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

[jenseib]

We took a ships tour one year and were told about the color. No ships are allowed to be painted black. One day during a meeting, a female employee walked in wearing a dark blue dress. It was almost black. They took a piece of the material and had the color mixed. They then named the color after the employee. That's the story we were told.

 

I've heard that story too

[Host Mick]

We took a ships tour one year and were told about the color. No ships are allowed to be painted black. One day during a meeting, a female employee walked in wearing a dark blue dress. It was almost black. They took a piece of the material and had the color mixed. They then named the color after the employee. That's the story we were told.

 

It's not that they aren't allowed to paint hulls black, it's that black doesn't look good on large surfaces, it messes with the eyes and the brain, depth perception or something. Most of the Transatlantic ships' hulls were black. When liners went south to the tropics, white became common as it reflected some solar heat from the hull and helped keep the ship cooler in a time when ships weren't air conditioned. Disney (Eisner) wanted to recreate the look of the transatlantic liners so they used a dark hull and added a second funnel stealing the red color from Cunard. Along these lines, they added the bay windows on deck 9 to represent lifeboats. This is where lifeboats used to hang before someone decided that they are better off closer to the water.

Note also that the lifeboats are yellow. You've never seen that before? DCL got an exemption from the IMO for the SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) rules that require orange lifeboats. Disney wanted to paint their ships the same colors as Mickey Mouse. (no kidding!)

I absolutely love it that they worked so hard to make their ships beautiful. :)

[DisneyKidsDad]

It's not that they aren't allowed to paint hulls black, it's that black doesn't look good on large surfaces, it messes with the eyes and the brain, depth perception or something. Most of the Transatlantic ships' hulls were black. When liners went south to the tropics, white became common as it reflected some solar heat from the hull and helped keep the ship cooler in a time when ships weren't air conditioned. Disney (Eisner) wanted to recreate the look of the transatlantic liners so they used a dark hull and added a second funnel stealing the red color from Cunard. Along these lines, they added the bay windows on deck 9 to represent lifeboats. This is where lifeboats used to hang before someone decided that they are better off closer to the water.

Note also that the lifeboats are yellow. You've never seen that before? DCL got an exemption from the IMO for the SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) rules that require orange lifeboats. Disney wanted to paint their ships the same colors as Mickey Mouse. (no kidding!)

I absolutely love it that they worked so hard to make their ships beautiful. :)

 

Sorry, but we were told that ships were no longer allowed to be painted black. Disney chose the color they chose because it was as close to being black as they could get without it being black. And your are right about the colors being "black", yellow and red just like Mickey. :D

 

This explains a little about how the colors were picked.

 

http://pixiepranks-panstinkerbell.blogspot.com/2011/06/art-of-theme-ship.html

[Host Mick]

I think that the CM that told you that was spreading a nautical "urban legend."

I found this in a book that I was given on the Magic: Disney Magic: The Launching of a Dream by John Heminway

Page 31.

….Among [Dr. Hartmut] Esslinger’s other contributions was color. “I recognized the traditional colors of classic ship hulls were black. I think that, for the future, black is too sinister, too depressing, especially on a Disney ship. I selected a color that was 87% black, the rest blue”. As a result, the ship will virtually change colors, depending on the time of day, weather and position. The cariation of the color is astonishingly subtle: no one will doubt it is both classic and inventive.

[jenseib]

I forgot to mention…while Mom and Claire were getting breakfast, they also stopped at Guest Services to find out if they could get another light up Tink. Mom said they went looking for one and basically found the last one on the ship. LOL! Claire got a new cup along with a replacement Tink. She was very happy!

Back to Castaway Cay!

[jenseib]

Those girls were on a mission to get to the beach. But I strolled leisurely.

Then my memory card ran out and I had to change once again. This had me worried. At this point and time I have taken 6G’s of pictures. I only had 2G’s left and 3 ½ full days. I decided I was going have to either buy an new CF card somewhere, or get the pictures I had transferred to CDs.

I didn’t worry too much at that point and time though. I knew I could make it till we got off the ship.

I was going for artsy here…focusing on the weeds.

[jenseib]

We spotted an Island Native.

