Who Needs Toes Anyway? A 2016 EBPC Trip Report *COMPLETE*

[arielmomma]

Here are the navigators from Cabo San Lucas:

 

[arielmomma]

On Monday 8/29, I woke up early while the rest of my family slept in. I dressed and went to Triton's alone. I ate a light breakfast of fruit, mango hike, and my favorite coconut-pineapple muffin. I tried the Muesli after reading great reviews of it here on Disboards, but I didn't care for it.




After breakfast, I spotted Mickey and Minnie posing for pictures outside of Triton's. My kids might not want to meet the characters much anymore, but I still enjoy it. So, I got in line.



Afterward, I grabbed a couple of extra navigators from Guest Services for the rest of my clan and headed up to deck 9 to get some pictures of Puerto Vallarta. Once again, it was CRAZY HOT. I knew immediately that I had no interesting in going out in the heat again.




Nothing says foreign land like a Walmart.

 

[arielmomma]

At 10:30am, I returned to our cabin. James was awake, but the kids were still sleeping. I stayed in the room with the kids while James got breakfast. I showered, read a book, and consulted the Navigator.



Eventually, Emily woke on her own. At 11:40am, I finally made Jimmy get up. As usual, we went to Triton's for lunch (or breakfast for the kids).

 

[arielmomma]

For appetizers, I ordered the bruschetta and the tangerine soup. James also had the bruschetta.




Jimmy ordered the shrimp appetizer.



For the main course, I had the butternut squash risotto with extra shaved parmesan cheese. Scrumptious!



James and Emily had the steak.



Jimmy had the corn dog.



James and I passed on dessert today. Emily had a Mickey Bar, while Jimmy got the banana split.



Everything was WONDERful, as always.

 

[arielmomma]

For the afternoon, we decided to take in a double feature: Alice Through The Looking Glass and The BFG. Of course, we needed snacks for the movies. So, I saved us seats in the Buena Vista Theater, while James and the kids went to Beach Blanket Buffet. Since I wasn't there to regulate what they took, this is what they returned with:



Alice Through the Looking Glass was good, but The BFG was great! The BFG reminded me of the old-school Disney Classics like Mary Poppins.

When the second movie ended, we had a half hour left before dinner. The kids went to the clubs, while James and I went outside on deck 4 to search for dolphins. We didn't spot any.

We were back in Animator's Palate for dinner. Apparently, I forgot to take a picture of the menu, but it was the standard rotational dining menu for Animator's Palate.

James ordered the Canadian Cheddar Bacon Soup. I ordered the butternut squash soup, but I didn't take a picture of it. It was delicious, though.


The kids and I all ordered double portions of the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes as our main course.


James (no surprise) had the steak.



Our tablemates let me take pictures of their meals.

Christopher ordered a burger.



I'm not sure who ordered this or what it is. I looks like some kind of flat bread.



Alison ordered the black bean chipotle cakes.

 

[arielmomma]

Once again, a friend came to entertain us during our meal:



Here are Claudius and Nicha in their colorful vests.



Now for dessert. Our tablemates skipped dessert to do some pin trading, but they'd join up with us again in Studio Sea shortly. James had a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream and Emily had a Mickey bar.

I had the crunchy walnut cake. Delectable!



And Jimmy had the (no surprise) cookies and cream sundae.



After dinner, the kids headed over to Studio Sea for the Generations Game. James and I would be joining them, but we had to make a quick stop by our cabin. Look who we ran into -- our amazing cabin host, Nerissa. She was leaving the kids some special treats.



Elsa sheets for Emily.



Good Dinosaur sheets for Jimmy.



And an invitation to a princess tea.



It's little details like this that makes Disney so special.

 

[arielmomma]

We met up with the kids and the Irelands in Studio Sea to play the Generations Game led by Ross and Tony. It was kids vs. adults in a variety of tasks, such as singing, dancing, paper airplane making, and toilet paper wrapping.



Only a few of the kids were brave enough to dance. No surprise that my two got into it. At one point, Jimmy actually lifted Emily and spun her around like they were swing dancing. They were determined to win.



