Isaac woke us up nice and early and we turned on the
TV: The on-demand video system is very
well equipped with every single Disney and Pixar movie ever – and the kids
decided to start watching the “classic” movies – starting with 101
Dalmatians…. Of course it took all day
to eventually see the movie because we weren’t in the room all that much!
We went upstairs to the breakfast buffet at “Cabanas” –
which I immediately renamed to “Beaches” and have been mixed up ever
since. Vacation Brain took over very
quickly. The buffet had just about
everything you want – bacon, sausage, fruit, waffles, pancakes, bacon, French
toast, yogurt bar, bacon, toast, oatmeal bar, cream of wheat, bacon, krispy
kreme donuts, omelet station, bacon, cereals, hash, juices, and of course,
BACON. There’s been something for all of
us every day, with Isaac eating an alarming amount of bacon every morning… The only downside is the coffee is only ok –
I’ve needed to upgrade my coffee every day at the “real money” coffee shop –
but they have a buy-five-get-one card that I’ve already maxed once am about to
fill again.
We got in line right at 9 for the “AquaDuck” (which I
renamed “MightyDuck” – again, vacation brain – Bella said “You totally Bama’ed
that name”, after Bama who renames things too – Oceanaire became Sea Breeze) –
the large 2-person raft waterslide snaking around the pool deck – it took 10
minutes to get up and down, but then the line was up to 20 minutes (just like
Disney World, we queue here). The pool
was jam packed with people and a movie was playing on a giant screen above the
deck.
We worked on the detective game while Pamela found her sea
legs – a bit woozy for the day and needed some room time. I took a run around Deck 4 – 2.5 laps equals
a mile, and I did a mini-5k down there:
I was disappointed, however to find that my GPS didn’t lock in – I would
have loved to have seen the spiral pattern across the ocean on my run-tracker.
It was a day at sea, and a bit cloudy, so we had some
room-time after lunch – finished 101 Dalmations, started at Lady and the
Tramp… generally decompressed, then got
ready for FORMAL NIGHT! Yes, the grand
tradition of sea dining is alive – I brought a suit, Pamela brought a beautiful
dress, and the kids had dress-up outfits too (there are pictures, I promise) –
and our wait staff team (Leonne, Darma, and Ciao) met us at “Animators” – where
Nemo, Crunch, Dori, and others popped up on big video screens around the tables
and played games with us – Crunch the turtle even got into some conversations
with table people (not our table) in a pretty amazing bit of interactive
technology borrowed from the Epcot “Turtle Talk” show. As noted before, there was a bowl of cherries
waiting for Isaac and he was thrilled.
Darma has been amazing Isaac with magic tricks – the first night he had
a disappearing crayon trick that Isaac has been trying to replicate ever since
with no success – he really thinks if he slams his hands together just right,
the crayon with evaporate. Darma has
promised to show Isaac the secret to the trick on Friday. Isaac has been counting the days.
In the evening, we checked Isaac in to play, for a bit, and
tried to get him to an early bedtime…
he was exhausted but not ready for the day to end and I wound up holding
him crying until he just fell asleep.
Fingers crossed for a good night sleep?
Pamela and Bella went to see a live show of Aladdin, which they reported
had amazing production values.
Monday – Grand Cayman
Monday, Isaac did NOT sleep in – it was an early morning –
finished Lady and the Tramp, started Jungle Book, early breakfast, first in
line for the AquaDuck, and then we got ready for the first shore visit – Grand
Cayman for a submarine ride! It was
remarkably stressful because they had to group people and run tender ships to
shore – so it was a good hour of rigamarole before we even got to the Submarine
place… then it was 2 hours between
waiting, riding to the sub, the sub ride, and the ride back. I didn’t
do well with the uncertainty, but I imagine in future visits, I’ll know the
score.
The submarine was a 40 person sub with big portholes, we
went down 100 feet deep and cruised the reef – we saw a billion fish, a couple
of turtles, and one barracuda. The
cruise director was corny and largely unintelligible due to the bad speakers
and the deafening roar of the pumps lowering the sub, but at least he laughed a
lot into the mic so we can assume he was funny.
The actual sightseeing was just incredible – it is truly awe inspiring
to think of this world just out of reach.
We got back exhausted, and ready for another dinner – this
time at the Enchanted Garden, done in a gardens of Versailles motif with lots
of green ironwork. Yes, cherries were
there. Then we checked Isaac in to
playland, and Pamela, Bella and I went to see a HYPNOTISM show – it was fun and
cheesy – I tried to get up on stage, but failed the basic test – I was
overthinking the suggestions, and as such would not have been a good show
participant. He really wanted mellow
people who weren’t going to over-analyze things. People who he could get to talk gibberish, or
dance, or pretend to smell terrible things from the person next to them. It was actually hilarious right up to when he
started pitching his for-sale products in the lobby… but I’ll forgive him that, because Bella was
belly laughing the whole time – you’d think she’d have enough of seeing
grown-ups acting ridiculous what with me in the house, but apparently it was
even funnier seeing it with other adults.
When we fetched Isaac, we were in for a long night – he was
furious for us picking him up at JUST THE WRONG TIME – he was about to get to
start a new game. He stomped and
shouted, and went to bed fully clothed shouting – he was overtired and not
handling things well. Pamela and I
stared at eachother and realized that even though there are some kids running
around on this ship until midnight, our little buster needs his rest: We resolved to respect that the next
day (spoiler alert - we actually got it right on Tuesday)!
Before wrapping up, a quick call-back to Epcot on Thursday –
Isaac and Bella both got Dreamsickles that I believe had been packed in liquid
nitrogen: They both had “Christmas
Story” moments – where their lips got frozen to the bar like licking a metal
pole in the dead of winter. Bella’s lips
got stuck, and she waited for a moment and let her lips melt the ice
cream. Isaac’s lips got stuck and he
freaked out and yanked the bar away, and immediately began bleeding like crazy
as he left a good layer of skin behind on the bar. Before going to go get cleaned up, he first
wanted me to notify the ice cream lady that her bars were to cold – “Just tell
her – I don’t want this to happen to other kids”.
OK more stories tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment