lovely_serenity

Once he had determined that the 'planet' he had landed on was safe, he introduced himself proudly ^^

He explained to the other toys that he could fly (Woody obviously didn't believe him), so he went to prove it

All of the other toys were amazed by Buzz and showed much interest in him. Woody on the other hand, believed that Buzz simply “fell with style”. Feeling betrayed by his friends, he went off by himself. He confided in RC.

Next to make her entrance was Bo Peep!

As soon as she arrived, she started flirting with Woody :D haha

After attendance had been taken, one of the soldiers shouted “ANDY'S COMING!!!!” and everybody dropped to the ground. It was apparently Andy's birthday and some other children were running around too. Once the coast was clear, everybody got back up, but noticed a new box had been left in the middle of the room.

The “spaceship”'s door opened and out came an extremely cautious Buzz Lightyear

Sarah, What a great review. I just read your Disney Alaska that you posted recently...loved every minute and all the pictures, then had to start on this. What a great writing style you have. You are funny! Love that.

 

So sorry about the sea sickness. They also make the patch...it's a prescription but it helped me immensely. Just remember to switch them out every couple days. If you don't (and I speak from experience) you'll be walking around like a drunken sailor.

 

On to your HAL review. My eyes are getting blurry but I can't stop! I love the details in your reviews - I'm someone that appreciates that very much.

Mary from Michigan

Thank you Mary! :) I'm very happy you enjoyed it! & Thanks for taking the time to read my reports ^^

I actually heard about those little patches you stick behind your ears! The weird thing about that day was that everyone was really dying despite the medicine we took (which typically works wonders!).

LOL thanks for reading! :D

Woody was taking attendance ^^

By this time, the red monkey chain friends had helped Mr. Potato Head fix his face :)

A jumbled up Mr. Potato Head!

and the one who got the loudest cheer, Rex! :))

Slinky's cheer didn't fall far behind either ;-)

Now before we start the show, LISTEN UP. HERE'S A SPOILER WARNING. PAST THIS POINT CONTAINS MANY SPOILERS FOR TOY STORY THE MUSICAL, so skip it if you don't want to see them! I even tell you what's happening, so just skim the pictures if you don't want me to spoil the story for you :) (although if you've watched the movie, it's basically the same).

So, the show starts off with Andy playing with his favourite toys:

He then gets called by his mom and leaves the stage. Since Andy's gone, the fun now begins. The curtains part and a giant toy chest area is revealed. First to appear was Woody!

Next were the toy soldiers!

and then.... Ham! (The atmosphere in the theatre was just wonderful, everyone cheered really loudly when each of the characters made their entrances :D Especially the next few characters!)

Loving your Alaska photo review!! :D

Thank you!! ^^

Note with some cruises, there are a mid-ocean transfers that takes you into Tracy to meet Sawyer when near Juneau. On my HAL trip, people would jump on a little boat and go off in the morning, but would meet up with the big ship in Juneau. This saves them 50 miles and a few hours in not retracing the cruise ship. A great opportunity to check out TWO glaciers sites in one trip while maximizing Juneau time...

• HAL http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ExcursionDetails.action?excursionCode=100030935
  
• Princess http://www.princess.com/excursion/exDetails.do?t=A&exType=S&tourCode=TA1-665
  
• NCL Juneau departure...
  http://www.ncl.com/excursions/search?N=4294934624+4294908777&Nao=24&Ne=8057&Ns=p_Shorex_Search_Weight%7C0%7C%7Cp_Shorex_Title%7C0&Nu=p_Shorex_Package_Id#
  

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Note it's often mentioned that Tracy can be congested with ice preventing a deep venture early in the cruise season to see Sawyer.

Ahh interesting! I think I do remember some people getting off the ship and boarding smaller ships partway through the cruise. I didn't know what they were doing, I just assumed they had booked some other tour portion that I wasn't familiar with ^^

Thanks for the feedback and handy tips! :D I am in the process of reading your Alaska reviews. I love the photos! :D

No problem! ^^. & Haha thanks for checking out my reviews ;) Glad you like it!

Soon enough, we were all let in. Tonight, all of my cousins (plus the 10 year old's mom, minus the eldest cousin) came down and sat at our usual spot. My eldest cousin who sat in the upper area took these 3 pictures:

Okay so, before we continue, let me explain. Indicated below is my location, versus the item that I am going to take a picture of next. From where we are seated, the stage basically looks 'this' far away from you.

I swapped out my regular wide lens for my super zoom lens, and honestly, I've never been more proud of my super zoom lens in my life. I'm not even kidding, the view and proximity I got from these following photos were not visible to any of us given our distance from the stage, and just the human eye. So here we go. Here is the “THIS” indicated above, through my super zoom lens.

