*AquaDuck, Ice Cream and Animator’s Palate

(Monday, February 24, 2014 – PM)
After our delicious lunch at Palo, Sharon and I were excited to pick up Hannah and hear all about her time in the Oceaneer’s Club and Oceaneer’s Lab.  She had a blast!  Lunch she said was good ~ sandwiches, fruit and she even ate a couple of veggies!   Colour me impressed as she’s not a huge veggie fan!
When I picked her up she had just finished a cooking class and was happily munching on the cookie she’d decorated.  It was cute - as we began to wander out of the bright passage filled with kid sized tables, chairs and lined with large portholes, she stopped at the edge of the passage and with a smile put her ‘stop’ hand up to me.  It ends up she still had the last bite of cookie in her mouth and was obeying what they’d been taught and not going outside the passage with food.  I love how she listens to what she’s asked and in most cases does as she’s asked.
Sharing her adventures with Nana.
The weather was beautiful again this day so it was time to change into our bathing suits and head to the pool!  I had to laugh when I first saw the pools.  There are a lot of kids on board and there are certain times the pools are busier than others.  The middle of the afternoon on a bright, sunny ‘at sea’ day is one of those days.  Both pools kinds reminded me of kid soup but we still had a blast!  We tried the Donald Duck pool at first with Hannah wearing a life jacket but it was a little too deep for me to enjoyably walk around for too long so we quickly switched up for the Mickey pool which was a perfect fit for us!   This picture is from a different day when it was only about half full of kiddos.  You can imagine the laughter and noise that comes up from this pool when more kids are in it.  I’d find a spot along the edge or just inside the pool and play with Hannah.  We had lots of fun in spite of it being like ‘kid soup!’
They also had a fun Mickey slide that Hannah enjoyed sliding down again and again.
We took our first ride on the AquaDuck which was amazing!!  The AquaDuck is a huge waterslide that begins in the stern funnel of the ship.   Riders ride either alone or in a group of 2 in a double tube with handles on the top and seats on the bottom.   On this particular day the winds were higher so all riders were 2 to a tube.  The first part of the ride the tube goes across a conveyer belt which moves you into a clear tube and down a small slope which swings the slide out over the ocean!  It’s so amazing to look down 12 stories and watch the ocean rushing by below!!  So cool!!  After that there is a dip and rise followed by a long section that runs along the port side of the ship.  The tube is clear so you can look out to the ocean on your left or to the pool deck below on your right.  After another dip (where a wave of cold water washes over the back of the person on the back - Yikes!!) there is a section where it swings through the bow funnel filled with disco style lights.  Upon exiting you’re now riding towards the stern of the ship and can enjoy the view once more, wave at family below before a final swing into the stern funnel and to the end of he ride.  The week we were there they were testing cameras that took your picture on the ride and then matched it to you using facial recognition but unfortunately none of our pictures found us.  Wait – I was in a bathing suit on the AquaDuck.  I stand corrected.  Thankfully none of our pictures found us! 
I didn’t have my camera with me when I rode so I borrowed this video from YouTube to give you a bit of an idea what the ride is like.  We loved it and never found the line too long which i was happy about.  I was really prepared for long lines for this ride and happy when they never materialized.

OK – who’s ready to AquaDuck???
After our ride and swim we relaxed on the deck with ice cream and cold drinks while watching a bit of Rapunzel on the Funnel Vision.  (Funnel Vision is a large TV like screen on the back of the forward funnel.)

