The Tale of the Grow Walk ….Hunh? DCL Magic and WDW Review

[jenseib]

 

Claire stopped to say hi to Olaf.

 

 

 

We went back to our room and got cleaned up. I think it was today….but it may have been yesterday….but I decided to head to the salon to see if they had any detangler or mousse. If you remember way back on our arrival day my hair sculpting lotion had leaked in the suitcase. I had a small can of mousse but there wasn’t a lot left. I was now about out and needed something to get me by. Also I had forgotten to refill my travel detangler spray bottle and both Claire and I needed it.

We went to the salon and I told them what I wanted and they actually had a mousse that had a light detangler in it. That works. Now I am a licensed hair stylist. I no longer work in that profession but I keep my license up. I get hair products at a discount and I HATE paying full price for them…but I was going to bite the bullet….to the tune of $38!!!!!!! HOLY COW! They REALLY over charged for this product. When I got home I looked at my supplier to see what the cost was….and let’s just say it would retail for $22 at the highest. I could get if for about half of that amount. It just killed me to pay that much.

[jenseib]

We showered and got dressed and put in our new expensive hair product and we had something we wanted to do….Well Claire and I. I had mentioned to Claire that the ships often have drawing classes and after the one at Hollywood Studios was such a big hit….. this was all Claire could think about. One was being offered today, so we headed off to take part in it.

 

 

 

We arrived pretty early but we just sat around and waited.

 

 

Someone walked by and said they saw Stitch out the window so I quickly got up and took a peek myself.

 

 

 

[jenseib]

It was finally time to start. Today we would be drawing Donald. Sadly our “teacher” was a bit hard to understand, but we plowed through and did the best we could.

 

 

 

Claire struggled a bit more with this one for some reason. It wasn’t too hard, but I think part of her problem was she couldn’t understand the lady very well.

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

The lady said she had instruction sheets if anyone would like one so we went up and asked for one so we could try it again at home someday. She didn’t understand us when we asked and said yes and ripped her Donald drawing off the pad and gave it to Claire. Claire was happy to get that, but then I again asked for the instructions sheet and we were given one…..where it is at now, I have no clue. My guess is that Claire put it with her drawing books.

 

We then went and found Skip and decided to get some snacks.

 

We started with Chicken tenders and fries and I forgot to take a picture till it was almost all gone.

 

 

Then some wraps and pizza and pineapple for Claire.

 

 

 

I got up to get some drinks and came back to all the pizza gone, so I went back and got some more pizza and a pretzel too.

 

 

I think we just lazed around a bit and I headed back to the room to start the packing. Sadly tomorrow they would throw us off the ship.

 

I was organizing as best I could and trying to include our fish extender gifts strategically placed in the extra spaces. I pulled out what was going to be worn for tomorrow and anything else we would need to keep out when my twosome arrived. They were ready for the show so we headed there.

 

Tonight’s show was Disney Dreams. It was the 2nd time I have seen it but the first time I was late to the show and missed the beginning and I enjoyed it more now that I saw the whole thing.

Again Claire had a popcorn and was very protective of it and I only got one small taste. I think Claire could live on popcorn if I let her.

 

After the show we shopped some more and Claire ran into her new friend and they made plans to go to karaoke tonight.

 

We made a stop in the room before dinner and saw that the photo mat that I had taken to be signed was back in our room.

 

 

I had totally forgotten about it. Notice there are no luggage tags. Yeah….I then knew that I was going to have to find our stateroom host and get some and that was not going to be an easy feat. I didn’t see her at the moment so we headed down to dinner.

 

We were in Animator Palate tonight.

 

[jenseib]

 

 

 

We had some rolls waiting for us tonight.

 

 

Animators had been updated since I last was here and it looked so nice and fresh.

 

 

Now I used 2 cameras in here and my phone too. I noticed my SLR kept making the pictures yellow. Not sure why, but it was really pulling yellow out as I tried to get pictures of the drawings.

 

[jenseib]

 

 

 

 

I believe this was with the point and shoot…see the difference.

 

 

My two cuties….notice Claire’s shirt…..

 

 

I got it for a good deal at Walmart…….and it will make another appearance later.

[jenseib]

Orders had been made and food was starting to come out.

