A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream

[jenseib]

Back at the room we got dressed in our nicer clothes to get ready to go to the early show. Claire was wearing her Rapunzel dress. We also brought along a hair piece to wear with a long braid. I put it on Claire’s head and pinned it on…..ow.ow.ow! She said it hurt too much. Now when we bought this, I had asked over and over, “are you sure it doesn’t hurt? You are going to wear it right?” And she said it felt fine and yes she would wear it. Well she didn’t. I wasn’t going to have her complain about pain all evening so I just put it back in the bag….BUT she WILL be Rapunzel for Halloween and she WILL wear that braid thing! LOL!

 

I called Skip one last time. We still hadn’t set sail, (still waiting for 1 more bus) but I knew we would be soon. We said our goodbyes and then I pulled the camera out and took a few more shots from the verandah.

 

I bet this would be pretty on a sunny day.

 

 

 

Now the memory is a little fuzzy and I didn’t write this down. I must’ve left the room for some reason. I have several pictures and I remember taking them and being by myself when doing so. So I must’ve just gone for a quick walk, or went to get something that I now can’t remember. The order of the pictures make no since as to why I did this at this time, but I guess I did for some good reason! LOL!

 

AH HA!!!!! It just hit me! I hadn’t received tickets for our shore excursion for the next day in our room. So I ran down to Guest Services to see if I needed them and they reprinted them for me and said they should’ve been in my room and the originals probably would show up by the end of the night. They never did show up though.

 

This is behind the Guest Services desk.

 

 

 

Some random shots around the Atrium.

 

 

I noticed a photographer setting up and asked what time they would start taking pictures. I believe she told me 7 or 7:30. I can’t seem to remember now for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must’ve then taken an elevator up.

 

 

The adult pool. As you can see, it is still very wet out.

 

 

And then back to the room.

 

Mom had me give Dad a call to see how he was doing. He had left Kennedy Space Center and was lost. He said he had asked for directions several times and couldn’t find his way. It was raining hard and he was too upset to talk, he would call back later. I told him that we would be sailing soon and most likely he wouldn’t be able to get a hold of us later. He did say that there was a tornado watch or warning while he was at the Space Center and they had to put everyone is a protective building. He wasn’t happy about that either. I let him go after a few minutes as he was just very worried about where he was. I told him to call his sister and see if she could help or pull off the road till the hard rain stopped.

 

Just then we started to sail away. NOTHING special about it at all!!! No announcements, no horn, No CM’s with Mickey hands waving to us…NOTHING… just pulling away from the port. I was kind of bummed about it. I also had wanted to watch us pull out all the way to the ocean, but I couldn’t do that either. The 6:15 show would be starting soon. I think we started sailing about 6ish.

So the best I could do was take a couple of pictures.

 

 

Claire enjoying a sucker from one of the gifts in the Fish Extender.

 

 

Bye bye Port!

 

 

And then we left the room and headed to the Walt Disney Theatre.

 

 

 

 

I didn’t pay attention to the map that well when I looked to see where the theatre was. It said decks 3 and 4, so we went in on deck 4…which I found out was the Balcony. So we missed all the “Hollywood” fun that happens at the main entrance. But Claire liked the balcony and we ended up sitting there for each show. You do have to be careful where you sit though. There are several big round poles that can block your view in a few of the seats.

The seats were comfy and roomy though.

 

 

The Theatre was very pretty.

 

 

 

Soon our cruise director came out to start the show. I believe his name was Ray…or Roy…I think Ray. But I had seen Rachel…a girl…in all other TR’s I had read thus far about the Dream, so I don’t know if they trade off or if he is now the Cruise director for the Dream….or how that works. I did like him though. He was fun, and had lots of spirit.

 

 

 

The show then started and I took A LOT of pictures…and I was happy to see that they actually turned out well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snow White was behind a screen here.

 

 

 

 

 

Snow White and Doopy then brought out kids dressed as Dwarves, It was very cute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

More show Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t say enough about the Cruella part of the show. She was so amazing and I just wanted to get up and dance

 

 

 

 

I took a LOT of pictures of her…but look at her expressions…she was great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that’s it for the Cruella photos, but I did actually take more than that! LOL! She was just great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Rapunzel even got a turn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of my beauty and the best pictures seem a little blurry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

On to the Finale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The show was fabulous. All 3 of us loved it.

