The Tale of the Grow Walk .Hunh?

[JKSWonder]

We bought that $10 sand pail for Michael and it was the best $10 I spent the whole trip. It kept him occupied and happy forever and I was actually able to lay back and read my book while he played.

 

[jenseib]

And I say anything that keeps a child occupied for a long time is worth the cost.

I totally agree!

I'm glad you got to do the art class and think both of your Donald's came out great.

It was fun and it is something we both now enjoy.

Almost lunch time here and now I've a grumbling tummy after seeing all your food porn.

I have that issue all the time...even when I post my own pictures.

And I could eat popcorn (especially Disney popcorn) for every meal, every day.

Claire could too.

I was waaaay behind but you and I both know why. Darn "new" dis!

It's VERY frustrating. I am also getting annoyed with people telling me how to fix it those are not actual fixes.

When you said that you were going to get lunch, I knew that there'd be a cookie on your plate since you love them so much.

You betcha! Love the DCL cookies!!!!

(Well, I was going to put in a winking smiley but I don't see it amongst the smileys any more.)

YES! I have noticed many of my favorite smilies are now gone.

Nice job at the drawing class. I can't draw worth a darn so I'm with Karin on how it would turn out....nothing like a Disney character.

I can't either....they really make it pretty easy.

To answer your question about the kayaking - It was definitely the most adventurous kayaking I have had to date. You launch in a pretty choppy area and then have to turn the kayak to the right while fighting waves. Once you get away from the launch it was OK. There were actually several people in our group that tipped wither going out or coming back. Our instructor moved pretty fast and we just stuck on her tail. Going back to the launch was tricky, too. Thank goodness I was in a kayak with Denny or I could never have negotiated it myself.

I would be a tipper for sure!!!

Claire looks like she is having a blast on the beach.

She had a wonderful day. We were talking about CC with my sister yesterday and my sister has an urge to go on a cruise just for CC and Claire started crying because she misses it so much. I am teaching her right!

I didn't know they did character drawing on the ship. Very cool - both of your pictures turned out great.

I did my very first drawing class on the Magic in 2012!

Ugh to overpriced hair products.

Yeah, it really was out rageous!

That is SO weird that you camera kept tinting everything yellow. It doesn't look bad, but I am sure it was annoying.

I think because the SLR is better than the point and shoot it was seeing everything as it really is.

Claire must have felt so spoiled getting her meat cut up.

Well..usually Skip or I do it anyways. LOL. It was more like the adults were spoiled. hahaha!

What is on Clarie's shirt?

It is an anchor.

Her plate at the lunch buffet looks exactly like what Hope would choose...except she would put ketchup on the hot dog.

Claire is anti ketchup....she is a strange kid!

The screens look much nicer than they did before the update.

They look so much better now.

We bought that $10 sand pail for Michael and it was the best $10 I spent the whole trip. It kept him occupied and happy forever and I was actually able to lay back and read my book while he played.

 

[jenseib]

The pictures were starting to come into color now and I liked watching the room change.





Dessert was ordered!


Skip got the Crunchy Walnut cake I believe.




I got the Sweet Temptations Trio, which I believe consisted of White Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake, Chilled Mango Mousse and Lemon raspberry tart.





I am not a fan of tarts like this and though I ate it, I would never order it on its own.







The show then began. It’s been refreshed and I enjoyed it more than the old show.

































And then Sorcerer Mickey showed up…and I took a lot of blurry pictures of him.








He even came right up by us and I took the worst picture ever and just deleted it as it wasn’t salvageable.




All the servers came out to say good bye to us as well.

 

[jenseib]

A few more picture of Animator’s Palate.



















This is one thing about DCL I like better than other lines. The rotation dining is fun and offers a little something different each night.

After dinner we went out on deck. We had met a couple who had brought their nieces on a cruise the day before and they were out there so we chatted with them a bit. They were such a nice couple.


A ship off in the distance.







We then headed back inside.








Claire wanted to go to karaoke tonight again as her friends were going to be there, so we headed that way and she went off to sit with her friends.













I must say I just can’t sit and listen to karaoke very long. Especially bad singers, so I headed off to find a bathroom at some point. I think I may have gone and bought a picture then too since we had the free voucher from my friend.








I also may have gone back to the room and put our bags out in the hallway…and probably changed my clothes, though we may have done that earlier.

I asked out stateroom host for luggage tags…she said I gave them to you…I tell her I never saw them and I looked around just in case and with everything pretty much packed…I don’t see them anywhere. She said she would have to ask for more as they are only allowed to give so many per room and since she already gave us some they may not allow it.….I really think she was lying there, but she did take a long time to actually get them for us. This really irked me. Now twice she basically had called me a liar when she was at fault. I typically tip our stateroom host a little more because they do a lot, but she annoyed the heck out of me and I only left her some chocolate bars as an extra treat.








No swimming tonight.



I always find the night before we head back to port they often don’t have a lot going on up on deck. I guess they want us to go to sleep.







After some strolling I went back to join my family.












Claire ended up never going to sing. The one time she was almost going to do it with her friends, but they chose a song she didn’t know….and they didn’t know it well either. …LOL! And she is pretty shy about those kinds of things.


