Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 15,138
When we got back to the ship we decided to head up to deck 9 to get some ice cream from the soft-serve station next to Goofy's Galley. We passed the spa so I snapped a quick picture.
We also ran into Daisy walking around on deck so had to get a picture with her too.
Ice Cream in hand we made our way back to our room.
I took a brief little power nap and then we were off to the atrium for character pictures. I had the perfect system worked out for character photos. They all come out in 15 minutes increments so what I did was show up 10-15 minutes before the first one was due out. That pretty much guaranteed that I would be the first in line. As soon as I got that picture I would move over to where the next character would be, again I would be first in line since everybody else was still in line for the first character. I would keep doing that till I had seen all the characters. By the time the last character came out I may be a couple people back in line but overall it is a smooth seamless process and it allows me to see all the characters with a minimal wait.
So first up was Pirate Mickey
Then Goofy
Chip and Dale
There was a mother/son team who pretty much had the same strategy that I did, they always arrived a couples minutes after me. She joked that if she saw me she knew she was in the right place. We were line buddies pretty much the whole trip which came in handy because we had to help each other out a couple times.
Mom and I had decided to skip dinner in the dining room that night. We wanted to get a good spot for the pirate party and we knew that with our two hour long dinners there was no way that would be happening as we wouldn't even get out of dinner until after the party had already started. We dropped by the dining room to let our servers know not to expect us.
We hung out in our room for a bit, relaxing after our long and active day.
We eventually went up to deck 10 and found a table along the railings looking over the Goofy Pool, just like we had done at the sailaway party. We got dinner from Pluto's Dog House. I had chicken strips and fries which were delicious! DCL still has chicken strips unlike WDW that just has those tiny little nuggets. Mom opted for tacos. We sat up on deck 10 at our table watching as we sailed away from Tortola, enjoying the view. We had brought books with us so we could sit back and relax and just enjoy the night air.
I did ditch Mom for a little while so that I could go get my picture with Minnie. Mom had no interest and just wanted to stay up on deck. So I went on down to Preludes (outside the Walt Disney Theatre) as that is where Minnie was scheduled to come out. Stitch was still there for pictures so I jumped in line for him too.
Now this is where making friends with the people in line helps. There was no character handler there just a Shutters photographer. Of course I didn't have my Mom there to take my picture and the Shutters photographer looked like I was crazy asking him to also take a picture with my camera (normally I would have asked the character handler but they were MIA). The nice lady I had been chatting with in line said she would take my picture and then I did the same for her and her family.
We did the same thing when Minnie came out.
I was very surprised at the attitude that the Shutters photographer had. I guess that is the result of them not being Disney employees but a contracted service. When at WDW the photopass photographers are always asking me if I want them to take a picture with my camera as well. Now perhaps it was just this one photographer who had the tude and the rest are perfectly nice. I don't know as I never again asked one to take my picture I just always asked my line buddy to do it or a character handler if Mom was not with me.
I have to say that the rude photographer was the only non-magical moment that I had on the cruise.
After getting my character pictures I went back up and rejoined Mom. It was dark out now and we could see other cruise ships out in the distance.
A family from Kansas joined us at our table for the party, they asked if they could pull up some chairs next to us and we sat there and chatted with each other until the party started.
Mom and I "splurged" and each ordered a Pina CoLava in the special glowing pirates cups. Yummy!
I was surprised at how small the crowd was when the party started, there was barely anybody there! As the party went on though many more showed up. The first part of the party involves cast members out on deck leading the crowd in some dancing. They are then joined by Minnie, Goofy and Chip and Dale who then lead the crowd in some dancing. Chip and Dale went out into the crowd to dance which I thought was neat.
Eventually Captain Hook shows up and takes over the party. Never fear, Mickey arrives to save the party! This is the part that everybody was waiting for, the fireworks at sea! Now of course this is nothing even close to what you see in the parks but it was still a lot of fun, especially knowing that Disney is the only cruise line that has fireworks at sea.
We recorded the whole party but instead of posting all the video here is a clip from the end when Mickey arrives and the fireworks start.
Pirate Party
We headed down to deck 9 as the party was winding down to check out the pirate buffet they had laid out. Well it turns out that they opened the buffet early and it was swamped! We didn't even try and get in line for anything. Instead I just snapped a few pics over some shoulders.
We were completely tuckered out after that, we had had a long day after all!
Waiting for us in our room we found a towel monkey! He stayed with us the rest of the vacation.
Before going to bed I downed some Nyquil gelcaps hoping that they would help me sleep well that night and also help me recover from my cold.
Coming up: St Thomas and our excursion to Trunk Bay!
