jenseib

Thats funny. They also had these huge Apes for prizes. I mean they were about as big a person. I can't imagine how they even fit in some peoples cars, especially if they came with a full load to begin with.

I could've done without the outside the park adventure! HaHa! I believe it! I just pulled the dang ticket out today to see when it's due...not many happy thoughts came with that!

Thanks so much...That so nice of you!!

I could've done without the outside the park adventure!

I worry about a panic attack on Windseeker as well. I can handle lift hills and even Power Tower, but those swing towers scare the hell out of me. Perhaps with the new style restaints (and not the teeny chains), I could do it...after a couple of cocktails (as I stated in the CP thread)! Maybe you'll spot yourself in one of my pictures! it was very crowded that day. I've seen a lot worse, but for the time of year I thought it was busy. Of course it was the 1st night day in quite some time.

I get vertigo just riding KD's flying ace so I dunno if I'd get on windseeker should KD ever install one. It's pretty high up there. Not for me either!

Thats my thinking too. One reason I don't do many coasters anymore is because of the height. I just can't handle it anymore. No matter how fast they get you up there. LOL!

It is pretty! I have read somewhere..probably here...that they are having some technical problems with it and it's taking much longer to get up and running. It looked darn scary to me. Skip wanted to know who in their right mind would ever ride it. Obviously A lot of people or they wouldn't have built it!

Thanks. I always think that too. I get so used to "liking" on facebook, that I think every palce should have one!

After the party we met back up with Mom. I think we went back to the room and got her. We then headed over towards Royal Palace area, as that is where dinner was to be that evening. We still had some time and there was a huge line waiting to get in. Claire and I went over to the photographers and had some pictures taken. I didn’t like this guy as well. The girl was much more creative the night before and took her time. This guy seemed more puzzled about it, but that was OK. It was fun to do. This one is Skips ultimate Favorite. He wants me to use it on our Christmas Card this year. Then the guy had Claire jump. It took a couple of tries to get it right. And he got 1 with me in it too. He really didn’t take too many pictures at all. By the time we were done, Royal Palace had opened and there was basically no line left. We were seated promptly and again our booth was very near the door. Not as close as the night before, but still right up front. The light fixtures were gorgeous!!! Look at the cute bread basket. A photographer came over and shot some pictures of us. Claire ordered a special drink tonight. It came in a collector’s cup with a light up Tink on it. Tink was a big hit and we played around with it a bit. I had brought the Navigator with us to look over. I noticed it said the Dooney and Bourkes were 10% off that day. I had looked at them the night before, but I really wasn’t in love with them. Mostly because of the texture. A lot didn’t feel like leather, but more of a shiny vinyl. Mom said she wanted to go look at them and perhaps buy one for a friend, so we decided to go shopping after dinner. Claire also declared she was NOT going to the club after dinner that night. She didn’t really say why, but we were sure she thought we would actually do something without her and she would miss out. The nerve of us! Claire’s food arrived at the same time our appetizers did. Soon it was time for our main meals. Claire’s dessert came out then too. After we finished up our main course (mom and I got the same thing) the dessert menu came out. Isn’t it so cute? It was an Invitation. We ordered and waited for that. Claire got a little antsy that we were taking too long, but we reminded her that she didn’t want to go to the club, so she would have to wait patiently and she seemed fine after that. A quick shot of Brent, our server. And dessert! Mom and I shared the soufflé as well. But I think I ate most of it. Srdjan came over and entertained Claire while we finished up. She was all googly eyed! And here is a copy of the kids menu We finished up then and headed off to the shops.

