disneegrl4eva
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2004
- Messages
- 9,041
subbing...great TR...cant wait to read more
The Big 3-0: A Birthday Cruise (Feb 2nd-9th) and a trip to the World!
- Thread starter Perdie
- Start date
AZDisneyDan
<font color=darkorchid>Americans living in London<
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2006
- Messages
- 153
I have added some pics for day 3, Enjoy!!
Friday morning began with 2 nervous stomachs.We were unsure of how we were feeling and unsure of how the day would go. Would Dan get sick again? Would we make it through the day? We had plans to go to Animal Kingdom in the morning and Epcot that evening .we were feeling alright that morning and both downed our stomach powder at breakfast for safety!
We decided against the cinnabons and went for omelettes and potatoes for brekkie, hoping this would give our bodies some much needed respite from our sugar hangovers. After we ate, we set out for the Animal Kingdom. It was there that we encountered our first problems with our annual passes. Disneyworld has decided to give out paper tickets that are supposed to last you a full year, instead of a nice plastic credit card-like tickets. Of course, these flimsy paper tickets are bound to have issues, one of them being sensitivity to magnets! Both our tickets were desensitized and we had to go to guest relations for new tickets. Luckily, we both had our ids on us; otherwise we would have not been let in! So make sure to always bring your license in case you annual passes dont work! After an annoying start, we were finally on our way into the park.
The first thing we did was get a fast pass for Kilimanjaro Safari. We then trekked all the way across the park to see the new Nemo show, it was wonderful. When I think of the show, I think of the color blue. Everything in the theatre was bright and blue. You really felt like you were underwater. One of the most amazing scenes was when they showed the fish tank, it seriously looked like a huge fish tank on stage! My other favourite part was the Seagull. A tremendously large Seagull on the side of the stage talking to the fish tank-it just looked amazing! I loved the designs and the songs and the actors were fantastic!
After the show, we checked to see how long the line was for Everest and it said 30 minutes but we decided to go for a fast pass instead. Since our Kilimanjaro fast passes were up-we headed over back across the park to get on the ride. Fast pass went by quickly until we got to the front of the line when they inexplicably had no jeeps for about 5 minutes and when they did-they would just pass us by-one by one! We finally got on the ride and we were off! I had heard that they changed the Simba One storyline-and it seemed like they made very minor changes. But they were so minor that I barely noticed and I still am not a huge fan of the story. I do love seeing all the animals and being so close, but I cant help but be disappointed every time we go by the lions. They are always asleep and far away-hard to see! (They are my favourite next to the elephants after all!) I got my animal fix for the day and then we headed back to Everest. On the way to Everest I spotted a churro, and even though I had vowed to have less sugar, I could not resist! You cant get churros in England! So I took a gamble on my belly and ate the most delicious fried dough Ive ever had.
The last time we rode Everest was in February 2006 when it was in soft opening. The only difference we saw was that they added the part where they take your picture during the ride. Other than that it was the same-and still breathtaking! The Yeti was working and still gave me chills-what an amazing creature they built!!
We left Everest and headed over to Dinosaur, on our way we saw Goofy and Pluto hanging out and taking pictures with guests. There was a long line, so much to our Goofys dismay, we didnt stop. Dinosaur was as I remembered it-an amazing ride, an exciting ride much like the Indiana Jones ride, with obvious different theming. We left Dinosaur and noticed Goofy was leaving his post and going backstage. There is a bench across from the door and we sat down and waited for Goofy to come back. He came back about 5 minutes later, and we got a quick shot of him walking by before cast members stopped to take pictures of us with our camera.
At this point we were ready to tackle lunch. We wanted to try the new Yak and Yeti café. We didnt have reservations, so instead of the sit down restaurant we went for the walk up café instead. The honey chicken with veg and rice looked promising so both Dan and I got an order of it and went to find a table. The walk up café has only outdoor tables and with our good fortune, this is when the heavens opened up and it started to rain. We sat down and it was cloudy, we started to eat and it was drizzling a bit. Both our chicken dishes had barely any honey, so I went up to get more and by the time I came back it was pouring. There were no tables left with umbrellas over them and our ponchos were happily sitting in our room, untouched and buried in our suitcases. So after a few minutes, we grabbed our food and ran over to the bathrooms. We stood underneath the canopy by the toilets with about 8 other people. But our food was burdening us. It wasnt that good to begin with and now it was soggy and cold. We ended up dumping our entire 8 dollar honey chicken, having barely eaten any of it. Two wasted meals!
As the rain subsided, we began to walk towards the exit, stopping for some retail therapy along the way. Dan found a great Goofy hat and we purchased a new plush Goofy-safari themed with a hat and a camera around his waist-very cute indeed! I was very disappointed that I found an amazing beaker shirt but they only came in junior sizes. It was a retro orange shirt with Beakers face and I fell in love with it (one of my favourite characters besides Goofy) so I was quite unhappy with the sizing choices! Why are they selling Beaker shirts at Animal Kingdom and not at the Studios in the shop next to the Muppets ride?? Who knows.
We left Animal Kingdom and headed over to Epcot for the rest of our evening. We had high hopes that Spaceship Earth would be doing soft openings after a lengthy shut down and rehab. When we arrived, we headed straight for it and the gates were sadly closed. With our heads hanging, we headed over to guest relations to ask about our dinner ressies that night (we couldnt remember the time for San Angel Inn).
At Guest Relations we asked about Spaceship Earth and they said it was down for the day and they were not sure if it would re open, but it had been open the day before! (We were leaving for the ship the following day so we thought we had definitely missed out). We asked about the following week (we would be back for 2 days after the cruise) and we were told it would be closed up again before the big re opening on the 17th of Feb. Once again, with our heads down we left. As we were walking towards Test Track to get fast passes, we ran into a cast member at the Tip board who told us that in fact the ride had been running regularly and is not even considered a soft opening, it was just open. Up until today when the escape elevators were not working properly. They had been waiting all day for the repair men to come and fix the thing, so they would open the ride up. Last he heard they were on their way!! There was hope yet!
So with a little more jump in our step we headed over to get our fast passes. We left there and began to head over to Nemo and Friends when I made us stop again at the tip board. It said Spaceship earth had a 25 minute wait!!! It was open!!!We started running towards the ride. We got there and it was about a 10 minute wait, and before we knew it-we were on the ride!
The ride looked amazing! There were brand new animatronics and new scenes. Judy Dench as the new narrator, I liked her but Dan missed Jeremy Irons. The end is a little controversial and I dont want to ruin it for anyone. Lets just say as a first time rider we laughed and really enjoyed it but the second time we rode the ride, we werent as excited about it. It lost a little of that first time surprise so repeatability may be a factor on the new ending.
After Spaceship Earth we headed over to ride Nemo and Friends-a new ride! I really liked this ride-the seashell carriages, the songs, the scenery, and mixing in real fish with Nemos buddies was a very cool effect. The starfish at the end was the funniest part-she said something different both times we rode it both hysterically funny.
Since we were already in the pavilion once the ride was over we headed over to Turtle Talk with Crush. We sat in the front row and Dan got picked on by Crush, it was pretty funny. The first time Crush asked him if he liked to chill out when he swims or did he like to compete-Dan said he likes to chill out, and Crush floated on his back, arms behind his head and said Look familiar? And the second time, Crush asked everyone to close their eyes, so I covered Dans eyes with my hand as a joke. Crush noticed this and called out No peaking Dan! It was hilarious!
As we left Crush, we were shopping for the Mine Mine Mine t-shirt when a cast member noticed my birthday button and called me over to her. She said I had a phone call. It was Goofy wishing me a Happy Birthday!!!! How fun! After the call she asked us to play a game of memory with some cards with characters on it. I lost big time to Dan! The cast member then gave us a magical moment certificate and we left feeling warm and fuzzy!
As we were walking, another cast member stopped us and told us that the ice cream lady at the next kiosk was giving out free Mickey Bars for anyones birthday-all we had to do was ask for our magical moment. We felt really funny about it-but figured it was worth a shot. So we walked over to the lady and told her what the cast member said and pointed to him and she rolled her eyes and said, sorry Ive given out all I can give today. He really shouldnt be telling you that! We ended up feeling stupid and sheepish. After all, we felt weird in the first place but the guy assured us it was ok. The whole experience was bizarre-who asks for a magical moment?!
Dan decided he wanted to brave Mission Space at this point. I was a little nervous but agreed to do the non spinning version with him, until we got there. I asked the cast member if it was like Star Tours (which I get motion sickness from) and he said it would give a similar feeling, so I passed and waited for Dan. He really enjoyed it and Im glad I passed on it. I got some great people watching in while I waited!
Still craving a snack at this point, we got some much needed freshly popped Disney world popcorn-it was delightful!! Hot and buttery-unlike UK popcorn!! We then headed over to test track-a ride we really dont love all that much, Its kind of underwhelming but we had only ridden it a few times so we thought wed give it another shot. It didnt disappoint in its disappointment! It was still just ok for me (a little pitchy!) We did pick up another Goofy though-a test track themed Goofy-dressed and ready to drive for the Daytona 500! He has a uniform and a hat and sponsors all over his outfit-including Goofys Candy Company as a major sponsor of course!
