The Magical Easter Cruise – March 22 – 29, 2008 Mini Series Preview

[JerseyBelle]

Like any mini-series the previews or teasers need to be enough to make you tune in night after night. This mini-series doesn’t star any of the regular mini series mainstays such as Valerie Bertinelli, Patrick Swayze or Jaclyn Smith so it needs something else to bring you back.

In episode 1 you’ll meet the leading characters (these are regular people not the world famous characters you all know). You will see what they did the night before the cruise and be on the edge of your seat in the Philadelphia airport scene.

In episode 2 (Cruise Day 1) you will meet more of the characters that play a role throughout the week. In particular you will meet a not so pleasant fixture of every evening’s dinner (except one). Also tune in to see if the children can solve the first of many colorful puzzles. Finally readers age 10-14 or their parents will find out about the fabulous Ocean Quest from the words of a 10 year old girl.

Tune into episode 3 (Cruise Day 2) and spend Easter Sunday in Key West. Standing room only church services, the Art of Entertaining with Chef Oscar (the appetizer), the walk to the Southern Most Point, the hitchhiker, a colorful character on a bicycle with music, another colorful puzzle to solve and ode to the time zone are the highlights of this episode.

In episode 4 (Cruise Day 3) see what our characters faced on the first of three days at sea. Yes you read correctly I did write three days at sea. You’ll have to catch episode 5 but I thought I would throw that teaser in. Tune in for: What is Chef Oscar cooking up in the Art of Entertaining (Dazzling Desserts)? What did dd do in the Oceaneer’s Lab or Ocean Quest? Don’t we look picture perfect? You will be treated to another colorful puzzle, the Golden Mickeys and the High School Musical Party in Ocean Quest.

Episode 5 is a mid-cruise replacement and not expected to get high ratings (Cruise Day 4). Tune in for more rest and relaxation than planned, the navigator reprint, the day on deck 4 , the visit to deck 1, the 10 from Grand Cayman, another colorful puzzle, Twice Charmed and the ode to the time zone rerun .

For episode 6 we take you to Mexico and the Island of Cozumel (Cruise Day 5). In this episode experience togetherness with strangers on the beach, the baby stroller attached to my beach chair, ouch my feet, the wild run away iceberg, watermelon burritos, I bet you are sorry you asked camera incident, another colorful puzzle to solve, partying with the Pirates in the Caribbean and ode to the time zone, the sequel .

Episode 7 brings you the third and final day at sea (Cruise Day 6). I promise. In this episode see what Chef Oscar’s cooking up in the Art of Entertaining (Signature Entree), we were told to go fly a kite but we didn’t have one yet, Chef Oscar show us your kitchens, as if I won’t have enough laundry to do I’m going to fold towels for DCL, a winning afternoon, the restaurant at the top of the Magic, Disney Dreams, the Pajama Slam and the Ode to the Time Zone, the sequel rerun .

The most wonderful place on earth (Cruise Day 7). In episode 8 we visit the beautiful island of Castaway Cay in the Bahamas. You will experience the tranquil peaceful day, a somewhat shady spot on a beautiful pristine beach, a little bit of snorkeling, the magic on the beach, digging for whale bones, several rescues at sea ummm I mean at lagoon, the Hawaii Five-O meets Castaway Cay kayaking event and the daring final rescue. Later in this episode another colorful puzzle, Christiaan’s story of a wet betrayal and a visit to the Buena Vista Theatre .

In the final episode our leading characters are forced out of their home away from home and must spend many uneventful hours at the airport. When they arrive home they visit laundry mountain where no fast passes are required or wanted. All they can hope for is if their story is picked up by a network such as ABC, ABC Family or the Disney Channel and goes into continuous syndication and be forced to relive this and many similar stories over and over again.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Can't wait. Can I set my TIVO?

 

[amy2girls]

Sounds like fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dlf246]

Jerseybelle, I am excited for your report

I'm glad to see you are going to describe the time zone issues. I had forgotten about that, and after 8 cruises, that was certainly an unique aspect of this one!