Jimmy with his winning paper airplane. It did, indeed, fly the farthest.



The adults, however, dominated the toilet paper rolling.



The game was a lot of fun. We were in good spirits as we went to the Walt Disney Theater to watch The Heath Show.



Heath was hilarious. Here he is during his Indiana Jones bit. Right after this a giant foam boulder came rolling over the audience.



Once The Heath Show ended, we parted ways with our children. James and I headed to Wavebands for the adult entertainment portion of the evening. Tonight was Match Your Mate where three couples answer questions about their marriage.



One of the couples selected had been married 64 years, and they were hilarious! I laughed so hard my side hurt. James laughed so hard he gave himself a headache. So, he retired after Match Your Mate, while I stuck around for karaoke. By the time I returned to the cabin, everyone was asleep. Another amazing day complete.

Here was today's towel animal:



Up next....The beginning of a string of sea days.

 

[christineD186]

Loving your trip report! We are on EBPC in 2017. This just makes me even more excited!

 

[franandaj]

I'm not sure who ordered this or what it is. I looks like some kind of flat bread.

This is the tomato tart. They took it off the menu for the Alaskan cruise as well as the Baked Potato Cheese Soup. Glad to see they are back on the menu.

 

[arielmomma]

On Tuesday 8/30, James and I woke too late to catch Captain Puckett’s presentation. Instead, we let the kids sleep, while we grabbed a quick breakfast at Triton’s. James had his usual meat and potato meal. I switched it up a little. I ordered a fruit plate and the Morning Tugboat instead of the Mountain Hike. It was very yummy.



We ate quickly and went back to the cabin to wake the kids up. With a bit of scurrying, we managed to slip in a few minutes late to today’s Art of Entertaining. The chef made Phyllo Wrapped Salmon. This was a new recipe for us. It was very good! I’m not usually a salmon lover, but this was an exception.




Next we did our errand running. We stopped by guest services and grabbed a couple of extra navigators.

 

[adSimba]

loving your trip report! thank you for sharing, one question... and I feel like such a simpleton for not knowing, but what is in the Mango hike? what is it really? and also the Tugboat? they look like yogurt, or smoothies...

 

[Geomom]

loving your trip report! thank you for sharing, one question... and I feel like such a simpleton for not knowing, but what is in the Mango hike? what is it really? and also the Tugboat? they look like yogurt, or smoothies...

I had them on my Alaskan cruise. I liked them, but they weren't quite what I expected from the descriptions below--because for them 'blend' means 'blended'. I was thinking it would be like a yogurt parfait...but it was more of a smoothie with some fine granola pieces still in it.
Mango Mountain Hike
fresh blend of mangoes, honey, granola and low-fat yogurt

Mornin' Tug Boat
fresh blend of strawberries, bananas, almonds, raisin granola and low-fat yogurt

 

[arielmomma]

The ship was decorated for tonight’s Freezing the Night Away Party. Very festive.



A photo of my favorite painting in the art gallery just because.



For our next task, we went to Mickey’s Mates to drop off our RSVP for the Princess Tea.



With our errands complete, we had 20 minutes before Triton’s opened for lunch, so we grabbed our books and headed out to deck 4. Ahhh, this is the life!



James was still full from breakfast so he decided to skip lunch and take a nap. I gathered the children from the clubs, including an extra one. Lauren joined us.




The kids were particularly silly today.

 

[arielmomma]

Onto the meal....For starters, Jimmy and Emily had the lobster ravioli.



I had the chilled pineapple soup.



Jimmy and I had the Orecchiette Pasta. It was delicious. Emily didn't have a main course.



Lauren had the children's fettuccine pasta. She said that she really liked it.



For dessert, Emily had the Mickey Bar with marshmallows.



Jimmy had the cookies and marshmallows with chocolate ice cream.




Lauren had the chocolate cake.



And I had the coconut crème pie.



Everything was fabulous. We finished lunch just in time for me to make the 1pm dance class. The kids and I parted ways, and I headed to Wavebands. James was already there waiting for me. Today we learned to swing dance. It was so much fun. This was my favorite dance, and only I only got stepped on once today.