I think we wandered and shopped at this point before heading over to the Norway ride. Its such a short ride and we ended up waiting for as long as the ride was after the ride was over to see the short film about Norway-that is in need of a makeover! Waiting after a ride is brutal-the movie should be first! It was about time for our reservation at this point so we headed over to Mexico and checked in. But first we spotted another themed Goofy!! This was the trip for Goofys that is for sure! I think we may be so used to Disneyland Paris where they rarely even sell a regular Goofy, let alone a themed one that we were going a little Goofy crazy. The Mexican Goofy was so cute, he had a big poncho hat and a huge sombrero with hidden Mickeys on it and he was carrying a Mexican flag! So we bought him, of course!
We only waited about 15 minutes before we were seated. Dan was still a bit nervous about his stomach so he ordered a plain chicken dish with some sort of creamy pepper side dish (that he didnt really eat). I was craving Mexican food like they serve in Arizona, so I got a big plate of nachos and tortilla soup as my entire dinner! The nachos were really good as was the soup-but for 6 dollars, they give you a tiny cup of soup! Our service was quick and the sweet ice tea was amazing. Overall, I had a pretty good experience, while Dans chicken was a little dry and he thought the creamy pepper thing was just repetitive, in other words-too many peppers!
We skipped dessert and headed out to scope out a spot for Illuminations. We got a spot right behind another couple next to the Mexico pavilion. There was a lot of space available and there was about 20 minutes until the show. Everyone around us was seated, including the people directly in front of us. We thought if everyone stayed seated, we would all benefit from really good seats. We had a great view of the lagoon!
At this point the weather had made a drastic change and we had once again left our proper attire in the hotel room! It was colder after the sun set and here we were in shorts and a t-shirt, about to sit outside for the next 45 minutes! (Sometimes we plan really well at home but we dont benefit from forward thinking while at the parks.) I almost bought a cute poncho from the Mexican pavilion but decided it would be way too heavy to carry around for the next 3 weeks!
As we shivered on the cold concrete, brimming with excitement for our favourite night time show, the couple in front of us stood up. The show wasnt set to start for a bit so we hoped they were just stretching their legs. Everyone was sitting but them. As it came closer and closer, we began to think they were going to stand for the whole show. Just our luck!
What exactly is the proper etiquette for this anyway? If everyone around you is standing, its ok to stand? And if everyone is sitting, shouldnt you sit too? I dont know.All I know is they stood right in front of me, so I politely asked if they wouldnt mind sitting. I got a grumpy response of Thats the whole point! And they kneeled for the rest of the show-I guess that was their compromise! I think they meant, the whole point of getting there early and getting front row? But if you are in the front row-you dont need to stand, you can see perfectly from where you are sitting-there are no obstructions! So in my opinion, its just out of respect and politeness for the people behind you. Am I wrong?
Well, I didnt let it spoil the show. I got shivers and tears from it! I love that show and could watch it everyday and I dont think I would get sick of it!
Once the show was over, we thought about heading into World Showcase but extra magic hours had started, meaning World Showcase was closed and only Future World was open. So we headed over to Soarin-the only ride without any fast pass availability so we figured if we wanted to ride it, we better stand in the line!
The line was long and mostly boring; except for the newly added section in which you play video games along with everyone else that is motion sensored. The games change and I dont know how many there are, but in our game, we were looking at these huge screens and we have to use our bodies and jump to move and catch these boulder or snowballs-depending on the scene in front of us. It was fun and we got to move a little while in line! It made the line move a little faster too! We got lucky on the ride too-we got the top middle section-best place to be for the best views!
It was downright freezing once we left Soarin and with no source of warmth we ran to Spaceship Earth for our second and final ride (of the night and of SE for this trip). Like I said, the ending this time wasnt as exciting since it lost its surprise appeal, making me think it will just get worse in its appeal as time goes on!!
We practically ran to our car after that, seeking warmth! We made it back to the hotel and couldnt believe our first part of the trip was already over! We would be leaving Disney World in the morning and heading over to Port Canaveral and onto the Disney Magic! We couldnt wait for it!
The night before our Med Cruise we were so excited we hardly slept and we were awake by 7 AM (which never ever happens!) This time we were so exhausted I think we fell asleep rather quickly! (We did need the alarm as we were not up and at em by 7AM this time but once the alarm went off-we woke up feeling pretty excited to start the next part of our Disney Experience!!
Coming Up Next: Hopefully I have time to add pictures! Our first day on the Magic-the Veranda and another great Birthday Surprise! Let the Festivities Begin!!!
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
The morning started off right-cake for breakfast! 
Our sugar high wasnt over yet and we insisted on gorging
I mean it was my birthday cake, right??!! What else would I have for brekkie?!
We had it to tide us over since I was heading up for my birthday pedicure (my birthday was not until Wednesday but everything on the cruise was for my birthday) We threw some laundry into the machines-early on in the trip-but we figured if we washed everything now, we wouldnt have to wash anything at the end! (We had already been on holiday since Wednesday-so it had been 5 days already.)
I headed up to my pedicure without the insider knowledge of the Legendary Super Spa Sales. Dan had been warned somewhere of the intensity of the therapists trying to sell you any and all products while enjoying the spa. He did not share his wisdom with yours truly and off I innocently went to what I thought would be a harmless pedicure. I thought I would read a magazine and have my feet massaged!
When I arrived I had to fill out a 2 page form with weird questions about my health, have you ever been asked if your family has a history of glaucoma before youve had a pedicure??!! I started getting a funny feeling-what were they going to do to me in this pedicure? After I filled out the forms-really what does pregnancy and a history of heart disease have to do with painting my nails-seriously-I met my foot lady. I wish I could remember her name but it was too long ago now. She was from Jamaica and has a 7 year old daughter. I cant imagine a life where I would be on a ship 8 months out of the year while my daughter is in another place. But I am guessing they are very poor and this gives her daughter more opportunities and money. She said she loves feet and wants to be a podiatrist. She was very convincing of her knowledge of moisturizers, lotions, wrinkle cream for my eyes (she put some on me after telling me I had bags under my eyes!!!!) I didnt even know I was slowly being talked into some oil she kept telling me how good and non greasy the oil was and I was agreeing with her! (Because hey, she was putting it on my legs and it actually wasnt greasy at all). She dazzled me with picking a color for me-the exact color I had my eye on all throughout the pedicure. And she kept bringing up the oil. We talked like girlfriends do-about our daily regiment-she laughed when I told her it was too much work to exfoliate and moisturize daily. Actually she was more shocked. She said, You dont have kids? How come you dont have the time? Like kids are the only thing that make a person busy in life! Well by the end I had a nice massage, a nice color and a girl who was super friendly-who I also felt bad for having to be away from her only daughter. And before I knew it, I was purchasing a bottle of the infamous oil that cost as much as the damn pedicure!!!
The scene went something like this: She was all finished (after only about 35 minutes even though I paid for 55 minutes); she said something along the lines of, Ok, I will go get your oil and your bill. I will be right back. And before I could say What Oil? She was gone. Five minutes later she came back with the bottle and the bill. I had sticker shock at the price. I mean, I live in London so its hard to shock me anymore with overpriced items! I pay 10 dollars most days for a sandwich, crisps and a diet coke at Pret! (British Sandwich shop)
So I left with the bag and as soon as I walked into the room, Dan saw the bag in my hand and said Oh crap I forgot to tell you about the hard sell. Gee, thanks for the warning!!! I decided I would return it-and I would-later on. I didnt want to chance running into the girl when I did it, so I figured I would wait a day or two.
After the sales trauma, we headed to Lumieres for brunch because we heard they had some amazing food there! (We didnt realize until later that it was the breakfast we wanted not the brunch). What we got was just ok. Dan had really plain pancakes, I had really yummy french toast. I also had greasy hash browns and a bagel. It was all just ok for me, a little pitchy : )
This day seemed to be flying by already! By the time we finished brunch it was almost time for the matinee performance of Twice Charmed! We figured since it was the Superbowl that night, we better check out the daytime show.
It was just as good as I remembered it-although our seats were up front and to the side and I was able to see some of the magic offstage. Oops! I thought the girl that played Cinderella was really good, and Prince Charming was a lot better than the guy from this summer! While we sat there, I noticed Christian, our Cruise Director was in there. I started playing the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon game in my head in order to stump him. (He threw down the challenge and U stumped him twice!!!) The trick is to use super new actors who havent been in much-giving them less of a chance to be able to connect them with Kevin Bacon. I cant remember if we stumped him after the show or later in the week but both times it was fun!!
After the show we decided to lay out and swim for a bit in the adult pool. We lazed around for a couple of hours before we went back to our room to get ready for the dinner and the Superbowl party.