Before we knew it it was time to get ready for supper.  Even though it was a ‘cruise casual’ evening Hannah wanted to wear her Rapunzel dress and she also did her own make-up.  Can you tell??  I think we’ll need to discuss ‘blending’ + ‘less is more’ in the future.  For this night I thought she looked beautiful!
This evening in our rotational dining we dined at Animator’s Palate.  It’s a wonderfully unique, fun restaurant and this evening it was based on a theme similar to ‘Turtle Talk with Crush’ which is one of our favourite shows at Epcot.
Tina dressed Hannah’s outfit up with her napkin.  Cutie!
This was our 3rd night on the cruise and a new nightly routine was being formed.  Hannah would go, go, go from about 7am until supper, eat her meal and then…
crash in mommy’s lap.  She would power up with a nap while I ate and then wake up as we left the restaurant and be ready for a few more hours of fun.  This night we watched what ended up being my favourite live production while on board called Disney Wishes.  It was a fun musical about 3 teenage friends graduating from high school who had met during a trip to Disney as kids and a friendship was born then.  I really enjoyed it although I’d have to say I really enjoyed all of the shows!  During most of the shows something shoots out of the ceiling and Hannah leaps off her seat to collect whatever she can.  This night was no exception but what happened next warmed this Mommy’s heart!  She gave me a handful of treasures to hold for her (circles of tissue paper) but then wanted to keep some with her.  It ends up she wanted to walk around the ship and share her ‘treasures’ with other children who didn’t have any.  She was so sweet and the kids receiving them were so appreciative!  Check out this little girl’s sweet face.  Oh how I love my girl and her caring, sharing heart!!!
From here we followed our nightly routine of AquaDuck and a swim.  Check out how beautiful the top decks are at night!  It was a whole new world at night and we thoroughly enjoyed our time up there under the stars!

*Character Time and Palo

(Monday, February 24, 2014 - AM)
We woke Monday to another beautiful sunny day!  It was our second day at sea as we sailed towards St. Maarten.  One of the reasons I originally selected this cruise besides that it was the week of Hannah’s birthday was that it included 3 days at sea.  If we were going on a cruise I wanted to give us lots of opportunity to enjoy all that the ship had to offer and I was so thankful for that choice!
Hannah was up early and dressed in her sailing dress.  This is our stateroom door decorated with magnets and a ‘fish extender’ I’d brought from home.  I’ll share more about the fish extender later.  The magnets are characters that represent each of us and are just fun decorations.  I learned a lot about our cruise on DISboards and one of the things was how people bring magnets to decorate their stateroom door.  It was a fun surprise and almost daily I would change them or add new ones.
Hannah was up early this morning because there was a new character on board for her to meet and she couldn’t wait!  Anna!!!

After breakfast we set off on a morning of character greetings. Hannah and Daisy in their matching dresses.

Princess parade
The wait for the princesses was longer so Aladdin stepped in to greet the children as they waited.
Cinderella
Tiana
Belle
Snow White
By now it was mid-morning and Hannah was ready to go to clubs for a while.  She would eat lunch there this day which she though was pretty neat!  Nana and I had some time before we needed to get ready for lunch so we went to our happy place – the upper decks to soak up some sun!  Ahh!! 
A glance to our right showed the family deck, Aquaduck and blue skies as far as the eye could see!
I love the look of the Disney ships from top to bottom.  Fun, bright and classy all at the same time! 
On this day I had booked a special lunch for Sharon and I at a beautiful adults only restaurant called Palo.  It’s located on the 11th deck Aft and the view will take your breath away!! 

Happy Retirement Nana!  We’re so glad you’re here with us!!
The view as we left.  Check out the blue, blue, blue, blue water!  Never had I seen anything like this in my life!  BEAUTIFUL!!!

*Midship Detective and More

(Sunday, February 23, 2014 – PM)

I had to laugh when the very first thing Hannah asked to do after her BBB makeover was to go swimming!  Um…nope!  Sorry kiddo.  Nana and I quickly redirected her and asked her if she wanted to do something else she’d been asking about since we’d boarded the day before.  We made our way down to Deck 2 and registered her to play ‘Midship Detective’.  Midship Detective is an interactive game that involves pieces of art that hang throughout the ship and cards that interact with these works of art.   Interacting with these pictures provide clues to a mystery that she was assigned to solve.  It’s really a neat family game and also a great way to get to know the layout of the ship too.

The majority of the time one of these art pieces looks like any other piece hanging on the wall.  Then, someone walks by it and it suddenly comes to life!  Hannah found some of them and had fun making them change.

The game itself takes it up a notch.  At each of the special 20 pieces of art scattered throughout the ship Hannah would stand in front on it and show her Midship Detective Agent Card.  In this picture you can see how her detective badge was displayed in the art work.  This is what causes the picture to come to life and provide her with her clue to her mystery.  It’s neat too that each person is working on their own game so that even if the person in front of you is attempting to solve the same mystery as you, their clue would be different.