Finally the karaoke was over and we headed back to the room and got ready for bed. It was another long, but fun day. We still had another big day tomorrow and we needed to get some rest since they would be kicking us off the ship much earlier than we would like.

 

[KatMark]

The pictures of Animator's Palate are great, Jen. I love the photos on the wall...that is really cool. Skip's dessert looks very good.

I'm sorry your picture of Sorcerer Mickey didn't turn out.

I'm with you...I don't like listening to Karoke either.

That's too bad about your stateroom host. I wouldn't have left her the chocolates.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love the pictures from Animator's Palate. I have always been rather cynical about the show dinner, but the new show on the Magic blew me away. What a pain with the luggage tags. I do not buy it that they are only allowed so many as they are always readily available on a table outside guest services the last day.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

The pictures of Animator's Palate are great, Jen. I love the photos on the wall...that is really cool. Skip's dessert looks very good.

It is a nice place to eat...lots to look at and the show was so nice.

I'm sorry your picture of Sorcerer Mickey didn't turn out.

I was bummed. I think I took them with my point and shoot because i only had a short lens on my big camera. I wasn't thinking right that night evidently.

I'm with you...I don't like listening to Karoke either.

UGH! Some people are so bad and I swear the good ones sing songs I don't like.

That's too bad about your stateroom host. I wouldn't have left her the chocolates.

Haha! I was tempted to eat them myself.

I love the pictures from Animator's Palate. I have always been rather cynical about the show dinner, but the new show on the Magic blew me away.

I thought the new version was very well done. I had a feeling of excitiment when watching it.

What a pain with the luggage tags. I do not buy it that they are only allowed so many as they are always readily available on a table outside guest services the last day.

I don't really buy it either. Many people have several cases so how do they know how many you need? There are not any restrictions for how many to send through.

 

[jenseib]

March 31, 2014, Day 11


It’s always a sad day when you have to get off a ship. It’s so depressing to me. I really try to never fly home that day if I can help it… It doesn’t always work out that way, but for most trips I have been able to squeeze in more time. Typically on my Disney cruises I try to do the parks after the cruise. It wasn’t going to work out for us to do that this trip, but we still had plans.


As usual, I woke up way too early and got myself ready. I saw we were already pulling into port from our balcony.





After getting dressed I headed up to the top decks.







I turned my phone back on and reconnected to the world…..ahhhh! LOL.

I have to say one thing I learned on this trip…I was connected to the app via my phone the whole trip, though half the time I forgot to use it, but I noticed that my phone was still receiving the push notifications from facebook messenger. I chat in a couple of group messages daily with co-workers and they continued to chat while I was gone…..wasn’t that so rude of them…LOL…..and I could see all the messages come up on my phone. I could not access them or reply, but I kind of kept up to date with what was going on if I happened to catch the push coming through.


Skip and Claire were moving slow and Skip said he had no desire to eat breakfast. So I headed to Cabanas to get myself something to eat. We all know I am a bit of a grouch if I don’t eat in the mornings.




Another look out at the port.





After I ate, I headed back down to the room and my 2 were moving around. Claire couldn’t find her shirt to wear….hmmm…where the heck did I put it. I know I had a shirt in mind for her to wear today…then it hit me. They had come back to the room while I was packing and at that moment I was pulling out Claire’s shorts to wear off the ship. Because I got disturbed I never did pull her shirt out. Oh Great! Luckily the anchor shirt she wore to dinner last night was still clean and stain free, so that was what she was going to be wearing!


Claire was hungry so Skip took her up to Cabanas to get something to eat while I made sure everything in the room was gathered and packed.


Once I gave it the once over I took the bags and headed up to find them.





Skip decided since he was there he would eat after all.





I wasted the time away by taking a few pictures.











Sadly the time had come and we had to get off the ship.


I hate getting off the ship!





We headed out and down the stairs. I had told Skip we could get a porter to help us with our bags and go through customs and then out to the parking lot. I told him we would have to tip him though….Skip can be cheap at times and tipping someone to help us could be a make or break on whether he would go for this. He hates it at the airport when guys try to help you take your luggage in and then 5 minutes later you are in line and you have to tip them. LOL. (We have a really small airport, so I can see why he hates it there.)


He did choose to have a porter help us, which I was grateful for. I really didn’t want to lug bags through the lines and out to the car if I could help it.


We had a little wait, but it wasn’t too bad and once we got outside we headed over to the car. Skip pulls out a 5 on the way over to give to the porter and I hand him a 10 to add to it. He says so loudly….$15!!!!???? I said YES! And glared at him. LOL.
The porter helped us load the bags in the car but since the POC (Piece of Crap) was so small I had to rearrange them as I now knew the best way to fit as many as we could in the trunk.


With that we pulled out and paid for our parking and set Siri to get us to our next destination…..Legoland.

 

[dolphingirl47]

What the shame that the cruise is over. I am with you on trying to avoid at all cost to fly home the same day I get off a cruise. I am looking forward to reading all about Legoland.

Corinna

 

[dizneeat]

Getting off the ship - NO fun.

