I got out of bed and finished getting my fish extender exchange gifts ready for delivery. For those of you who aren’t familiar with a fish extender exchange, let me explain.
The staterooms on all Disney ships have metal fish message holders outside the door so that the crew can leave messages and Navigators (the schedule of activities) for the passengers. Some DIS members put pouches (i.e. fish extenders) outside their doors, and join groups on the boards to leave small gifts in the fish extenders of the other people in the group. (I was recently told that the Fish Extender idea originated with my Disney friend Debbie a.k.a. EpcotKilterFan). I found a group to join in the Disney cruise meets section of the DIS, and had about 18 staterooms to bring gifts for.
I purchased neck wallets for everyone in the group, and personalized them with a business card with the person’s name and/or DIS name, and a Disney character. I always wear a neck wallet in the parks--it’s a great way to keep my park ticket, fast passes, and some cash handy. I decided this would be a great gift for the exchange as I thought it was something that everyone could use when they were at Disney World.
I also gave each cabin a small bottle of Bath & Body works hand sanitizer with holder, a pocket package of Kleenex (I found “Cars” packages at Target), a Little Mermaid Magnet, and a Goofy magnet I made with the date of the cruise on it. I found the neck wallets and Little Mermaid magnet cheap at an online website. My gifts cost around $3 per stateroom with two people in it.
Fish Extender gifts
I gave the kids in our group age appropriate gifts. I didn’t take pictures of these, but amongst the items I gave out were: Disney socks, Disney coloring books, Star Wars notepads and pens, pirate cups, and pirate bracelets. Each item cost 50 cents or a dollar, and were purchased at either Target, Walgreens, or iParty.
Before leaving home for my trip, I separated my gifts into three grocery bags for the staterooms forward, midship, and aft. The last time I did a fish extender exchange, we had organized our gifts by floor, and it seemed to take forever to deliver everything--we were constantly going from forward to aft. This time, I thought it made the most sense to delivery by section of the ship. Since my room was all the way forward, I started with the forward of the ship, and walked from deck to deck to deliver the items.
I then went back to my room and picked up the bags for midship and aft. I then delivered the midship gifts. I took the elevator up to deck nine, and then delivered the gifts for the aft. It took me about a half hour to deliver my gifts, and by the time I was done, I had walked a mile and a half.
I then headed up to grab a mini chocolate chip muffin and a soda at Cabanas to get something in my stomach before going on my morning walk on deck four. The mini chocolate chip muffins were excellent. They were moist and tasty (and addicting).
After making a few laps around deck 4, I headed up to Enchanted Garden to get a real breakfast. I wasn’t going to be dining in the Enchanted Garden, as we would be going to Palo the night it came up on our rotation, so I decided to go to breakfast here so that I could see it. The meal was a buffet, and I wasn’t overly impressed by it. It was just your typical buffet offerings, and the only things that stood out were the Mickey Mouse waffles and the ham and cheese croissant.
After breakfast, I put on my bathing suit, and headed up to the Aqua Duck, the water coaster on the ship. Unfortunately, the Aqua Duck was closed. I found out later that someone had gotten sick on it, so they had to recycle and refilter all of the water in it, which would take several hours.
I ran back down to my room and changed back into regular clothes, and decided to check out the Mid-Ship Detective Agency. This was a fun little scavenger hunt type game that you could play. You received a badge, and you used the badge to interact with some of the artwork on the ship to get clues to solve a mystery. There were two options to chose from--looking for paintings, or looking for puppies. I decided to look for the paintings.
Using the map provided, I went to each of about 12 pieces of artwork to get clues that helped me rule out some of the suspects, who were listed on the pamphlet. At each piece of artwork, you would step on an emblem on the floor, and hold your badge up. The artwork would come to life to give you a clue, or instruct you to do something like pop balloons or wash a window to find something behind it.
I saw a few families trying to solve the mysteries while I was doing it. Most of the families seemed to be doing it by deck, but I decided to do it by forward, midship, and aft. I would start on the highest deck in each section, and work my way down using the stairs, which definitely saved a lot of walking. It took me about a half hour to find the criminal. It was a lot of fun, and definitely worth checking out.
I then went up to the Goofy Sports deck to play some mini-golf. There is a small nine hole mini-golf course on the ship where you can golf from either the Goofy or Max tees. It wasn’t a difficult course, but it was a fun way to spend a half hour on the cruise.
I then headed down to the atrium to meet Jiminy Cricket. In all of my years of Disney trips, I had never had a picture taken with Jiminy Cricket, so I was happy to see him listed on the character schedule on the ship.
I then reached Masayo on the Wave phone, and made plans to meet her a bit later for a round of mini-golf. I really liked having the Wave phone, a portable phone that is only usable on the ship or Castaway Cay. It was great to be able to call my friends to make plans to meet up, or let them know if I was running late when we had plans.
When I was heading up to meet Masayo, I grabbed a banana ice cream cone. I also ran into Janice and Mark, who were relaxing on the ship, so I stopped to chat with them for a few minutes.