I have started my Day TR of Cedar Point, if anyone is interested. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=59314&p=1043168#p1043168

I grew up and still live about 1 ½ hours away from Cedar Point. In my preteen years we started going. My Grandparents would camp there every summer, and my sister and I got to visit the park a few times. Of course they never took us till the twilight price kicked in and of course no big rides. As I got older, I realized I liked the thrill rides and went several times in my teens and 20’s. Then something happened….I got old! I was in pain many times after riding rides and the height was really bothering me. The biggest Coaster I have conquered there is the Magnum. After that, the height just got too crazy for me. And now I look at the Magnum in fear! Over the past few years, our trips have become less and less to the Point. When my older 2 children were little, my Daughter was a huge thrill fan, while my son hated it. I got a season pass one year and we went as often as possible, with my daughter just tall enough for a few of the rides. My older 2 are now 22 and almost 19. My son stays away from the place ,and my daughter goes with friends who enjoy the rides with her. I am now a Mom all over again to a 6 year old. I believe this was her 4th trip. She went for the 1st time when she was 2 ½. She had just been to HER first trip to Disney World a few months prior and LOVED it. We have now taken her a total of 4 times and she and I can’t get enough of it. Skip could take it or leave it, but goes because we love it so. On that 1st trip to Cedar Point we pulled up and parked. We got out of the car and I plopped her in the stroller and started to the front. She took one look and asked “what is this place?” My husband replied “This is the Point!” And Claire responded by saying “I love the POINK!” So now we always refer to Cedar Point as the “Poink”. The last 2 years we had not been able to get to the “Poink”. My husband had hip problems and was in too much pain to even walk much. In Oct of 2009 he had his hip replaced. He was still in pain for a long time after, and finally in Oct of 2010 the Dr realized that the new hip had never adhered. (after a huge run around and many Dr visits) So in Dec. 2010 he had it replaced again. It seems to be doing better this time around, and Skip decided it was time to head back for some fun…and also to celebrate his 50th birthday, which was May 12th. On to the Cast. First there is Skip ~ He’s my Husband. And Me ~ Jen This is the ONLY shot of me all day. Skip is the worlds worst photographer, so I don’t let him take any with my camera usually, plus he hates to as well. This picture was really bad. I had to do a lot of cropping and actually straighten it as well because it was really crooked. LOL! And then there’s Claire ~ Our 6 year old On to the trip. We went May 21st. Skip had decided a few days ago that if things worked out well, we would head there that Sat. I woke early and got a shower and things packed. I also threw the stroller in the trunk. I find that if we bring it along, 1 we have a spot to carry our junk in, and 2 that Claire can last longer. She doesn’t get so tired and then Mom and Dad can have a more pleasant day as well. I know some people think a 6 year old in a stroller is wrong, and that’s fine, but it works for me. I don’t want to hear about tired feet or asking to be carried at the end of the day. I got Claire up and ready as well. We are Dairy farmers, so Skip had to be up early to milk the cows and get the day going. Once everything was running smoothly he came in and showered as well. I think we hit the road around 9:30ish. We debated which route to take, and then decided to head to the turnpike. The airport exit is only about 10 minutes from our house. We hopped on and Skip went on to tell me about watching my speed. I always drive. He just doesn’t care too, yet he is always critiquing my driving. He had told me that the speed limit was raised, but that they were now stricter. Somehow, in a short amount of time we kind of argued about the speed. I told him had always been 70 and he said no, it wasn’t…anyways in this argument I got it in my head that the speed limit was now 75! Not a good thing to do. We were on the road for about 7 minutes….if that and we passed two State boys sitting along side the rode. They sit in this spot all the time. I was going around 75 ish. The car in front of me was obviously going at least that same speed. As we pass the troopers, the one car kind of lurched a bit. I thought he was going to pull out and hit me and I quickly braked a bit. Not a sudden stop, but it scared me. So then I kept going…at 75. The trooper pulled out and followed me. I got in the right lane when I could and the trooper stayed in the left. Skip then told me to slow down and I told him I was going 75 and that’s when we he reminded me that it was 70! Still others were going faster. And next thing you know, the trooper pulled in behind me and flashed the lights. UGH! I got a ticket for speeding…going 78 is what he said. I was beyond mad. First off, when the guy came to the window (on the passenger side) Skips first words were “I kept telling her to slow down”. I about threw him into oncoming traffic! The guy took forever too. Claire was in the backseat complaining because we were losing precious time. Finally he came back with the most expensive ticket I have ever seen. It’s been a LONG time since I have gotten a ticket, and I guess the “price” as gone up a LOT! So back on the road, and now I HAVE to go exactly the speed limit. I can’t chance getting pulled over again. And of course there are people blowing by me, leaving me in complete dust…or even tailgating me! I gave Skip the cold shoulder for most of the ride there. He even asked if I would be talking to him later in the day, or for just the ride…and I told him I hadn’t made up my mind yet! LOL! We finally made it to the POINK! It was around 11:30ish. We parked and made our way to buy tickets. Of course the line was super long. I am one who likes to prepurchase things, but Skip never wants to stop off and get them, so we wait…. I then finally pulled out the camera and took some shots! We finally had our tickets bought and made our way to the next line to get in. It was long, but moved faster. BUT when we got up to the ticket taker she said we had to go over to the far left for stroller entry, so we did. Well, Claire and I did. Skip got in another line for some reason. LOL! I told him to get over with me and he did. Then we stood there while this ticket taker ignored us. There was no one in our line, but this is where we were told to go. She just kept taking the tickets of the ones in the line to our right, which was a non stroller line. After about 1 minute I just came out and asked her if this was where I go and she said yeah, hold on. I guess she is anti stroller entry! LOL! But she did take them finally. I don’t know if she thought we needed to wait a bit since there was no line on our side, but we HAD waited once already, and I didn’t have the patience to wait much longer. OK!!!!! We are in! Off for some fun! We were in and just kind of scoped the area a bit. I noticed Demon Drop was gone! I never was a fan of that ride. I called it the headache maker. Instant headache when your head bangs back as you went down and the car was pulled back. We decided to head towards Disaster Transport. I took a few pictures along the way. Claire soon saw the games and of course wanted to play. I HATE these things. Big waste of money, and if you do win, you have to carry stuff around all day. But Skip let her play…his mistake, as then she kept asking all day to go back and play some more. First look at Windseeker, which I will NEVER be riding! It was still not finished and you could see them working on it through out the day. I did LOVE this Banana. He cracked me up! Disaster Transport wasn’t open yet, so we headed over to Troika. I don’t spin…or at least try not to, so I let them ride it while I waited. While they waited, I went off on a picture spree of the area. Now it’s coming down…..slowly… ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and removed the bolded, larger sized text formatting to make this a little easier to read. I also added the "Photo TR:" notation to the thread's title and updated the subtitle. Thanks for sharing this with us!

