Sounds like Fran had an interesting life. Only child? Sometimes reality can be brutal!
Yes she is an only child, and her parents really sheltered her. She has only worked in the "family business", so never got out and worked for "the man."
And, back to the dinner you didn't get at the Haunted Mansion. Have you done it before? They eat right there by the front door? Do they close the ride for the dinner?? I was imagining some cool special tour of rooms that the mere mortals don't get to see.
We've never gotten in, yes they close the ride, and the dinner is in the corridor with the lenticular (changing) portraits. The guests got to do a walk through of the attraction last time.
I'm in single digits today

No, not a Star Wars cruise, but I will definitely be seeing the movie on the ship. I had to choose between the Star Wars cruise or going to Tortola. Tortola won.
Yay for single digits! I'm on the same cruise in 13 months. We got sick of going to Cozumel and Grand Cayman and wanted the Eastern Itinerary.
I've been disappointed at the lack of options. And them discontinuing things so fast.
I'm kind of glad there wasn't anything. The 60th Anniversary necklace felt like a punch in the stomach when they told me the price. I don't want to think of how many cruises I could have gone on for that!
That's fabulous about your tablemates, it adds such a fun aspect to dinner.
It was really nice, we've never had tablemates that we enjoyed as much as these two.
Why do you need to call Disney IT? it's super easy to add friends to
MDE. You just make him an account and email him an invite. Or is it more complicated with your passes?
We've already tried that. Alberto doesn't even have a pass yet, but somehow, the system thinks that I am in control of his account. Jim is the one who is setting up his stuff, and we can't get it work right between the two of us.
And I completely missed the fact that you also have a Fall trip planned, how exciting!!! Where are you staying for that one?
Beach Club. Every three years I get to go to F&W, so this has been planned since 2013.
I'm sorry this day wasn't the best and that Fran got into a funk. Glad you didn't let it ruin your day though. The spa treatment sounded lovely.
I have to not let it get to me. Otherwise I would be a wreck. I have enough other things that can get to me.
Great pictures with the characters
thank you!
Dinner looked quite yummy too. Mom really likes the Enchanted Garden. I haven't been as impressed with the food choices but looking forward to trying it again.
In looking back it was my favorite MDR on that ship.
Well because I've had enough of switching bedrooms with the whole Olga thing. Besides it's too many points.
Holy cow, that should bring your Golden Spoon up high!
Actually, no it didn't.

I need at least 20 more restaurants to get over the 50% mark. I might do it on the next trip with the kiosks at F&G.
Okay so I just found out about this service, maybe you've heard of it, maybe not. But there is a company near LAX who will meet you at curbside, take your car and park it (covered parking, I believe) and when you return from your trip with luggage in hand, you call them up and they will bring your vehicle back to you at curbside! This sounds amazing and something I may look into next time...
Yeah but how much does it cost?
Did you use Wegoshop again? I used them, last minute, this trip and was surprised at how much it was for how little we got this time around, especially since we didn't have a full kitchen (no eggs, bacon, etc)
I did. I used them for both parts of the trip. Delivery was $28 for the Hyatt portion, but only $12 for the WDW part.
Okay, need to remember this next time. We had a HORRIBLE night when we arrived (lost luggage) so ended up treating ourselves to room service while at the MCO Hyatt.
Sorry about that. I really liked the Macaroni Grill.
You've tried Artist Point's soup, yes? Is it similar?
I will be dining at Artist Point for the first time on my birthday this year.
Yeah, no thanks. Pass on that!
I know. I would be afraid to imagine what's in that water.
Uh, I don't remember this?!? I'd still pay for it though!
It was added last fall in the dry dock refurb.
Ahh, best part of the ship, IMO.
So does this mean you're actually becoming your own art store yourself?!
No. A Museum.
Uh, could have fooled me
OK let me rephrase that. Outside of Disney bars, I am not at all a bar scene person. When you questioned me on this I had to ask Fran the last time we went to a bar in Long Beach, and it was when our conductor "won" a Happy Hour party at Panama Joes. That was probably three years ago, and before that who knows when? Probably when I had margaritas with you!
I'm not saying that we don't enjoy our fair share of beverages but it's usually at dinner.

I love these things. I watched a special on the Food Network the other day and a group of cooks went on the Dream (maybe the Fantasy?) and one of cooks really enjoyed this dish!
We watched that too! Once before the cruise and then again last week.

Can you believe we grabbed 4 nights at the Poly 2 months out?!? How does that even happen?!
You got lucky!
Does it give you some cool hallucinations too??? No? Not those type of mushrooms? Drat.

Yikes, that's a bit of a downer situation. But glad you took it upon yourself to get out and try to make the situation better, at least for you.
Yeah. I did get to see some of the ship and get out a little.
Remy.
At least they haven't told the Wonder to start doing this yet
I don't think they could do it that way on the Wonder. The seating is too awkward for the bartender to get in there and pour the drinks individually.
Was Fran in a better mood at this point too?
It wasn't until dinner that her mood started to pick up.
I was going to ask about your tablemates, were they nice?
Yes they were very nice.
On the caipirinhas: on our Norway cruise we did a mojito and caipirinha tasting and Katharina was in shock that they poured syrup into the glass for the caipirinha, not brown sugar. They make the drink at home quite often. She discussed that with the bar tender and the answer was that due to
DCL customers being so health conscious, DCL is only using agave syrup in all drinks, no sugar. In my opinion that is total stupidity as it changes the character of the drink and really, it does not matter if the sugar comes from sugar cane or the agave plant. If it is sweet it is either sugar or chemistry, so what does it matter?
That's weird. I don't mind agave but sometimes you need to use real sugar.
I can't wait to see Alaska. I'll be living vicariously through you, I'm sure!
I will take lots of pictures!
Yikes. Those "discussions" are never any fun. I hope the storm blew over quickly and you could both get back to enjoying the cruise.
Next update will be happy.
Now that just sounds wonderful.
I should make one. That sounds good.
Do I detect a note of disappointment?
Perhaps.