 

I believe Skip got the Sliced Serrano Ham with Spanish olives and tomato bread.

 

 

It was not what he expected at all. I think he thought the bread was going to have the ham and olives on it along with tomatoes.

 

Claire went with fruit.

 

 

And I went with one of the best foods that Disney has…the Black Truffle Pasta Pursiettes. MMM! These are so delicious.

 

 

 

 

I also got soup…I am think it was the baked potato and cheddar cheese soup. I think Skip got this as well.

 

[jenseib]

Claire’s entrée had arrived as well.

 

 

Our server cut her steak which was a first for us on DCL. In the past we have never had a server offer to cut up her food.

 

Then our entrees arrived.

 

I think I got the Angus Tenderloin…..but whatever it is, it’s obviously some sort of steak.

 

 

 

I also got the Pennete Bolognese.

 

 

Sad to say, but I did not like it at all. It had a very funny taste to it.

I don’t have a picture of what Skip got, so he must’ve gotten a steak too, or he had already dived in too far already and I didn’t bother taking the picture.

 

 

[jenseib]

 

 

 

[jenseib]

The pictures were starting to come into color now and I liked watching the room change.

 

 

Dessert was ordered!

 

Skip got the Crunchy Walnut cake I believe.

 

 

I got the Sweet Temptations Trio, which I believe consisted of White Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake, Chilled Mango Mousse and Lemon raspberry tart.

 

 

I am not a fan of tarts like this and though I ate it, I would never order it on its own.

 

 

 

The show then began. It’s been refreshed and I enjoyed it more than the old show.

 

[jenseib]

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

 

 

 

 

And then Sorcerer Mickey showed up…and I took a lot of blurry pictures of him.

 

 

[jenseib]

 

He even came right up by us and I took the worst picture ever and just deleted it as it wasn’t salvageable.

 

 

All the servers came out to say good bye to us as well.

 

 

 

A few more picture of Animator’s Palate.

 

 

[jenseib]

 

 

 

 

This is one thing about DCL I like better than other lines. The rotation dining is fun and offers a little something different each night.

 

After dinner we went out on deck. We had met a couple who had brought their nieces on a cruise the day before and they were out there so we chatted with them a bit. They were such a nice couple.

 

A ship off in the distance.

 

 

[jenseib]

We then headed back inside.

 

 

 

 

Claire wanted to go to karaoke tonight again as her friends were going to be there, so we headed that way and she went off to sit with her friends.

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

I must say I just can’t sit and listen to karaoke very long. Especially bad singers, so I headed off to find a bathroom at some point. I think I may have gone and bought a picture then too since we had the free voucher from my friend.

 

 

 

I also may have gone back to the room and put our bags out in the hallway…and probably changed my clothes, though we may have done that earlier.

I asked out stateroom host for luggage tags…she said I gave them to you…I tell her I never saw them and I looked around just in case and with everything pretty much packed…I don’t see them anywhere. She said she would have to ask for more as they are only allowed to give so many per room and since she already gave us some they may not allow it.….I really think she was lying there, but she did take a long time to actually get them for us. This really irked me. Now twice she basically had called me a liar when she was at fault. I typically tip our stateroom host a little more because they do a lot, but she annoyed the heck out of me and I only left her some chocolate bars as an extra treat.

 

 

 

No swimming tonight.

 

 

I always find the night before we head back to port they often don’t have a lot going on up on deck. I guess they want us to go to sleep.

 

[jenseib]

 

After some strolling I went back to join my family.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire ended up never going to sing. The one time she was almost going to do it with her friends, but they chose a song she didn’t know….and they didn’t know it well either. …LOL! And she is pretty shy about those kinds of things.

 

Finally the karaoke was over and we headed back to the room and got ready for bed. It was another long, but fun day. We still had another big day tomorrow and we needed to get some rest since they would be kicking us off the ship much earlier than we would like.

[vinotinto]

Wow! I can't believe how much detail and pictures you posted. Thank you!

[jenseib]

Wow! I can't believe how much detail and pictures you posted. Thank you!

 

Thanks. I try to give the experience I had as well as show the ship.