I totally forgot to add this, but after the Villains show, As I was walking out .Mom said someone must’ve lost a game and held up a card. I looked and OMG!!! It was my CF card from my camera. I had dropped it out of my bag. I almost lost all the pictures I had taken on my SLR for the first few days. Thank goodness she found it!

The show restarted and I was back to taking pictures again. Again, the Cruella part was great. I would say one of the best of the whole show. The show ended and we made our way out. Claire and I were on our way to the pirate party next. Mom decided to skip out on it. I can’t remember why or what she did. I think she just went back to the room, but she could’ve gone shopping. As we approached the area, we saw lots of servers with drinks. I decided to ask what it was. It was a Yellow Bird. They were in cute lighted glasses and I decided to go for it and get one. It was very good too. I think it was kind of an orange/pineapple tasting. They also had some non alcoholic drinks on there as well. That was called a Parrot Song, and I didn’t ask what was in that, so I don’t know what they were. We decided to head up to deck 12 so we could watch the party from above against the railing. While we waited for the show to start I took pictures. We had just started to sail out of Nassau. And of course I got one last shot of this! LOL I can honestly say that was the worst shot of the lighthouse!! Hey! There’s that Aqua Duck sign again. And someone going for a ride! The crossbones guy would give us a countdown to when the show was going to start. And one last shot of Nassau as we pulled out of port! On to the show!!! The Buccaneer Blast! Claire and I enjoyed the show a lot. I kind of hand to prop her on my hip bone so she could see better over the railing, and keep my hands free for pictures. I really think Claire thought that Captain Hook was trying to take over the ship. She talked about it for days…and how we knew how to do all the pirate “stuff”. Captain Hook was trying to steal the ship away from us! And I think Claire really believed that was true! But Mickey and Gang had taught us the ways and Lingo of Pirates, so we were able to keep the ship! YAY!!!