They had reserved the area with the giant aerial screen for the Superbowl and they put out wings and other snacks, but I didnt taste any of it. I wasnt feeling all that well (hint: too much sugar!) And I was trying to feel better for dinner at Animators that night. Normally we would have skipped dinner and just watched the show, but of course it was Animators night-and show night! It was our only night in Animators (our other night was our Palo night), so we didnt want to miss it, especially the show part!
So we left the Superbowl early, hoping dinner would be done in time to catch the end. Dinner was great-all the food was hot again!! But the best part of the night was dessert! I had heard that there were Mickey bars on board, but on the Med Cruise they had run out so I had never experienced a Mickey Bar other than having to pay for one in the parks. So I asked Sebastien for a Mickey bar for dessert. It was delicious!!!!!!!! The whole table got Mickey bars (along with other treats I cant even remember-maybe the peanutbutter pie?) Anyway, it was the highlight of the dinner-oh and the show of course!! I love when Sorcerer Mickey comes out. The only problem is that we had a table where of course, we couldnt really see. They really should allow Mickey to roam around the whole place-not just the middle!
After dinner we ran to the Promenade to see if the game was still on, but we had just missed the end of it. (We saw replays later that night on ESPN). We were a little bummed because we heard it had been so good, but the dinner was definitely worth it! (Well, the dessert was anyway!)
After dinner entertainment was in the form of a man named Freddie Fusion. I had to be talked into going-and I am glad I did!! Dan was chosen to go on stage so the guy could embarrass him! Ha! He took a black tophat and coat and put his arms through it so it looked like his arms were Dans arms. He was making all kinds of gestures and doing funny things-like spilling water all over Dan. It was quite hilarious and I got a lot of great shots of Dan being manipulated on stage!
The day had gone by so quickly it was unreal! Before we knew it we were heading back to the room and off to bed. We had another day at sea ahead of us and we were both hoping it wouldnt go by as quickly!!!
Coming Up Next: We meet a Disney legend
& go to our first Castaway Club Members Only party!
Our sugar high wasnt over yet and we insisted on gorging
I mean it was my birthday cake, right??!! What else would I have for brekkie?! We had it to tide us over since I was heading up for my birthday pedicure (my birthday was not until Wednesday but everything on the cruise was for my birthday) We threw some laundry into the machines-early on in the trip-but we figured if we washed everything now, we wouldnt have to wash anything at the end! (We had already been on holiday since Wednesday-so it had been 5 days already.)
I headed up to my pedicure without the insider knowledge of the Legendary Super Spa Sales. Dan had been warned somewhere of the intensity of the therapists trying to sell you any and all products while enjoying the spa. He did not share his wisdom with yours truly and off I innocently went to what I thought would be a harmless pedicure. I thought I would read a magazine and have my feet massaged!
When I arrived I had to fill out a 2 page form with weird questions about my health, have you ever been asked if your family has a history of glaucoma before youve had a pedicure??!! I started getting a funny feeling-what were they going to do to me in this pedicure? After I filled out the forms-really what does pregnancy and a history of heart disease have to do with painting my nails-seriously-I met my foot lady. I wish I could remember her name but it was too long ago now. She was from Jamaica and has a 7 year old daughter. I cant imagine a life where I would be on a ship 8 months out of the year while my daughter is in another place. But I am guessing they are very poor and this gives her daughter more opportunities and money. She said she loves feet and wants to be a podiatrist. She was very convincing of her knowledge of moisturizers, lotions, wrinkle cream for my eyes (she put some on me after telling me I had bags under my eyes!!!!) I didnt even know I was slowly being talked into some oil she kept telling me how good and non greasy the oil was and I was agreeing with her! (Because hey, she was putting it on my legs and it actually wasnt greasy at all). She dazzled me with picking a color for me-the exact color I had my eye on all throughout the pedicure. And she kept bringing up the oil. We talked like girlfriends do-about our daily regiment-she laughed when I told her it was too much work to exfoliate and moisturize daily. Actually she was more shocked. She said, You dont have kids? How come you dont have the time? Like kids are the only thing that make a person busy in life! Well by the end I had a nice massage, a nice color and a girl who was super friendly-who I also felt bad for having to be away from her only daughter. And before I knew it, I was purchasing a bottle of the infamous oil that cost as much as the damn pedicure!!!
The scene went something like this: She was all finished (after only about 35 minutes even though I paid for 55 minutes); she said something along the lines of, Ok, I will go get your oil and your bill. I will be right back. And before I could say What Oil? She was gone. Five minutes later she came back with the bottle and the bill. I had sticker shock at the price. I mean, I live in London so its hard to shock me anymore with overpriced items! I pay 10 dollars most days for a sandwich, crisps and a diet coke at Pret! (British Sandwich shop)
So I left with the bag and as soon as I walked into the room, Dan saw the bag in my hand and said Oh crap I forgot to tell you about the hard sell. Gee, thanks for the warning!!! I decided I would return it-and I would-later on. I didnt want to chance running into the girl when I did it, so I figured I would wait a day or two.
After the sales trauma, we headed to Lumieres for brunch because we heard they had some amazing food there! (We didnt realize until later that it was the breakfast we wanted not the brunch). What we got was just ok. Dan had really plain pancakes, I had really yummy french toast. I also had greasy hash browns and a bagel. It was all just ok for me, a little pitchy : )
This day seemed to be flying by already! By the time we finished brunch it was almost time for the matinee performance of Twice Charmed! We figured since it was the Superbowl that night, we better check out the daytime show.
It was just as good as I remembered it-although our seats were up front and to the side and I was able to see some of the magic offstage. Oops! I thought the girl that played Cinderella was really good, and Prince Charming was a lot better than the guy from this summer! While we sat there, I noticed Christian, our Cruise Director was in there. I started playing the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon game in my head in order to stump him. (He threw down the challenge and U stumped him twice!!!) The trick is to use super new actors who havent been in much-giving them less of a chance to be able to connect them with Kevin Bacon. I cant remember if we stumped him after the show or later in the week but both times it was fun!!
After the show we decided to lay out and swim for a bit in the adult pool. We lazed around for a couple of hours before we went back to our room to get ready for the dinner and the Superbowl party.
They had reserved the area with the giant aerial screen for the Superbowl and they put out wings and other snacks, but I didnt taste any of it. I wasnt feeling all that well (hint: too much sugar!) And I was trying to feel better for dinner at Animators that night. Normally we would have skipped dinner and just watched the show, but of course it was Animators night-and show night! It was our only night in Animators (our other night was our Palo night), so we didnt want to miss it, especially the show part!
So we left the Superbowl early, hoping dinner would be done in time to catch the end. Dinner was great-all the food was hot again!! But the best part of the night was dessert! I had heard that there were Mickey bars on board, but on the Med Cruise they had run out so I had never experienced a Mickey Bar other than having to pay for one in the parks. So I asked Sebastien for a Mickey bar for dessert. It was delicious!!!!!!!! The whole table got Mickey bars (along with other treats I cant even remember-maybe the peanutbutter pie?) Anyway, it was the highlight of the dinner-oh and the show of course!! I love when Sorcerer Mickey comes out. The only problem is that we had a table where of course, we couldnt really see. They really should allow Mickey to roam around the whole place-not just the middle!
After dinner we ran to the Promenade to see if the game was still on, but we had just missed the end of it. (We saw replays later that night on ESPN). We were a little bummed because we heard it had been so good, but the dinner was definitely worth it! (Well, the dessert was anyway!)
After dinner entertainment was in the form of a man named Freddie Fusion. I had to be talked into going-and I am glad I did!! Dan was chosen to go on stage so the guy could embarrass him! Ha! He took a black tophat and coat and put his arms through it so it looked like his arms were Dans arms. He was making all kinds of gestures and doing funny things-like spilling water all over Dan. It was quite hilarious and I got a lot of great shots of Dan being manipulated on stage!
The day had gone by so quickly it was unreal! Before we knew it we were heading back to the room and off to bed. We had another day at sea ahead of us and we were both hoping it wouldnt go by as quickly!!!
Coming Up Next: We meet a Disney legend
& go to our first Castaway Club Members Only party!
WDBRDWLK
Nana to Princesses Maya and Orion and Prince Joel.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2005
- Messages
- 599
Hey Perdie-We were at that show and saw Dan on stage. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. He is really great...we have also seen some clips on youtube.
So I'm waiting to hear about your next installment, day 2 at sea, and if you were at the adult pool while the 'waves' were washing over the sides...around the edge of the pool is a bench area that you have to step over. Did you see the lady fall on her butt/side as she was stepping over the bench area...I would show you a picture, it was hilarious, except it was my butt! The water on the sides made the pool area so slippery that I went down on my right side. I was soaked before I even went in the pool and did not even have a chance to take off my coverup. My hubby came running over from his comfty lounge chair. He said I just disappeared! I was laughing and he kept asking if I was alright. I guess I gave alot of people a good laugh! But there was a couple sitting off to the left on the bench who asked if I was okay. Thanks for their concern! We decided to abandon the pool idea and went to the Rainforest in the spa instead.
BTW, welcome to the DVC. You are gonna love it!