 

[JerseyBelle]

I am going to try to write the 1st and 2nd episodes tonight. WOW I didn't know the time zone tango was unique. Glad I could share.

 

[JerseyBelle]

Hello everyone. I want to introduce you to my family who hold the leading roles in this mini series. The cast in episode 1 includes me dw , my dh and our dd10 . We are no strangers to such productions as this is the sequel to Three Days of Wonder produced in November 2006. It was never picked up by the network and never aired on the disboard because at the time the networks were looking for programs that could force families to dedicate multiple nights to one program and I think there was a writers strike.

It is December 22, 2007and dw among all her fellow dis’ers are posting to a very active thread on the disboard. Maybe you remember this event “Disney Reservations Website Down Again.” It was down for days. A lot of dis’ers were fretting about making cruise reservations but dw had other fears. Zero hour was looming. At 12:01 am it would be December 23rd and as a Castaway Club member she was determined to get the Palo reservation she coveted. Come #%?* or high water it was going to happen. High water, those writers are foreshadowing episode 5 again. Anyway at some point, the website was fixed and dw was able to book Palo, Cozumel Beach Break and Seaworld Explorer Semi-Submarine. Later in the last few weeks before the cruise, she added the Pirate Encounter for Grand Cayman too. What was there really to fear because if dw couldn’t make reservations, no one else could either. Chill out already.

It is the middle of January 2008 and dh receives a telephone call from the TA at AAA. She said that Disney has made our air arrangements and we have an 8:00 am non-stop flight out of Philadelphia International Airport on March 22. When dw arrives home to this news she does a little jig . GO US, GO US, GO, GO, GO US. I know a lot of cruisers arrive the day before or even earlier but it is only about a 2 hour flight from Philadelphia and now since the flight is 8:00 am, no problem we will get on the ship way earlier than we did in the Three Days of Wonder.

The camera pans to the dark clouds and the sound track is doom doom doom.

One week before the cruise, dw starts staging the luggage and begins creating a packing list on the computer. Everything on the list is color coded to identify which family member they belong to and whether the item has already been packed. Don’t laugh. She’s a CPA, what else do you expect. One of the first things to be packed are the goodie bags prepared for each child in the “Fish Extender” event. Dw loved all the “Fish Extenders” she saw pictures of but decided to make one for her dd instead. With limited artistic talent but access to a sewing machine, it didn’t turn out half bad. It has a Nemo theme. The drama of the Three Days of Wonder was dw’s lost luggage. Disney had it located and it was flown into Nassau but a very important lesson was learned. This time around, everyone’s clothes would be spread among all 6 suitcases. Dw began packing hers and dd’s clothing. She really tried to leave room for dh’s clothing. Dh began packing his clothes 2 days before and complained about limited space. It was decided that dd’s second suitcase was not large enough so a different one was purchased. Eventually everything but non-clothing was packed.

On March 21st the family was scheduled to stay at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott the night before the flight. It is about an hour drive to the airport, so staying was a good choice. Dw and dh were packing all the last minute items where ever they would fit and by the time they drove to the airport it was very late. After a fretful night with limited sleep, March 22 dawned in Philadelphia. The family retrieved their baggage from the car and rented an airport luggage cart and crossed the skywalk into the airport terminal. The monitors indicated that their flight was on-time. Dw did another jig (on the inside) .

Freeze Frame: Dw looks at the camera and asks a question of the viewers. What is the point of online airline checkin and printing boarding passes at home up to 24 hours in advance if you still have to wait in a line to use a kiosk which prints the boarding passes again and you go up to a airline employee and check your luggage?

Luggage all checked, security process uneventful, the family heads to the gate. They are boarding passengers in zones.

Freeze Frame: Dh looks at the camera and asks a question of the viewers. How can we be in seats 12a, b and c and be in 3 different zones?