But you did a perfect job doing so, even though you forgot Claire's shirt.

 

[KatMark]

Now I'm depressed reading about you leaving the ship.

I've never done a cruise, but I doubt much I'd want to fly home the day I got off a ship.

 

[littlenellbell]

Boo! It's so hard to get off that ship! Luckily you had plans to look forward to. Sounds like you had a bad experience with your room steward. I needed an extra tag and was gladly given as many as I needed. Can't wait to hear about LEGOLAND.

 

[canyoncam]

Always sad to get off ship. But at least you had fun plans . Looking forward to the LEGOLAND pictures. I went to the California park about 5 years ago when my nephew was just turning 11. I thought I would be bored as I heard the attractions were geared toward kids under 12. Turned out to be one of the funnest days in my life!

 

[jenseib]

What the shame that the cruise is over. I am with you on trying to avoid at all cost to fly home the same day I get off a cruise. I am looking forward to reading all about Legoland.

Corinna

It's so hard to get off and then half to go home as well. Makes for a very long day.

Getting off the ship - NO fun.

But you did a perfect job doing so, even though you forgot Claire's shirt.

Thank goodness I had something for her to wear.

Now I'm depressed reading about you leaving the ship.

I've never done a cruise, but I doubt much I'd want to fly home the day I got off a ship.

I always want to do a little more...and I actually tried to do an extra day on top of this one but Skip said no. He needed to get home....that party pooper!

Boo! It's so hard to get off that ship! Luckily you had plans to look forward to. Sounds like you had a bad experience with your room steward. I needed an extra tag and was gladly given as many as I needed. Can't wait to hear about LEGOLAND.

Sadly we were not big fans of Legoland.

Always sad to get off ship. But at least you had fun plans . Looking forward to the LEGOLAND pictures. I went to the California park about 5 years ago when my nephew was just turning 11. I thought I would be bored as I heard the attractions were geared toward kids under 12. Turned out to be one of the funnest days in my life!

We had some issues with Legoland. I did love all the Lego displays though.

 

[jenseib]

The drive to Legoland is not a short one. On top of that the scenery isn’t all that exciting either. Claire fell asleep in the backseat. I sure it was much needed sleep to get her through the day. She can be a bit cranky when she hasn’t had enough sleep.

As we got closer we stopped at a carryout and got some drinks and used the restroom. The area we stopped was kind of run down a bit.


Back on the road we headed towards our destination and finally saw signs for Legoland. For those that don’t know, Legoland used to be Cypress Gardens. I actually visited there when I was around 4. Of course I don’t remember much….but I do have some vague memories of it. I was excited to hear the Legoland has preserved an area of the gardens still and you can walk through them.


We made the right turns and finally got to the parking lot.



We had a little ways to walk to get to the entrance.

They do have a shuttle from Orlando, but it’s not really convenient to get to if staying on Disney property. You are better off renting a car for the day to save you some hassle and transfers.










Here we go!










I had 2 free tickets to Legoland for Skip and I and we bought Claire’s ticket before our trip as well, so we headed right to the turnstyles.







Claire LOVES legos so we really enjoyed looking at all the creations.











Claire was already eyeing the stores and we told her not till we leave!




Skip thinks he is so funny.








This could be Claire and I…..LOL!







The Mansion is that way!




Now I have done a bit of reading in Cypress Gardens and it was Richard Pope and his wife who decided to open this park of Gardens and charge a 25 cent entrance fee back in 1936. In the 1970s, Cypress Gardens purchased Magnolia Mansion, the New Orleans style mansion, built on Lake Eloise by citrus magnate, John A. Snively. I seem to remember it from my youth….but I could be totally imagining it.

There were also waterski shows later added to the park…I do remember this from our visit. Legoland still has a waterski show here now.

 

[dizneeat]

I remember where Cypress Gardens used to be. That IS some kind of a drive out there.

But it looks great so far. I am always so impressed with the Lego creations around the Disney parks (DTD and Disney Village in Paris) and these seem to be even greater and better. We have a Legoland in Germany but we have never even thought about visiting. Maybe I will get inspired looking at your pics.

 

[canyoncam]

Too bad LEGOLAND did not make fans of you. My friend went to the Florida park last year and she wasn't impressed either. I have heard people say California's is better.

I do remember you picking up a Lego set for Claire in onr of your other TRs. It is amazing what can be built out of them. Like the sculpture of you and Claire ;-)

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame that your day at Legoland was less than magical. We have not visited Legoland in either Florida or California. I went to the original Legoland in Denmark in my early teens and loved it. As an adult I then went to the one in the UK and this did not live up to my memories so we never tried any of the others.

Corinna

 

[vleeth]

I'm not sure Legoland would be enough to keep the sadness away when getting off that boat.

 

[Beth D]

Love the updates! Your CC pics look heavenly! We have a year until we get back I can't wait, especially since our cruise last year didn't include a stop there. We just found out our cruise next year will be one of the "Star Wars Day at Sea" itineraries! We can't wait. I'm keeping it a secret from DS for as long as possible.

I can't wait to hear how Legoland goes for you! DS loves that place, but he's the perfect age and super into it! I can't wait to see all your pics!