So I'm waiting to hear about your next installment, day 2 at sea, and if you were at the adult pool while the 'waves' were washing over the sides...around the edge of the pool is a bench area that you have to step over. Did you see the lady fall on her butt/side as she was stepping over the bench area...I would show you a picture, it was hilarious, except it was my butt! The water on the sides made the pool area so slippery that I went down on my right side. I was soaked before I even went in the pool and did not even have a chance to take off my coverup. My hubby came running over from his comfty lounge chair. He said I just disappeared! I was laughing and he kept asking if I was alright. I guess I gave alot of people a good laugh! But there was a couple sitting off to the left on the bench who asked if I was okay. Thanks for their concern! We decided to abandon the pool idea and went to the Rainforest in the spa instead.
BTW, welcome to the DVC. You are gonna love it!
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
Hey Perdie-We were at that show and saw Dan on stage. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. He is really great...we have also seen some clips on youtube.
So I'm waiting to hear about your next installment, day 2 at sea, and if you were at the adult pool while the 'waves' were washing over the sides...around the edge of the pool is a bench area that you have to step over. Did you see the lady fall on her butt/side as she was stepping over the bench area...I would show you a picture, it was hilarious, except it was my butt! The water on the sides made the pool area so slippery that I went down on my right side. I was soaked before I even went in the pool and did not even have a chance to take off my coverup. My hubby came running over from his comfty lounge chair. He said I just disappeared! I was laughing and he kept asking if I was alright. I guess I gave alot of people a good laugh! But there was a couple sitting off to the left on the bench who asked if I was okay. Thanks for their concern! We decided to abandon the pool idea and went to the Rainforest in the spa instead.
BTW, welcome to the DVC. You are gonna love it!
You poor thing!!! No, we weren't at the pool that day at all-so we missed your show!
When you say you saw clips on youtube-do you mean of Freddie Fusion or of Freddie Fusion and my husband?! That would be wild!!
I just did the next installment.....Third day at sea....in the next entry! Enjoy! And thanks for the welcome to DVC!!
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
On our last cruise, we missed the one character breakfast offered because our server forgot to tell us about it (we had issues with her!)
so this time we made sure to ask about it, even though our server Sebastien would never forget to tell us! (And he didnt). So we started out our second day at sea with a character breakfast. The only thing I dont like about them is that the characters dont come to the table to interact with you. They get introduced and they come out and dance around the room and then they leave, and about 5 minutes later they come back and do it again. They rotate the characters throughout the breakfast-and of course we were eagerly awaiting Goofys presence. We decided that our tablemates would find out how insane we are about Goofy anyway, and since we are all Disney fans, we didnt care-we got on the insanity express and took our tablemates along for the ride!
We took our Goofy out (because he was so excited to see himself of course!!) And our tablemates loved him! They were snapping up pictures of our Goofy and telling us to get out there and find Goofy to get a picture with him! They didnt make us feel like we were crazy-they joined in on the fun! Well, Big Goofy decided to start a sort of Conga line around the restaurant and Judy (tablemate) told me I needed to take my Goofy and get out there! So I did .and I ended up dancing through the Conga line in front of Goofy! He had his hands on my shoulders and we were dancing it up! And then I showed him my Goofy and he went nuts! It was great fun!
Our Assistant server had learned how to make Goofy hat/ears out of our napkins which was quite amusing and appropriate for us. So we put them on and had a good time:
After breakfast we headed over to the Castaway Club Party-our first time as members of this club-we wanted to know what goddies we would get! Well, we got free soda, bottled water, and huge chocoalte covered mickey rice krispie treats!! They were soo good-Im sorry i didnt take more than one! (But I did finish Dans later that day!) We were all given a booklet with trivia to fill out. Most of the questions were made to force conversation between you and other guests. We were sitting with our tablemates so we bounced questions off each other. But one question was to find a person who has been on the most cruises-or more than 10. We found a couple who had cruised with Disney 27 times!!!!!! (They only do a few different itineraries along with some specialty cruises-so I hop for their sake the two new ships will offer brand new itineraries to give those two something new to do!) Its funny, I can totally see myself doing 27 Disney cruises, but I think some of the shows and the same dinner menu might get a bit old .I would want Disney to change it up so I wouldnt have to switch ships!
During the party the Captain came in and gave away a free clock-one of our tablemates (Eric) won! And they showed some videos of how the ship was built and gave some fun trivia about the ship. It was a pretty good time-although I think the 10 plus cruisers should get an exclusive party and the 20+ cruisers should get a dinner with the Captain or something! ha!
We were most excited to see Disney Illustrator Don Ducky Williams on this cruise. He only goes on about 8 a year and we were lucky enough to have him on our cruise! Don has been with disney about 25 years I think. He did not have an easy time getting into the company. For over two years he would draw one hundred pictures a week and send them in. he would wait and wait and wait and he never heard anything. Eventually he got a job working on Main Street which got him his in, which eventually led him to become an Illustrator. He tells a wonderful story and while he does this, he draws a whole bunch of pictures and raffles them off at the end. We were not lucky enough to win one and we really wanted to go to his second show but we had our Palo brunch scheduled at the same time!
We were very busy on our sea day, as soon as we were done with Ducky we headed over to a wine tasting class. After about 5 small glasses of wine and a little bit of bread, we were both feeling good. Did I feel like I learned about wine? Yes. Could I tell you what I learned? Probably not. I know you smell for different flavors but I have a hard time telling what I am smelling.
After all that wine, it was time to eat! (But of course!!) So we headed over to Plutos and grabbed a cheeseburger and fries. I dont think Im a big fa of Plutos burgers-great tacos though! Im pretty sure we had soft serve ice cream after that because it was a daily treat for us-those things taste like Wendys frosties!
All that food and wine put us in quite a stupor-so we napped-hey were on a cruise right?! We napped until it was time to get ready for Formal night and go see the Golden Mickeys (a fun take on the Oscars). The Golden Mickeys were just as fun as I remembered them from over the summer, and we enjoyed it just as much!
After the show we hung out in the lounge until our dinner-in Parrot Cay. Imagine our surprise when rib night was formal night! Who thought that was a good call?! Well, even though we had other options-we ate the messy ribs! Its more challenging that way! The table behind us was celebrating a birthday that night and the servers all came over to sing and while that was happening, one of my tablemates, Barb, got herself confused on when my birthday was. She knew we would be at Palos on my birthday and she thought it was on Tuesday (the next night). In fact, my birthday wasnt until Wednesday and Dans would be Thursday. Well, I guess she figured we should celebrate my birthday the day before since we were going to be at palo the next night so when I wasnt looking, she motioned to the servers that it was my birthday too! Imagine my surprise when they came out about 5 minutes later with a cake and they were singing happy birthday to me! This was the second time we would have this same cake-although since we had an entire cake on the first day-we had been eating it for three days already-we were quite sick of this particular cake!
Formal night photo:
After dinner it finally happened. We had been waiting with bated breath for three days and we finally saw her and had the awkward moment. Angie. Our server from the Med Cruise was standing in front of us. We had left dinner and ran into our Head Server John. We chatted him up for about 30 minutes, talking about many things, one being our odd dining experience on our first cruise. He knew Angie and while he didnt say anything negative, he did nod knowingly at our stories. It was very strange to have had this conversation and not 5 minutes later run into her! Stranger yet was what she said to us!
After 11 nights, this girl did not know our names, but we were her very first table and I am sure we caused her headaches every night as our food was cold and we complained along with our 6 other tablemates every single night. We never became warm and friendly with her and we certainly never took a picture with her. So how is it that this girl has a photo of us in her computer? As we were walking, she was manning the snack table that they serve after dinner. We recognized her and didnt know what to say, she said Dont I know you? And we siadOh, Angie, right, how are you? We made really awkward small talk with her and then she said I have a picture of you two on my computer. And thats all she said about it! We were like, oh wow! Great! (But we were thinkign, ***??) How did this girl get our photo? Im thinking she printed our photos and put our faces on some dolls and is doing some voodoo on us. Why would she have our picture?! It really freaked us both out, and it still does! Oh well, who knows!
We headed into Sessions after this, and sat in the corner listening to the headphones they have because Hunchback of Notre Dame was playing. It was kind of funny-two formally dressed people, sitting in a piano bar, ignoring the piano player, and having headphones on instead, softly singing along to Disney music! What a way to end the night!
Tomorrow: St Maarten/st Martin and the 50 dollar pizza!
We took our Goofy out (because he was so excited to see himself of course!!) And our tablemates loved him! They were snapping up pictures of our Goofy and telling us to get out there and find Goofy to get a picture with him! They didnt make us feel like we were crazy-they joined in on the fun! Well, Big Goofy decided to start a sort of Conga line around the restaurant and Judy (tablemate) told me I needed to take my Goofy and get out there! So I did .and I ended up dancing through the Conga line in front of Goofy! He had his hands on my shoulders and we were dancing it up! And then I showed him my Goofy and he went nuts! It was great fun!