Everyone is all boarded and the flight attendants prepare the cabin for flight. Dw is very happy because everything is still on time. The plane begins to move. THEN the lights go off, the plane is moved back into the gate and the engine is turned off. The pilot begins to speak. “Good morning. We had a minor mechanical matter which has been taken care of but there is paperwork. As soon as the paperwork is completed we will be cleared for flight. It should be just a few minutes. Dw was hearing the jeopardy theme song. Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. She also thought of the bathroom humor t-shirt often seen on the Boardwalk at the Jersey Shore “It’s Not Over Until the Paperwork is Completed.” About 1 hour and 40 minutes later, the paperwork was completed and we were cleared for flight. Dw was not doing a jig (inside or out) . The flight was uneventful and the family arrived at Orlando International Airport in plenty of time for the cruise.

Don’t forget to come back for Episode 2. I thought I would write it tonight but episode 1 took me longer than I expected.

 

[wonderapril2007]

Love your 1st episode. Waiting patiently for the next installment.

 

[JerseyBelle]

Thanks. It was fun to write. Have fun on your cruise.

 

[plutospup]

Great report. Our DD10 can't wait for the next episode! Bring on Ocean Quest!

 

[JerseyBelle]

Well the family arrived in Florida later than planned but happy healthy and ready for a vacation of a lifetime. As with the Three Days of Wonder, it was wonderful skipping baggage claim. Since we did this before, we headed down to the transportation check in counter and were directed to the DCL transportation line. Since we knew about the DCL designed buses which we didn’t have in 2006, dw and dd were really looking forward to seeing them. Somehow we failed to take a picture in front of the bus. Oh well it doesn’t really matter does it. Don’t you just love modern technology?

I would like to give credit to someone for these pictures of the stick family but I can’t remember where on the board I found them.

The bus ride took about 45 to 50 minutes and we enjoyed a video that included information about DCL, a campy dramatization from MGM Studios and some classic Disney cartoons. At one point we were cresting a hill and the driver told us to look for the ship when we were at the top. There she is just waiting for us. (Another borrowed picture)

The family entered the cruise terminal and began the check in process. Dh and dd headed to the children’s program check in line to get the pager and dd’s wristband. Dw entered the Castaway Club line for registration. There wasn’t really a line of people checking in. Dw also remembered to hand in the on-board airline check in form so that the family could take advantage of that service at the end. With Goofy KTTW cards and new DCL lanyards in hand, dw went to find her family where there was a long line. After the family was finished in the Oceaneer’s Lab line, they boarded the ship. Something they did in the Three Days of Wonder was to take a look at the scale model of the ship. They didn’t this time; however dw wants to share one of her favorite pictures from then.

Since it was after 1:30 pm, the stateroom would be ready so dw, dh and dd headed to deck 2 to find stateroom 2513. This stateroom is all the way forward. They dropped off their carryons and headed up to Topsiders for lunch. They had a little bit of time before they were scheduled to meet the wonderful people from their cruise meet thread so they relaxed for a while. It had been a long day so far. At 3:00 pm, they headed to deck 10 to meet their disboard friends. Many of them came from parts of the country hit hard with snow and dw was so glad they made it. After chatting for a while, the family headed back to their stateroom to get the life jackets for the 4:00 pm safety drill. After the drill, they headed up to deck 9 for the Adventures Away deck party. They were a little late and found the deck packed to the gills. They still managed to get a couple of streamers being handed out by CMs. The party was a lot of fun with great music. As anticipated, the Magic’s horn was sounded when she sailed away from the port. As a side note, there is a great You Tube video of the Magic and the Wonder in the same port for some reason and you hear dualing ship horns. There is another cruiseline ship docked near them. It must have been comical. Here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AljIkEJuEpI

When the deck party was over, we went back to the stateroom to dress for dinner. All our luggage arrived. Dw did another jig. In Episode 1 you read about the lost luggage during the Three Days of Wonder. Dinner would be at 6:00 pm in Parrot Cay.

We arrived in Parrot Cay and were greeted and shown to table 11 by Josue (Server) and Erwin (Assistant Server). Later we met Japheth (Head Server). Next our tablemates arrived. They were dh, dw and dd10 from Wisconsin. Isn’t it great that the two girls are the same age? Our server, Josue who was wonderful throughout the cruise welcomed us to Parrot Cay and gave us some recommendation from the menu.

