Parker Brothers on the High Seas - 3 Day Wonder 11/5/09 (LOTS of pics!) UPDATED 12/6

[nokidz]

Awsome report.........growing roots!

 

[Gillhoolie]

Question about the beer tasting. How many ounces were those samples? I am used to the samplers you get at breweries and there nothing like the ones posted on your TR. My DH and I wouldn't mind trying it but we need to be able to FUNCTION afterwards.

We probably won't be able to do this but could he and I share a sampler? What I mean is pay for one but we both go and share.

The samples I'd say were in the 7-8 oz. range; about the size of a pony bottle. You'd both have to get tickets ($15 p/p) but I felt it was well worth it money wise and I believe Mikey (HiddenMickeys) did too. The CM actually lays out the placemats with the beer labels on them (See the photos) before everyone comes, so I assume he has a head count beforehand.

There were a few couples in the tasting; some were sharing, while others were each enjoying their own...it didn't really matter. Some folks tried a sip, didn't like it, and just let it be. Fortunately (?) for Mikey, he had a beer-starved brother who was more than happy to finish off whatever he left behind. I'm not allowed to have any beer (so the doc says), but decided for that 1 day I would splerge...it was well worth it.

As for being tipsy, be your own judge! I drank my 5 samples, 3 of Mikey's, and then 2 16oz glasses of my favorite (Newcastle Brown Ale) and felt good! Hey it's Disney, so you know it's gonna be a good time!

 

[stitchlovestink]

HiddenMickeys where are you? You haven't posted anything since 11/30. I hope you didn't get sicker (is that even a word?)

BTW, I love love love the Claw song from Toy Story the Musical. I really wish that they had a CD of the music from this show since there are some different songs. I even got one of the little aliens wearing Mickey ears for the Cmas tree this year.
And I remember that same store in Nassau too.
DH wanted to stop in a tobacco shop to possibly get a cuban. I didn't feel like standing. So I saw a bench up ahead and told him I'd be waiting there for him since we didn't have any way to communicate (i.e. calling each other on cell phones since we don't have international service). So I go up to sit on the bench and guess which store window it was facing?! It was a lovely view, just lovely!

 

[HiddenMickeys]

I'm here lol. It's been a fun ride. The flu, which turned to bronchitis, has now turned to pneumonia.

So, the doc says I'm not dying, even though it seems that way, so it'll be better soon. (I hope) lol


I will post more tomorrow morning, I promise.

 

[pmama]

Wow, sorry you've been so sick. Sounds horrible. Bit scary that you got sick right after the cruise. Really enjoying your TR. Look forward to the next update.

 

[Gillhoolie]

I can tell you all what we did after the Pirates in the Caribbean party. Our son Justin (as Mikey said) was just about out so we headed back to our room. Of course as soon as we get there, he is no longer tired....or I should say not tired enough to go to bed, but way too tired to do anything....."Dad.....DAD!! Can I have a Mickey bar before I have to go to bed?"......HHHmmmmm, room service, what a wonderful idea my young Grasshopper! Yes, yes you may indeed indulge in a mickey bar. In fact, Mickey bars for all!!

We ended up ordering a mini feast....I'd heard the lasagna and the BLT were great from room service......so I ordered both (as is proper etiquette for those of us in the multiple xl club) , along with 5 (2 for me....see comment 1) Mickey bars and a slice of the cake of the day (to settle the grease). The lasagna was fantastic, though it was a round lump in a bowl; it looked like it was scooped out with an ice cream scoop...The BLT was great too, I HIGHLY recommend it!

The little Mrs. decided she wanted some water to drink, so we ordered the 6 pack of Evian water from room service later on. It wasn't too bad price wise....10.49 (with tip) for a 6 pack of 16oz bottles. They go for 2.00 a piece in the local Wawa stores here in Jersey, and they arrived ice cold.

After the feast it was finally off to bed. As I opened our room door to put the trays out in the hall, I noticed a pile in front of my brother's room too. He gave those boys in room service quite a workout as well on such a short trip! You'd have thought we both spent 3 days in our rooms eating room service by the stack of plates and bones outside our rooms, that they'd have to butter our hips to get us through the stateroom doors, but we made it!