Our Assistant server had learned how to make Goofy hat/ears out of our napkins which was quite amusing and appropriate for us. So we put them on and had a good time:
After breakfast we headed over to the Castaway Club Party-our first time as members of this club-we wanted to know what goddies we would get! Well, we got free soda, bottled water, and huge chocoalte covered mickey rice krispie treats!! They were soo good-Im sorry i didnt take more than one! (But I did finish Dans later that day!) We were all given a booklet with trivia to fill out. Most of the questions were made to force conversation between you and other guests. We were sitting with our tablemates so we bounced questions off each other. But one question was to find a person who has been on the most cruises-or more than 10. We found a couple who had cruised with Disney 27 times!!!!!! (They only do a few different itineraries along with some specialty cruises-so I hop for their sake the two new ships will offer brand new itineraries to give those two something new to do!) Its funny, I can totally see myself doing 27 Disney cruises, but I think some of the shows and the same dinner menu might get a bit old .I would want Disney to change it up so I wouldnt have to switch ships!
During the party the Captain came in and gave away a free clock-one of our tablemates (Eric) won! And they showed some videos of how the ship was built and gave some fun trivia about the ship. It was a pretty good time-although I think the 10 plus cruisers should get an exclusive party and the 20+ cruisers should get a dinner with the Captain or something! ha!
We were most excited to see Disney Illustrator Don Ducky Williams on this cruise. He only goes on about 8 a year and we were lucky enough to have him on our cruise! Don has been with disney about 25 years I think. He did not have an easy time getting into the company. For over two years he would draw one hundred pictures a week and send them in. he would wait and wait and wait and he never heard anything. Eventually he got a job working on Main Street which got him his in, which eventually led him to become an Illustrator. He tells a wonderful story and while he does this, he draws a whole bunch of pictures and raffles them off at the end. We were not lucky enough to win one and we really wanted to go to his second show but we had our Palo brunch scheduled at the same time!
We were very busy on our sea day, as soon as we were done with Ducky we headed over to a wine tasting class. After about 5 small glasses of wine and a little bit of bread, we were both feeling good. Did I feel like I learned about wine? Yes. Could I tell you what I learned? Probably not. I know you smell for different flavors but I have a hard time telling what I am smelling.
After all that wine, it was time to eat! (But of course!!) So we headed over to Plutos and grabbed a cheeseburger and fries. I dont think Im a big fa of Plutos burgers-great tacos though! Im pretty sure we had soft serve ice cream after that because it was a daily treat for us-those things taste like Wendys frosties!
All that food and wine put us in quite a stupor-so we napped-hey were on a cruise right?! We napped until it was time to get ready for Formal night and go see the Golden Mickeys (a fun take on the Oscars). The Golden Mickeys were just as fun as I remembered them from over the summer, and we enjoyed it just as much!
After the show we hung out in the lounge until our dinner-in Parrot Cay. Imagine our surprise when rib night was formal night! Who thought that was a good call?! Well, even though we had other options-we ate the messy ribs! Its more challenging that way! The table behind us was celebrating a birthday that night and the servers all came over to sing and while that was happening, one of my tablemates, Barb, got herself confused on when my birthday was. She knew we would be at Palos on my birthday and she thought it was on Tuesday (the next night). In fact, my birthday wasnt until Wednesday and Dans would be Thursday. Well, I guess she figured we should celebrate my birthday the day before since we were going to be at palo the next night so when I wasnt looking, she motioned to the servers that it was my birthday too! Imagine my surprise when they came out about 5 minutes later with a cake and they were singing happy birthday to me! This was the second time we would have this same cake-although since we had an entire cake on the first day-we had been eating it for three days already-we were quite sick of this particular cake!
Formal night photo:
After dinner it finally happened. We had been waiting with bated breath for three days and we finally saw her and had the awkward moment. Angie. Our server from the Med Cruise was standing in front of us. We had left dinner and ran into our Head Server John. We chatted him up for about 30 minutes, talking about many things, one being our odd dining experience on our first cruise. He knew Angie and while he didnt say anything negative, he did nod knowingly at our stories. It was very strange to have had this conversation and not 5 minutes later run into her! Stranger yet was what she said to us!
After 11 nights, this girl did not know our names, but we were her very first table and I am sure we caused her headaches every night as our food was cold and we complained along with our 6 other tablemates every single night. We never became warm and friendly with her and we certainly never took a picture with her. So how is it that this girl has a photo of us in her computer? As we were walking, she was manning the snack table that they serve after dinner. We recognized her and didnt know what to say, she said Dont I know you? And we siadOh, Angie, right, how are you? We made really awkward small talk with her and then she said I have a picture of you two on my computer. And thats all she said about it! We were like, oh wow! Great! (But we were thinkign, ***??) How did this girl get our photo? Im thinking she printed our photos and put our faces on some dolls and is doing some voodoo on us. Why would she have our picture?! It really freaked us both out, and it still does! Oh well, who knows!
We headed into Sessions after this, and sat in the corner listening to the headphones they have because Hunchback of Notre Dame was playing. It was kind of funny-two formally dressed people, sitting in a piano bar, ignoring the piano player, and having headphones on instead, softly singing along to Disney music! What a way to end the night!
Tomorrow: St Maarten/st Martin and the 50 dollar pizza!
Barge! We were on your cruise, and we blew off the Castaway Club reception (though I can't remember why at the moment). I wish we would've gone, but oh well. Looks like you had fun! I am enjoying reading your report as I have been too lazy to do my own.
We had a magical moment with Ducky Williams on that first Sunday morning. We were in Topsiders for breakfast and I saw Ducky at the next table. I recognized him from seeing photos here on the DIS. I started chatting with him and my kids asked him for his autograph. No one else around was paying any attention or knew who he was. To our surprise and delight, he drew pictures along with his autograph (see photos below). He was such a lovely man!!
Here he is with DS:
and with DD:
We had a magical moment with Ducky Williams on that first Sunday morning. We were in Topsiders for breakfast and I saw Ducky at the next table. I recognized him from seeing photos here on the DIS. I started chatting with him and my kids asked him for his autograph. No one else around was paying any attention or knew who he was. To our surprise and delight, he drew pictures along with his autograph (see photos below). He was such a lovely man!!
Here he is with DS:
and with DD:
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
Barge! We were on your cruise, and we blew off the Castaway Club reception (though I can't remember why at the moment). I wish we would've gone, but oh well. Looks like you had fun! I am enjoying reading your report as I have been too lazy to do my own.
We had a magical moment with Ducky Williams on that first Sunday morning. We were in Topsiders for breakfast and I saw Ducky at the next table. I recognized him from seeing photos here on the DIS. I started chatting with him and my kids asked him for his autograph. No one else around was paying any attention or knew who he was. To our surprise and delight, he drew pictures along with his autograph (see photos below). He was such a lovely man!!
Here he is with DS:
and with DD:
How wonderful!! I am so jealous of your kids!
We chatted with Ducky in the pool one day for awhile and it was really cool to get his insight on Disney stuff-but sadly, he didn't have a pencil and paper in the pool to draw us anything! 
kalel29
Dis Dad #101
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2006
- Messages
- 192
After the show we decided to lay out and swim for a bit in the adult pool. We lazed around for a couple of hours before we went back to our room to get ready for the dinner and the Superbowl party.
They had reserved the area with the giant aerial screen for the Superbowl and they put out wings and other snacks, but I didnt taste any of it. I wasnt feeling all that well (hint: too much sugar!) And I was trying to feel better for dinner at Animators that night. Normally we would have skipped dinner and just watched the show, but of course it was Animators night-and show night! It was our only night in Animators (our other night was our Palo night), so we didnt want to miss it, especially the show part!
A superbowl party on a disney cruise ship? That is a heck of any idea!!! I have to keep that in mind the next time we book a cruise.
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
This would be our first day touching land since we left Florida! We were pretty excited and when we woke up we were already docked at St Maarten (Dutch side). We quickly grabbed breakfast at Topsiders and headed out to check out the island.
We took a shared cab ride to a resort called Little Divi Bay. Its right on the beach and they allow you to use their chairs and umbrellas-and you get a great view of the ship! We decided we just wanted to relax and enjoy the beach.
The beach was practically empty when we got there-and while we were sitting there we watched a huge Royal Caribbean ship pull into port. Within 30 minutes of that ship docking, a huge busload of people came to the beach. Royal Caribbean had an excursion there. They had an area roped off for them across from where we were sitting. I guess Royal Caribbean didnt feel like just shuttling people to the beach was much of an excursion, so they had a little dance lesson going on. It must have been 5 minutes after the group got there, this woman get on a microphone and plays some music and says shes going to teach everyone the rumbalah (maybe??) So all of a sudden, you have three people dancing-I dont know why but it looked really funny! I think because they were in a corner and there was only about three of them and it just seemed so random! (Oh and it was only for Royal Caribbean guests). It looked out of place.
We swam in the water, laid out on our chairs, read our books and listened to our ipods and generally had a pretty relaxing morning. But we did want to see some of the island and we had heard Marigot had some nice shopping. We decided to catch a cab and head over there for lunch and shopping.