Dh selected the Quinoa and Grilled Vegetables, Cold Cream of Mango and Papaya soup, Oven Baked Fillet of Salmon and the Pina Colada Bread Pudding.

Cold Cream of Mango and Papaya Soup
Dw selected the Baked Crab Martinque, Cold Cream of Mango and Papaya soup, Grilled Grain-fed Sirloin Steak and the Pina Colada Bread Pudding.

Baked Crab Martinique

Dd ordered from the children’s menu and had the Mickey Shaped Pasta with Marinara Sauce and was pleasantly surprised it was Mickey Ravioli. On the Three Days of Wonder, she had just Mickey shaped pasta with marinara. She had a Mickey Ice Cream Bar for dessert.

Our dinner was fabulous. I remember the chilled soups from the Three Days of Wonder and I must say all of them are a “must try” on DCL.

We had a pleasant “get to know you” conversation with our tablemates throughout dinner and felt we were a good match. After the dessert, Josue came back to the table to entertain the girls with a challenging puzzle performed with crayons. After the cruise, our new friends from Wisconsin created the puzzles with graphics and emailed them to us. Wow what great people. Here is the first night’s puzzle. For the black spot, Josue used a butter packet. The instructions were to move two crayons so that the black spot is no longer inside the form but the form must remain in the same shape. We were all stump and tried many variations. Finally we had to have Josue show us the answer. I am not going to include the answer here as I don’t want to spoil it for any future cruisers. If you want the answer you can PM me.

It was a very magical evening ; however I almost forgot to introduce the not so pleasant fixture of every night but one. When we sat down dw and dh notice that the server workstation was blocking the view of the dining room.

Freeze Frame: Dw turns to the camera and asks the viewers. It is dinner rotation right? Table 11 is a bad location tonight, but we have two other dining rooms to experience. Relax!

The camera can’t pan to dark clouds because we are inside but the background music is doom doom doom.

After dinner, dw and dd put out the door decorations and hung the Nemo Fish Extender. it was time to check out the children’s programs. We didn’t go to the opening night show.

Now Dd will tell you about the fabulous Ocean Quest.

I didn’t get to do this in the Three Days of Wonder. It wasn’t available because the Wonder doesn’t have it and I would not have been old enough anyway. On the first night, my family checked out the Oceaneer’s Lab and then we headed down to Ocean Quest to see what that was all about. It is not that far from our stateroom. At the door the CM told us how it works. It is just for kids ages 10 through 14 and I don’t get signed in or signed out but if I want my family paged, they can do that. Here is what I saw and did inside on the first night. I walked in and on the left side of the room, there was a big television which had a Nintendo Wii . At that time, I wanted to DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution) on the Wii. It was so much fun!!!!! When I was done, I saw that there were many computers on the right side of the room and they were not all being used like I saw in the Oceaneer’s Lab. This was great to have this clubhouse with less people. I decided to play a computer version of the Game of Life. It was so much fun that my parents had to drag me out of there to go to bed. A separate schedule showing times and activities in Ocean Quest was delivered to our stateroom. Besides the open times for us tweens, there was also going to be theme nights. I knew right away that it was going to be an awesome cruise .

Dw and dh were very tired. It had been a long day. While dd was in Ocean Quest, they decided to use the time to unpack. They met the stateroom hostess, Beverly. She was very friendly and welcoming. The family pretty much felt that everyone they encountered throughout the cruise was very friendly. While unpacking dw put all the fish extender gifts into the new Cataway Club beach bag. Dw decided to deliver them after picking up dd but dd did not want to leave Ocean Quest so dw delivered the fish extender gifts.

After picking up dd from Ocean Quest, correction dragging dd out of Ocean Quest, it was time to call it a night. Towel Animal and Lights out.

This is actually a picture taken during the Three Days of Wonder, but I think you get the idea. I think you can tell by now that we haven't uploaded our digital photos from this cruise yet.

What a wonderful day.

Don’t forget to tune in again for Episode 3. It will be aired very shortly.

 

[MN Dis Fans]

Hey JerseyBelle,

Don't be keeping us in suspense. When are you going to be updating with more? Great job so far.