 

[Angelia'sthree]

Hope you are feeling better soon HiddenMickeys~!!!

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Thanks for the well wishes.

I have to add that all the pics from here on out will be from my facebook albums, and therefore a little smaller. Something about photobucket and bandwidth, but anyway just wanted you to know why the pics seemed to shrink for this part. lol


Ok, where were we? Ah yes, day 3 of the cruise - Castaway Cay


With the winds being as bad as they were we were REAL concerned we would not be able to dock, but luckily it wasn't an issue.

We woke up and were getting ready for breakfast and we had the channel on the tv where it shows the view from the bridge. We watched as the ship pulled up to castaway cay and the island got larger and larger. Suddenly the picture started turning and the island disappeared. We realized the ship was turning to back in.

I was dressed and ready, as was Becca, and Mary and Mikey were still getting ready. I looked at becca and said "Ohh, Deck 7 aft!!!".

I called Tom's room real quick, and said "Deck 7, aft, now, ship is docking" lol, and he scrambled out with Becca and I and the 3 of us were off to Deck 7 aft, the "secret deck" lol

I got to tell you, this is one thing that we didn't see posted on the dis. Well, they post about the deck, but I didn't read about going out there to see the ship dock at CC.

So, consider yourself informed. Do It! It's very cool, there was NO ONE out there when we first went out, and maybe 3 people came out the whole time we were out there,

So, once out on deck 7 aft, I took a pic of...well, a life preserver.

And the some pics of the ship docking at CC:

Becca and I, as you can see it was still pretty windy on deck.

More Docking pics:

Construction continues on the new dock for the dream and fantasy:

After watching the ship pull in, we headed back to the rooms, rounded everyone up, and then went up to the buffet for some breakfast.

At the breakfast buffet we had a table right next to the side of it. When I was the last to return to the table with my omelette i was greeted with "where did you see those?".

Everyone else in the group missed the omelette station. It isnt part of the main buffet line (which runs along the sides of the kitchen), it's across the back side of the kitchen and they all missed it. Obviously it's pretty easy to find and/or stumble on, but apparently if you haven't been before, it's also easy to miss.

After breakfast it was time to head on out and see what this Castaway Cay place is really like...

 

[lucky1]

At the breakfast buffet we had a table right next to the side of it. When I was the last to return to the table with my omelette i was greeted with "where did you see those?".

Everyone else in the group missed the omelette station. It isnt part of the main buffet line (which runs along the sides of the kitchen), it's across the back side of the kitchen and they all missed it. Obviously it's pretty easy to find and/or stumble on, but apparently if you haven't been before, it's also easy to miss.

We always missed this area and did not see it unless we sat right in the dinning room inside. One day for lunch they had Sushi and completely missed that, until I saw someone with it and asked. Next time... Remember there is food off the main buffet lines.

 

[Pluto 2]

great trip report and pictures. by the way the phillies will be champions again very soon

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Hey gang.

The "wonderful" folks at photobucket say we've exceeded bandwidth, and I got a couple of pm's from people who just found this report saying "where are all the pictures?" lol. So, I am in the process of replacing the pics with the same pics from my albums on facebook. It's a little time consuming, but bear with me for a day or so while I finish that up and then we'll get right back to it. Just feel like I owe it to those who are just coming across the TR to do that first and get it fixed. Thanks.

 

[pmama]

I didn't even know you could transfer pics here from facebook. I like the size too as I never take the time to change the size from photobucket and it is so big. I may have to figure out how to do that.

I also like the idea of watching the Wonder dock at CC from deck 7 aft. Thanks for the tip!

 

[ZeroToHero]

I had to end up getting a second Photobucket account.... if Facebook is too time-consuming for you, you can always try that.

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Well, I have decided to post some, and also fix the pics as I can in order to keep everyone happy.

So, Finally it was time to get off the ship at CC.

As we got off the ship, they were selling water in a dcl little collapsible bag. DW wanted the bag anyway, and said she would have paid $10 for it in the shop. So it was $16 (I believe) with 6 bottles of water and they iced them down for you in the bag. Not a bad deal at all, so we grabbed that.