As we were getting ready to go I got a tap on my shoulder. The couple behind us asked me what kind of camera I had, what lens I shot with and what mode, etc. They said they could see my pictures on my screen and were loving them. They had a similar camera but didn’t bring their telephoto lens. It kind of made me feel good that they liked what I shot too.

We still had time before dinner, so I decided to get Claire’s picture taken by the photographer, so we headed towards the Atrium.

 

As we walked into the Atrium we ran into Aurora doing a walk around!

 

 

 

The photographers were getting ready to start so we hopped in line…well we made the line because we were first!

 

Claire did a little dancing and twirling while we waited.

 

 

 

Then I realized that Claire’s hair looked horrid. So I took out her braid and did the finger comb thing and tried to make it slightly presentable.

 

It was then time to get pictures. As they took some of Claire, I would randomly take a few too. Of course I don’t have all the fancy flashes and was doing it quickly so they wouldn’t tell me no…so mine aren’t so great.

 

 

Theirs were pretty good though. There are a few with half closed eyes and such, but we got a good batch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I got some with Claire as well.

 

This would be one of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

[Lenaapple1974]

That is so funny the couple behind you asked that, because the first thing that popped into my head was... what settings and what lens. I immediately checked that you shot at f/7.1 & 1/2000. (I have this pet peeve...I have to know how pics I like are shot, lol) What lens were you using. Fantab!! Being I just switched to Canon, I finally got to use my 7D this past weekend. I only have the kit lens, (18-135 f/3.5), a 60mm 2.8 macro and an 85 1.8. My goal is to get the 70-200 2.8L II, and a better walk around lens to replace the kit lens. (probably the 24-70 2.8L)

 

The show looks awesome! I just have to say that you are making me drool over the Dream, and I am sure there are many that would agree! Thank you for posting the in depth pictures and descriptions!

[jenseib]

That is so funny the couple behind you asked that, because the first thing that popped into my head was... what settings and what lens. I immediately checked that you shot at f/7.1 & 1/2000. (I have this pet peeve...I have to know how pics I like are shot, lol) What lens were you using. Fantab!! Being I just switched to Canon, I finally got to use my 7D this past weekend. I only have the kit lens, (18-135 f/3.5), a 60mm 2.8 macro and an 85 1.8. My goal is to get the 70-200 2.8L II, and a better walk around lens to replace the kit lens. (probably the 24-70 2.8L)

 

The show looks awesome! I just have to say that you are making me drool over the Dream, and I am sure there are many that would agree! Thank you for posting the in depth pictures and descriptions!

 

It was an awesome show. It was my favorite of the 3. I was pretty impressed with my pictures too.

[jenseib]

As you can see by the photo shoot pictures, I had not yet changed for dinner. (Why I waited, I don’t remember) We decided to head back to the room to get ready. Of course we stopped for a few pictures on the way.

 

 

 

 

We headed back to the room and I changed. Claire had been complaining that her dress was really itchy. I was going to put a shirt under it, but when Mom took it off her we saw he skin was very red and blotchy so we just changed her completely. In the future we will always put a shirt under this dress.

 

We still had a bit of time so we wandered through the shops. I had to buy a sweatshirt for a fellow Diser. She had been on the cruise a few weeks prior and bought one for herself, but her Mom ended up not getting one and regretted it ever since. So she asked if I would pick one up for her. The one she wanted was no longer available in bigger sizes, but they had a similar one in a different color, so I purchased that right away so I wouldn’t forget to later on.

 

We headed then towards Enchanted Garden.

 

 

 

Word to the wise…don’t get to Dinner early or even on time…You WILL wait. We got there about 5 minutes late and still had to wait to be seated. I would suggest getting there about 10 minutes late and you will next to no wait.

 

Our table was right by the doorway.

 

 

The place was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We soon met our fabulous Servers, Brent and Srdjan. Srdjan called Claire a Princess right from the start and she instantly was his biggest fan!

 

 

Claire colored while we waited for our food. She was going to do the Dine and Play…meaning her food would come faster and then she would leave early to go to the kids club.

 

 

 

Our food came and it was delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through out dinner a photographer went around and took pictures at each table.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire’s dessert arrived early and she took a few bites and then Mom and I attacked it!