 

[arielmomma]

We went from dance class to listen to Ridley Pearson in The Walt Disney Theater. Once again, we enjoyed his lecture.

Finally, we made it back to the cabin so that I could get cleaned up for the day. There were light-up frozen necklaces waiting for us.



While I was in the shower, James decided that he was hungry. He went up to deck 9 for some pizza and a cinnamon-cream cheese pretzel. He said that the pizza was good. Much better on the Wonder than on the Fantasy. The pretzel was okay, but not worth the calories compared to the other desserts offered onboard.



Feeling refreshed, James and I finished gathering the Chocolate Chase clues then collected Emily to get her dressed for dinner.





Believe it or not, it was time to eat AGAIN!

Apparently, I forgot to take a picture of tonight's Frozen menu. However, you can see it on disneycruiselineblog: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/men...-away-with-anna-elsa-and-friends-frozen-menu/

We were in Animator's Palate again tonight. Emily and Lauren began the meal by building a sculpture out of the items on the table.



Christopher began his meal with a smoothie.



Jimmy, Emily, and I all started with Elsa's Coronation Scallops. There were three scallops baked into a flaky pot pie. It was very good.



I also ordered the Jarlsberg Tart for the whole family to try. It was pretty good.

 

[arielmomma]

James started with Duke of Weselton's Favorites.



I had the carrot soup. Mmm.



For the main course, Lauren had the herb-roasted chicken.



Emily had the Marinated Sirloin with French Fries.


Jimmy and I had the Veal "King Agda."


Alison had the vegetarian cabbage rolls.


James had the wild boar.


Don had the marinated strip loin with potatoes.

 

[arielmomma]

For dessert, Emily had the Mickey Bar with chocolate sauce.



Jimmy had the Frozen Yogurt Romanoff Sundae.



I ordered three desserts to share with the family. First was the warm apple pudding cake.



Next was the Floro Dome. It was carrot cake with marshmallow crème.



And finally, the Norwegian Pancakes. These might have been the best dessert on the cruise.


Christopher ordered a chocolate cake that I do not see on the menu.


Alison had the Sitron Mousse



And James had the Apple Pudding Cake with extra ice cream.



I was a tad wary of this menu prior to cruising, but it turned out to be one of the best onboard.

 

[arielmomma]

After dinner, the kids and I joined the Irelands to get a photo with Belle.




From there, we went to Studio Sea to play Frozen Games. We sang songs, did a little trivia, and played a game. Jimmy nearly won, but sadly, he came in second.




After the games, it was time to get seats in the Walt Disney Theater to see Jamie Stewart. The kids weren't interested, so they headed to their clubs. James and I enjoyed Jamie's show. He has had a long career and is very talented.



From the theater, we once again gathered the kids and headed up to deck 9 for Freezing the Night Away. It was fun. There was a stage show followed by dancing and "snow." The "snow" got pretty wild in the wind. It wasn't the gentle soap bubbles that fall during the Osborne Lights at Hollywood Studios. Since the ship was moving, the bubbles flurried in wads that flew into our eyes and mouths. They didn't sting or have a bad taste. It was just a bit much. The deck also became quite slick. It didn't slow the kids down though. They danced until the party ended.

Jimmy showing the "snow."




After the party, Jimmy went to play dodgeball on the sports deck with The Edge. James and I checked out the party in Quiet Cove. It seemed fairly slow and it was hot outside so we decided to pass on it. James, Emily, and I went back to the room to get ready for bed. This little guy was waiting for us.



I stayed up reading until Jimmy returned at 1am. Another amazing day at sea was behind us.

 

[arielmomma]

On Wednesday 8/31, I woke up shortly after 9am. I was hungry so no Captain Puckett again today. Since my family was still sound asleep, I slipped out of the room to have breakfast on my own.

Triton's was closed due to a character breakfast in Animator's Palate, so I went to Parrot Cay.



The Parrot Cay breakfast is a buffet where you are assigned a table and a server brings you your drinks. I ordered a water and a pineapple juice and headed for the buffet.

 

[arielmomma]

Despite all of the tempting choices, I settled on fruit and a muffin.