Taking on the Wonder June 14th 2007 Trip Report w/ Pictures! (Completed 8/3 pg. 9)

[timandlesley]

More, More, we want More Can't wait to read more Darlene, hope it stopped raining for ya!!!!
Lesley

 

[Disneygrl36]

Giving you a bump
Where's the rest

 

[2angelsinheaven]

I hope to put up more soon but our computer went haywire just after the last installment and I have not been able to upload the rest of the videos/photos yet. I hope too soon, promise.

 

[maktrk96]

I have enjoyed reading your trip story. I can not wait til our 1st Disney Cruise.. Thanks so much for the wonderful pictures.

 

[RLccweems]

Hi Darlene!!

Just waiting patiently.

Kelly

Goodness....your dd is sure growing up...I last time I saw her pic she looks so much younger!

lettie

 

[RLccweems]

I love you TR and all the pics! Thanks so much for sharing with us.

lettie

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Continuation of Castaway Cay Day is finally here!

So here is the video of the crabs fighting inside the conch shell.





The underwater videos get better, promise...

So we play with the crabs a bit longer before moving on. John heads off somewhere without me and I stumble onto these things...ewwww!

I scream for John to come and see but no luck, can't hear me so I sit and watch this thing for awhile. The proper name for the "thing" is a Sea Slug and I'm a bit freaked out by it...lol. Infact there are about six or seven of these guys and some are as big as my house cats.

I decide to take a video of them...



Still no John insight so I pop my head up to look for him. Mind you we are only in maybe 2-3 feet of water if that as the tide is heading out.

And then I spot him...

We catch up and he tells me he is heading to the red ball floating at the very far end of the swimming area so I follow. I'm walking along at this point although looking down every so often to make sure I don't step on one of those huge sea slugs. John shouts for me to put my head in the water and when I do I'm surprised to see this...

See the huge Sea Urchin under the lip of the "wreckage", very cool! I snapped away.

And this one to show you how shallow it really was...

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Then I get smart and think I'll take some video. By now I've discovered you must hold the plastic against the lens so it doesn't blur when you use it. So I do and get some nice shots before a visitor arrives...lol. Don't laugh too much, I'm not screaming in terror but for John to come see as he's wondered off again.

Check it out, it's worth it...



So after spending a few minutes here and John gripping about not seeing the visitor we both think we should head back in as the sky is looking look a waterspout will drop from it in a blink of an eye. Here is a tip for Serenity Bay, wear water shoes or Crocs the rocks can be a bit much on the toes when you are walking in/out of the water and there are plenty of them and mind you, you can't really swim here since the water is only 2-3 feet max.

We stop and decide to take some more photos of each other being silly before heading in. Well me being silly and John being camera shy.

And a photo of the land from the water. You can see it's pretty empty as most people heard the thunder and fled. No thunderstorm was going to ruin my day at Castaway Cay.

When we get back to dry land we both look at each in amazement at how far out the tide is and how shallow the water now is. What a change since earlier this afternoon.

By now it has started to rain and rain pretty hard. Oh well, we are in our bathing suits with borrowed towels what do we care? Of course we see many people running for shelter, maybe they melt when they get wet we both laugh.

We walked to the tram station and wait, and wait, and wait. Island time is right...lol. So once we shows up we are ready to go now. I snap some photos on the way back to the shopping area.

We head inside She Sells but don't find anything that we don't already have or that appeals to us this time so we head back out to the tram. But not before a stop at Mount Rustmore and a quick rinse at the showers to get the sand off our toes.

We get to the tram area but I suggest we walk back instead as it's pretty crowded with people trying to get out of the rain and plus we didn't stop by the Flying Dutchman on the way to the beach so it was a must do on the way back.

More to come...

 

[2angelsinheaven]

The rain was still coming down in a steady pace but we kept on trekking. It was rather nice in a way since it was raining there were very few people walking the path back to the ship as most had opted for the tram ride.

Which gave me a nice opportunity for photos, sorry for the photo overload, and these aren't even the half of it. There are tons but I selected a few of them to share here.

When we arrived at the ship there was a rather large line to board. We had a positive attitude and figured hey while we are waiting out here in the pouring rain we'll be rinsing all this yucky salt water off...lol.

After about 25 minutes or so we were back onboard. We quickly caught and elevator back up to our floor and headed to the room to change. John Sr and Sue were there but were heading out to do some laundry which gave us the chance to shower and change without having to do so in the bathroom. Nice.

After I showered we both agreed we were a bit hungry. ROOM SERVICE! So I called and put in an order for some chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, fruit bowls and some cheese and crackers. Oh yeah and ice tea and milk.