Before Claire and Mom had left, I realized that the “gift” and “note” of the day had not been left out that morning. So I quickly just flopped it on the bed and told Claire I saw something. She was surprised to see it in the afternoon, but happy. Here’s the note. I can’t remember for sure what the gift was, but I think it was a package of Disney Princess underwear. She’s very picky about her underwear. You have to have a Princess on your butt at all times! I think she even wore a pair after her bath that day. While Mom and Claire were off solving mysteries, I decided to turn my laptop on and try to upload some photos. While the laptop was starting up I went out on the verandah and took some pictures of Atlantis. This was another one of the “shots” I wanted to get. I played with some settings and then some editing too. And this one is probably my favorite, though not perfect. So I cropped it. And this is what I wanted to get! And then I took a picture of these guys doing some work. And remember that light house…you didn’t think I was going to give up getting a shot I liked, did you? And then I turned back to Atlantis again. And these guys again! After taking several shots of the same things over and over, I hooked the camera up to my laptop. I waited for the little light to turn blue on the camera, meaning I could do the simple upload. It never happened. My camera just kept saying it was busy. I don’t use the laptop much for photos, but I have given it a try at home to be sure it could do it. It wasn’t happening this time around. So I went to my computer and found the pictures on the camera. I tried to get them copied that way and again, I couldn’t get it figured out. The laptop is Vista, and it’s so much different than XP. I think since I have come home now, that I got the settings turned to the right thing to copy the pictures, but I will have to check it out again to be sure they stuck! LOL! Anyways, I messed with this stupid laptop for WAY TOO LONG. I just couldn’t get it to work. I was supposed to be showering and getting ready this whole time, but NO, I was frustrated and trying to conquer the “Vista”. Before I knew it, Mom and Claire were hopping back into the room. Wow, where did the time go…Oh yeah,…. it went with a lot of cussing at the laptop. They said they had a ball doing the mission and I think they even started the 2nd one. Mom said she was very tired. There was a lot of walking to the front and back of the ship and up and down as well. She said she was very sore….but Claire was still hopping all around with excitement. The plan was to finish it up later on. I jumped in the shower finally and got ready. All nice and pretty. We got Claire cleaned up as well. This was pirate night, so Claire and I were going to join in the fun with all the other Buccaneers. So we had our pirate geer on. Mom declined the use of my extra pirate hat, but she did wear the bandana left in the room. I think she tied it around her neck. It was time to head out to the show again. We walked THROUGH pink this time, kind of by accident. I had wanted to come here one night and try out the special champagne, but I just never had the time. I also wanted to take more pictures of it, but again, I never did. I think this is the only one I took inside the whole time. And I guess I took a quick shot inside of D Lounge too. Claire wanted to sit in the balcony again, so we headed that way. We found a perfect spot, dead center in the balcony, but as we were going to sit, two young teens, quickly let us know they were saving 20 plus seats for their family. This irked me. There is no seat saving allowed at the shows, but rather than cause a scene, I just glared at them and turned around and told my Mom, “They are saving the seats…even though Disney doesn’t allow it”. So I’m sure they heard it, and hopefully thought better next time. We find a spot very close to where we had sat the night before and waited. That family, by the way, came in at the VERY last minute. The show for the night was Villains Tonight. This was my least favorite show. It was OK, but in the future, I would personally skip it. This was Claire’s FAVORITE show however. …..Which is funny, because I debated going to it since she has such a fear of villains lately. The guy who played Hades was funny and good and I know he was ad libbing at times. I didn’t care for a lot of the music, nor did I really think the story line was very good. Great costumes again though! I believe this is Pain and Panic, and I believe they are from Hercules….which we have never seen. Ok, I think years ago I might’ve watched part of it, and I think we have it on VHS somewhere, but I don’t know much about the story all. Claire thought they were funny…I thought they were kind of dumb. Claire does NOT like Ursala at all, so she was a little scared when she came out, but she did fine. And then my card ran out of memory, so I fumbled in the dark to change it…but while doing that, the lights went on and an announcement came on. There was a technical error and the show would resume shortly. Hades then adlibbed a bit and he was so funny. He then went off the stage and Pain and Panic came back out and interacted with the audience for a few minutes till the show restarted.

