the Till We Meet again event....You don't have to watch the whole thing but it shows them signing in American Sign Language!
Till We Meet Again

After the farewell, we headed down to Wavebands and they were having Rock and Country night and it was a lot of fun, they were doing Family Feud Men vs Woman and then the party started and we line danced and had a great ol time. I was one of the first 15 people who got up and danced so I got a "cowboy" hat and here is Mom modeling it...(no where to put it in the luggage I wore it off the ship)

We went back up to the room I took photos of it as I wasn't sure I had taken any at the beginning. I am not sure if this is repeat but here is some room photos...

We set up a wake up call and headed to sleep and in the morning it was a whirlwind. We got ready, headed down to breakfast which was uneventful, the food was so so standard breakfast fare and we headed off the ship grabbed our luggage and took the shuttle over to the CI&S to get our car. We were home around 10:30-11am. We freshened up and I headed to school as I had a meeting to go to. My class was cancelled luckily and so I could go home and nap early evening.

Up Next.... Final Thoughts