While we were waiting for the water, I snapped a pic of deck 7 aft from the outside.

As we made our way toward the tram, Donald was posing for pics at the post office:

I snapped a few more pics before we got on the tram:

Should we just get back on the ship? Jeez......lol

Finally we jumped on the tram, and snapped some more pics as we rode in to the family beach:

We got off the tram:

And started making our way up the walkway toward the shop...

 

[HiddenMickeys]

The characters were out making an appearance so we stopped to pose with them.

Mickey:

Pluto:

Goofmeister:

And Minnie:

We looked around the shop and Tom and I were happy to find a couple shirts in triple humongous (3x) so we bought those. Biggest size we saw on the ship were 2x in shirts, although we did both buy really nice embroidered zipper hoodies in 3x in treasure ketch.

Anyway, if you don't see larger shirts on the ship, try the shop on CC.

After the shop, Tom and the gang were approaching the time for their stingray excursion. My gang didn't want to do it, so we didn't book it. So Tom and the gang headed for that, while my four said we'd find some seats on the beach and for them to look for us when they finished.

Speaking of excursions. I had wanted to do the parasailing and actually had it booked, but since we were trying to trim the budget a little I cancelled it before we left home. Well, due to the wind, all the parasailing was cancelled anyway. So, it seems that it wouldnt have mattered in the end anyway. Which was a good thing, because even with my big behind, nobody wanted to be up there playing human kite that day.

Once we got into the beach area though, the wind really died down and it was great.

Ok, here's my one beef with DCL for this trip. Float rentals. We got our floats and 3 of us wanted the blue floats and Mikey wanted a tube. So, Mikey has his tube, Mary and becca each have a bag, so guess who is carrying 3 floats down the beach looking for seats? I mean, would it be that hard to have a couple float stands rather than 1 soon as you hit the beach area and then have to trudge along carrying these (very awkward) things? And if you DO only have 1 stand, why not have it in the MIDDLE of the beach rather than at one far end?

Anyway, After I had crossed the Sahara with these things, we found some seats, and it the shade, hallelujah!

The view from my (very welcome) Lounger in the shade:

Mikey is diggin' the whole beach experience:

Mamacita and I got konk koolers in the souvenir sippy cups lol, and the kids got (non-alcoholic) Strawberry Daquiri's:

My tree had nuts :

I actually was sitting there pondering if one of these may hit me in the head and I just didnt care. I was on vacation.

Mickey is never far behind, especially if you are in a lounge chair:

After their sting ray feeding, Tom and the gang found us and Tom decided to try out his lounger for a while:

After a bit of a swim, it was time to head over and grab some lunch...

Will post more in a bit.

 

[MagicMe]

FYI - there is another rental place at the other end of the family beach. We often travel to that end of the beach since there is more available seating and just pick up our floats from there. (unless they moved it with construction).

 

[HiddenMickeys]

FYI - there is another rental place at the other end of the family beach. We often travel to that end of the beach since there is more available seating and just pick up our floats from there. (unless they moved it with construction).

D'oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gillhoolie]

After their sting ray feeding, Tom and the gang found us and Tom decided to try out his lounger for a while:

After a bit of a swim, it was time to head over and grab some lunch..

This was my moment of ZEN......you know the feeling you hope you get on vacation,......the feeling of absolute and total peace.....nothing in the real world is left in your mind, all is well.....the feeling you wish would last forever, not caring if the world around you blew into a billion pieces as long as Castaway Cay were left alone, ......AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH......this moment was the most relaxed I've been in quite a long time.......no pain, no thoughts, no worries...........................thx Mickey

This is where DCL gets me.....I look at this picture and think, "Yup, I'd plunk down a couple thou again next year to have this feeling again.."

 

[Disneydreamer5]

I have been reading your post since the day it started.
You see my maiden name is Parker so ofcourse I was intridged to see not only fellow disers but Parkers too boot!
Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us.
I have really enjoyed reading it and love the pictures.
Looking forward to hearing and seeing all about the rest of your TR.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Been away from the trip reports for a few weeks, so I just found yours. I enjoy your writing style and look forward to seeing the missing pics if you do get a chance to change them.