 

[JerseyBelle]

I will write it tonight. One thing I am glad is that I can write in Microsoft Word and paste into the board. Someone started a photos thread from our cruise and I realized I forgot about the spies on Saturday night. Check this out.

Now I know what happened to the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction at WDW.

 

[JerseyBelle]

Well it is Easter Sunday and today the Magic will be in Key West Florida. The family didn’t book any excursions for this port of call (explained later). The go ashore time was expected to be 12:30 pm so they had the morning to enjoy the shipboard activities. After dressing for the day, they headed up to Topsiders for breakfast. They prefer Topsiders for breakfast because of the variety and the fact that the coffee cups are not small like in the dining rooms. Dd had her favorite breakfast on board, Mickey waffles smothered with brown sugar. Dw had a little bit of eggs, a lot of fresh fruit, cereal and yogurt. Nice large cups of hot coffee. The coffee is ok but dw and dh have been spoiled lately since getting a Keurig for Christmas. Dh had about the same. The pineapple is to die for.

After breakfast, it was time for Easter services but there was barely enough time to get there. The family attends the Lutheran Church back home, so a decision had to be made. It was decided that the Catholic Services were the best match. When they arrived at the Buena Vista Theatre, they realized that running late was a big mistake because it was standing room only. There weren’t any seats left. Although DCL would probably have brought in extra chairs, the family decided to check out the Interdenominational Easter Service instead. They headed to Sessions. Since the services had begun, they moved through the room quickly in order to be less of a disturbance. The only seats left were three bar stools. Kind of funny attending church services sitting at a bar. It was a very nice service lead by Rev. Kevin O’Farrell.

After the service, there was still plenty of time before getting off the ship. Dd wanted to be checked into the Oceaneer’s Lab. In the lab, dd made Easter crafts with the 10-12 year olds and later experienced Easter Animation Cells.

Dw and Dh headed to Studio Sea for the first of three seminars entitled “The Art of Entertaining”. The seminar was introduced by Mark from the cruise entertainment staff. He is from Australia. He introduced Chef Oscar. Chef Oscar is the head chef for Animator’s Palate but retired at the end of this cruise. He was a wonderful showman and demonstrated the Baked Crab Martinique appetizer. Dw had this the previous evening in Parrot Cay (see picture in Episode 2). While Oscar demonstrated the making of the appetizer, we were each given a small sample of it to try. We also were given a glass of wine as there was a small wine education piece at the end of the seminar. We were provided with a written copy of the recipe. If you want the recipe, dw submitted it along with the other two from the series on the following thread. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1575103&page=128
You can find them in post 1917 through 1919.

After the seminar, it was nearly time for lunch. Before picking up dd at the lab, dh and dw went to Shutters to see what pictures were posted so far. They saw their family embarkation picture. Since it was a picture taken after a whole day of traveling dw and dh decided to slip it into the discard slot.

After picking up dd, the family went to Parrot Cay for the American Buffet. The lunch food was good but the key lime pie was really good. Dd liked the ice cream sundae station.

Finally it was time to get off the ship. As stated earlier, no excursion was booked. Frankly none of them appealed to dw and dh. While planning the cruise, dw found something she really wanted to do in Key West but was disappointed because getting into port so late would prevent such an excursion outside Disney. Here is what dw and dh really wanted to do in Key West.

Almost 70 miles (112.9 km) west of Key West lies a cluster of seven islands, composed of coral reefs and sand, called the Dry Tortugas. Along with the surrounding shoals and waters, they make up Dry Tortugas National Park. The area is known for its famous bird and marine life, its legends of pirates and sunken gold, and its military past.

The excursions to this started at 8:30 am so it was not possible. After the cruise dw sent an email to dcl guest communications to provide an opinion about Key West including the late docking time.

Freeze frame: Dw turns to the camera and asks the viewers. “Why does the ship dock so late in Key West? We sailed at 5:00 pm the previous evening. Does it take that long to get somewhere else within the same state or is there some other reason for late docking?”