We could already tell this was going to be a HOT day. The sun was really shining and we were working up a little sweat with our walk.

We came across Minnie and got in line.

[jenseib]

And the ships photographer.

[jenseib]

Just down the way we spotted Goofy, so we got in line.

And I took a few pictures while waiting.

After a few minutes of waiting, Mickey strolled by.

Goofy and Mickey were swapping out. We decided to just wait for Mickey then. Mickey and Goofy hugged and played a bit before Mickey got to signing.

[jenseib]

The line moved fast and soon it was our turn to meet Beach Mickey.

[jenseib]

The ships photographers.

My camera started going a little crazy at this point and time….well not the camera, but the lens. I only brought one lens on the island with me, and it’s one I had had trouble with in the past, but so far the whole cruise it had been working fine. It will do this thing where it can’t find a focus and just goes in and out and makes noises. I took it off and cleaned the contact points, which helps sometimes, but the other cure is rest for it. It would work on and off for me, but it became frustrating. I also had my point and shoot. I can’t remember how many pictures I took with that, as those are on the lost card…but I still got a fair amount with the Big camera, I just had to fight it at times.

We then came upon the gift Shop, She Sells Sea Shells. Mom wanted to get a hat because it was so sunny, so we looked around.

Mom got a big white sunhat. It was really cute and she got so many comments and compliments on it throughout the rest of the trip.

I browsed as well. I debated on a blue Castaway Cay tank top. I really liked it, but in tank top terms it was expensive. I buy mine at Old Navy for not more than $8. But usually look for the $5 sales. I finally just got it. I really liked it and I knew that I couldn’t buy it on the ship. This was exclusive to the island. If I waited, I might forget to come back or they could be sold out of my size and then I might regret it.

With our purchases in hand, (And I think we actually escaped without buying Claire something?.....but maybe Mom bought her something small, but I don’t remember what it was if she did) we headed off to the beach.

[jenseib]

I wanted a picture of Claire in the Hammock. All the hammocks had things on them, but no one around. So I just took some things off for a few minutes, had her hop in, which was funny as she really had a heck of a time, and instead of helping, we laughed, LOL, and she finally got situated as best she could.

I tried to get her to pose, but I think she was just to worried she was gonna fall off, so these were the best I could get.

After that, I quickly put the other peoples stuff back on and we headed off to find ourselves some chairs.

Claire spotted the tubes right away. I told her not right now, but if she still wanted one when we came back after the Aqua Duck she could get one.

Claire and I headed off to the water, while Mom sat with our stuff. I also made the switch to waterproof camera.

[DisneyKidsDad]

The shots of the ship look strange without the pirate ship being there. Still enjoying your TR. Hopefully you will continue it through your days in WDW.

[jenseib]

The shots of the ship look strange without the pirate ship being there. Still enjoying your TR. Hopefully you will continue it through your days in WDW.

 

I was so disappointed when I heard it had been dismantled, but I'm glad I knew ahead of time.

[Roe95695]

I was happy to read you were able to locate another Tink.. I am sure she was happy. Love the pic of the weeds in focus it turned out good...

[jenseib]

I was happy to read you were able to locate another Tink.. I am sure she was happy. Love the pic of the weeds in focus it turned out good...

 

Yes, tink hangs on her curtain in her room now.

thanks I like that picture too.

[jenseib]

We got in the water and it was cold! I wasn’t going much further than my ankles!

It appears I have some sort of water blur on the lens of this camera as most are fuzzy on the one side……oh well, at least it was waterproof!

[jenseib]

After a bit of playing, Claire and I went back to take some of her new found shells to our chair. Mom went back to the water with Claire for a few more minutes. We had planned to leave soon to get back to the Aqua Duck.

The back of my chair.

They weren’t in the water long and were back. I took a picture of my sandy feet.

[jenseib]

Claire was intrigued by this and of course wanted one of hers too.

The decision was made to head back to the ship. I got out a paint brush I had brought and we all started brushing the sand off our feet to get clean and comfy for our shoes. Claire loved this. She then proceeded to get sandy again so she could brush off again, and then one more time…but this time she did her whole body. I wasn’t too happy with that, and I think we actually ran back to the water to get most of the sand off and then rebrushed her again.