I then headed up on deck to play a round of mini-golf with Masayo. We both shot from the Goofy tees. Masayo took a quick lead in our game after I had a couple of bad holes, but then Masayo got a bit silly and started making some bad shots, hitting the ball off the course, or not hitting it hard enough to go up a ramp. I wound up beating Masayo in the game by a stroke or two when she couldn’t sink the ball on the final hole.
When we finished the game, Goofy showed up on deck dressed in his golf gear to play a round. Masayo and I (along with a bunch of kids) followed Goofy from hole to hole as he played. He was an excellent golfer (not surprising since Goofy is quite the sportsman).
When he was done with his round, Goofy stopped to pose for pictures. Masayo and I always fight over Goofy. She likes to think that she loves him more than I do, but I love him the most. We always tell Goofy this whenever we are together with him. Goofy loves both of us, but I’m sure he loves me more than he loves Masayo.
After our round of mini-golf, Masayo headed to go see “The Muppets” and I headed down to the Royal Garden for lunch. Mickey Mouse was in the Atrium, so I got a picture with him before lunch.
When I was seated at the Royal Garden, I started off with the apple walnut salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. The salad was excellent--the dressing was very tasty, and it had large chunks of delicious granny smith apples.
For my entrée, I ordered the glazed meatloaf, which was served with smashed Yukon potatoes, carrots, and beans. The meatloaf was fantastic. It had a lot of flavor, and was surprisingly moist for a meatloaf. The potatoes and carrots were excellent as well. This was definitely one of my favorite entrees on the ship.
For dessert, I ordered the hot chocolate cake. It was a small chocolate cupcake drizzled with chocolate and vanilla sauces. It was very light and delicious.
After lunch, I went to a scrapbooking session. I thought they would be having some kind of instruction to design a page, but it was really just a arts and crafts session for kids so I didn’t end up staying for it. I did grab a couple of sheets of Disney Cruise Line scrapbooking pages, though.
I noticed that Disney friends were scheduled for a character meet in the Atrium, so I headed over to see who was there. Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale, Donald, Pluto, and Mickey were all there, so I got in line to meet them. The characters were very interactive and playful, and it was fun watching them interact with the kids. Some kids told Pluto that he was their favorite Disney dog, so Pluto walked them over to Goofy so they could tell them, which upset Goofy.
When I got over to Goofy, I told him that he was the best Goofy dog because he can play hockey. Goofy also reminded me that he could play baseball, tennis, golf, and basketball too, use motions to demonstrate each sport.
After relaxing for a bit, I went on the Art of the Theme Ship tour, which began at the Meridian Bar. Our tour guide was Chris from the United Kingdom, and he was an excellent tour guide. He pointed out some hidden Mickeys in the bar, and explained the theme of the bar.
Our next stop was Palo. We were able to get a close up view of a beautiful mural in a rounded room with a large table that was made entirely out of glass beads. It was breath taking from afar, but when you got up close to it and really admired the intricacy of the beadwork it really made it a spectacular work of art. We also got to see the large private dining room with a humongous round table for a party of 12.
Our next stop was Remy. Chris explained that Remy was the only place on the ship that didn’t feature hidden Mickeys. It featured hidden Remys instead. Chris pointed out hidden Remys in the fabric of the chairs, the napkins, and the light fixtures. He also took us to the private dining room in Remy.
Look for the Remys in the seat cushion on the right
We then headed down to one of the decks so Chris should show us some of the features in the hallways. He explained that each set of stairwells was carpeted in a different color so that guests would know whether they were forward, aft, or midship.
Chris also explained that guests could look at the carpets in the hallways to determine if they were heading forward or aft. The carpet featured stars. If you looked at the five point star, and saw one point in the direction you were walking, you were heading forward. If you saw two points, you were heading aft.
To determine if you were on the port or starboard side of the ship, you could determine the location by looking at the message holders on the stateroom doors. If you saw a fish, you were on the portside. If you saw a seahorse, you were on a starboard side. Chris told us that to remember which message holder was port, you should remember that port has four letters, and fish has four letters, so they go together.
We went down to the kids club, and we were able to loop through all of the rooms. I have never travelled with a child on a cruise, so this was the first time I ever went in one of the kids clubs. I can understand why the kids love going to the kids programs so much! There were so many games and activities going on! I wanted to stay and play!
As our tour went through one of the upper decks overlooking the atrium, I saw Santa Claus and Pinocchio by the Christmas tree. Pinocchio seemed to be trying to communicate with Santa about what he wanted for Christmas, and he even sat on Santa’s lap.
While I was on the tour, I got to meet Joan (DonutDay) and Kevin, who were DISers who participated in the Fish Extender exchange. Joan had recognized me from my picture, so she said hello. I missed the DIS meet that was held on Sunday, so I didn’t get to meet all of the DISers on the ship, so it was nice when Joan introduced herself. I always enjoy meeting DISers. A few other DISers stopped me during the cruise as well.
