LisaG
12-18-2003, 06:43 PM
Cast:
Lisa (36) – air quality tech
DH, Darrell (38 ) – archaeologist
Day 14 11/13/03 - Day at Sea
We didn’t even call for a wake-up call this morning so we missed breakfast. Off to Lumiere’s we went for lunch. I forget our waiter’s name but he was awful! I hope he was better for his regulars. I have to admit I was starting to tire off all the fancy foods so I ordered a grilled turkey and cheese with fries. Our tablemates also ordered sandwiches with fries. What are fries without ketchup? When we finally tracked him down to get ketchup for Darrell’s burger and all of our fries he wanted to apply it. So we talked him into giving up the bottle, of course he took right back when we were done and we were never able to get it back when a few of us needed more for our fries. I also tried for yellow mustard. Before I could stop him he slopped a big ole spoonful of dijonnaise on my plate, thankfully not my sandwich. I tried to explain that wasn’t what I wanted but he just acted like I was crazy and left. Oh well, the food was still good and the company was as well. And we could see schools of flying fish next to the boat throughout the meal.
Next up was an Art of Entertaining class on table scaping. Again I think Darrell enjoyed more than I did. (In fact we bought cloth napkins for Thanksgiving so he could show off his new skills) They showed napkin folding and how to make some towel animals as well. After table scaping we went on a tour of the gallery area behind Lumiere’s. This was very interesting to see how they lay everything out. We were also surprised to find that all food and supplies on board are loaded at Cape Canaveral; nothing else is picked up along the way. Still munching the chocolate chip cookies they gave us at the end we headed for High Tea at Palo’s.
I have to say I was disappointed with this. Everything was delicious but I expected things would be served like courses with various teas to accent each item. Instead we were led to a table with tea sandwiches already on it, an éclair and scone were placed on our plate and we were given a choice of tea. I guess I was expecting more of a production and it felt kind of rushed.
After tea we went to hangout and play some more cards before tonight’s show. Tonight was Disney Dreams, which always brings tears to my eyes with they sprinkle the whole ship with pixie dust!
After Disney Dreams we thought we would go for a walk on the upper deck. Well that didn’t last long – I thought we were going to be blown off the deck. So back inside and head to dinner. Tonight was Parrot Cay again. We were close to the last guests out tonight as Darrell, with Gabor’s help, was teaching our tablemates napkin folding. This was also the Captain’s Gala night dinner and the only night I sent my dinner back. I tried the eggplant parm. When it came out the eggplants was in 1” thick slabs and very mushy. So I tried the turkey instead – much better. All followed with Chocolate Lava Cake of course. I think everyone was starting to long for fast food as at one point dinner conversation turned to Wendy’s food and what everyone’s favorites were.
After dinner we went back and changed. Finished our card game then went to the Dessert Buffet. I couldn’t believe the line. I think it took us 10 minutes to just get into the restaurant. We had gone specifically for the chocolate covered strawberries our servers had mentioned at dinner would be there. Well either they were gone already or we missed them. The deserts served were all beautiful but we really didn’t like any we tried.
Day 15 – 11/14/03 Castaway Cay -
To make sure we are up in time to get to Castaway Cay early, we preordered a room service breakfast. This would get us an early wake-up plus we could eat while getting ready.
So we headed off to the island. First stop to buy some postcards. Then we boarded the tram to Serenity Bay. We secured ourselves 2 chairs and checked out the water. Very choppy and cold! Darrell decided to brave it anyway and off he went snorkeling – we brought our own that we picked up at Wal-Mart for $5 at the end of the season, big savings off the rental cost). He came back into to share that he just spotted an octopus! The body was about 12” – 15”not including tentacles. After he snorkeled awhile more – and they were only a few other brave souls out there with him, we decided to go get lunch there at the adult beach area. Then we headed to the family beach so he could try the snorkel course. I sat under an umbrella writing postcards and reading Runaway Jury, which by the way was good. I think he was out there for about 2 hours or so. After some shopping and a stop at the post office we headed back to our room. We ordered some room service cheese and crackers while we cleaned up and got ready to go to the kids show.