Some pictures provided information for us to record in our clue booklet or potential suspects to cross off.  This cute little stateroom door was also a fun find!

Other pictures required Hannah to use her card in a certain way to provide the information she needed.  It’s designed for slightly older kids but she did great!!

It probably took us about 90 minutes to complete our challenge and we had a lot of fun doing it.  Hannah was ready to go for another challenge when the first one was done but we left that for another day later in the week.

Tonight’s dinner we were assigned to, ‘Royal Court.’  Something unique to Disney Cruise Line is rotational dining.  Our family was always at Table 16 with our new friends from Illinois and together we, along with our Server, Assistant Server and Head Steward rotated between 3 restaurants together.  What a great concept and each restaurant was so unique!!

As with all cruise ships safety and cleanliness are of upmost importance.  Each time we enter a restaurant (and also before we entered the ship at each port), each person was handed a sanitizing cloth to wash their hands.  I’m glad they take this so seriously!

Hannah chose spaghetti with meatballs for supper that night.  One of the nice perks for Mommy on the cruise was that sweet Tina cut up Hannah’s meals for her.  Bonus!  All these little things are such special added touches.

The food the entire cruise was nothing short of amazing!!  I tried all sorts of new things (caviar, duck, scallops, truffles and more) and every meal was absolutely delicious!!  I was glad we were walking and swimming as much as we were because I was enjoying each meal and all that it offered. 

Hannah is not a huge dessert person and often decided not to order dessert at all.  This night I mentioned to Tina that she liked maraschino cherries and asked if she could get 2 or 3 for her.  (Truth be told, I was tired of her digging them out of my cherry coke each evening!  LOL!)  This was what Tina surprised her with – and she ate every single one!!

Sunday evening was formal night so since we were all dolled up for the evening, we stopped after dinner for pictures on the grand staircase.  Disney has a number of professional photographers on board the ship and they took some beautiful shots.  These are ours but I did end up purchasing a couple of theirs.

We quickly formed an evening routine that worked well for us.  After supper we would wander around the ship a bit, take some pictures and then make our way to the theatre for the live evening show.  5 different nights they had live productions that we amazing!!  On this night the show was Aladdin which ended up being too intense for Hannah so we left Nana to watch the end of the show and went into the hallway.  We were just in time to meet Minnie which worked out great for Hannah!

By now it was about 9:30 but the night was still young for Hannah and I.  Nana would enjoy some time to herself and contact Papa to share the adventures of our day with him.  Hannah and I would run to our stateroom and change into bathing suits, hoping to make it to the 11th deck in time for one last Aquaduck ride each day.  (More about the Aquaduck later.)  We’d then hop into the Mickey pool and swim for half an hour or so.  Depending on what was showing on the funnelvision we might watch that for a bit and then head down to our room to crash for the night.  I can’t believe how hard Hannah would go and most nights it was almost midnight before she was asleep and then awake by 7 or 8 the next morning, ready to start again!

*Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Sailor’s Life for Me!

(Sunday, February 23rd – Post 1)

Sunday we woke to a bright, sunny sky!  Yes!!  We were ready to don our shorts and t-shirts and enjoy some warm temps!  It’s been a crazy long, cold winter so we couldn’t wait to get into the sun!

After a delicious breakfast where Hannah enjoyed a PB&J pancake we made our way up to the Oceaneer Club which was in Open House mode meaning parents were welcome to stay until 10am and pictures were allowed. 

I was totally impressed by the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab!  The crew members are friendly and outgoing and safety is their number one priority.  I registered Hannah online before the cruise and in the terminal even before boarding the ship they took individual pictures of all 3 of us.  Hannah was issued a band similar to MagicBands used in the parks.  The difference with these bands are that they are secured with a plastic closure so that the children could not remove them.   Each time she entered or left the Club or Lab she would put her hands in a hand washing station that would automatically wash them for her.  She thought this was pretty cool…as did mommy!  Wish I’d thought to take a video of that!