The family decided to spend the day just touring Key West. In hind site, scheduling some kind of excursion or just staying on the ship would have been a better choice. It is dw and dh’s opinion that Key West would be a great location for the “Spring Break” crowd but it is not a family oriented location. They decided to take a walk to the Southern Most Point. This was a longer walk then anticipated. The sites along the way were not that interesting and many of them were not meant for the eyes of a 10 year old girl. I think she was oblivious to the adult themed t-shirts though. There were a lot of bars along the way and we did hear some nice music as we passed.

When they were nearly to the Southern Most Point, they came upon an attraction

They decided to check it out. What a great choice. We had been to a butterfly exhibit before in Philadelphia but this was amazing. Here are a few pictures and checkout the hitchhiker.

When I say hitchhiker, I mean it. It stayed on for at least 10 to 15 minutes and other visitors were asking if they could take his picture. The butterfly landing and staying on dh’s hat for so long kind of freaked dd out. When you leave the conservatory, you come into an anteroom with a big mirror. The purpose is to check yourself in the mirror to be sure you don’t have any hitchhikers before leaving. By then, dh’s new friend had left. There is a gift shop and you can get a little advertisement butterfly that can be stuck on your shoulder. Dd wore her butterfly to dinner that night.

Well they finally arrived at the Southern Most Point and there was a small line. After taken a couple of pictures in front of the marker, they headed back.

On the way back they stopped for ice cream at a parlor that dh noticed on the way down. While sitting outside enjoying the ice cream, they started hearing music and it was getting louder. They looked out to the street and notice a funny character dressed in crazy colors coming up the road on a decorated bike. He had some kind of a boom box strapped to the back and music was playing loudly. At one point it was the theme music from the 1970s television show Sanford and Son. It was quite funny and everyone at the ice cream parlor or on the street had a great laugh. Dw wishes she had taken a picture. If anyone saw this character in Key West and took a picture, please share. Afterwards they headed back to the ship and to get ready for dinner. Tonight would be Lumiere’s

The family arrived at Lumiere’s for the 6:00pm seating and was shown to their table. As always, the server Josue and the assistant server Erwin made them feel welcome. Do you remember from Episode 2, the not so pleasant fixture in the dining room? Well we live in New Jersey but our television market is Phildelphia. Our local news network for ABC was channel 6 and they had these commercials demonstrating that they are always where the news was happening. The commercials had their news van spotted all over and the slogan was “There’s that Channel 6 News Van Again”. Well the family had their own similar slogan on the cruise. “There’s that server workstation again”. So it was night two and the location in the dining room was poor again. Do you know that, dw and dh didn’t know there were roses in the ceiling in Lumiere’s until they took the galley tour on Thursday. The bad location didn’t change the family’s delight with their tablemates, the servers or the meal. Dw had the escargot, chilled vichyssoise soup, herb-crusted halibut and chocolate cheesecake.

Dh also had the halibut and the chocolate cheesecake but started with the shrimp medley and the tomato basil soup.

Dd ordered her main course from the children’s menu. She had the Lean Cut Grilled Sirloin Steak. She order the Crème Brulee for dessert from the main menu.

The dw from Wisconsin had the signature dessert, White Chocolate Dome.

During dinner, everyone talked about their day. Afterwards, Josue came to the table with another puzzle performed with crayons for the girls and us adults to solve. Again we didn’t get it. It is hard to think after a day in Key West and this one required thinking about it in a way so different then you would expect. Here is the puzzle. Again if you want the answer, you can PM me.

After dinner, dd wanted to go to Ocean Quest. It was opened starting at 8:00 pm and the theme night starting at 9:45 was Game Challenge Night. Since I am writing this episode at 11:30 pm, I may need to update dd’s portion later. Here is what I remember that dd had to say about this evening in Ocean Quest. “I played on the computers until the game challenge started. For the game challenge they had different games around the room that you signed up to be in the challenge. I signed up for the Nintendo Wii Challenge. It was a lot of fun.