(From our seats, we didn't even know what that box at the front of the room was until we looked at my picture on my camera.)

A few minutes later, I saw a staff member discretely place something near the box. Here's what it was (:

Dear Sarah,

 

Because of you, I lost a few hours of sleep last night! I could NOT stop looking at your photo blog and reading all your entries here! :D What a CHARMING trip report!! Love your attention to detail and your fresh, young outlook on the minutae. Very refreshing and addictive!! Great job! :)

Hahaha thank you for taking the time to read my trip report! :D Thank you very much! I'm glad you like it!!

I have really enjoyed reading your review. Your photos are great, and your writing is very nice to read as well. I just made that same journey on the train, but in reverse. :) I walked from my hotel to the waterfront, then took the train to the airport to pickup a rental car. :)

 

I made a video of the food on my cruise up to Vancouver... you can check it out below if you'd like. :) Hooray for food :)

http://bonvoyagebites.com/2015/06/ms-amsterdam-food-porn/

Thank you very much! Thanks for reading ^^. Haha, hooray for food! && Yes, I enjoyed your video very much!!

I've been to Alaska 4 times and we've never missed a single port or glacier. Generally, the only times where you'd feel some motion would be indicated below (during round trip cruises):

Missing ports/glaciers due to motion is extremely uncommon. Please don't be discouraged to book Alaska again! I assure you that your experience was rare. Most of the time, there is almost no motion at all when cruising the Inside Passage.

I am planning a cruise to Alaska next year, and will bring my 2-year-old. We are going to visit family in Seattle so the best alternative would be to take a cruise from Seattle, but I now see that Disney, which probably would be the best alternative, leaves from Vancouver. Is Disney worth it or are there any other companies that cater to small children? We've also looked at Crystal Cruises and NCL. Of land tours we are interested in seeing animal life, naure and Native culture.

 

 

And what is the most scenic route; Glacier Bay or Sawyer Glacier? What is the difference between these?

 

 

In addition, I try to find out if it is possible to take a round-trip cruise and still get a couple of days at a hotel somewhere in Alaska. Is that possible?

Of all the cruise lines that sail Alaska, Disney definitely caters to children the most. Will your child be at least 3 years old by the date of sailing? Because the kid's club's minimum age is 3 and if your kid isn't old enough to be in there, he/she will really miss out!

That being said, of the 3 glacier options (Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier and Tracy Arm Fjord/Sawyer Glacier) their visual ranking would probably be in that order with Glacier Bay as #1. The reason being that (assuming they're both given a fair fight with equally sunny weather), Tracy Arm is basically just sail up to it, look at it, and leave, while Glacier Bay is sailing into an entire 'park' of glaciers as icy waters. Way more beautiful. I've seen all 3 and honestly, Glacier Bay National Park on a bad weather day was still more beautiful than Tracy Arm on a sunny weather day...

And as far as I'm aware, Disney only sails to Tracy Arm Fjord/Sawyer Glacier, so you're going to have to pick which one's more important to you!

Regarding the round trip cruise, yes it's definitely possible. There are a few 14 night cruises that go all the way up to Anchorage and then come back down, likewise, ships are always sailing up and down, so sailing up there on one ship, staying a few nights and sailing down on another ship is totally possible. You could also consider a back-to-back sailing on the same ship up 7 days and down 7 days (but that'd mean eating the same food and seeing the same shows all over again).

and Sully:

Buzz Lightyear!

and Jessie:

after taking those quick pictures, we all headed to the theatre to line up for the show. There were more people than usual today, so we were lined up at around the Preludes area. (Of course there are more people, tonight's show is Toy Story the Musical!)

(hahaha I blurred my face out)

Jessie's White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake:

(This was more mousse-like than I had expected, not super sweet, but still quite good. 8.4/10)

Sheriff Woody's Warm Apple & Custard Cobbler:

(This was sweeter and more too my liking. It was basically like an open-faced apple pie! It had this cute little spoon cookie sticking out of the praline ice cream ^^ 8.5/10)

Opera Slice:

(This tasted of dark chocolate, cream and coffee. Not bad, and not super sweet. 8.3/10)

Sweet Temptations: Opera Slice, Jessie's White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake, and Poached Bosc Pear Almond Tart:

(This was one of the better sweet temptations of the cruise. All three were quite good, not to mention the fact that the plate was beautifully decorated with red wine and champagne jellies with sauce. The pear almond tart was just alright. 7.7/10)

and from the “No Sugar Added” part of the menu, Mr.Potato Head Spring Rolls:

(It was good, fruit filled spring rolls with black cherry ice cream. 8.5/10)

After a lovely meal (overall one of the better meals of the cruise), we headed outside. In the atrium, some Pixar characters were having a photo session!

