The DDA Trouble Free Zone Part 30

[ReAnSt]

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Grand Cayman

So today I got out of bed. That's right I got out of bed. I was a little sore and had some broken blood vessels on my left leg besides that I was good to go. Let's just say I feel I lucked out big time. I was seriously afraid I was going to be out of commission for awhile. Happily I was not.

We headed up and ate breakfast. I think we ate at Topsiders, but I'm not entirely sure. We headed back to the room grabed our stuff. Then we headed to the Buena Vista theatre they gave us a tender ticket, we headed inside to wait for a group to catch a tender boat to take us off the ship. We waited a short time then our group headed down to deck 1. We quickly boarded the tender boat and were on our way.

Apparently the railing was missing so it was replaced by Caution tape??

Another Tender Boat

They had a DCL tent and water waiting at the dock for us.

Coming up the hole in the store floor. That's all for tonight.

 

[babytrees]

Becky that pic of the server at Animators Palate.......okay the server....is yummy!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Becky - Your ornaments are really neat! What a great way to remember your trip!

 

[babytrees]

I can't wait to read your review of Enchanted...I think the girls will love it but I am not so sure.

I love the ornaments!!


I really want to go on a Disney Cruise now!!!

 

[ReAnSt]

Becky - I LOVE your TR! This is fabulous! Add me to the list of people who probably need that shirt.
DH refuses to go on a cruise. I have to tell you, reading about getting on the ship and getting ready to go actually made me jittery! I think I would be scared to go on a cruise! I am scared when the plane takes off, too, but I usually get over that once the plane levels out. And really, I can swim, I can't fly, so you would think a plane would make me much more nervous than a boat. Your pics are beautiful!

Thank you!

A cruise is so much more relaxing then WDW. As you only have so much space that you can walk around. But there are lots of great places where you can hide or get away from others if you want to.

My Dad was seriously not into wanting to go on a cruise, nor was my Mom. They both loved their Wonder cruise, even though the weather wasn't that great. They are seriously discussing going on a Panama Canal cruise. They were afraid they would be bored and they were not plus they were afraid of getting sea sick. I was the only one who had that problem on the Wonder. I highly recommend a cruise to anyone.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Since it is almost 11 PM I guess I will head to bed. I need to turn our A/C down - it is hot in here. Nothing like October in TX!

 

[babytrees]

I forgot to ask:

Did anybody see the MAJOR enhancements and renovations that are on tap for DL???

The first phase should be done in 5 years....I am planning on a Disneyland trip there then!!

Of course if Cassidy should end up in CA for school well than I'll be closer and go more often!!

 

[ReAnSt]

We walked around the shopping center right off the port

We saw the sign for Cayman Critters and went to check it out

Its like Build a Bear

But it has a very unique feature to it under the floor

It has a glass floor which shows off the old step in well from the 18th century. It was discovered when they were building the Bayshore mall and rather then cover it up they made it a special feature of the Cayman Critters store

You can even find Harley Davidson in Grand Cayman

We saw people basically walking off the shore and going snorkeling. I was wishing I had brought my snorkeling stuff with me, as I would have definitely went snorkeling. We decided it wasn't worth the time to take the tender back to the ship and then back to the island to go snorkeling. For future travelers you can snorkel right off the coast. Head to the right once you get off the ship. There is also a floating water trampoline out there

Inter tidal Zone

Under construction due to Ivan

Shops

Mail Box

 

[ReAnSt]

Most stores have some sort of statue in front of or near them

Iguana

Basically we spent the day walking around exploring the area and shopping

They had Welcome aboard mats waiting at the port

Some pictures from the tender boat

Where we docked on the ship

 

[babytrees]

Since it is almost 11 PM I guess I will head to bed. I need to turn our A/C down - it is hot in here. Nothing like October in TX!

and I turned on the heater on when we got home this afternoon.

 

[ReAnSt]

Details in the atrium

Elevator

Lumiere's

Hallway outside Lumiere's

If you can't tell yet we ate lunch in Lumiere's the restaurant was pretty empty

Wall Sconce

Seafood Sampler

Mozzarella Sticks off the kids menu

Salmon

Veggie Quesadillas

I think Tilapia

Cookie Sundae off Kids menu

Key Lime Pie

Getting Dizzy

 

[babytrees]

Elizabeth-have a good night's sleep

 

[ReAnSt]

So we wondered around the ship for some time. Here is my favorite bathroom on the ship it is near Beat Street, the bathroom near Route 66 on the Wonder is similar. It is larger then most of the others and it is decorated neat. The largest is outside the WD theater.

Outside signs

Ceiling looks like stars

We wondered over to Ocean Quest for the open house. We wanted to play with the ship simulator. Well we never got a chance as one kid was using it for a really long time. We never made it back. But the girl looked like she was having a fantastic time. You get to navigate the ship in and out of ports.

Simulator

They also had computers and video game systems for the kids to play. It is designed for the 10-14 year age range.

We headed through the main atrium of the ship and they were playing chip it golf. So we decided to join them.

I did pretty crappy I had a negative score. You were aiming for the highest score. They gave everyone who participated a golf towel. Stephen played other times and there were tons of people and only the top scorers got prizes.

Some details of the floor in the main atrium

 

[ReAnSt]

We went back outside to walk around on the ship and get ready to leave Grand Cayman. I sat on the back of deck 7 for awhile and enjoyed the peace and quiet, it is a great hidden spot and it was on the deck we were staying on so I escaped there quite often.