 

 

 

She then went on to the kids club.

 

 

Our desserts arrived then too.

 

 

Before we left I took a few more pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Mom and I decided to go back to the shops and look some more. We didn’t have much time before dinner. I knew I wanted to get a sweatshirt for myself ( I have a bit of a sweatshirt obsession) , but I wanted to take my time and look around at all the options. I ended up getting the same one that I bought my Dis friend. It was cute and my style and it said Inaugural on it!

 

This is what I got!

 

 

 

 

I found one I liked for Claire as well and got that for her…..which I guess was a mistake, because she then knew we had gone shopping without her and then she didn’t ever want to go to the kids clubs anymore because she was afraid we would do something fun without her. She wasn’t upset with us, nor did she ever make a big deal about it, but I figured it out after awhile when she would ask what we were going to do if she went to the club.

 

 

 

 

I looked at the Cruise Dooney and Bourkes. I wasn’t too sure about them. They seem to be shiny with a vinyl type coating. They just weren’t doing it for me at the time. I didn’t like the shiny coating and very few were “normal”. I don’t remember if Mom made any purchases. We were both on our own roaming in and out of the different shops. I know she had things in her hand and then she would put them back, so I can’t remember if she actually made a purchase or not that evening.

 

We headed back to the room once again. We arrived to find our beds turned down, with a towel Animal on the main bed. They had also brought down the bunk bed in the ceiling. I had just planned to have Claire sleep with me, but I figured she would rather sleep on the bunk, which she did when she saw it.

Again, I noticed my excursion tickets still had not shown up, so I was glad I had them reprinted earlier. Our room was always clean and nice, but I just didn’t think our steward was the best. There was something that happened later on that kind of made me dislike him a bit more. (I think it was a him! LOL). He seemed to not leave everything we were supposed to have and almost seemed like he tried to do the minimum amount.

 

 

 

 

My plan was to go exploring and perhaps check out the night clubs/bars. I grabbed the wave phone to take along and realized there was a text. Claire was ready to be picked up. She had only been there over an hour. I was shocked. I have to also add that I am very new to texting. I got a Droid in Aug and that was the first user friendly phone I ever had, so it was the first phone I actually texted with for the most part. This phone was not user friendly. I had a heck of a time figuring out how to use it…..and it didn’t have a texting keyboard, so I would NEVER be able to actually text someone with it. I didn’t see directions anywhere, though I didn’t look hard either, so I really had no clue how to use it to even make a call. I think we kind of put our heads together and figured it out, but we never really used it for the most part.

 

So off to the kids club I went to find Claire. I had to walk through a bit of it to actually find her. She looked to be having a fabulous time. She was holding a paper she had colored and they were getting ready to play a game. But as soon as she saw me, she was ready. I asked her if it was fun, and she said yes, but she was missing us. That’s fine, but I was still a little shocked to find that I was more fun than this fabulous club.

I did NOT take pictures of the club. It was filled with kids and I wasn’t sure what the policy was, so I didn’t bother. It was so COOL inside though. I think I want to spend an afternoon there!

 

Claire and I decided to go up to the top decks and see how the weather was.

At some point and time during the evening the Captain had made an announcement about being on our way and stated that we would have very rough seas as we moved out of the storms. I have to say, this was extremely smooth sailing, and I don’t know if we missed the rough seas, or if the stabilizers really make that much of a difference. I have been on rough seas on both of my previous cruises and you could FEEL it. You would stumble or rock every so often and I even felt a little queasy at times, but I never had this on the Dream.

When Claire and I arrived up top we noticed nice weather. Breezy, but warm and the pools were open. First thing out of her mouth…I want to swim!

Ok, I told her lets walk around a bit and take in the ship…and a few pictures and then we’ll get her suit on. Sounds like a plan and she agreed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A VERY blurry picture of Nemos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cut through Cabanas on our way back to our room.

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to the room, Mom was shocked that Claire was going to swim at such a late hour…I think it was at least 11 then. But I knew it was better to get that swim bug out of her than arguing about it all night. I told Claire it would be a short swim and she was happy with that.

 

Up the elevator we went!

 

 

Look down when you get on or off the elevator. Love the details!

 

 

Cutting through Cabanas again.

 

 

And out to the pool!