Passing over to the French Side:
The cab ride itself was pretty expensive-20 dollars. But we figured it would be worth it-boy were we wrong!!! Marigot is on the French side of the island. We arrived in St Martin on the first Tuesday of February. The first Tuesday in February is MARDI GRAS. So at noon, absolutely everything was closed. All the shops and most of the restaurants were just closed for the day. (I wish Disney would have mentioned the holiday before we got off the ship!) So we get a recommendation from our cabbie about a good local place to eat-and its closed! So we wander around and we find a place thats open and recommended in our book. I had lasagna and Dan had a pizza and we each had a diet coke. The meal ended up costing us 57 dollars!!!!!! So now were up to spending 77 dollars and we havent even paid for our taxi ride back!
We had heard about this great shopping in Marigot and we noticed a mall and went in.
Most of the shops were closed however, so we quickly left. We were feeling pretty defeated at this point. We took some pictures at the docks and then we just decided we had had enough. We were wishing we had stayed at Little Divi Bay and had lunch there, because in effect we had just spent 100 dollars to eat! So we took another 20 dollar cab ride back to the Ship and admitted we had definitely not done good enough research for St Martin-even though we pored over websites. We were hoping we would fare better on our day in St John the following day!
We got back to the ship and took note of the HUGE Royal Caribbean ship docked next to us. It's the biggest ship on the seas right now:
We got back on the ship and swam for a little while and we both took naps. We ended up having a second lunch on our veranda-hey we needed some free food to make up for earlier!! And then it was time for Pirates Night!!! My favorite night on the ship! Dan and I both had our costumes-Dans is way better than mine-but I was still stoked about getting dressed up! ARRRRR!
We decided our goal would be to get our pictures taken with the Pirate characters that night-and we managed to snap Captain Jack, Mickey and Goofy! Here they are:
Dinner that night was seafood and more seafood-all very good-at Lumieres. I really got a kick out of our servers being dressed up for Pirate Night-they looked like they were having fun!
The Pirate Party was a lot of fun too-very crowded up on Deck 10-lots of dancing. I do think its weird that Smee and Captain Hook are dancing to pop music, but who am I to judge-maybe they just dig it! Haha. One of my favorite Disney moments is when Mickey comes flying down off the stacks to save the day and set off the fireworks-its really magical and fun. You dont have to be a kid to enjoy it-it just feels special.
The Pirate buffet was just as I remembered it from the med Cruise and this time around I still was not hungry for it-since I had just had dinner! But the crepes looked really good-so did all the desserts. They also had Turkey legs and I think tacos? I thought the décor was the best part of the buffet! They had some scary looking items up there!!
It was karaoke night in Rockin Bar D and we were all dressed in costume so I felt like maybe Id be brave enough to sing (oh and give me a little liquor). We headed down to karaoke and I decided I would sing a Sheryl Crow sing. Back in college, I used to go to karaoke with my friends once or twice a week-but when youre 21 and youve been drinking all night-you never think its a bad idea to get up and sing in front of strangers! When youre 30 and mostly sober-you tend to think more of it. But I went for it-I was turning 30 in 15 minutes and I was going to go for it!!!
The DJ knew it was my birthday so when they called me up to sing, they announced it was my birthday and everyone sang to me-that helped with the nerves! So I rang in my 30th with a little karaoke and then off to bed we went!
The next day wed wake up in St Thomas and head out to St John and try to find Trunk Bay-we had heard it was the most beautiful beach in the world. (Ill give you a hint: it was!!!)
Oh yeah and it's my birthday!!!!!!!!
Stay Tuned!!!
We took a shared cab ride to a resort called Little Divi Bay. Its right on the beach and they allow you to use their chairs and umbrellas-and you get a great view of the ship! We decided we just wanted to relax and enjoy the beach.
The beach was practically empty when we got there-and while we were sitting there we watched a huge Royal Caribbean ship pull into port. Within 30 minutes of that ship docking, a huge busload of people came to the beach. Royal Caribbean had an excursion there. They had an area roped off for them across from where we were sitting. I guess Royal Caribbean didnt feel like just shuttling people to the beach was much of an excursion, so they had a little dance lesson going on. It must have been 5 minutes after the group got there, this woman get on a microphone and plays some music and says shes going to teach everyone the rumbalah (maybe??) So all of a sudden, you have three people dancing-I dont know why but it looked really funny! I think because they were in a corner and there was only about three of them and it just seemed so random! (Oh and it was only for Royal Caribbean guests). It looked out of place.
We swam in the water, laid out on our chairs, read our books and listened to our ipods and generally had a pretty relaxing morning. But we did want to see some of the island and we had heard Marigot had some nice shopping. We decided to catch a cab and head over there for lunch and shopping.
Passing over to the French Side:
The cab ride itself was pretty expensive-20 dollars. But we figured it would be worth it-boy were we wrong!!! Marigot is on the French side of the island. We arrived in St Martin on the first Tuesday of February. The first Tuesday in February is MARDI GRAS. So at noon, absolutely everything was closed. All the shops and most of the restaurants were just closed for the day. (I wish Disney would have mentioned the holiday before we got off the ship!) So we get a recommendation from our cabbie about a good local place to eat-and its closed! So we wander around and we find a place thats open and recommended in our book. I had lasagna and Dan had a pizza and we each had a diet coke. The meal ended up costing us 57 dollars!!!!!! So now were up to spending 77 dollars and we havent even paid for our taxi ride back!
We had heard about this great shopping in Marigot and we noticed a mall and went in.
Most of the shops were closed however, so we quickly left. We were feeling pretty defeated at this point. We took some pictures at the docks and then we just decided we had had enough. We were wishing we had stayed at Little Divi Bay and had lunch there, because in effect we had just spent 100 dollars to eat! So we took another 20 dollar cab ride back to the Ship and admitted we had definitely not done good enough research for St Martin-even though we pored over websites. We were hoping we would fare better on our day in St John the following day!
We got back to the ship and took note of the HUGE Royal Caribbean ship docked next to us. It's the biggest ship on the seas right now:
We got back on the ship and swam for a little while and we both took naps. We ended up having a second lunch on our veranda-hey we needed some free food to make up for earlier!! And then it was time for Pirates Night!!! My favorite night on the ship! Dan and I both had our costumes-Dans is way better than mine-but I was still stoked about getting dressed up! ARRRRR!
We decided our goal would be to get our pictures taken with the Pirate characters that night-and we managed to snap Captain Jack, Mickey and Goofy! Here they are:
Dinner that night was seafood and more seafood-all very good-at Lumieres. I really got a kick out of our servers being dressed up for Pirate Night-they looked like they were having fun!
The Pirate Party was a lot of fun too-very crowded up on Deck 10-lots of dancing. I do think its weird that Smee and Captain Hook are dancing to pop music, but who am I to judge-maybe they just dig it! Haha. One of my favorite Disney moments is when Mickey comes flying down off the stacks to save the day and set off the fireworks-its really magical and fun. You dont have to be a kid to enjoy it-it just feels special.
The Pirate buffet was just as I remembered it from the med Cruise and this time around I still was not hungry for it-since I had just had dinner! But the crepes looked really good-so did all the desserts. They also had Turkey legs and I think tacos? I thought the décor was the best part of the buffet! They had some scary looking items up there!!
It was karaoke night in Rockin Bar D and we were all dressed in costume so I felt like maybe Id be brave enough to sing (oh and give me a little liquor). We headed down to karaoke and I decided I would sing a Sheryl Crow sing. Back in college, I used to go to karaoke with my friends once or twice a week-but when youre 21 and youve been drinking all night-you never think its a bad idea to get up and sing in front of strangers! When youre 30 and mostly sober-you tend to think more of it. But I went for it-I was turning 30 in 15 minutes and I was going to go for it!!!
The DJ knew it was my birthday so when they called me up to sing, they announced it was my birthday and everyone sang to me-that helped with the nerves! So I rang in my 30th with a little karaoke and then off to bed we went!
The next day wed wake up in St Thomas and head out to St John and try to find Trunk Bay-we had heard it was the most beautiful beach in the world. (Ill give you a hint: it was!!!)
Oh yeah and it's my birthday!!!!!!!!
Stay Tuned!!!
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
We woke up Wednesday morning and I felt
a year older! Ok, no not really, in fact after celebrating my birthday for a week-the day didnt really feel any different than any other day! (The whole week felt like my birthday really!!) Cant complain about that!
Ok, this is the day I stopped taking notes on-so from here on out the rest of this trip is based on my memory-so beware!!
(Well, I did take notes on our morning that day but thats it!)
I do remember waking up at the crack of dawn for immigration.
It was nothing really-I went in my pajamas. You have to get up and go through immigration-basically that means you have to show your passport to an officer (we had to go to the Walt Disney Theatre for this) and they look at it and you leave. Its because St Thomas is the American Virgin Islands, so you are coming back into America from St Martin and they must check your passport. But it takes place at like 7 AM and so while I am not a huge fan-it also got us going on that day-the day in which we had to be on ship at 4.30PM. So it did force us to get up!