We flipped through the channels and settled on Arthur and the Invisibles. Cute movie! John Sr and Sue returned and we shared our goodies with them. We kept peeking out the sliders to see if the weather was getting any better, it wasn't. We were pretty surprised to feel movement as we pulled away as we all figured depature might be delayed due to the high winds.

Here are a few more photos of Castaway Cay as we pulled away.

Here you can see the waves coming over the docks, it was very windy...

Tonight's show was Disney Dreams and I was super excited about this one. We'd seen it twice before but not since the updates earlier this year. We couldn't wait. John's tummy however had different plans and we ended up arriving a few minutes late to the show because of it.

Therefore we ended up in seats at the top to the very far left of the stage, not the best seats but I would make them work.

It was a wonderful show, sorry no photos as I didn't want to distract myself at all from the show. The new additions are great, Pumba is very cute. Loved the stuff with Tink as well. This one is a can't miss!

After the show we headed down to the lobby where we met up with our friends for Mojito's in the Cadillac Lounge, good but not as good as the ones Deki up at Signals had made the day before, also the area smelt a bit too strong for me as I'm not a smoker.

After our drinks we went to the lobby for some pin trading. Tonight was officer's night and we found a few more pins we had been looking for and shared some pixie dust by replacing them with some limited editions and cast member only pins for others to snag.

I ran into a fellow CM who use to work in Youth Activities who had been promoted to Captain's Assistant, very cool!

More to come...

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Tonight we would be having dinner in Animator's Palate, for anyone who is a fan of Disney Animation you'll love the decor here, pretty cool!

For dinner I ordered the avacado wrapped, filet minion with seafood pastry and peanut butter and chocolate pie. YUM! John ordered the same. John Sr. and Sue also got the filet and everyone's came out just perfect.

After dinner we had a surprise for John Sr. and Sue since tonight was their anniversary we had picked up Anniversary buttons for them and our servers brought out this cake for them.

John Sr. thought it was funny and Sue as you can tell wasn't too happy...lol. Oh well all in good fun I say.

Here is the cake up close.

After dinner there is a show with the screens and then our servers came out for one last goodbye. This part is really depressing because not only do you realize your vacation is almost over but hey your going to have to cook your own food tomorrow...lol.

On the way out we gave our servers their well deserved tips and took some photos with them.

And one of Teresa, a fellow CM and I...

I told John I was now ready to mark the last item off my to do list (well other than spending some time in the Rainforest room as it was too late for that), it was to take my photo with Captain Mickey!

I get to see him each and every day (most of the time) at work and I've never had the chance to take my photo with him. Last cruise John did while I was up in the room and has taunted me with it ever since so I had to get it done this time so off we rushed to the lobby.

The characters were just starting to come down the lobby staircase when I saw him. Captain Mickey! Yahoo! I felt like a little kid inside who was meeting their hero. Que the happy tears.

So I get inline for Captain Mickey and John snaps my photo. UGH! I look at the preview and it's very blurry and now Mickey's line is 50 people deep. The CM who must have seen my distress asks if the photo came out and I tell her it did not but we'll rejoin the end of the line and try again, she tells us no worries and asks the family next in line if we can step up next explaining the situation. The agree, thanks to whomever you are you made my night.

So here is the long awaited photo.

I'm so excited I'm about to burst. We then see Hades and Hermes and since we both love Hercules and Hades' character we head over. We spend a few minutes talking to them and a very nice lady offers to take our photo. Thank you!

Remembering that I had yet to buy any pins I rush up to Mickey's Mates before they close. John reminds me after the fact that once again I missed "Till We Meet Again", ah well next time (which by the way is in 1 month, 26 days and 4 hours!). I'll make it there one of these days.

We go in and rush about picking up all the pins "we need"...lol. We are good this time though and our total is only a bit over $100. While there we spent some time talking to Katrina a CM in Mickey's Mates who's Mom posts here, this is her first contract with Disney and she seems to be really excited about it. She sees how interested we are in pins and suggests a really lovely Animator's Palate pin which we end up buying. We bid her farewell and John takes our bags back to the room as I wanted to go say hello to some friends in the Youth Clubs.

I some how though end up back in the shops drooling over the collectibles and framed photos.

I'm kicking myself now for not buying any but we don't really have the room right now but once we move you betcha I'll be back to buy some.

After my window shopping I head down to Radar Trap to pick John up a surprise bottle of Jager much cheaper here than on land. And then head back to the room for bed as we both have to work the next day.

I get there a notice John Sr. and Sue aren't there. Hum, it's heading on to 1am, wonder where they are. Found out later they were enjoying some music down in Wave Bands, good for them.