We made our way off the beach. I took a quick shot of this flower.

We spotted Goofy, so since it was still just after 11, we decided to get in line for him. He was having a lot of fun.

While in line, I took a few random shots.

[jenseib]

I was playing with different focus points here.

We were getting pretty close now. Goofy was playing with this boy’s towel and it was funny. But I only got 1 picture of it. My camera lens started going berserk again.

We were next. And my camera was still not cooperating. The only way I got it to work was with the flash…..which made for AWFUL pictures! Claire’s body practically disappeared from most of the pictures.

[jenseib]

 

And the ships photographers pictures.

 

 

[Creepella]

I'm really enjoying your trip report, but it's been very expensive for me to read. :D I hadn't even read it up to date, when I booked our next cruise.

[jenseib]

I'm really enjoying your trip report, but it's been very expensive for me to read. :D I hadn't even read it up to date, when I booked our next cruise.

 

 

Thats funny! That means I'm doing a pretty good job at describing it then!

[jenseib]

After our Goofy meet, we headed to the tram. We ran into the couple with the little baby we had met prior to our cruise at the Residence Inn and chatted a bit.

As we board the tram, we saw Minnie walk by and get on a golf cart. They just sat there for awhile and we gave her a wave.

And off we go, on a nice relaxing ride.

On our way we passed Captain Jack Sparrow! He had no one in line and kind of gave us a “where are you going” look. I yelled back…”wait for me, I’ll be right there!”

We made it to the tram station and Claire kept talking about Captain Jack. We weren’t sure if we wanted to walk back or not. My feet were killing me. I was wearing my water shoes and though they are comfy, they do not have cushion, so I could feel every step I took. On top of that, my feet were just hurting from several days of doing a lot of walking.

We decided just to head back to the ship. Mom saw the Excursion desk on the island and stopped. She wanted to do the Glass bottom boat tour. She said she would pay for us to go with her. I didn’t care one way or the other, but Claire was giving us a no. Mom tried to talk her into going with just her, but Claire just didn’t seem excited. I finally just told Mom to go for it. She could do it herself and we wouldn’t mind. She scheduled it for later that afternoon at 2:15.

Mom had to fill out some forms, so Claire and I decided to just head back to the boat. As we started walking, Claire kept talking about Captain Jack again. I asked her, do you want to go back and see him…and she knew he was one of my favorites and she said she wanted me to see him, so we turned around and made the walk back. We walked very fast, and my body screamed, but kept going with the thought of “my” pirate waiting…or so I hoped. I was afraid we would walk back there and find him gone.

He was there, but his session was wrapping up. We were one of the last people to see him. Claire refused to get a picture alone with him, so of course, I sacrificed and joined in.

He was a fabulous Captain Jack too. He talked just like him and he had the mannerism down to a Tee!

[jenseib]

We then made our way back to the ship again, slowly this time.

Back on the ship we headed to our room. I guess I took this picture then…why I have no clue.

Mom was in the room waiting and we all headed off to the Aqua Duck.

Claire and I got in line, while Mom found a lounge chair poolside.

The CM running the line told me I could not use my camera on the ride…ok, no problem…and then she told us we couldn’t wear our water shoes. I thought that was strange. I had heard of others doing it in other TR’s, but maybe it’s a new rule, so we headed back down and took them off and left them with Mom. I also left the camera with her to.

The line was longer than I thought. I didn’t realize that once you go inside the funnel, you still had a bit of a ways to go. I think we waited about 20 minutes or so.

Then it was our turn. And it was fun. Claire squealed with delight, I squealed too, but that was because I was the person in back. The person in back gets squirted with COLD water. There are a few dips on the ride and the water pushes you through. Each of those dips means the water goes up your back! WOWSA!!! We saw Mom in her chair while riding and she was waving, so we waved back. It was really a fun ride and if the line was shorter we would’ve most likely went back on. I think Claire kind of wanted to, but she didn’t want to wait again.

Instead she headed over to the Mickey slide after a very quick dip in the Mickey pool. I walked with her…barefoot…not a good idea. It was hot on that deck. I had to run back and get my shoes on or burn to death. LOL!

Claire loved this slide a LOT and there was no wait. She went up and down over and over.