After heading back to our room to get dressed, we then headed up to Topsiders for breakfast. They were having a hell of a morning at Topsiders! It took 20 minutes for Dans omelet to be served-we were completely finished with our meals by the time it got to us. But the bigger problem happened after we left. We ran into our head server John and he told us they were shutting down Topsiders for awhile because the dishwasher was broken and they had no more clean silverware! Oops!! Not sure why there was a back up on the omelets though!
We then headed out to the long journey to get to Trunk Bay on St John. We figured we would take a 15 minute cab ride to Hook Bay so we could take a 15 minute ferry ride to St John. The whole thing shouldnt have taken very long. We chose this route because where the ship was docked there was a ferry to St John but it took an hour, so we figured this would be faster. I dont know if it ended up being any faster because the 15 minute ferry only leaves once an hour!!!
We of course got there around 9.20 and had to wait 40 minutes before we even left! (Can they really only run one ferry for a 15 minute ride??) It seems they could run one every half hour at least!
So we didnt get there until 10.15 and then we took a cab to the beach with a group of people. So we were at St John by about 10.45 I think. My notes say we got there at 11-and I cant figure out the math right now, so we must have arrived at 11, by the time everything was said and done. We now knew we had to catch the 2PM ferry back because 3 PM was just cutting it too close for a 4.30 departure time. So our 8 hour day in St John just got turned into a 3 hour excursion basically! But it was cheaper than a Disney excursion! I think it was 10 dollars a person for the cab ride-so 40 dollars total, and I think the round trip tickets on the ferry was 6 each, so 12 total. And the cab ride to and from the beach was maybe 5 each way per person so another 20 dollars. 72 dollars in transport seems like a lot but it was for two people and I think all the Disney excursions were about that price per person. Not to mention it cost us 4 dollars a person to get on the beach! (We had no idea this beach cost money) So I guess it was 80 dollars total for the day. We didnt eat any food on the island-we waited until we got back on board. I still dont know if the Disney excursions would have been worth it for the 2 days-it definitely would have reduced our stress levels about time though!!
Well anyway, we stepped onto that beach and all our stresses just fell away. Trunk Bay is the most stunning beach I have ever seen. White sand, pristine aqua blue water-it looks like pool water! It doesnt look like the ocean! In fact, it reminded me of the water in Bora Bora. Bora Bora is stunning but doesnt have the white sand beach-so Trunk Bay had a one up on Tahiti! We decided not to spend the extra money on renting chairs-I think we were being nickled and dimed to death already! We just put our towels out and laid right on that beautiful white sand!
We noticed some looming clouds in the distance and we started to worry a little. It had not rained once on our entire trip-so I was really hoping on the day and beach I was looking forward to the most it would not rain!! But it did. Actually it was funny.
We had brought along our ponchos because it had rained a little in the morning. And the whole ferry ride we had bright blue skies and as soon as we hit the beach, the clouds came in. We decided the warmest place to be was in the water! So Dan hit the water first and I eventually followed. The rain would come and go, lasting about 20 minutes and then clearing up and starting all over again. So I went back and forth between sitting on the towel with my poncho on and hanging out in the water. The water was better-until you got out-if you got out while it was raining-because then it was cold!!!
Eventually this cycle of rain stopped and the clouds went away for good and for about the last 45 minutes we had nothing but sunshine. Since we knew we had to make a 2 PM ferry, we decided to leave around 1.15. Overall, we only ended up on that beach for 2 hours. But it was worth every second and every penny-even with the rain!
We left the beach and the cabbies were all waiting to take people back to the ferry. But they wont just take two people. We were not the first ones in the large open jeep-like cabs. There were already 2 people waiting. We thought that would be good-maybe they would leave with 4 of us! No such luck. Another family of four hopped on and we thought again-great, there are now enough people. But they waited and waited. It got to a point where I started to panic about the ferry. I did not want to wait an hour for that ferry!! So I got up and found the driver and they said they were waiting for one more couple. This couple was sitting down, taking there time, cleaning out their shoes. To be fair, this couple probably had no idea we were all waiting on them and they may not have known the ferry was only once an hour and therefore were not rushing to get there. I asked the driver and he said Let me do the worrying-you are on vacation. I dont know why, but this did not make me feel any better!
We finally left around 1.40. I was freaking out a little, especially when he made two stops to gives us a little island history. In retrospect, it was actually really nice of him to give us a free tour and history lesson on an island he grew up in-but I was sadly so focused on the time, I was hardly enjoying it. I blame myself really. I wish I could have just trusted the guy.
Pictures we took while on our free island tour:
We got to the ferry with minutes to spare. We were almost the last on board-but we werent the family running to the ferry after they closed the gates-those people made it on board as well. So I guess I should have trusted the guy!!
After all that, we shared another taxi to get back to the ship-although we were the only ones on the Disney ship-all the other people were docked somewhere else on different ships. The cab ride back was uneventful, except for two people in the back having a very religious discussion-I cant really remember it now though.
We were starving when we got back to the ship, so we headed straight for Pinocchios to get some pizza. I think I had 3-4 slices-I was so hungry! While we were eating, a little girl, who could not have even been 2 years old came over and stood between our table and the table next to us and started crying and saying Mommy over and over again. I looked at the table next to us, who seemed to not be concerned at all-so I didnt think it was their kid. I asked the little girl who her Mommy was, but she was too upset. So I asked the people next to us and it wasnt their kid. But the lady at the table immediately took the little girl by the hand and started to ask her about her mommy and what she looked like. About 2 minutes later a woman came running up to us-Grandma had found her! Poor thing probably ran off while Grandma had her head turned for one second-they both looked very relieved! But they were reunited and all ended well!
After the drama, we headed back to the room to relax. Every chance we could we wanted to take advantage of the veranda in our room! On the Med Cruise we had an inside stateroom for 11 nights, but they and given us the disabled room so it was twice the size of our current room! But we definitely liked having the veranda-well worth the extra cost! (You cant guarantee youll get a huge disabled room if you dont need it-so I would much prefer the veranda to an inside stateroom!)
This is where my notes end ..uh oh! And can you guess what happens next?? Me either!! 
With my notes, goes my memory
.our next pictures are of us at Palos for dinner. So I cant remember really if we did anything between relaxing in the room and Palos! So Ill just go with Palos.
Tonight was Palo night for my birthday-yeah! We got all dressed up and when we walked in, they took us to our table and we were happily surprised to learn that Corina would be our waitress! Corina was our waitress on the Med Cruise and we loved her!! She actually remembered us (she sees a lot of people so I was impressed by that!)
Dinner that night was amazing!! We tried the four cheese pizza (Dan had a bad 4 cheese pizza experience the day before in St Martin where the only flavor he could taste was the blue cheese). So we told Corina and she made sure there was not a lot of blue cheese in our pizza! (And there wasnt-the pizza was divine!).
We also split a ravioli appetizer and Dan got a shrimp and asparagus appetizer. All really really good! Dinner was filets for both of us-we remembered how good they were last time! And of course dessert wouldnt be dessert at Palos if we didnt have the chocolate soufflé with white and milk chocolate sauce in the center!
Goofy really likes the souffle:
We also tried some sorbet, which was a delight! And they bring you an intermezzo between meals and a palate cleansing after dinner lemon/ice thing thats delicious! Corina knew it was my birthday and brought me a Happy Birthday plate-how fun! It was decorated in chocolate!
Palos delivered as usual, and we knew since it would be Dans birthday the next day that our very next meal would be the Palos brunch!!! (So we werent planning on eating a thing until then!!!) Who could anyway, we were stuffed!
We told Corina we would be back in the morning and she told us to tell the Manager to put us down to be in her section, so we did and we were all set to have Corina wait on us again the next day! (Have I mentioned we love Corina?!)
I have a slight memory of trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the night after Palos and not really being able to find anything interesting. The show in Rockin Bar D was not great and nothing special seemed to be going on. So after wandering the ship for awhile we headed back to the room and ended the night. My birthday was officially over! We did stay up past midnight though for the traditional passing of the Birthdays .haha!
Coming Up next: Our Final day at Sea, Dans Birthday Present: DVC Baby!!!!
Ok, no not really, in fact after celebrating my birthday for a week-the day didnt really feel any different than any other day! (The whole week felt like my birthday really!!) Cant complain about that!Ok, this is the day I stopped taking notes on-so from here on out the rest of this trip is based on my memory-so beware!!
(Well, I did take notes on our morning that day but thats it!) I do remember waking up at the crack of dawn for immigration.
It was nothing really-I went in my pajamas. You have to get up and go through immigration-basically that means you have to show your passport to an officer (we had to go to the Walt Disney Theatre for this) and they look at it and you leave. Its because St Thomas is the American Virgin Islands, so you are coming back into America from St Martin and they must check your passport. But it takes place at like 7 AM and so while I am not a huge fan-it also got us going on that day-the day in which we had to be on ship at 4.30PM. So it did force us to get up!After heading back to our room to get dressed, we then headed up to Topsiders for breakfast. They were having a hell of a morning at Topsiders! It took 20 minutes for Dans omelet to be served-we were completely finished with our meals by the time it got to us. But the bigger problem happened after we left. We ran into our head server John and he told us they were shutting down Topsiders for awhile because the dishwasher was broken and they had no more clean silverware! Oops!! Not sure why there was a back up on the omelets though!
