Disney Wish Day Three

 We woke up this morning and things were still on the boat, so we peeked outside to see if we'd arrived, and yes, we apparently slept in!  The boat was already docked at Castaway Cay, which you can see above. This is our view of the island from our room, and it was just very nice.

And this is our view from the market upstairs where we ate.  Mom had an arranged breakfast, one set up from last night with completely safe choices for her, one that included these bad boys:

Gluten-free Mickey Waffles!  We all had Mickey Waffles, in fact, which was perfect.  We also had other things from the all-you-can-eat bar there, including the usual lox and bagels that I get on these cruises.  Plus plenty of mango and orange juice and always tea for Mom.  I haven't mentioned the nightly tradition of getting Mom a cup of tea for her room.  Each night I'm up there at the top deck, getting her a tea together to bring downstairs before bedtime.  That's one of my Disney Cruise traditions!

So Maddie and I had an appointment with destiny this morning, and that was a few turns on the AquaMouse!  We got there before the water slide actually became available, the thinking being that during the daytime the lines for this thing get pretty long - like forty-five minutes.  We waited about twenty, actually the first in line.  Soon enough there was a line behind us, but even after we got off we were able to race back on and do it again!  So yes, we rode twice!

The weather was cooler, and wow, the ride absolutely soaked us!  Or, at least me.  Whoever's in the back of this raft, just be careful!  We were worried to begin with that they wouldn't run the ride due to winds, but the windy weather hadn't set in quite as much yet.  I don't know if it got worse enough to close things down, but I do know that several onshore excursions were cancelled due to winds.  There were storms coming in, and the weather was iffy for us.  I'll go ahead and let you know now though:  we had a perfect, perfect day.  It was nice and partly cloudy, and never saw any rain showers.  As for the AquaMouse?

It's a super fun ride!  We had to ride together to add more weight to the raft, but that we did, and you can see the path of the ride, all along the top of the ship.  The first portion is entirely indoors, with screens alongside the riders that project parts of a Mickey Mouse cartoon.

Mickey and Minnie are just trying to get to Mermaid Lagoon... but time and again, something crazy happens to them.  We love these cartoons, so this just made the ride even better.  We enjoyed the ride up the ramp, slowly moving up the conveyer belt watching different portions of the movie until...

Oh yeah, there's this part too!  We were smiles all the way around the boat, and again, super soaked by the end of it all, splashing down at the bottom.  And ready to get back in line and do it again!

So after that, it was time to head to Castaway Cay!  Our first steps onto Bahamian soil started early enough, with us getting to the tram stop to ride over to the first stopping location.  From there we did a quick trek by Mickey - and Goofy, who was on a jeep moving by as he waved at all of us.  We passed by Mt. Rustmore, and then went right over to the beach chairs to have a seat.  Maddie was snapping pictures left and right.

To begin with, Mom was relaxing beneath a palm tree, feeling the sea breeze as she watched everyone go into the water.  Uncle George, Thip, and Maddie were doing some swimming and having a great time there too.  The water was a bit cool, but you got used to it pretty quickly.  Maddie loved this day the best, a perfect beach day!

Oh, and there were plenty of characters to meet there, including Donald Duck of course.  Maddie met him at the Castaway Cay Post Office, which was very nice.

Yeah, Joey the Porg was there too of course!  You'll see more pictures of him as we move along.  Here are a few other pictures Maddie took this morning along the shoreline.

Making a Hidden Mickey... while waiting for Mickey!

Can't have a vacation at the beach without burying someone in sand!

Ah, an empty hammock!  What a blessing that is!  These appear relaxing, but maybe perhaps they're a little too much effort to climb into.  Joey the Porg seemed to have an easy time getting in.  Let's see how Maddie did!

Nice and relaxing day.  Really, it was our favorite day of the cruise, a wonderful visit to Castaway Cay, but not over by a long shot.  We explored a bit further on, where we found Olaf waiting, or at least an Olaf made of sand.  Do you want to build a sandman?

This was all at Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna, or at least a branch of it down here in the Bahamas.  We stopped and shopped nearby, and in fact I got a few items on the island, as did Maddie and Mom.  We got souvenir t-shirts, and Mom and Maddie got some jackets, and I got a pin and a Christmas ornament that I can't wait to hang up next November.

We spotted these cannons at the tram, and they do look familiar.  I've been searching online afterwards, and I don't see any recognition of this one in particular, but I'm fairly certain that it's from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  This one is a little basic in design, but it could be covered in barnacles and debris as if it were on the Flying Dutchman, which of course used to have a place in the Castaway Cay waters.

This cannon I'm more certain of, only because I looked up the cannons that rest on The Empress, Sao Feng's ship from the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  We're a little more familiar with this design because we played the Disney Infinity Pirates game quite a bit and remember this cannon.  That being said, this is either a reproduction of one of those cannons, or it's an actual prop from the movie, which would be pretty cool.

