Disney Fantasy Day 2

Day 2 - 4/29/12
Day at Sea


Today started out with room service at about 7:30 am. Bagels, cereal, coffee, apple juice, chocolate milk!

We got ready and headed out for the 9:00 am Wake up with Disney Junior!  It was a half hour of fun dancing with Kara to her favorite Disney Jr. songs like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Chuggington,  Handy Manny, Jake and the Neverland pirates and some children’s favorites.  It was a fun time!  

We then went to Disney Animation: Creating a Character.   Kara and Daddy worked hard on creating their own drawing of Mickey Mouse.  It was fun, but maybe a little over Kara's head.  But she did a cute job.   

Roberta, Larry, Arl, Wil, Jeannie and Paul had a great Brunch at Palos at 10:00 am to noon.  They said it was really enjoyable. 

Rachel, David and Kara went to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to verify tomorrows appointment with Kara.   She is just so excited about the experience.   She doesn't understand why she has to wait till tomorrow!  Lol.  

Too be in the mind of a three year old.   But wait - it gets better!

We went to the princess dress shop to buy Kara's Dress for the experience.  

Kara seemed to have her heart set on Jasmine.   We don't know really why she is in love with Jasmine as she has not ever sat through the movie of Aladdin.   She has been really excited to see the Aladdin stage show tonight, but she is 100% set on getting the Jasmine costume. Now don't get me wrong, I value Kara's opinion and love that she has confidence in her decision, but  both Rachel and I don't agree with her decision because we really wanted her to have one of the exclusive costumes to DCL.   She loves to be a princess with a dress that twirls and she can pick up the skirt and courtsy, etc.   The Jasmine costume does not have this.   It is a harem outfit with pants. No twirl or poof.  So we showed her both Jasmine and Princess Minnie.  If she could have explained her reason for wanting it, we could have understood better.

We chose Princess Minnie because it is pink, purple, frilly layered dress with detailed pattern work and major poof.   Plus it is exclusive to the Disney Cruise Line and all the other princess dresses were  available in the parks.   (except for mermaid aqua princesses and sailor Minnie).   Kara still insists on Jasmine in the store.   Over and over, we were showing her the benefits and features of both.  Hard sale tactics!   (sorry Kara when you read this in the years to come.  We did it cause we know what you really want at this point).  So, we took Kara to the dressing room to try both on. First Jasmine-  she loved it.   Twirl time-  not so good, but still loves it!   It is everything she wanted.     

 Then, we try on Princess Minnie. You can see she is trying hard to win Jasmine.   Didn't want to at first put on the dress.   Finally, we got it on her. 

Then we had her twirl.  And twirl, courtsy and twirl.  She was lighting up.  You can see her transformation in her mind from Princess Jasmine to Princess Minnie. Yeah!  We then went to purchase and she got to help pay and all is happy!  I am sure this is not the last we will hear about Princess Jasmine...

At 12:15, the whole gang gathered  in the D Lounge for family scrap booking.  The ladies made pages for a scrap book.   However, they all felt it could have been a better session like on the Royal Caribbean ships with instruction  vs.  just being given stuff and making a craft.

Then, onto the 1:15 Princess Gathering in the atrium!  We know how much Kara loves being a princess so we had her dress in her new costume and meet the princesses.   The whole gang gathered to watch and it was cute to see her meet her Idols!  Lol.  She also got to see Prince Ali!  (Aladdin)

The gang split for some to get drinks from deck 11 (kara lunch) and the others got seats for the "Any one can cook series". At 2:15 we learned how to make a very tasty apple strudel from the executive pastry chef!  It was great session and some "wow" cooking moments (like how he rolled it in the towels!)   Even Kara said - wow!  And her jaw dropped :) .    The best part:   We all got to eat it!  Yeah!   And so continues our dessert quest!

After the gang split again.  Some went to rest and others to the Art of the Theme Show Tour.  David, Jeannie.  (Arl and Wil & Kara and Rachel for some parts as well). Great tour from Stephanie.   She was super. She gave great detail on the ship, the decor,  the uniqueness and amazing facts behind the little details on the Fantasy.  Some stops along the way:

·         Ships build

·         Meridian

·         Remy

·         Enchanted Art

·         Oceaneers's

·         Europa

·         Cafe 688 and the Vespa 688 plate are references to the # ship hull build at the Meyer- Werft shipyard in Germany.

·         Too name just a few stops.

The tour was about an hour and 15 min and was really well worth it.

I have to say in all my cruises, I have never spent an entire day doing activities like this.   It was very much enjoyable.   I also wanted rest, but this was restful as well!

Arl and Wil hung out on their balcony.   Paul, Roberta and Larry relaxed.

It was then 4:15 and it was time to get ready for formal night.  The plan:  get dressed and be in the atrium for formal pics by 4:45.   I got back to the room and Kara and Rachel were almost ready.   :)They both looked great in their formal wear!

The whole gang met in the atrium for the Captains Reception and formal pictures.    We do love to take our pictures and we totally planned it right before the crowds.  Well worth the earlier arrival time.   We hit all the shots.   Got lucky on many of the stops for group photos!  They came out great!  Kara was absolutely great as we "use her and abuse her" in most of the photos!  She does really love taking the pictures to this point.    Some distracting shots w her eyes elsewhere, but you truly can't fault her.  There is so much going on.  

The Royal Castaways rocked on this batch of photo taking and had time to actually sit and relax while Kara got more princess shots!   We even saw Ariel singing with a guest.  It was awesome.

We then went to the 6:15 show of Aladdin.  Great production,  but Kara got the best of her sleep deprived state and fell asleep for just a few moments. Sorry to say she missed the flying carpet scene which was great.  The Castaways loved the show!  Great production.

We then got a few more princess pictures while the rest of the gang relaxed before dinner.

Dinner in Animators Palate at 8:15.   Our main wait staff is Henry and Derrick.  It was the "Under the Sea" show with Crush and Finding Nemo characters, as was on the Disney Dream. 

It was a good meal, not super, but good.

• David: shrimp cheesecake and shared salmon tartar for appetizer, cheddar and potato soup.  Ginger teriyaki beef. White chocolate brownie and kids apple pie. 
• Kara: mickey head pasta with french fries and peas
• Rachel: shrimp cheesecake, Caesar salad, and white shrimp pennette pasta
  

  

  
  

Kara also got serenaded for her 4th birthday celebration from the waiters!   

After dinner, we looked at the beautiful stars and moon on the Minkin balcony.   Just a beautiful spot!

Then all off to sleep.   Kara was real tired.

Jeannie and David toured the ship.   Not your typical tour.  Our special late night tours when the ship is empty.  This is where we rack up more pics of the ship and US.  We took some great pics of the upper decks and the atrium, but check out our crazy antics...  you may just want to join us next time.  LOL!

 Professinal photo count for two days:  146

Tomorrow day 3:   Grand Cayman.  No one plans to get off. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at 2:15! Click here for Day 3

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