We then headed out to the long journey to get to Trunk Bay on St John. We figured we would take a 15 minute cab ride to Hook Bay so we could take a 15 minute ferry ride to St John. The whole thing shouldnt have taken very long. We chose this route because where the ship was docked there was a ferry to St John but it took an hour, so we figured this would be faster. I dont know if it ended up being any faster because the 15 minute ferry only leaves once an hour!!!
We of course got there around 9.20 and had to wait 40 minutes before we even left! (Can they really only run one ferry for a 15 minute ride??) It seems they could run one every half hour at least!
So we didnt get there until 10.15 and then we took a cab to the beach with a group of people. So we were at St John by about 10.45 I think. My notes say we got there at 11-and I cant figure out the math right now, so we must have arrived at 11, by the time everything was said and done. We now knew we had to catch the 2PM ferry back because 3 PM was just cutting it too close for a 4.30 departure time. So our 8 hour day in St John just got turned into a 3 hour excursion basically! But it was cheaper than a Disney excursion! I think it was 10 dollars a person for the cab ride-so 40 dollars total, and I think the round trip tickets on the ferry was 6 each, so 12 total. And the cab ride to and from the beach was maybe 5 each way per person so another 20 dollars. 72 dollars in transport seems like a lot but it was for two people and I think all the Disney excursions were about that price per person. Not to mention it cost us 4 dollars a person to get on the beach! (We had no idea this beach cost money) So I guess it was 80 dollars total for the day. We didnt eat any food on the island-we waited until we got back on board. I still dont know if the Disney excursions would have been worth it for the 2 days-it definitely would have reduced our stress levels about time though!!
Well anyway, we stepped onto that beach and all our stresses just fell away. Trunk Bay is the most stunning beach I have ever seen. White sand, pristine aqua blue water-it looks like pool water! It doesnt look like the ocean! In fact, it reminded me of the water in Bora Bora. Bora Bora is stunning but doesnt have the white sand beach-so Trunk Bay had a one up on Tahiti! We decided not to spend the extra money on renting chairs-I think we were being nickled and dimed to death already! We just put our towels out and laid right on that beautiful white sand!
We noticed some looming clouds in the distance and we started to worry a little. It had not rained once on our entire trip-so I was really hoping on the day and beach I was looking forward to the most it would not rain!! But it did. Actually it was funny.
We had brought along our ponchos because it had rained a little in the morning. And the whole ferry ride we had bright blue skies and as soon as we hit the beach, the clouds came in. We decided the warmest place to be was in the water! So Dan hit the water first and I eventually followed. The rain would come and go, lasting about 20 minutes and then clearing up and starting all over again. So I went back and forth between sitting on the towel with my poncho on and hanging out in the water. The water was better-until you got out-if you got out while it was raining-because then it was cold!!!
Eventually this cycle of rain stopped and the clouds went away for good and for about the last 45 minutes we had nothing but sunshine. Since we knew we had to make a 2 PM ferry, we decided to leave around 1.15. Overall, we only ended up on that beach for 2 hours. But it was worth every second and every penny-even with the rain!
We left the beach and the cabbies were all waiting to take people back to the ferry. But they wont just take two people. We were not the first ones in the large open jeep-like cabs. There were already 2 people waiting. We thought that would be good-maybe they would leave with 4 of us! No such luck. Another family of four hopped on and we thought again-great, there are now enough people. But they waited and waited. It got to a point where I started to panic about the ferry. I did not want to wait an hour for that ferry!! So I got up and found the driver and they said they were waiting for one more couple. This couple was sitting down, taking there time, cleaning out their shoes. To be fair, this couple probably had no idea we were all waiting on them and they may not have known the ferry was only once an hour and therefore were not rushing to get there. I asked the driver and he said Let me do the worrying-you are on vacation. I dont know why, but this did not make me feel any better!
We finally left around 1.40. I was freaking out a little, especially when he made two stops to gives us a little island history. In retrospect, it was actually really nice of him to give us a free tour and history lesson on an island he grew up in-but I was sadly so focused on the time, I was hardly enjoying it. I blame myself really. I wish I could have just trusted the guy.
Pictures we took while on our free island tour:
We got to the ferry with minutes to spare. We were almost the last on board-but we werent the family running to the ferry after they closed the gates-those people made it on board as well. So I guess I should have trusted the guy!!
After all that, we shared another taxi to get back to the ship-although we were the only ones on the Disney ship-all the other people were docked somewhere else on different ships. The cab ride back was uneventful, except for two people in the back having a very religious discussion-I cant really remember it now though.
We were starving when we got back to the ship, so we headed straight for Pinocchios to get some pizza. I think I had 3-4 slices-I was so hungry! While we were eating, a little girl, who could not have even been 2 years old came over and stood between our table and the table next to us and started crying and saying Mommy over and over again. I looked at the table next to us, who seemed to not be concerned at all-so I didnt think it was their kid. I asked the little girl who her Mommy was, but she was too upset. So I asked the people next to us and it wasnt their kid. But the lady at the table immediately took the little girl by the hand and started to ask her about her mommy and what she looked like. About 2 minutes later a woman came running up to us-Grandma had found her! Poor thing probably ran off while Grandma had her head turned for one second-they both looked very relieved! But they were reunited and all ended well!
After the drama, we headed back to the room to relax. Every chance we could we wanted to take advantage of the veranda in our room! On the Med Cruise we had an inside stateroom for 11 nights, but they and given us the disabled room so it was twice the size of our current room! But we definitely liked having the veranda-well worth the extra cost! (You cant guarantee youll get a huge disabled room if you dont need it-so I would much prefer the veranda to an inside stateroom!)
This is where my notes end ..uh oh!
And can you guess what happens next?? Me either!! With my notes, goes my memory
.our next pictures are of us at Palos for dinner. So I cant remember really if we did anything between relaxing in the room and Palos! So Ill just go with Palos.Tonight was Palo night for my birthday-yeah! We got all dressed up and when we walked in, they took us to our table and we were happily surprised to learn that Corina would be our waitress! Corina was our waitress on the Med Cruise and we loved her!! She actually remembered us (she sees a lot of people so I was impressed by that!)
Dinner that night was amazing!! We tried the four cheese pizza (Dan had a bad 4 cheese pizza experience the day before in St Martin where the only flavor he could taste was the blue cheese). So we told Corina and she made sure there was not a lot of blue cheese in our pizza! (And there wasnt-the pizza was divine!).
We also split a ravioli appetizer and Dan got a shrimp and asparagus appetizer. All really really good! Dinner was filets for both of us-we remembered how good they were last time! And of course dessert wouldnt be dessert at Palos if we didnt have the chocolate soufflé with white and milk chocolate sauce in the center!
Goofy really likes the souffle:
We also tried some sorbet, which was a delight! And they bring you an intermezzo between meals and a palate cleansing after dinner lemon/ice thing thats delicious! Corina knew it was my birthday and brought me a Happy Birthday plate-how fun! It was decorated in chocolate!
Palos delivered as usual, and we knew since it would be Dans birthday the next day that our very next meal would be the Palos brunch!!! (So we werent planning on eating a thing until then!!!) Who could anyway, we were stuffed!
We told Corina we would be back in the morning and she told us to tell the Manager to put us down to be in her section, so we did and we were all set to have Corina wait on us again the next day! (Have I mentioned we love Corina?!)
I have a slight memory of trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the night after Palos and not really being able to find anything interesting. The show in Rockin Bar D was not great and nothing special seemed to be going on. So after wandering the ship for awhile we headed back to the room and ended the night. My birthday was officially over! We did stay up past midnight though for the traditional passing of the Birthdays .haha!
Coming Up next: Our Final day at Sea, Dans Birthday Present: DVC Baby!!!!
What time were your Palo reservations? We were there the same nite--our ressies were at 7:30 or 8 (I can't remember now and I am too lazy to go look at my notes!). Our server was Noemi, who had been our server in the dining rooms on our March 06 cruise. She remembered us too, which was impressive.
Glad you had a great birthday!!
Glad you had a great birthday!!
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
I think our ressies were at 7.30 too! How funny!! I miss Palo's right now! I am in need of a chocolate souffle!!
Can't wait for more. 
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
Andrew DEREK UK
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2004
- Messages
- 29,143
Perdie, nice report and pictures,
Andrew AKA Laundry Man.
Andrew AKA Laundry Man.
Perdie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 338
Perdie, nice report and pictures,
Andrew AKA Laundry Man.
Thanks Laundry Man! (This time I had an empty laundry room-it could because it was only the second day at sea!!) hahaha
Andrew DEREK UK
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2004
- Messages
- 29,143
Thanks Laundry Man! (This time I had an empty laundry room-it could because it was only the second day at sea!!) hahaha
No one to share it with you, ! What a waste!
wonderapril2007
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 77
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