 

 

 

 

There were only a handful of children in the pool. Claire basically had it to herself for the most part. She had a blast. Toy Story was playing on the big pool screen so I watched the end of that while she swam….and of course randomly took pictures.

 

I seem to have an obsession of taking pictures of the Aqua Duck sign.

 

 

 

Toys Story ended and I told Claire to do one last splash and it was time to go to bed. We were going to have another very busy day tomorrow.

 

We got dressed in our jammies and Claire climbed into her bunk.

 

Look at those bloodshot eyes!

 

 

I closed the curtain divider between me and Mom and Claire. I wanted to write up notes about the day…but that only lasted a few minutes. The long day was catching up to me FAST. This bed was just as comfy as the one at Residence Inn. Soon I just gave up and went completely out for some much needed sleep.

 

It was a wonderful first day on the Ship. We did a lot. Not everything we had planned on doing, but we still had fun and made the best of a rainy day.

[Hotlanta]

It is amazing how many things RC & Disney pack on to these ships. I just have to find some time & money to do one of these. Very nice pictures, please keep them coming.

[1pizza14]

I really love your TR's the amount of detail is amazing. The ship itself looks really cool and I love all of the little touches. It also seems very bright at night. Keep up the great work! I look forward to seeing the rest.

[jenseib]

It is amazing how many things RC & Disney pack on to these ships. I just have to find some time & money to do one of these. Very nice pictures, please keep them coming.

 

There is a lot to do. We had a lot of fun and kept going most of the time. Who needs sleep on vacation!

[jenseib]

I really love your TR's the amount of detail is amazing. The ship itself looks really cool and I love all of the little touches. It also seems very bright at night. Keep up the great work! I look forward to seeing the rest.

 

Thanks! It is a beautiful ship. I have been on 2 NCL cruises and they were nice, but this ship just blew them otu of the water!

[jenseib]

Day 3 ~ April 1st, Friday

 

Who’s the fool now? LOL! …..Ok, no one was, but I just wanted to say that since it was April Fools day!

 

I woke up around 6 AM…very rested and feeling refreshed.

This was the Navigator for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

I got dressed and headed out for some picture taking.

Carpet by the elevator.

 

 

He was out in the Elevator/Stairway hall by Cabanas.

 

 

The weather was fabulous, but windy. I tried to capture the sun rise. Not so good. At first I thought my focus was messed up.

 

 

Then I tried a picture of the Waves sign and bar.

 

 

Not much better….then it hit me…my lens was fogging up in the heat.

 

I found a spot to sit near the hot tub, wiped the lens off and waited for it to get used to the different temperature. I had brought my notebook along, so I wrote some more notes while I sat there.

 

I did a couple of test tries on the hot tub every so often.

 

 

After a few tries, it finally did clear up and I decided to walk around more and take some more shots.

 

 

 

 

Notice the plexi glass around the top of the ship. This really blocks the wind and makes it more comfortable up top.

 

 

I went on the other side of the plexi glass for this one. It’s the teen area. It was SUPER windy. It about knocked me over. I had a hard time standing in one spot to get this shot.

 

 

Sun is coming up now!

 

 

 

More random shots as I walk around the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just loved taking pictures of this sign…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

After my picture and exploring tour I went back through Cabanas and grabbed a plate of food for Claire and I, and took it back to the room. Mom was awake when I got back.

We were getting near port, so Mom and I stood out on the Verandah and took in the scenery.

 

 

LAND HO!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a few of the Verandah itself.

 

 

 

 

 

It was close to 8 and I tried to wake Claire up. She was dead to the world.

 

 

I tried to entice her to get up…reminding her of the fun day we had planned, she just kept sleeping. Claire can sleep through anything in the morning. If it was a perfect world she would stay up till midnight every night and sleep till noon every day. I always say she was born in the wrong time zone. She should live in California!

 

I decided I wanted to run up top one more time and take some pictures while pulling into Port. Sadly I never got that “great” shot I was hoping for. The sun was so bright and the reflection off the water made it hard to get great shots, but that didn’t stop me!

 

Somewhere along the line I took this picture. Must’ve been on the way up, but I have no clue where? Maybe in the elevator?

 

 

And here is what I wanted to get….The Lighthouse. I wanted a fabulous picture of it…and I’m not sure I really got what I wanted. But I took about a zillion pictures trying.