We also ran into Daisy walking around on deck so had to get a picture with her too.
Ice Cream in hand we made our way back to our room.
I took a brief little power nap and then we were off to the atrium for character pictures. I had the perfect system worked out for character photos. They all come out in 15 minutes increments so what I did was show up 10-15 minutes before the first one was due out. That pretty much guaranteed that I would be the first in line. As soon as I got that picture I would move over to where the next character would be, again I would be first in line since everybody else was still in line for the first character. I would keep doing that till I had seen all the characters. By the time the last character came out I may be a couple people back in line but overall it is a smooth seamless process and it allows me to see all the characters with a minimal wait.
So first up was Pirate Mickey
Then Goofy
Chip and Dale
There was a mother/son team who pretty much had the same strategy that I did, they always arrived a couples minutes after me. She joked that if she saw me she knew she was in the right place. We were line buddies pretty much the whole trip which came in handy because we had to help each other out a couple times.
Mom and I had decided to skip dinner in the dining room that night. We wanted to get a good spot for the pirate party and we knew that with our two hour long dinners there was no way that would be happening as we wouldn't even get out of dinner until after the party had already started. We dropped by the dining room to let our servers know not to expect us.
We hung out in our room for a bit, relaxing after our long and active day.
We eventually went up to deck 10 and found a table along the railings looking over the Goofy Pool, just like we had done at the sailaway party. We got dinner from Pluto's Dog House. I had chicken strips and fries which were delicious! DCL still has chicken strips unlike WDW that just has those tiny little nuggets. Mom opted for tacos. We sat up on deck 10 at our table watching as we sailed away from Tortola, enjoying the view. We had brought books with us so we could sit back and relax and just enjoy the night air.
I did ditch Mom for a little while so that I could go get my picture with Minnie. Mom had no interest and just wanted to stay up on deck. So I went on down to Preludes (outside the Walt Disney Theatre) as that is where Minnie was scheduled to come out. Stitch was still there for pictures so I jumped in line for him too.
Now this is where making friends with the people in line helps. There was no character handler there just a Shutters photographer. Of course I didn't have my Mom there to take my picture and the Shutters photographer looked like I was crazy asking him to also take a picture with my camera (normally I would have asked the character handler but they were MIA). The nice lady I had been chatting with in line said she would take my picture and then I did the same for her and her family.
We did the same thing when Minnie came out.
I was very surprised at the attitude that the Shutters photographer had. I guess that is the result of them not being Disney employees but a contracted service. When at WDW the photopass photographers are always asking me if I want them to take a picture with my camera as well. Now perhaps it was just this one photographer who had the tude and the rest are perfectly nice. I don't know as I never again asked one to take my picture I just always asked my line buddy to do it or a character handler if Mom was not with me.
I have to say that the rude photographer was the only non-magical moment that I had on the cruise.
After getting my character pictures I went back up and rejoined Mom. It was dark out now and we could see other cruise ships out in the distance.
A family from Kansas joined us at our table for the party, they asked if they could pull up some chairs next to us and we sat there and chatted with each other until the party started.
Mom and I "splurged" and each ordered a Pina CoLava in the special glowing pirates cups. Yummy!
I was surprised at how small the crowd was when the party started, there was barely anybody there! As the party went on though many more showed up. The first part of the party involves cast members out on deck leading the crowd in some dancing. They are then joined by Minnie, Goofy and Chip and Dale who then lead the crowd in some dancing. Chip and Dale went out into the crowd to dance which I thought was neat.
Eventually Captain Hook shows up and takes over the party. Never fear, Mickey arrives to save the party! This is the part that everybody was waiting for, the fireworks at sea! Now of course this is nothing even close to what you see in the parks but it was still a lot of fun, especially knowing that Disney is the only cruise line that has fireworks at sea.
We recorded the whole party but instead of posting all the video here is a clip from the end when Mickey arrives and the fireworks start.
Pirate Party
We headed down to deck 9 as the party was winding down to check out the pirate buffet they had laid out. Well it turns out that they opened the buffet early and it was swamped! We didn't even try and get in line for anything. Instead I just snapped a few pics over some shoulders.
We were completely tuckered out after that, we had had a long day after all!
Waiting for us in our room we found a towel monkey! He stayed with us the rest of the vacation.
Before going to bed I downed some Nyquil gelcaps hoping that they would help me sleep well that night and also help me recover from my cold.
Coming up: St Thomas and our excursion to Trunk Bay!
I ran into my character line buddy and her little boy. She was trying to teach him how to snorkel but he was too afraid.
I'll have to put a notice in the first post until they show back up again.