We both drift off to sleep dreaming of our next trip on the Wonder.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Our Final Morning...

We both awoke pretty early and I got our bags packed and ready to go. We had choosen to carry everything off so we wouldn't have to look for the bags in the morning since we had time restrictions as we had to work.

After packing we headed up to Beach Blanket for some morning goodies. This was our first time eating here for anything other than one time we had our embarkation lunch here as we boarded late and it was actually pretty good.

I enjoyed the pace much more than I did on our previous trips eating in the dining room on the last morning. It was relaxed and they had a great selection. We loaded up on bacon and chocolate crossaints, yum!

After breakfast we headed down to Shutters to see if we wanted to buy any photos. Nothing really appealed to me this time so we skipped it and headed back to get our things to leave.

We got our bags and headed down to deck 3 and I would say within 10 minutes we were at the car packing it up to go home. The whole process was rather quick. We waved goodbye to the Wonder as we headed back to the house and dropped John Sr. and Sue off at the Budget to pick up their rent a car to get back home.

It was a "Wonder"ful voyage filled with pixie dust and good times. I hope you enjoyed our trip report and look for another in October when we return from our next voyage.

 

[WeatherbySwann]

Great finish!
Glad to see you had a great time!

 

[wi_wdwlover]

hey darlene!
i was just wondering on your cruise if you happened to see a lot of teens (13-17 year olds). we were thinking about taking a cruise, but my DD is concerned she won't have anyone there her age.. thanks so much

 

[2angelsinheaven]

There are tons of teens onboard, she will feel right at home. The teen area on board is very very cool, I'm very jealous that us "grown-ups" can't use the area...lol. The teen counselors onboard are great as well.

 

[rkgee]

Hi Darlene,

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I just finished reading your report and viewing the pictures. Glad you had a great trip to share with the Srs. You did a great job of describing some of the things I had questions about. Now I have to go back and view the videos. Thanks again for sharing.

Martha

PS. My family has the Tiki shirts too. DH - Grumpy and Big Bad Wolf, Me - Thumper and Eeyore, DD - Pirates, and DS - Buzz Lightyear. They are being saved for Castaway Cay.

 

[Sooze]

Great report. Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[Dorisk3]

What a wonderful trip report- you really made me even more excited about our cruise next year!

 

[bsusanmb]

Darlene, Darlene, DARLENE! I just loved this whole TR and the photos. It made my night. I have long considered a Disney cruise, but DH won't go. he is very prone to motion sickness. So, he said I could go with someone else. Think I will go with my friend or my daughter. Looks like great fun and so much DISNEY!!! YEA. Thanks so much for taking the time to share!

 

[reigle4]

Hi guys I promise to try to post more tonight, till then....=o)

Some people keep mentioning Video's and I have been reading from the beginning but missed the link for the video. WOuld love to see it. My hubby ,myself and our granddaughter are going on our first Disney cruise in Nov


Never mind...I figured out the videos duhhhhh blonde moment

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Great finish!
Glad to see you had a great time!

Thank you! Sorry it too forever for me to finish it...lol. Look for another TR in October.

PS. My family has the Tiki shirts too. DH - Grumpy and Big Bad Wolf, Me - Thumper and Eeyore, DD - Pirates, and DS - Buzz Lightyear. They are being saved for Castaway Cay.

Martha, glad I answered some of your questions, if you have any more feel free to ask. This was our 3rd time on the Wonder and we loved it. Aren't the Tiki shirts cute? We all had ones on embarkation day and then again on Pirate night we did the Captain Jack ones.

Great report. Thanks so much for sharing!

Thank you.

What a wonderful trip report- you really made me even more excited about our cruise next year!

I'm the biggest cheerleader of all when it comes to anything and everything Disney and Disney Cruise Line as I think there is nothing more magical out there. I hope I conveyed some of that through my TR. Dorisk3, will this be your first DCL cruise?

Darlene, Darlene, DARLENE! I just loved this whole TR and the photos. It made my night. I have long considered a Disney cruise, but DH won't go. he is very prone to motion sickness. So, he said I could go with someone else. Think I will go with my friend or my daughter. Looks like great fun and so much DISNEY!!! YEA. Thanks so much for taking the time to share!

So sorry to hear your DH gets motion sick, I tell you I do to, even a simple car ride will get me but I've had no problems onboard ship. I take ginger regulary and when needed some meclizine and I'm fine.

How fun would a Mother/Daughter cruise be....I thinking...Spa time!

I hope you get the chance to go soon.

Never mind...I figured out the videos duhhhhh blonde moment

Lol Reigle4, don't worry things that like "blonde moments" happen to me all the time. Hope you enjoy the videos.