They just wrote their signature. I think we once got something extra, but I would have to go look to see for sure. When we were at Magic Kingdom, Snow White alos put a lipstick kiss on her page. Claire LOVED that. Thanks so much for reading. I also just went to Cedar Point last weekend and plan to start a day TR about that, but I haven't even loaded the pictures yet to the computer.

Well it was Cinderella…of course! And the photographers That was fun…we had seen all the Princesses….or had we? Wait, ……What do I see? I look up and see ANOTHER Princess up on the next deck having a Meet and Greet as well. It’s a must do for us, so we hike up a flight of stairs and get in line. I took a few shots while we waited. This is the Vista Café, tucked away in the corner. And then it was our turn to visit one last Princess. She did a few Swirls for us! Princess Minnie!!!!! And the Photographers After all the Meet and Greets it was time to get the Detective card so Claire and Mom could start a new adventure. Claire WAS NOT going to let us forget about this at all! We now had our card in hand and activated. We had found that you could only activate a card to do this at certain times during the day…but I “think” you could do the actual adventure at any time of the day once you had the card. We also grabbed a map of where each picture was for the mission. There were 2 to choose from and Claire and Mom decided on one they wanted to do. The card would work for both though. Here is a copy of the map. I don't remember if there were 2 separate maps for the 2 missions, or if it all went off this one map. Since I wasn't involved, I really don't know too much about it. This was the only map we brought home though. The map is also much bigger than my scanner, so this is what you get. LOL! One more thing had to be done before they went off though. We needed lunch! We hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and Claire hadn’t eaten much then. She griped a bit, but gave in when we told her there would be no mission unless she ate something. We headed to Cabanas to find that they had very little out at that time of day. There was enough to make Claire happy though and I filled a plate for her. Mom went off in search of the fast food services. She came back shortly and said she couldn’t find them, so I left her and Claire and went and looked. They were quite a ways down…on the other side of the pools. I got a plate of a few items for Mom and I and headed back. It was all decent food. I don’t have a picture of the wraps we had because they were so good we both gobbled them up immediately. After we ate, we headed back to the room once again. Mom told me that she did talk to Dad (she had phone service in the Bahamas) and that he did make it to his sisters house. He was frazzled, but made it. He told her a bit about his day so far. My cousin and her family were also visiting and he said they had all left to go to the beach for the day, so he and my Aunt and Uncle were spending the day together. I decided to stay in the room and get cleaned up while Mom and Claire went off on their mission…well actually Claire told me I wasn’t even allowed to come. LOL! She said it was something special for just her and Adda! (Pronounced Odd-ah…that’s what the kids call my Mom).

I know, She was just gorgeous

I have a question...when did Demon Drop get taken out? Not that I wanted to ride it...I always called it the instant headache maker because you whacked your head so hard on it, you couldn't wlak away without one. LOL! I just noticed it was gone this trip, and I think it's been 2 years since we were last there.