Dh and Dw’s original plans were to go to Diversions for the Wii Challenge but changed their mind and went to the movie in the Buena Vista Theatre. They can’t hang like they used to. The movie was Underdog. Dw had seen it already with dd but dh had not seen it. Afterwards, they picked dd up and headed back to their stateroom. It was towel animal and lights out.

Oh lest we forgot. Before lights out, it was Ode to the Time Zone Change a dance we couldn't get enough of. We had to turn our clocks back one hour before retiring for the evening.

Tune in next time for episode 4, the first day at sea.

 

[VacationKicks]

Great TR, too bad about the bad table location, but at least you had great tablemates, that's more important anyway.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

I'm really enjoying this - a great trip report!

 

[DWeaver]

Great trip report -- Love the sea turtle animal -- hadn't seen that one before.

 

[JerseyBelle]

We couldn't believe how big it was when we came into the room. I actually don't know if it is the one from Key West day but we didn't take picture of all of them. Our stateroom hostess was really good. I think most are.

 

[JerseyBelle]

Well I am back. It was hard to find a block of time to write. I am surprised how easy it is to write a trip report but how much time it takes.

Good morning. It is Monday, March 24, 2008 and today the family is looking forward to the first day at sea. They headed up to Topsiders for breakfast. Dw ordered an omelet made from egg beaters and vegetables from the omelet station. Dw has been on the Jenny Craig Program since November (28 pounds lost) and was a little nervous about the food on the cruise so breakfast was the one place she had a little more control. Another part of topsiders that was great was the station next to the omelet station. This station had fresh raspberries and blackberries, cream, nuts, dried fruit, homemade kashi and other such things. It was another guest that recommended kashi to dw. Thank you whoever you are. Dh also ordered an egg beaters omelet (Jenny Craig since January and doing well too.) Dd had her usual, waffles with brown sugar. Just a note to kids out there, it is not always Mickey waffles for some reason.

The days navigator was always brought to breakfast, so the family reviewed the schedule for the day to establish a rough plan. They noted that the 10-12 year olds would have access to the Stack for several events this morning. Dd knew about this before the cruise and already had it on her “to do” list. Later when dw asked dd, “How was the Stack?”, she said it was sweet!!! That is her stock phrase recently. She doesn’t mean sweet like flowers and bunnies. She means AWESOME. The activities were Hangin’ in the Stack, Game Challenge (this was like the Ocean Quest activity last night) and the Marshmallow Olympics (all kinds of activities with marshmallows). It was already in the plan that dd didn’t want to go to the Asian Buffet for lunch, so she remained with the lab as they transitioned down to Animators Palate for one more activity and then lunch. Later she said that she didn’t really like the lunch. It was chicken nuggets and other kid foods.

While dd was hangin’ in the Stack, dh and dw headed to Studio Sea for the second Art of Entertaining seminar: Dazzling Desserts. Again the program was introduced by Mark from the cruise entertainment staff. We had the pleasure of Chef Oscar again for the cooking presentation. Today we watched Oscar make the White Chocolate Dome. If you recall from Episode 3, the dw from Wisconsin had this the previous evening in Lumieres. Maybe you need a little reminder.

The recipe can be viewed in a thread about Disney recipes. The posts are 1917 – 1919 in the following link.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1575103&page=128

As in the first seminar, we were provided with a small amount to sample YUM!!! and there was a brief wine seminar at the end.

After the Art of Entertaining, dw and dh went to Shutters to check out the pictures and then went to the Asian Buffet in Parrot Cay. The buffet in Topsiders was the same. We haven’t been to the buffet lunches in Topsiders so we don’t know if the presentation is similar. In Parrot Cay there was a stir fry station in addition to the self serve buffet.

After lunch, dw and dh located dd in Animators Palate with the Oceaneer’s Lab to see what she wanted to do for the afternoon. As if we didn’t already know. Dd remained with the Lab where she played Stop the Bus game, learned animation techniques, participated in a basketball shootout and dodgeball on the Wide World of Sports Deck.

Dh and dw decided a trip to the fitness center was next on the agenda. The center, located in the Vista Spa was fully equipped and dh and dw were familiar with all the equipment. The equipment was very similar to those used in their YMCA back home. Dw and dh had a good workout but somehow they never made it there again the rest of the cruise.