After the tour, I went back up to the soda station to get something to drink. I noticed that the Aqua Duck was now running, so I went down to my stateroom and changed into my bathing suit so I could go for a ride. I waited in line for about 20 minutes to ride on the Aqua Duck. It was a fun little ride that went pretty fast. There were no big drops or real sharp turns. It was fun, but not something that I would wait in line to do again, although it would probably be more fun with another person.
After my ride on the Aqua Duck, I went up to my room to get ready for dinner at Palo. I met Masayo in the Meridian Bar shortly before our reservation time, and we were seated within a few minutes. We had a table by the window, and Felice was our server. I joked with him about joining us for dinner, so he sat down at our table for a minute. Felice was a wonderful server. He was attentive, personable, and flirty.
Felice started us off with some antipasto. He made us a plate of Italian meats, cheese, and vegetables. The meat and cheese were excellent. I didn’t like any of the vegetables offered, so I left those for Masayo.
I started off my meal with the arugala salad with balsamic dressing and parmesian cheese. The dressing was excellent, and I enjoyed the salad. I wish I could say more about it, but really, what can you say about arugala and dressing to make it sound exciting?
As he was taking our appetizer plates away, Felice asked us if we were planning on having the chocolate soufflé for dessert, as that had to be ordered early so it would be ready in time for dessert. Both Masayo and I told Felice we wanted the soufflé. Felice told me that he has to have the chocolate soufflé every night when he is working at Palo. I said, “You eat chocolate soufflé every night and you look like this?” Felice said, “I’ll show you my secret.” He lifted has shirt and snapped the girdle he was wearing. Masayo and I just about lost it. It was one of the funniest unexpected things I’ve seen lately.
I was stuck between the Chianti Braised Beef Raviolis and the Palo Beef Tenderloin in gorgonzola sauce for my entrée. I asked Felice what he recommended between those two entrees, and he told me that he recommended the beef tenderloin. He also offered to bring me a small portion of the raviolis so I could try those as well, so I ordered the tenderloin.
And I was glad I ordered the tenderloin. It was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. It was cooked perfectly, and very tender. There wasn’t a speck of fat on it. It was served with mashed potatoes and spinich. The potatoes were the best potatoes I had on the ship.
The raviolis were fantastic as well. They were served in a tasty light wine sauce with carrots and celery in them. The meat in the raviolis was very tender and the entire dish was just bursting with flavor. If I ever go back to Palo, I would definitely order the exact same meal again.
While we were waiting for our dessert, the head server came over to see us. I had noticed the head server from a far early in our meal, and thought he looked like a server I met on the Disney Wonder a few years back. For those of you were on the Mousefest 2008 cruise, you may remember the server Niko who pulled his hand away when I went to give him a high five, and continued to joke around with me the rest of the cruise. He even brought his friend Dragan into the joke, getting him to pull his hand away as well. The entire cruise, I was playing this game with Niko and Dragan.
Well, when the head server came to our table, I saw that he was Dragan for Croatia, so I asked him if he had been a server on the Wonder, and he said I was. I told him that I know he sees many guests on the cruise, but he was involved with a situation that was probably just crazy enough for him to remember. I started telling him about Niko getting him to play a trick on me, and before I could even finish, he put his hand up for a high five. He told me that he knew he saw me on a cruise before, but didn’t want to come over and ask me about it. It was pretty funny to have him remember that. It was nice to see Dragan again because he is really a great guy.
Felice then brought our chocolate soufflé. He dug a hole into it at the table, and poured some delicious chocolate and vanilla sauce in it. The soufflé was excellent. It was very gooey, and I added extra sauce in it. It was served with an delicious vanilla gelato. I could have eaten two of them.
After dinner, Masayo and I met Janice and Mark for the Villains Tonight show. The show was absolutely positively terrible. It’s right up there with the Toy Story stage show that I saw on the Disney Wonder a few years back. I thought “Did You Ever Know That You’re My Hero” was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen on stage (and I’ve seen some bad theatre). I would have walked out except I was in the middle of the row, and I didn’t want to disturb people. Masayo, Janice, and Mark all agreed that it was awful. It’s 45 minutes of my life that I will never get back. When I filled out my survey at the end of the cruise, I rated it poor and said it was just terrible.
After dinner, Masayo and I went to meet Goofy again. Once again, we were fighting about who loves him more. Goofy signed that he loved me, and even after he told Masayo that he loved her too, he came back to tell me again. I told Goofy that’s a good thing, because Masayo is married and I’m single. So, no matter what Masayo thinks, I love Goofy the most, and he loves me the most.
Masayo and I then went to Evolution for the Match Your Mate game, which is Disney’s version of the Newlywed Game. It was hosted by cruise entertainment cast member Max. One of the couples had been married for over 50 years, and the husband was hysterical. Max asked the husbands what they found most attractive in their wives. The old husband said, “I like when she puts on her stockings.” When the wife came out to answer the question, Max asked her the same question, and she said,” My boobs.” Max then asked the old man what he had answered, and he smiled and said, “Boobs.” It was hysterical.
After the show, I said good night to Masayo and headed up to my room to get some sleep.
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