After making our purchases, Claire and I walked the short distance to the boat dock and waited. The 1 PM boat was late, by at least 15 minutes, I would say. I took some pictures, but of course those are lost. The boat came and we all boarded in a nice chaotic way. LOL! But we got on and Claire and I went to the top and back row of the boat again. The ride was long again. I think it was just over 30 minutes. I shot some pictures of the gorgeous houses along the shores with intentions of telling Skip this would be our new vacation home. The boat made 2 stops this time, 1 at Atlantis and then one back where we originally got on. We got off at the 2nd stop. I think it was close to 2 by the time we got back. The Norwegian Epic was now in port too. She was huge as well, but not nearly as pretty as the Dream. I took pictures and eyed her a bit though. I have considered sailing her in the future…but after the Dream, it may be hard to switch lines. We decided to head back to the ship. Claire declared she had to go potty. So we hurried. I didn’t see one as we walked though that customs building of shops, but I’m sure there was one there, I just missed it. In fact Claire said she saw one and was mad I didn’t stop. The line was a little long to get through the customs area, but it did move pretty fast, but when you have a child doing the potty dance, nothing is fast enough. We did get through fast. The guy never even wanted to see our Birth Certificates, just our room keys. We made a mad dash, well I don’t dash well, but a fast walk, to the ship and again pulled the KTTW out and got through fairly fast, throwing our stuff in a basket to go through the scan. Again, they didn’t want to see our B/C either. I asked a CM where the closest bathroom was and we ran to it. All was well then! LOL! We then headed back to the room and found Mom there. She said she stayed on the ship for the most part. I think she said she got off for about 2 minutes, then just decided to get back on and relax. She said she read her book, explored a little bit and just had some “me” time. Claire and I had a meet to go to, so we grabbed the camera and autograph book and got in line. The Princesses were coming out at 2:45. We saw the morning meets line and it was SUPER long, so I wanted to get in line as soon as possible. We only had a few families in front of us when we got there. It got long fast though. A few pictures while waiting. And then They came out 1 by 1. It was very exciting! I then noticed that the other 3 Princesses were on the other balcony. Then they all proceeded down the stairs and got in place. Our wait wasn’t too long. Soon we were visiting with Snow White. And here is what the ships photographer took. And then on to Belle, one of Claire’s favorites. And here’s what the photographer took. Aurora was the next Princess And the photographers, which came out better, as mine all were pretty blurred. Tiana was next. This was Claire’s first time to ever meet her! I hate to admit it, but Mom is not totally familiar with all the Disney Princesses…Shame on her! She asked who this one was. I told her Tiana. Mom thought she was just beautiful…..and she was...but after all, she is a Princess! I really like this one! And here’s what the photographer took. Claire’s other favorite Princess….Ariel! And the photographers We now had one Princess left to visit. Who could it be?.. … … .. ..

I was at the point yesterday. Boy what a disappointment the park has become to me. I used to love going. But as I get older, the thrill rides are no longer "thrilling". But I knew that going in. I was just amazed at how disgusting the place is becoming. The bathrooms were like roadside gas station bathrooms. The place was in need of a lot of paint. This park just opened, yet railings had chipped paint, that looked to be neglected for more than just one year. For thrill seekers, this park still has all the great rides, most of the best, but for families it is not so great. There is not much for the in betweeners. If you don't want the kiddy rides, or the thrill rides, not much left in between. The kiddy rides are very babyish in my opinion. My 6 year old wanted nothing to do with most of them. Luckily she was tall enough for the bigger rides. Shes not a thrill seeker though, so that limited us to smaller coasters (and the paddle boat 3 times LOL Her favorite of everything ) I did try to take a lot of pictures. I will post them in my own thread in a few days or so.

Glad to read this! We are thinking of possibly going on Sat. I haven't been in a few years now. I used to do a lot of opening days back in my younger years, and this looks nothing like the ones I went too. I know the last one we went to, which was probably around 07, we were not impressed with the staff. No one seemed to have an idea on what they were doing. Same goes for the end of the year. We went late in 08 and most of the staff admitted they weren't familiar with stuff, as they were transfered from Geoga Lake after it closed for the season. I don't plan to ride much this time around (i'm too old and creeky), we will have our 6 year old ,so it will be more moderate rides...which is fine with me. But I do plan to take my SLR to the Point ( or the POINK as DD calls it) for the first time and try to get some shots I never thought of taking in years past.