Next they thought about the timing of showers for the evening. It was formal night and the plan was to get the formal portraits done before 6:00 pm dinner if possible. Dw headed back to the stateroom to begin and Dh went to get dd from the lab during the transition after dodgeball.

All ready for the evening, the family headed to the Lobby Atrium to get in line. As it was 4:45 pm, the lines were small. The family was able to get in all their desired portrait sittings before heading to Lumiere’s for dinner. For those of you that don’t know about the change in dining rotation and haven’t read the recent threads about it, you may be thinking that there is a mistake in the story. I believe the change started with this cruise. Our dining was PLLAPLA. Tonight is Master Chef, not the 3rd rotation.

Ok now let me get this out of the way. “There’s that server workstation again”.

Our tablemates were already seated when we arrived and our server Josue and our assistant server, Erwin greeted us. After we were settled, Josue made some recommendations. From the Master Chef menu dh and dw are having difficulty remembering what they ordered. Dw knows she had beef tenderloin at some point during the cruise so she thinks it was for Master Chef. Dh thinks he remembers salmon. They didn’t write it down and when they look at menus online, there are two different versions and none of the items are familiar. Dw remembers the Baked Alaska because it was part of a presentation. There was a sort of parade through the dining room with flaming Baked Alaska. It doesn’t arrive at the table flaming though. Dd probably ordered off the children’s menu and had the Minnie Mini Burgers and a Mickey Ice Cream Bar.

When our meal was complete, Josue entertained us again with a puzzle with crayons. Here is the puzzle for tonight. Dh figured this one out. If you want the answer, just pm me and I will tell you.

After dinner, the family attended the Golden Mickey’s show in the Walt Disney Theatre. This is the only show that Dw and Dh saw during the Three Days of Wonder. The family really enjoyed the show. They had great seats. Actually I don’t’ think there are any bad seats. The pre-show was very funny. A character Rona Rivers interviews celebrities on the red carpet; however these celebrities are Disney guests like you and I. One funny segment was a man and his two daughters. He introduced himself (Can’t remember his name so lets call him Joe) and he introduced his two daughters as Hannah and Montana. Everyone laughed. Later when he entered the theatre someone yelled out “Hey there’s Joe”. The show was enjoyable. Dw and dh liked watching the amazement on dd’s face throughout the show. You get to see a lot characters from Disney classics.

Ladies… Tarzan, need I say more. Here is a You Tube Video I found. It is not dw in the audio enjoying Tarzan though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_tzkC5v_HU


After the show, dd wanted to go to Ocean Quest as tonight’s theme is High School Musical Party. The family headed back to the stateroom to change out of their formal attire. Dw and Dh decided to relax until it was time to pick up dd. After picking her up, it was time for bed. I found that we didn't always take pictures of our towel animals for this cruise. Here is a favorite picture from the Three Days of Wonder.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. The family had to be ready for their shore excursion at 8:00 am. They booked Seaworld Explorer Semi Submarine and then a Pirate Encounter for afterwards. This was going to be fun. The kids have to swab the deck of the pirate ship and then everyone has to walk the plank. Aside from Castaway Cay, they were looking forward to Grand Cayman the most.

Again the camera can’t pan to storm clouds because of being in doors but the background music is doom doom doom. I wish there was a way to upload sound files.

Hope you come back for Episode 5. Here is a teaser. It may be hard to tell in the picture, but the kids had their very own wave pool at the Mickey Pool.

 

[plutospup]

Thanks for the update! DD10 is excited about checking out the Stack, and especially the "Marshmellow Olympics". Can you give us any details on this activity?

 

[JerseyBelle]

Here is what my dd said:

The kids were organized into teams. Each team had to build a structure using marshmallows, toothpicks and straws. When complete, the competition was to see which structure was best by withstanding the elements:

Earthquake - the tray it was standing on was shaken hard.
Hail - They through ice cubes at it.
Rain - They pour water on it.
Meteor Shower - they bang on it with a tray