On our way to the show we stopped and watched the last of the preparations on shore for us to depart and to see the cast members staying behind wave us off. The show was cute and we learned there were 800 kids between the ages of 3 & 12 on board this cruise! Then back to the room to do most of our packing before the show. Tonight was a variety show with a juggler and a comedian plus some song & dance numbers by the cast members. We enjoyed it. Then we hit the shops on board one more time. Next we went to the talent show and saw lots of talented kids sing and dance, and one balloon artist. Our final dinner was in Lumiere’s and it was only going to be 4 of us as Chris and her family, were eating in Palo’s one more time. It was a great dinner. Diane and Dick did not stay for dessert, as she wasn’t feeling well so it was just Darrell and I by the end. We had a great dessert and enjoyed the staff’s parade of nations. After handing out our tips we headed back to our room to finish packing and put our luggage out in the hall. We headed back to the atrium for one last view of all the characters then back to our room. We spent the next hour filling out the comment card – I felt like I was taking the SAT’s again with all those little circles!
Day 16 – 11/15/03 Disembark the Magic, MGM, back to CA -
Our last day…
Breakfast was at the same restaurant you were assigned the night before, so we were back in Lumiere’s one last time. Last goodbye’s to Diane, Dick and our wonderful serving team and we headed for shore. Found our luggage with the help of a porter and headed for the Avis shuttle. We fit on the first shuttle that came after we got there and headed for their office. After only a 5-minute wait we were off in another Sunfire back to WDW. We were undecided were to go first but decided on MGM as our first stop. We later decided it would be our only stop as we were still in lazy-butt cruising mode.
After taking the tram from the parking lot we headed over to RnRC to get some fast passes. Then we went to WWTBAMPI, not hot seat again. By then our fast passes were good so back to the coaster. We stopped for lunch at the pizza place right by the Tower of Terror and Beauty & the Beast show. After lunch, shopping! Then we went to the Beauty & the Beast show, which we had missed the week before. Wonderful as always. Next we went for another ride on the Great Movie Ride. Mickey ice cream sandwiches were next. We wandered around the backlot for a while then went to the Muppets show and one last ride on Star Tours before shopping our way back out of the park. We drove to the airport, turned in the rental car, checked in and went to Chili’s Too for dinner.
Our flights back were uneventful if not long. We arrived in Ontario, CA at 1AM PST. Our friend met us there and we headed back to Barstow after claiming our luggage. We finally got home at 2:30 AM PST. Which means for anyone keeping track we have now been up 23.5 hours! We collapsed but since we had basically adjusted to the time change only slept 5 hours and were back up 8AM.
Lisa (36) – air quality tech
DH, Darrell (38 ) – archaeologist
Day 14 11/13/03 - Day at Sea
We didn’t even call for a wake-up call this morning so we missed breakfast. Off to Lumiere’s we went for lunch. I forget our waiter’s name but he was awful! I hope he was better for his regulars. I have to admit I was starting to tire off all the fancy foods so I ordered a grilled turkey and cheese with fries. Our tablemates also ordered sandwiches with fries. What are fries without ketchup? When we finally tracked him down to get ketchup for Darrell’s burger and all of our fries he wanted to apply it. So we talked him into giving up the bottle, of course he took right back when we were done and we were never able to get it back when a few of us needed more for our fries. I also tried for yellow mustard. Before I could stop him he slopped a big ole spoonful of dijonnaise on my plate, thankfully not my sandwich. I tried to explain that wasn’t what I wanted but he just acted like I was crazy and left. Oh well, the food was still good and the company was as well. And we could see schools of flying fish next to the boat throughout the meal.
Next up was an Art of Entertaining class on table scaping. Again I think Darrell enjoyed more than I did. (In fact we bought cloth napkins for Thanksgiving so he could show off his new skills) They showed napkin folding and how to make some towel animals as well. After table scaping we went on a tour of the gallery area behind Lumiere’s. This was very interesting to see how they lay everything out. We were also surprised to find that all food and supplies on board are loaded at Cape Canaveral; nothing else is picked up along the way. Still munching the chocolate chip cookies they gave us at the end we headed for High Tea at Palo’s.
I have to say I was disappointed with this. Everything was delicious but I expected things would be served like courses with various teas to accent each item. Instead we were led to a table with tea sandwiches already on it, an éclair and scone were placed on our plate and we were given a choice of tea. I guess I was expecting more of a production and it felt kind of rushed.
After tea we went to hangout and play some more cards before tonight’s show. Tonight was Disney Dreams, which always brings tears to my eyes with they sprinkle the whole ship with pixie dust!