The next section is going to be scattered with pictures here and there. I left my SLR in our room. I didn’t want it going on this trip with us. I took pictures with my waterproof camera and my point and shoot on this excursion. Of course that card is the “infamous” lost card now. So on to the excursion…what was it you ask? It was the Dolphin Encounter at Blue Lagoon. This was an encounter…NOT a swim. The Swim cost a lot more and I wanted to just give this a try and not break the bank. I had debated over several excursions before booking this. We also just thought of winging it back when Skip was coming. Claire had seen a commercial abut Dolphins and soon started asking to swim with them. After some thought and research, I decided to book the Encounter. Blue Lagoon was rated better than Atlantis…and cheaper too. So I went with that. Once Skip made the decision NOT to come, I asked Mom if she wanted to take his place. She said no. But she wouldn’t mind observing. I quickly tried to book her, but our time slot was booked for observers…..Though I actually saw very few observers there that day. So…I had left off when we had gotten off the ship. We waited for a few minutes or so and then a new person came to direct us where to go. While standing there I took some pictures of the AquaDuck part that goes over the side of the ship...and some ship pictures, etc. Of course they are all gone now. …that still really irks me. While standing there we saw that on that spot of the Aquaduck that comes over the side was a girl just sitting there. A CM crawled out to her and pushed the raft through and they crawled back in. I had heard this sometimes happen if you don’t have enough weight. No worries for us. Claire wasn’t tall enough to ride by herself and I had plenty of weight for the 2 of us! LOL! Our guide led us to a boat to ride over to the island. It was a pretty long walk, but not much further than the walk everyone has to take to get to anything in port. I had that point and shoot in my hand and I took shot after shot after shot, just randomly aiming it. I even took a picture of a cool small boat that was docked and the guys who were working on it….Oh how I wish I could see those pictures now. We got on the boat and Claire and I went up to the top and chose the back row seats. Soon we were on our way to Blue Lagoon. I shot lots of pictures on our way to the island….MOST on the lost card, but I did switch back and forth to the waterproof camera every so often, so I have a few to post. There she is. And then I switched cameras again for the rest of the ride over, so those pictures are lost. It was about a 20-30 minute ride over to the island. Nothing too exciting, but there are a lot of HUGE homes and yachts along the way to look at. I was told by several different people to bring a sweatshirt, as the ride over can be chilly. My suggestion is DON’T. Claire and I were too hot to wear them, which meant I had to stuff them in my backpack, along with 3 big towels. If you get chilly, I would just say use your towel to wrap up in. It will save on room. Of course the exception would be if it was really a cold day. I could tell Claire was excited. She just looked around and watched the water with me on the way over, but I could tell she was thinking…..”let’s hurry up and get there!” And soon we arrived!!!! I took lots of pictures of the Blue Lagoon sign and the island as we pulled in, but again all lost. When we got off the boat we were all led down the dock to a little open aired classroom where we learned a little bit about dolphins. The classroom was packed. Claire and I just squeezed in where we could. We then were led to another area to get lockers and put our stuff away. I took this one on the way. We put our belongings in the locker and then were directed where to go. There was a couple of spots for those doing the “swim” and a few for those doing the Encounter. We had to climb down to a floating dock and the sit on the edge with our feet in the water. That water was COLD!!!!!!! We then waited…..and waited….and waited a little more. We could see these guys swimming over in another area. And this guy swimming here and there. Claire is still patiently waiting. We see this guy walk over by the other dolphins and talk to them. Another dolphin comes over to say hi. Our instructor comes over and tells us that the dolphin that is supposed to come to us is not behaving. He/she wants to play with his friend and won’t leave the other area unless they both can come. He said they don’t make the dolphins do anything they don’t want to do, so he was going to try for another one, and basically it was a waiting game. FINALLY we had one who wanted to play with US! I believe her name was Dot. She was pregnant…..about 7 months I believe…..and they can go up to 11 months if I remember right. I just remember it was a random time, like between 9 and 11 months or something like that. Our instructor gave us the directions, and told us how things would be happening and then we got started. Dot did a few tricks while our guy (I can’t remember his name, but he was really good