This was our day at sea, and the last day of the vacation. I know the header above says it was day 6, but that couldn't have been true. It felt like we had just gotten off the plane at MCO. For our family, there is no bigger event all year than the family vacation. I spend up to a year in advance planning. We get all worked up in anticipation. All 5 of us have the travel bug. So you can imagine what a downer the end of vacation is for us. Honestly, the only reason I go to work is so I can pay for the next vacation.
Anyway, we still had one more full day of fun. Breakfast was at our favorite spot on the deck at the buffet once again. MIL managed to make it out there with us, while FIL stayed in the room, feeling under the weather.
From here, we took a spin through the gift shops. It helps to wait until the last day of your cruise, because then they're trying to unload some extra items and you get a few more deals than earlier in the week. We found a nice coffee mug for 50% off.
But bargain-shopping goes out the window on a Disney trip, anyway. We spend the whole year avoiding brand names, chastising people for buying $75 blue jeans at Banana Republic (for example) and throwing money away. Then we go to Disney and think nothing of forking over $55 for a sweatshirt, $25 for a t-shirt, etc. This is justified by speaking aloud, "Well, we might never be on a
Disney Cruise again, so..."
Needless to say, we earned many Disney Rewards dollars on this trip.
We asked the kids if they wanted to try some of the kids club activities (such as making Flubber!) or hang out with us and swim in the pool. They seemed cool to the kids club and voted for the pool. Finding Nemo (still my favorite Pixar movie) was on the big screen, so that was fine with me. We also went on the hunt for some characters:
I wandered the ship while the kids were in line, just to take a few more pictures of some of the cooler areas onboard. Here's the big theater:
And the Oceaneer Lab:
And the Cove Cafe, the adult coffee bar:
I also took the time to appreciate the little Disney touches on the ship, such as Disney's Urinal Mania.
Allow me to explain: in a normal men's room, you walk up to the urinal, the electronic eye (if installed) detects your presence, you do your business, and it flushes when you leave. For reasons unknown to me, the ship is different. The urinal immediately begins flushing when your presence is detected. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but a couple of the urinals weren't draining very well, so the bowl would be filling with water the whole time. This takes a simple mundane task and elevates it to a white-knuckle adventure, as you desperately try to finish before flooding the bathroom. Disney thinks of everything!
In any case, a man should be able to use the restroom in 90 seconds flat, but I appreciate Disney giving me the opportunity to hone my craft.
After lunch (nice chicken fingers at the Dog House), we went to the movie theater to watch Up in 3-D. It was just as good as the first time I'd seen it during the summer. Pixar is awesome.
Kids loved it, too. Squirrel!
We wandered some more and got some nice shots on the top deck:
I love this one of Sarah:
It started to rain, so we went inside by the elevators and found Stitch. Scotty had been talking about seeing Stitch during the whole trip, saying he wanted to rub his nose (I think he had seen a kid do it in a video or something). Now, here was his chance.
They walked up to Stitch, exchanged hugs, and then...nose rub accomplished! But that was just the beginning of the fun. I don't know who was in costume, but they were incredible in character. That cast member deserves a raise.
Stitch grabbed Sarah's autograph book and signed it, then stuck the pen in his ear to pick at ear wax and pretended to drool all over the book (to peals of laughter from the kids).
They took pictures, and we thought we were done:
See Stitch's hand? He refused to let Scotty leave. At first he was stuck there, but then Stitch wound up tackling him, wrestling Scotty to the ground and tickling him. This might have been the highlight of Scotty's cruise.
I'm always grateful for the cast members who go out of their way to make your vacation special.
Dinner was at Tritons, which is sort of the flagship restaurant on the ship. I infer this from the fact that they're the only one with an entrance in the lobby. As you can see, my deductive reasoning is without peer.
Here are Renata and Joacir, our wonderful servers. Unfortunately, our camera had some focus issues on our trip, and this picture was the only one we had of them.
Renata gave us little mind-bender puzzles to do every night that (I hate to admit) stumped us. I finally got her back on that last night with the old college trick of silverware math.
FOODIES: I couldn't pronounce any of the appetizers, so I skipped them. I had Tomato and Basil Soup (Rich Blend of Tomato, Fresh Basil and Cream), with a main course of Grilled Beef Tenderloin on Olive-Oil Smashed Potatoes, Bacon-wrapped Green Beans and Tamarind-Barbecue Reduction. Dessert was a Grand-Marnier Souffle with Vanilla Sauce.
NON-GOURMET ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Tomato Soup. Very good, very creamy. Beef and potatoes--also very good and tender. Green beans. Hey, somebody wrapped bacon around them! Bacon was good. Didn't touch the beans. I have no idea who the Grand Marnier is (maybe Ken Griffey?), but the souffle was very tasty.
After dinner, we went to the Walt Disney Theater (minus the in-laws again--they managed to skip every single show) to see Disney Dreams.
WOW.
What a show. They pulled all the stops out for that one. So many in-theater effects--at various times, we had confetti, bubbles, and snow raining over us. Sprinkling the boat with pixie dust was a nice touch. Best show of the 3, and 4 out of 5 of us loved it (Scotty fell asleep). So many of the performers seemed like they might be good enough for Broadway--lots of talent on the stage there, and a fitting way to end the night.
Well, along with this:
Coming up next: the Trip Report finale. Was it worth it? Will I cruise again? With or without the in-laws?
If you ever cruise again, definitely look into that one!