After Disney Dreams we thought we would go for a walk on the upper deck. Well that didn’t last long – I thought we were going to be blown off the deck. So back inside and head to dinner. Tonight was Parrot Cay again. We were close to the last guests out tonight as Darrell, with Gabor’s help, was teaching our tablemates napkin folding. This was also the Captain’s Gala night dinner and the only night I sent my dinner back. I tried the eggplant parm. When it came out the eggplants was in 1” thick slabs and very mushy. So I tried the turkey instead – much better. All followed with Chocolate Lava Cake of course. I think everyone was starting to long for fast food as at one point dinner conversation turned to Wendy’s food and what everyone’s favorites were.
After dinner we went back and changed. Finished our card game then went to the Dessert Buffet. I couldn’t believe the line. I think it took us 10 minutes to just get into the restaurant. We had gone specifically for the chocolate covered strawberries our servers had mentioned at dinner would be there. Well either they were gone already or we missed them. The deserts served were all beautiful but we really didn’t like any we tried.
Day 15 – 11/14/03 Castaway Cay -
To make sure we are up in time to get to Castaway Cay early, we preordered a room service breakfast. This would get us an early wake-up plus we could eat while getting ready.
So we headed off to the island. First stop to buy some postcards. Then we boarded the tram to Serenity Bay. We secured ourselves 2 chairs and checked out the water. Very choppy and cold! Darrell decided to brave it anyway and off he went snorkeling – we brought our own that we picked up at Wal-Mart for $5 at the end of the season, big savings off the rental cost). He came back into to share that he just spotted an octopus! The body was about 12” – 15”not including tentacles. After he snorkeled awhile more – and they were only a few other brave souls out there with him, we decided to go get lunch there at the adult beach area. Then we headed to the family beach so he could try the snorkel course. I sat under an umbrella writing postcards and reading Runaway Jury, which by the way was good. I think he was out there for about 2 hours or so. After some shopping and a stop at the post office we headed back to our room. We ordered some room service cheese and crackers while we cleaned up and got ready to go to the kids show.
On our way to the show we stopped and watched the last of the preparations on shore for us to depart and to see the cast members staying behind wave us off. The show was cute and we learned there were 800 kids between the ages of 3 & 12 on board this cruise! Then back to the room to do most of our packing before the show. Tonight was a variety show with a juggler and a comedian plus some song & dance numbers by the cast members. We enjoyed it. Then we hit the shops on board one more time. Next we went to the talent show and saw lots of talented kids sing and dance, and one balloon artist. Our final dinner was in Lumiere’s and it was only going to be 4 of us as Chris and her family, were eating in Palo’s one more time. It was a great dinner. Diane and Dick did not stay for dessert, as she wasn’t feeling well so it was just Darrell and I by the end. We had a great dessert and enjoyed the staff’s parade of nations. After handing out our tips we headed back to our room to finish packing and put our luggage out in the hall. We headed back to the atrium for one last view of all the characters then back to our room. We spent the next hour filling out the comment card – I felt like I was taking the SAT’s again with all those little circles!
Day 16 – 11/15/03 Disembark the Magic, MGM, back to CA -
Our last day…
Breakfast was at the same restaurant you were assigned the night before, so we were back in Lumiere’s one last time. Last goodbye’s to Diane, Dick and our wonderful serving team and we headed for shore. Found our luggage with the help of a porter and headed for the Avis shuttle. We fit on the first shuttle that came after we got there and headed for their office. After only a 5-minute wait we were off in another Sunfire back to WDW. We were undecided were to go first but decided on MGM as our first stop. We later decided it would be our only stop as we were still in lazy-butt cruising mode.
After taking the tram from the parking lot we headed over to RnRC to get some fast passes. Then we went to WWTBAMPI, not hot seat again. By then our fast passes were good so back to the coaster. We stopped for lunch at the pizza place right by the Tower of Terror and Beauty & the Beast show. After lunch, shopping! Then we went to the Beauty & the Beast show, which we had missed the week before. Wonderful as always. Next we went for another ride on the Great Movie Ride. Mickey ice cream sandwiches were next. We wandered around the backlot for a while then went to the Muppets show and one last ride on Star Tours before shopping our way back out of the park. We drove to the airport, turned in the rental car, checked in and went to Chili’s Too for dinner.
Our flights back were uneventful if not long. We arrived in Ontario, CA at 1AM PST. Our friend met us there and we headed back to Barstow after claiming our luggage. We finally got home at 2:30 AM PST. Which means for anyone keeping track we have now been up 23.5 hours! We collapsed but since we had basically adjusted to the time change only slept 5 hours and were back up 8AM.