We had a pretty good meal at Cookies One, something that included a pre-ordered meal for Mom and a whole lot of barbecue, burgers, hot dogs, fruit and fish and seasoned chicken too and ... well, let's just say there was a lot of food.  And ice cream too!  Soft serve pineapple and banana flavors!

Okay, you can't see it as clearly here, but if you look closely at these next pictures, you'll see our next project:  a sand castle.  Maddie and I were wanting to build one today, and we made sure of it.  We even built a channel to the water's edge, where waves would lap up and make a small trip upwards towards our castle.

Ah, here's a shot of one of the towers of our castle, a shell placed at the top with the Disney Wish in the background.  I told you this was a perfect day, didn't I?

Joey is in complete agreement, resting in the sand and enjoying the tranquility and ideal weather today.

We had built a pretty good wall with towers and a gateway - next time we'll have to bring some sand sculpting tools, as we built this entirely with our fingers digging away and building things up.  It wasn't a masterpiece, but it was a really nice memory.

Oh look, a Hidden Mickey in the gift shop!  Maddie got a Castaway Cay t-shirt in here, and then right next door is the legendary Mt. Rustmore!

That's a mandatory photo op here on Castaway Cay.  You can see Maddie's photo, and then this last one directly above features Joey the Port resting atop Donald Duck.  We weren't done taking photo ops on the way back to the boat.  Here's a few more...

And speaking of photo ops, here we all are with the legend himself, Mickey Mouse!

These last two are pictures taken by the official Disney photographer.  We went through the photos tonight from the cruise, and wow, they were twenty dollars each!  Some were decent pictures, and we wound up buying about four photos total (which I later scanned and made into digital files).  But I would have bought more if they weren't so pricy.  Fortunately, they let you take pictures with other cameras too, so you have the option to buy a picture as well.

Those two were really nice, and we got 8X10 prints of them on some nice photographic paper.  I hope to frame them later on.  The other pictures we bought include the one of us first getting on the boat, and one below with Rey and Chewbacca.  

So one big thing I did today, one thing that I was sort of training to do, was the Castaway Cay 5K.  And while the others were initially relaxing on the beach, I went off to the starting line, and yes, I was off and running for my first 5K - at least the first one not on my treadmill.  

It was a perfect day for this sort of thing, the temperature cool and a breeze in the air.  This is a photo of the runway in the middle of the island that I saw for the first time (even though we've been on this island three times before!).  I didn't take any of the course pictures because I was actually actively moving along the course, which was pretty clearly marked.  One great thing was seeing all the people on the course on bicycles or just some others at one point or another exploring.  

Along the way, there were plenty of old abandoned airplanes or crates and containers.  Basically a lot of things you'd see on an old abandoned island, brightly painted or even decorated with Disney characters, like the artwork on the side of this airplane.

Eventually, the course makes its way to a high point, literally.  This tower is on the other side of the island, and of course I had to climb to the top of it, right?

 

The view from the top is so peaceful.  I think after exertion, taking a rest and just feeling the wind blow and seeing all that nature and solitude in front of you... it's perfectly peaceful.  This is the view back to the cruise ship, which of course is a long ways off!  In the other direction is a lot of nothing, the marshy areas of the island and the ocean beyond.  There were some binoculars there, the kind that swivel on a stand attached to the ground.  You could look through and get a closer look at the vast panorama of Caribbean island and ocean before you, and even a little surprise like this one down below.

Eventually, the course rejoins the runway and you follow it to Serenity Bay, and after that you follow the runway all the way back to where you started from.

And here I am at the finish line!  They give you this little medallion at the end for your effort, and I wore this proudly the rest of the cruise, along with our trivia prize too.  But this was a big deal for me, and I enjoyed it so, so much.  I was at such peace along the course, loving every bit of it.  I'll do it again someday, hopefully, and Maddie said she might come with me.  But considering the fact that I never thought I'd be a runner, this idea of doing a 5K and completing it is such a big accomplishment.  Mom said she was so proud of me, and I've been so happy to do this.

Okay, moving on!  We got on the boat next, and there was an appointment with Rey and Chewbacca!

Here's the photo taken by the official photographer, a picture of Chewbacca, Maddie, Joey, and Rey too.  This was a fun opportunity - there are characters galore on the boat, from Marvel and from Disney and from Star Wars too.  This photo op was in the Star Wars area of the kids section, but they opened it up to everyone.  We wound up standing in the longest line of the weekend though - waiting in the hallway for a half-hour or so.  It was a great moment though - Maddie was happy to do it!

These are pictures of Maddie just outside the Oceaneer Lab, just before going in to meet Rey and Chewbacca.  Just behind me is a big line of folks, waiting to get in there for the meet and greet.

Maddie enjoyed that, as did Joey.  Notice Maddie's Mickey ears?  She got those for Valentine's Day from us, a nice little thing to wear on the ship, which she wore frequently throughout the weekend.