 

 

And here is one of the shots I had really wanted….except I wanted the water to be blue!! Dang sun was NOT cooperating.

 

 

 

 

 

I finally got a picture of the light house with blue water….but I also got some weird lines in it too. That darn sun!!!

 

 

 

 

Hi Dude!!!

 

 

More pictures of pulling into to port.

 

 

 

I headed back down to the room and shot a few more from the Verandah then. Still trying for that perfect lighthouse shot……

 

 

 

 

And someone must like to watch the ships come in and sunbathe at the same time! LOL

 

 

 

 

Looks like we have some early partiers!

 

 

 

And one last picture of the lighthouse

 

 

OK! We now HAVE to get Claire moving. Claire and I had an excursion to go on. I basically had to pull her out of the bunk, but once she was up, she did get moving. She said she wasn’t hungry, but I made her eat something. When looking at pictures of food prior to cruising, she consistently said she wanted a chocolate covered donut, so I had brought one down for her. She licked the chocolate off and was done with that! LOL! She had a sausage link and maybe a bite of hash brown.

She had other things on her mind though. She was very excited about the excursion.

After we were all dressed and ready, we headed to the Buena Vista Theatre to meet. Mom had decided to go on her own that day, but she tagged along with us to the meet up and stayed with us till we left.

 

I forgot to mention that the night before we had tried to do the Dective agency interactive play thing onboard. It was closed at the time we went. Mom had promised Claire that they would do it on this day later on. While waiting in the theatre Claire talked about this a lot. Mom promised that they would indeed do it sometime after the excursion. Mom and I also talked of possibly checking out Atlantis when Claire and I got back as well. We decided to play it by ear.

 

Several Excursions met in the Theatre. The process was to grab towels, if needed, when you walk in. Again, you should walk in on deck 4, as they have nothing up on Deck 5 entrance. Then they line you up and you give them your tickets and they put a wristband on you for your excursion. We also put a sticker on our shirt so the CM’s could see which excursion we went too. I believe we got a Dalmatian sticker. And that sucker was STICKY. It came off my shirt through out the day but stuck to my arm. And it HURT to pull it off.

 

After we had all the right stuff, we lined up with our excursion mates and headed off the ship.

Once off the ship, we had to wait for an excursion leader to come and take us the rest of the way.

Now you are probably thinking…”OK, what excursion did they go on?” WELL……

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You will have to wait for that one!

[Lenaapple1974]

UGH! Sure, leave a girl hanging! lol.

 

I know why you keep taking pictures of that sign! It is gorgeous! The lights at night... every photographers dream! lol.

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

This is great! It's more than a TR, it's like a story. You've got some beautiful photos here too! Thanks for taking the time to put all of this together. I know how time consuming these things can be, and I've never done anything even remotely close to what you have here. Looking forward to seeing what your excursion was!

[jenseib]

UGH! Sure, leave a girl hanging! lol.

 

I know why you keep taking pictures of that sign! It is gorgeous! The lights at night... every photographers dream! lol.

 

Sorry. I'm having desktop issues and I have to take it in for repair. The laptop sucks pretty much.

[jenseib]

This is great! It's more than a TR, it's like a story. You've got some beautiful photos here too! Thanks for taking the time to put all of this together. I know how time consuming these things can be, and I've never done anything even remotely close to what you have here. Looking forward to seeing what your excursion was!

 

Thanks, hopefully I can get back to it next week

[jenseib]

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.

[jenseib]

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!

 

[jenseib]

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?..

…

…

..

..

[SharkTums]

Tiana does look gorgeous!

[jenseib]

Tiana does look gorgeous!

 

 

I know, She was just gorgeous

[jenseib]

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).

[Simon Baynham]

Hi there

 

I've been following/reading this thread since the beginning, and it's fascinating. [Q]What did the 'princesses' write in your book? Was it just their character names or something extra, unique and nice?

 

Simon Baynham (Andy Shine's Glamorous Assistant)

http://www.rollercoastermedialibrary.com

[jenseib]

Hi there

 

I've been following/reading this thread since the beginning, and it's fascinating. [Q]What did the 'princesses' write in your book? Was it just their character names or something extra, unique and nice?

 

Simon Baynham (Andy Shine's Glamorous Assistant)

http://www.rollercoastermedialibrary.com

 

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.