and friendly) told us about her. The photographer also told us about few options. One was a book and a CD of the pictures he took. No one wanted it. I asked about just a CD, and he didn’t know the price…which led me to believe that he didn’t take a lot of pictures unless you bought the book. I didn’t buy the book, but looking back, I wish I did. Claire and I also wore water shoes, and they asked us to take those off. We then took turns getting into the water by families. We picked one family member to get a kiss from our Dolphin and they shot a picture of it. That water was SOOOO COLD! The adults had to crouch down into the water and WOW!...Quite the shock. Another thing, the platform you stand on is full of algae. Really gross feeling. And slippery too. I handed off my camera to another family to take our picture. That’s what most of us did while in the water. We just asked some another family who was not in the water to take pictures. It worked out pretty good. I know I took a ton of one family with their camera. LOL! Take note of the girl sitting on the right side in the background looking at her camera……. After each family got a picture taken with Dot, we then got called back into the water in groups to interact with her. This is when I realized I hadn’t put sunscreen on. Luckily we didn’t get TOO burned, but we both got red. I was sitting with my back totally exposed to the sun, and I knew Claire was getting hit hard too. But the sunscreen was up in the locker, so we stuck it out. Every so often Dot would swim away and we would have to wait for her to decide to come back. And every so often we would get some other rogue Dolphin coming in for a visit. We were not in the first group to interact with Dot, so I just took some pictures and watched. I believe we were the 2nd group though. Here she is blowing out her blow hole. Our turn!!! We got to run our fingers across her teeth and feel them. Dancing with Dot! I make some of the weirdest faces! Can you tell she liked it? And this is the copied redneck version from the site. And the redneck version of Claire’s kiss. Claire and I were done with our turn with Dot. We told her goodbye and headed back up to the dock. Claire and I went back to the locker and got our things. We dried off and wrapped up in towels. I got a tap on my shoulder and heard….”that certainly isn’t the camera you had last night”. It was the couple from the show who had asked me about my settings/camera. They had done a dolphin excursion as well. I laughed and told them no, that one was left back on the ship. While we were gathering our things they played the video that was taken while we had our excursion. I asked Claire what she thought. She kind of wanted it, I wasn’t sure. I told her we would go look at our pictures first and then decided. Of course Claire spotted the gift shop! She instantly fell in love with a pillow with a dolphin on it. I made sure this was something she really wanted and told her it would be coming out of her spending money and she was fine with that. I snapped a picture of Claire with the pillow and then put that camera away and pulled out the point and shoot. So all the rest of the pictures are lost……. I took a look at our pictures…and WOW! How can you refuse. BE AWARE!!!! If you go in thinking you won’t buy, you will be VERY tempted. Luckily I didn’t go in thinking that! LOL! They had 3 pictures displayed and I wanted them all. We found out that if you got the DVD, which was on sale, the price wasn’t too bad…Ok it was bad, but not full price bad. LOL! I decided on the DVD and 3 picture package. It also came with some magnets and key chains with our picture on them as well. Claire and I headed off to the bathroom while we waited for the DVD to be made. Remember that girl I had pointed out earlier, well she was in there and she was dressed…..in Disney kids club CM clothes. I asked her if she had the afternoon off and she told me that when they do good things Disney rewards them with prizes. Her prize was the dolphin encounter. Claire and I then stopped for a drink and some ibuprofen from the little store. I think Claire might’ve gotten an ice cream bar of some sort too. We walked around a bit in the area and I took several pictures. We didn’t wander to far though, as I wanted to get my DVD as soon as it was done and be on the next boat back which was at 1PM. About 10 till 1 the DVD was ready and we paid for our purchases and headed to the dock. Here is what we got. This is the redneck version of the DVD. I can not find anyway to actually copy the DVD to my computer, so I recorded it with my camera off the TV and loaded it to youtube. Of course the quality is not great, but you get the idea. I am the one with the horrid laugh too!

It may be a few days or so before I can update again. My desktop is not working right. In fact it went into power save mode. From the research I have done, it sounds like a graphics card, so I have to take it in. All my trip info is on there, so until I get it back, I am at a halt. Lets pray it's simple, cheap fix.

Thanks, hopefully I can get back to it next week