We made a snack stop in Topsiders before heading to the show Twice Charmed. This was my first time to see this show as the Wonder has a Hercules show instead. The Hercules show is going to be replaced with a Toy Story show at some point in the future.

For those who don't know Twice Charmed is the story of what would have happened if both slippers were broken. The show was actually created by the same group that made Cinderella III, and the story is kind of similar to that according to Eddie the stage manager. I really enjoyed this show, this is the only show they sell the soundtrack for in the on- board shop.

Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella and play a large part in the show

Franco the wicked step-father and Lady Tremaine

 

[babytrees]

Becky-I think I would be in heaven at Lumiere's!!! What a beautiful restaurant...and I think you are right and that is Tilapia!!

 

[ReAnSt]

Then we watched Rich Purpura

We then headed to Dinner. It was the Master chef menu
We had the Shrimp Risotto. This was really good

Beefsteak Tomatoes and Baby Mozzerella- once again I did not enjoy this due to unripe tomatoes

Spicy tomato, olive and Basil Bruschetta

Oven Baked Orange Roughy

Sirloin of Beef with Truffle Jus

Tablemate Heather ready for dessert

Triple Chocolate Terrine

Towel Eel

Mickey hiding under the towel Mickey

Up next Cozumel, Mexico the quest for Mini golf and an X-mas ornament

 

[ReAnSt]

So today we got up and headed to breakfast. We were in no rush to get off the ship as we couldn't get off until 10am, so we headed down to Triton's.

I tried the Bircher Museli-bounty. I was expecting it to be warm, it was like a cold cereal with fruits in it. It was alright, I didn't like the raisins in it. I think it would have been better warm and no raisins in it

Stephen and I also both had Eggs Benedict

We then headed off of the ship.

We were lucky that we actually got to dock, other ships were not so lucky and they had to tender in

These three were standing in front of the Carnival ship so people could take pictures

A party boat

After we walked through that shopping area we headed off in search of the mini golf course. This mini golf course is actually run by a graduate of a local high school. We realized once we were off the ship that we had forgotten the directions on the ship. Stephen thought he knew where we were going. So we walked and walked to the right of the port for a long time. In search of the Mexican flag. Well we weren't finding it. We stopped and asked a few people they didn't know. So we walked some more.

Some sights along the way

Lots of requests to come in shops and look at things

Senor Frogs

We thought this was the correct Mexican flag, nope no mini golf anywhere around here

Playground

We asked again where mini golf is, the guy said it is over under the big flag you can see from the port but to the left. He also said it is typically closed in September. So we gave up searching for mini golf, but I guess it wouldn't have mattered if we found it as it probably would have been closed.

The correct Mexican flag we were searching for. Way off in the distance, we totally walked the absolute wrong way.

 

[ReAnSt]

Correct flag again

and again

It was huge how we went the wrong way no one will know, this is what happens when we don't have directions

In the process of looking for mini golf we looked in a lot of stores, none of them had Christmas ornaments, we walked in and out of many shops. I was contemplating buying a key chain or something else to make into an ornament. Right before we were getting ready to head back to the ship we stopped in a store and found some ornaments. None of them said Cozumel, but I was ready to go back and settled on a Mexico ornament instead. I would settle for similar generic non-city specific ornaments other places as well, but ornaments in general were more prevalent.

Crystal clear water

 

[ReAnSt]

Heading back to the Magic

We went back to the ship and had a late lunch at Topsiders

Later today there were a bunch of people gathered on the deck of the Carnival ship watching the Beach boys perform on the Ariel view on the Magic

You could even see that flag from the Magic

Dock

Mickey/Minnie in the main atrium

Deck

Runway

Buh Bye

Decorations for the Pirates in the Caribbean Party

As I was heading to the WD Theater to see Underdog I ran into Ann (Bareacuda) and her DH Howard. I ended up talking to them for about 45 minutes. We had a nice conversation. They were our Back 2 Back buddies and we had a fantastic time with them both weeks.

I still headed down to the WD theater to watch Underdog. Well guess who was waiting outside with no line???? Cap'n Jack Sparrow He was unadvertised and not listed as being out at all. Maybe if you would call the character hotline he might be listed there. I didn't see him listed on the TV screens or in the Navigator.

Well of course I had to go talk to him and have my picture taken with him. I looked at the picture right away and turned the camera off and headed inside to watch Underdog. Well I decided to look at some pictures on my camera and couldn't find the picture with Jack. So I ran back outside and had my picture taken again. He said back for more and said I can't find the picture with you. Of course I didn't mind more time with him, I love the Pirate movies and Jack Sparrow, I do wish they would have had Will Turner for meet and greets as I love him as well but they don't.

So I took another picture with my and then headed inside and watched Underdog, I was late for the movie but I didn't like what I saw of it.

I headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.

Door designs and fish extender

In the room I discovered that all the pictures with Cap'n jack were there on my camera, I couldn't find them because my camera had rolled over from 9999, to 0001 and the last pictures were the highest number meaning that Jack was the last pictures on my camera and not the first in viewing order like normal.

Up next Pirate night dinner.

 

[ReAnSt]

Becky-I think I would be in heaven at Lumiere's!!! What a beautiful restaurant...and I think you are right and that is Tilapia!!

Lumiere's is gorgeous, I also love Triton's on the Wonder it has a tile Mosaic of Ariel and her Dad King Triton on it.