When clubs are not in ‘open house’ mode they are secured for children only.  When it was time for me to pick Hannah up I would go to the front desk and scan my Key to the World card.  Hannah’s location would immediately pop up on their screen and they would tell me where I could find her.  They would then give me a yellow ‘Parent Pick-up’ lanyard, unlock the Plexiglas  gate and allow me to enter the Club.  During secured programing no pictures were allowed to be taken.  I would make my way to where she was and let her know it was time to go.  After a bit of time to finish up what she was doing we’d go back to the front gate where Hannah would scan her band.  I was then asked to tell the secret password that I’d provided in order to pick Hannah up even though my picture was clearly displayed on the screen in front of the Kids Club staff.  I was SO happy with the safety measures they took to care for my sweet girl.  I had no problems leaving her there.  She also knew that at any time she could go to the front desk and ask them to call me and they immediately would.  Each stateroom has 2 wave phones that work throughout the ship and on Castaway Cay too.  It made both of us feel better knowing she could contact me at any time if she wanted.

Back to Hannah’s fun in the club during the Open House….

Ah yes, this is just the kind of view I get from my desk too Hannah!

Soon it was time for Mickey’s Puzzle Playtime.  We weren’t sure what was going to happen but Hannah was excited to join in whatever it was!

The kids answered the first puzzle and Goofy appeared who led them in the Hand Jive. 

Goofy was followed by Minnie Mouse!

Mickey was the final guest of honour and he led the kids in a march around the room.  Check out Hannah’s grin!!  She was absolutely bouncing with excitement!

Once secured programs began Hannah chose to stay in club so Sharon and I headed up to the adults only area of the ship.  ‘Oh Baby!!!’ is all I can say!!  (This one’s a style I learned from you M3!)

Just before noon we picked Hannah up from clubs and she came out still bouncing saying she’d had a great time and won a hat on a scavenger hunt.  (Check out the port hole!  These are located all over the ship and are window seats that many people use.)

We enjoyed sitting down in a quiet restaurant for lunches on many days rather than going to buffets.  It was a wonderful treat!

After lunch Nana and I surprised Hannah with an early birthday gift and took her to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  She was super excited as this is something she’s seen at the parks but we’ve never visited.  I’d originally ordered the Little Mermaid package but the moment I began to try the (itty bitty) bathing suit on her I knew we needed to make a change.  Nana immediately offered to purchase a princess dress for her so I thanked her and happily moved in a new direction of a princess makeover.  Hannah chose her current favourite princess ~ Rapunzel!  She sat so still as her personal Fairy Godmother in Training, Briana first did her hair, then nails and makeup.  She loved all the pampering!

Hannah and Briana

Thank you Miss Briana!!

The final package was wonderful!  Hannah received a Rapunzel dress, Rapunzel tiara, wand, Mickey gem barrette, shoes, backpack, 2 colours of nail polish, makeup, a gem tiara, sparkly face stickers, birthday sash and a pink backpack to keep it all in.  What a wonderful treat to celebrate my sweet girl’s 5th birthday!

The big reveal. 

As they turned her around I teared up as she looked so beautiful and she was so excited to see herself.  She spun and twirled in ever elevator mirror that day!

Introducing…Princess Hannah!

Home Safe...Well, Except for my laptop power cord!!

There are not enough words to express the AH-MA-ZING time we shared on our cruise on the Disney Fantasy last week!!

I have posts partially written and many more to share but sadly they're going to have to wait just a bit longer.  Somehow in my haste to pack our carry on luggage early Saturday morning I misplaced the power cord for my laptop and it's out of juice.  I've placed an enquiry with Disney Cruise Line and hopefully Giesel our wonderful stateroom hostess (who you'll meet in a later post) has found it and it will soon make it's way here!  I'll keep you posted.  If that's not where I left it I'm stumped and will head to Future Shop to replace it.

My heart is full of so much to share here.  It truly was the perfect family vacation from start to finish!  Hours upon hours, days upon days with my girl and Nana sharing it too....I'm speechless and you know that doesn't happen!

I'm writing this on my iPhone so hopefully it works.   I'll leave you with a taken the week before we enjoyed our first moments in the warm sun before heading to our cruise.  One week later and it was home to wind chills, cold weather alerts and snow.  Boo!  We want to go back!!

Ah, now this is where we ready wish we were again!!

Update:  FOUND IT!!!  It was wound in with my GPS cord.  Woo hoo!!  Let the trip posting begin!