We were at the veranda when the ship was ready to leave, and you can see Castaway Cay on the horizon there.  We started to shift, and soon enough, we started to drift off from the happy destination.  We waved goodbye, and suddenly we heard the ship's horn, the musical tones of different Disney themes playing, serenading the island and us as we slowly slipped away.

You can see Uncle George next door, also looking on as we said goodbye to Castaway Cay!

We had a bit of time before dinner, so Maddie and I went to the front where it was quite blustery, but we had to do one of those pictures...

"I'm the king of the world!"

Okay, at least the queen of the world!

Walking back, you could see Uncle George and Thip looking out from their balcony.  

Maddie stopped for a picture on one of the deck chairs.  Next time we'll spend some more time in one of these!

Okay, this was fun.  And spontaneous.  These two were at that upper level of the Grand Hall, and they were doing a game where they did a whole series of rhymes using people's names in the audience.  Since we were up there on that top floor, shopping around, we were there at the railing fairly nearby, and sure enough, we called out Mom's name.  And what followed was pretty fun!

Then they did this other segment where they performed an entire Disney movie's story in under a minute, a pretty funny improv exercise!  They were taking suggestions from the audience, and I guess I must have caught them off guard when I called out, "Alice in Wonderland."  That took a few moments to organize, but they got right to it, and when they did, it was hilarious!

So once that was done, I went down to get some seats for "Aladdin" at the Walt Disney Theater.  This place was packed a lot sooner, and we sat a few rows back, but these seats were still perfect.  We could see everything, and you certainly don't want to sit too close anyway, as there's so much going on.

As for the show itself, yes, it's the best of the entire cruise.  The visuals are remarkable and the musical numbers are indeed spectacular.  The comedy from the Genie had us all laughing hard all the way through - some of those jokes will make their way into the KidPak services soon enough.  In short, we all loved it. It was really just amazing!

Our rotation meant going to the shows first, and then after that we ate our last dinner of the cruise at the Worlds of Marvel restaurant. 

This one had a fantastic and fun theme to it, as Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne were there to help with a demonstration involving quantum technology, which happened to be at our table with a small device there.  It was an interactive meal, one where we'd periodically be needed to hit buttons to help shrink, or sometimes enlarge things too.

Ant-Man here accidentally blew up the size of his towel swan... but more dramatically, there was an accident that shrunk the entire Disney Wish....

Fortunately, we were able to use the Quantum Core, along with some help from Joey here too.  But oh no! Trouble was brewing, because Ultron was flying in to grab that technology.  Fortunately, a few other heroes were making a cameo.

Falcon was here.  Or Captain America.  Or whatever you want to call him!  How about Sam Wilson?

Oh, and look.  Why, it's Ms. Marvel! 

And even Captain Marvel showed up to fend off the Ultra robots!

Ultimately, Ant-Man needed our help as well, so we were ready to use that Quantum Core!

Thip is prepared to be a hero, and help the Marvel heroes!

Mom was ready too, anxious to help stop Ultron!

And in the end, Maddie here is celebrating our victory!

And what better way to celebrate than with a key lime pie.  I can't tell you how much we were building up this key lime pie, given that it was featured so heavily in the second season of "Loki," and that Maddie hasn't had one before.  This sort of amped up the need to try a key lime pie, and the fact that it was in a Marvel themed restaurant made it inevitable that we would order it.  

Oh, and we also ordered some shawarma too!  Yeah, a complete Marvel meal tonight.  Also, here's the Pym Sundae that we ordered, which was so good too.

We ate so much on this cruise.  But the Marvel experience wasn't over with yet.  Look who came by to visit us!   

Maddie was so thrilled to see Spider-man coming by to visit!  This wound up being the highlight of her entire cruise, believe it or not!  Out of all the heroes to pop by our table, it was Spider-man.  And she couldn't be happier because he's her favorite!

So things were wrapping up.  Maddie put out a few polaroid pictures she took along the way - yes she took one with Rey and Chewbacca too.  And there's Castaway Cay, and the elephant towel on the first day.  Tonight's towel animal was a crab, check it out!

We were packing and settling up accounts and so forth, and there was the final show on the boat, the one where characters say goodbye. 

It was a lovely cruise, and a really nice time.  Today was just wonderful.  We had tea tonight, and wandered around a bit.  The captain did warn us that the seas would be a bit rougher, and in seven or so cruises, I've never experienced the movement on a cruise ship like that.  It was pretty wild!

But not too bad.  We didn't sleep too well, but that's okay.  It was just the most wonderful day.  Like each night before, we read from our Kingdom Keepers book, and then we said our prayers.  And then it was time for some rest.  Not much, but Maddie slept really well.  And that's okay - nothing you can do about the weather.  We knew tomorrow we'd be disembarking, and we knew the cruise as a whole has been very nice.