[jenseib]

March 31, 2014, Day 11

 

It’s always a sad day when you have to get off a ship. It’s so depressing to me. I really try to never fly home that day if I can help it… It doesn’t always work out that way, but for most trips I have been able to squeeze in more time. Typically on my Disney cruises I try to do the parks after the cruise. It wasn’t going to work out for us to do that this trip, but we still had plans.

 

As usual, I woke up way too early and got myself ready. I saw we were already pulling into port from our balcony.

 

 

After getting dressed I headed up to the top decks.

 

 

 

I turned my phone back on and reconnected to the world…..ahhhh! LOL.

I have to say one thing I learned on this trip…I was connected to the app via my phone the whole trip, though half the time I forgot to use it, but I noticed that my phone was still receiving the push notifications from facebook messenger. I chat in a couple of group messages daily with co-workers and they continued to chat while I was gone…..wasn’t that so rude of them…LOL…..and I could see all the messages come up on my phone. I could not access them or reply, but I kind of kept up to date with what was going on if I happened to catch the push coming through.

 

Skip and Claire were moving slow and Skip said he had no desire to eat breakfast. So I headed to Cabanas to get myself something to eat. We all know I am a bit of a grouch if I don’t eat in the mornings.

 

 

Another look out at the port.

 

 

After I ate, I headed back down to the room and my 2 were moving around. Claire couldn’t find her shirt to wear….hmmm…where the heck did I put it. I know I had a shirt in mind for her to wear today…then it hit me. They had come back to the room while I was packing and at that moment I was pulling out Claire’s shorts to wear off the ship. Because I got disturbed I never did pull her shirt out. Oh Great! Luckily the anchor shirt she wore to dinner last night was still clean and stain free, so that was what she was going to be wearing!

 

Claire was hungry so Skip took her up to Cabanas to get something to eat while I made sure everything in the room was gathered and packed.

 

Once I gave it the once over I took the bags and headed up to find them.

 

[jenseib]

Skip decided since he was there he would eat after all.

 

 

I wasted the time away by taking a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

Sadly the time had come and we had to get off the ship.

I hate getting off the ship!

 

 

We headed out and down the stairs. I had told Skip we could get a porter to help us with our bags and go through customs and then out to the parking lot. I told him we would have to tip him though….Skip can be cheap at times and tipping someone to help us could be a make or break on whether he would go for this. He hates it at the airport when guys try to help you take your luggage in and then 5 minutes later you are in line and you have to tip them. LOL. (We have a really small airport, so I can see why he hates it there.)

 

He did choose to have a porter help us, which I was grateful for. I really didn’t want to lug bags through the lines and out to the car if I could help it.

 

We had a little wait, but it wasn’t too bad and once we got outside we headed over to the car. Skip pulls out a 5 on the way over to give to the porter and I hand him a 10 to add to it. He says so loudly….$15!!!!???? I said YES! And glared at him. LOL.

The porter helped us load the bags in the car but since the POC (Piece of Crap) was so small I had to rearrange them as I now knew the best way to fit as many as we could in the trunk.

 

With that we pulled out and paid for our parking and set Siri to get us to our next destination…..Legoland.

[jenseib]

That is the end of the cruise portion. I will be posting the rest of the trip, which is the rest of this day at Legoland and the next day which involves Universal and then on to home.

 

If you don't want to read that part that is perfectly fine!

 

My thoughts on the cruise...

The weather was pretty good the whole time though windy. The water was choppier than most of my other cruises but I survived.

We had such a fun time and even though it was just a 3 day cruise we seemed to do a lot and really enjoy each and every moment.

My current plan is to go on the Magic again next Feb with some co-workers. It will be a different experience but so much fun too. We do not have a vacation planned this year as of yet, but it is looking like possibly Disneyland will be where we go when we do start planning. But that could change.

 

If you are interested in reading about my Sept. cruise on the Caribbean Princess you can find it here.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2113867

[RiotAct]

Awesome, awesome review. Very detailed!

[jenseib]

Awesome, awesome review. Very detailed!

 

Thanks

[wilfros]

I read each post with great interest. 1 week from right now we will be in Orlando for the big departure on Magic on Sunday. We are so excited because of your thread

 

Thank you so much for your time and the photos.