Mike:

Geri's Oven-baked Warm Water Lobster:

(It's actually initially served completely bare, but your server comes around with a butter sauce for you. In actuality, they should've put a lot more on each lobster. Having a sufficient amount of sauce makes a big difference.)

(It's sitting on a bed of risotto)

Guess who's this is? Yup, Bro's.

(Overall, good sized lobster, but lacking in flavour because 2 tablespoons of butter sauce won't cut it when the piece of meat is so big. 8.7/10)

Unfortunately that's all the entrées we had because it was lobster night i.e. Everyone orders lobster haha. Anyhow, on to dessert!

After ordering, out of nowhere, Ericson appeared with this random plate of mangoes for us. o_o We're pretty sure he hand-cut them all himself too. We were very grateful and thanked him sincerely. (we're pretty sure he probably ran upstairs to Goofy's Galley to find these too... well dang o_o)

As we waited for dessert, I spoke to my table and asked if anyone had ordered the colourful sundae. Apparently not. That's when I noticed a server put down a tray of the beautifully coloured Toy Story themed sundae. I quickly scurried over and took a quick snap of it. (at the moment I bent over to take my picture, the server returned, confused LOL. I asked if I could take a picture of it before he took it away and he said I definitely could ^^)

Buzz Light Ice Cream Sundae:

(I can't comment on the taste since no one ordered it, but I believe that it's bubble gum ice cream with toppings)

The usual daily Strawberry ice cream:

Al's Miso Chicken Noodle Soup:

(Your average chicken noodle soup, they typically taste the same all around. Not too salty. 7.6/10)

Mr. Davis's Duck Prosciutto, Heirloom Tomato and Mozzarella Bruschetta:

(This one was actually quite good. The different ingredients went well together. 8.3/10)

Sid's Mexican Fire-roasted Tomato Soup:

(Very similar to this afternoon's soup, but slightly thicker. 7.3/10)

I actually don't know why this here because it's not on the menu but, Shrimp Cocktail:

Now on to the entrées!

Sheriff Woody's Favorite Marinated Delmonico Rib Eye Steak:

(This one was a really good steak. Cooked perfectly and extremely flavourful. Highly recommended. I actually thought this tasted better than the lobster. 9.0/10)

//tries to take a magazine cutting-your-steak picture// LOL

(In reality, the glasses didn't do anything LOL)

Here's the kid's menu:

Some bread to start off with:

And now the appetizers!

Emeryville Cocktail:

This was quite an impressive appetizer, it consisted of lobster, Alaskan crab, shrimp and caviar!

(Very, very good. The seafood was good and the sauce complimented it well, not too overpowering considering the fact that it's drenched in it. 8.5/10)

Anyways, we all got dressed up and ready for dinner! Tonight was Triton's!

(The napkins were folded like Peter Pan's hat!)

Here was tonight's special themed Toy Story menu! :-)

Notice how the front page was kind of blurry? Yeah apparently they made it that way so it'd be 3-D when you put these glasses given to you as a souvenir ^^

I saw this Disney Wonder buoy that I called having taken a picture of many years ago, so I made sure to do it again!

And here's my brother, being his regular old self, pretending to throw the buoy overboard. -_-

After that, the three of us started making our way back to our room in order to get ready for tonight's semi-formal dinner. (My siblings are in the white; dang my sister's outfit's on point here)

Cute elevator floor indicator:

Guys, on our way back, I took these photos just to show you guys why balloons are always great ideas to attach to your stateroom doors. Bring non-inflated, regular balloons, and blow them up as soon as you get there. I attached balloons to every one of my relatives doors so they'd be extremely easy to locate. Since they stick out of the wall like that, finding your room becomes SO much easier. Just look!

and the final farewell!

After the party, my brother and I went out onto the open deck to take some pictures.

By now there were 3 other ships docked in Juneau with us.

Dug (LOL he was also very difficult to photograph. He kept flopping around nonstop, very hard to get a clear shot haha):

Woody: (doing the Michael Jackson thriller dance):

Remy:

Awesome, thanks! I will go through and take a peek, as I have been looking for someone that has compared and contrasted the food experiences on ships. I myself just made a food video for fun last week on the MS Amsterdam.

 

http://bonvoyagebites.com/2015/06/ms-amsterdam-food-porn/

 

Enjoy!... I am going to check out your stuff. Thanks again!

Thanks for checking out my reports! ^^ I watched your video and it made me very hungry haha. Very nice video, well made ;)

Mr. Incredible:

Mike:

Sully:

Flick: