Fantasy Embarkation

Up before dawn, and I checked out the Port Canaveral webcam, as it is somewhat of a tradition to peek at the boat as it is in port from time to time - sometimes we even catch a cruise ship we'll be going on as it sails out with all the passengers waving goodbye.  But this morning, we'd be those passengers.

Of course we had to pack and so on.  We got things all lined up rather easily, and we skipped the continental breakfast this morning because we knew we'd be feasting on the boat soon enough.  Speaking of which, the window at the end of the hallway once again framed the Disney Fantasy there just perfectly.

So we drove over there a little earlier today, and that's the strategy from this point on - you can arrive a little earlier, but you just can't get on the boat until they call you aboard.  That being said, it's not a big deal to get to the parking deck sooner than later.  I think we were at that parking deck a half-hour before our boarding time, and that's okay, because we got to hang out in the terminal a little longer, just pacing ourselves.

So yeah, you get in the one line outside, and then the bigger line inside, careful to join the Castaway Club line, although I think that line is just the same.  Either way, you get past the metal detectors and go up that escalator...

And then you're in the terminal area.  The last stop before the gangplank!  It's a nice area, actually.  Usually we're getting there so close to our boarding time that we don't have much of an opportunity to look around, but this time we did, and that's okay.  We had the first professional pictures taken of us here by the Disney photographers, and just waited for our names to be called out.

And then the names get called out, and there's another opportunity for another portrait before going onboard!

And you know what comes next of course, the gangplank!  All the passengers filing up the ramp and right up to the entrance of the boat.

And here's where we boarded the Disney Fantasy for the first time.  We've been on six cruises, and for Mom and I, this is our fifth different boat.  We were on the Disney Magic last year, so this is step up in size.  The atrium is really amazing.

We didn't spend very long there before deciding it was time to get down the long hallway there and grab a seat at the Animator's Palate for our first meal of the cruise.  

It's a sit-down meal, as opposed to the massive buffet upstairs.  We just thought it would be easier than the chaos that Cabana's can be up top.  One huge, huge benefit to this opening lunch here:

This is one of the most amazing dessert items I've ever had.  It's so delicious!  Here are some pictures that Maddie took at lunch today, and of course you'll see her photos sprinkled in here all throughout.

Next, it was time to find room 8034!  This was actually a nice room!  It's on the port side of the ship, and I think ultimately I prefer the starboard side for a few reasons (fireworks view, island views for one, sun), although this time around you could see Lighthouse Cay from our room.  Ultimately though, it's a great room because of the quiet and the proximity to different things.  We were directly above the theater, and that was pretty fun to just drop down.  We learned a lot about finding your way around these ships, one of those ways being the carpet in the hallway - due north on the globe image there is pointing towards the front of the ship, or the forward. 

How nice to be in one of these cabins again.  Mom was unpacking and then putting things in drawers and hanging up clothing and putting out the bathroom kits and so on, always a chore, but a happy chore as we did what little we could to help, which was largely try to stay out of the way!

One thing I did - getting out of the way - was head down to the Buena Vista Theater, just a few floors down below us.  The reason I ran down there was to get a popcorn bucket with a very unusual shape.  I peeked into the theater, and there it is all nice and clean, ready for a run of movies during this cruise.

So what did the popcorn bucket look like?  Just outside here is a concession stand that sells popcorn and buckets that you can get cheap refills on, but really we just wanted to have this bucket here.

Isn't it great?  The eyes have different patterns of intensity or blinking, and it's all controlled by way of a button on the top.  The pirate hat is something we added later, because it looks fun.  The bottom is a lid that snaps open, and sure enough, you can fill it with popcorn!

So we were full from a nice lunch, and we were unpacked - and there was a little time before the mandatory muster drill.  So what to do?  How about some Knowsmore Trivia!

This was our first trivia session, and it was made up of some fairly generic Disney questions, and most of us got over fifteen out of twenty right.  It was those other five questions that were somewhat obscure, and we didn't quite get all of those, but it was still fun, and we knew we had many more trivia games to go before the week was over with.  I think we got seventeen right.  Anyway, for now, it was time for the muster drill, that mandatory event where everyone learns what to do in the unlikely chance of an emergency.  This time around was better for us than on the Disney Magic.  Mom didn't do so well standing in the sun for so long out there on the deck on the Magic.  This time, we were in the Walt Disney Theater, seated and resting comfortably inside.  The drill didn't seem to last as long either, and so therefore we were on our way right after that. 

But here's the one part of the Disney Cruise they really need to fix.  I mean, wow.  So you have the entire ship wanting to get out of the muster drill and go immediately up to the deck so they can get a spot for the Sail Away Party.  It's a stampede!  The lines for the elevators clog the halls and form clots and bottlenecks everywhere, and there's this mass stampede up fourteen flights of stairs, and then when you get up there, all the spots are already taken, because you had no choice but to be in that muster drill thing at the bottom of the boat there.  

Mom doesn't do well with the direct sunlight, so I managed to find a spot way back there on the bottom because all the railing spots were gone, but this spot was in the shade and you could still see the screen there to see what was going on - it's something we've seen before, of course.  The characters are all introduced, they sing songs, and eventually we do this huge countdown where at the end of it, the ship's horn sounds off "When You Wish Upon a Star."

It's fun, and it's chaotic, and the positive energy is there as the ship is moving out of the harbor, out to sea.  We didn't see any dolphins, and for that matter didn't really look too hard along the shoreline as we left - outside of me pointing at something with excitement and saying, "Oh, buoy!"  That joke doesn't get old.  And neither does this:

Our first soft-serve ice cream from Mike's "Eye Scream Treats."  We stopped by here a few times over the cruise for ice cream, but on this occasion Mom and Maddie were seated at a table overlooking the ocean as I went and collected the ice creams for everyone.  And napkins.

One of the best times in a cruise - heading out to sea for the first time.  We sat and enjoyed the scenery and just rested there, excited about the journey, excited about the time away.  But soon we had to head back to our stateroom.  One thing we had to do was decorate our stateroom door!

Here's a great one we saw on the way towards our room, one decorated to go with the Muppets Haunted Mansion special.  But now on to ours!

We got the magnets earlier, and you can see the ones that tell us it's a BIRTHDAY CRUISE, which is pretty awesome for Mom.  There's also a magnet pointing left that says "We're with them!"  Pretty fun!  We'll tell you about that fish extender in just a moment, but first, here's Uncle George's stateroom door next door to us:

Pretty fun!  We also got him a "fish extender," which is what you see there a vertical series of large pockets.  The idea here is that passengers actually put little gifts inside the pockets.  Other passengers have these fish extenders, and people bring all sorts of small gift items to give, usually with a note that says "You've been pixie dusted!"  

I was somewhat skeptical about this at first, but by the end of the cruise, we had a LOT of things put into our fish extender pockets, lots of candies, gifts, soaps, magnets, and all kinds of Disney trinkets.  It was really amazing!

So we got ready in our rooms next, because it was time to go see "Aladdin" at the Walt Disney Theater.

We've seen this one before on the Disney Wish, and it's a very good production.  In fact, it's the best one on the Wish.  The shows on this cruise were all so good this time around, with "Aladdin," followed by "Believe," and then the last night had "Frozen" to close things out.  

Aladdin is just a great balance of musical spectacle, comedy, inventive stage effects, and a hilarious Genie character gifted with improv.  So many references to current events.  He had everyone rolling with laughter - it's a fantastic show.  The Genie would have had a huge line afterwards if people were lining up for autographed pictures.  The show is really amazing, and already right off the bat we have such an epic performance.  Pretty amazing.

So in between the show and dinner, there's a brief period of time where we could rest, or watch the sunset, or do whatever we wanted to.  We saw the sunset for sure, just gorgeous!  No bright green flash of light this time though, so no one traveling to Davy Jones' Locker!

But this was the time to check out one of the two coffee bars here.  Over the course of this cruise, we'd visit each day to grab something, and we'd use up that coffee card a couple times - it's a card we kept from last time with stamps still on it.  Five stamps or so and you get a free coffee, so yeah, this latest one we started out stamping on the Disney Magic, and here we were getting it stamped the rest of the way for the Disney Wish.  And what amazing drinks we got, too!

That was a really nice moment.  Thip was a little tired, so we thought some coffee might be fun, and it sure was.  We shared some time together and some delicious coffee, and then... it was time to head off to dinner!

Tonight's dinner was at the Royal Court, and it was a magnificent dinner.  We spent the weekend taking pictures of our food orders, because sometimes the presentation was so great.  We met our waiters, and just enjoyed the atmosphere here.  It's a "Royal Court," so it's themed to the royal characters from classic Disney stories, the princesses and princes, and so on.  The food was delicious, of course!

Yes, I tried escargot again tonight!  And you know something?  It wasn't so bad.  I actually enjoyed it as an appetizer.  

We had a good meal there, but it was a long, long day up until then.  Time to head back to the room.

 

DJ, our stateroom host, had folded a towel in the shape of a crab - with little chocolate pieces there as well.  We watched the dark waves roll by from our verandah outside, and just soaked in the restful atmosphere, although we were a little full.  The waves aren't too bad outside, and in fact, everything is just right.  Sleep was good tonight, as we slipped over the sea through the night.