Day 3 At Sea
Early to bed, early to rise. Since the princess movies were all checked out I decided on Alice in Wonderland which is a cartoon. The girls sort-of watched it but it did not keep their interest so we went to BBB for breakfast. Once again I had great smoked salmon, which my mother told me looked awful but was delicious. I had another bacon omelet I took bacon from the buffet line and took it over to the omelet station. Actually
DCL does the omelet station well. They have 3 different omelets made so you can get one right away. If you want something different they will make it for you. Pretty smart. GM wanted tomato juice so a server went and got it especially for her. Love the service!!
Girls loved the kids club (Oceaneer Club) so we took them over at 9am when it opened. It was nice and quiet which was great. When I dropped them off, a CM from the kids club actually told me that DD5 was the most well mannered child he had ever encountered. He couldn't believe she repeatedly said please and thank you. You can imagine my delight as a mother. I know I floated out of there feeling really like the best mom ever!
While the girls were in the club mom and I went to check out the ship. We found the Outlook cafe which was closed and empty. I imagine that would be nice for quiet time as a couple. The deck was super windy so we decided that since we had a gorgeous room and balcony we might as well enjoy it.
I decided it was a good time to deliver another FE gift so off I went. It was about 10:50 when I walked by the 4th floor mid and saw there were already at least 20 people in line to see Belle. I abandoned the FE delivery and got in line. Fortuantely, a lady came up behind me and asked if this was the line for Cinderella. Um, no this is the line for Belle. Cinderella isn't here. She pulled out the Navigator and showed me where it said that Cinderella would also be available at 11:30. OMG, I completely missed this!!! I called mom who was napping in the room to come down to stand in line. Mom got in the Belle line and I got in the Cinderella line. The people in Cinderella's line saved my place so I could go get the girls from the club and get their princess dresses. I seriously ran around the ship and was out of breath by the time I got back in line. Other people must have also missed the Cinderella posting as the line was much shorter than Belle.
As I previously mentioned, I bought the girls all (well not all of them since DH asked me to show restraint....I didn't buy the pink one with all the princesses or Tinkerbell.) the princess dresses which are actually nightgowns. They are perfect as they are very pretty, comfortable and if they sleep in them well hey they technically are jammies. I think it is nice to have the princess dress to match the princesses. So the girls put on Cinderella's wedding dress to see her. As background, we first took the girls to
Disneyland in December 2011, about 3 weeks before the cruise. The first princess we saw was Belle and they were speechless and stood there in awe. It was very sweet that they were timid. It was like they couldn't believe she was right there in front of us. They almost were afraid to go up to her. After our 3rd day, they would walk right up to the princesses for their picture. As we were standing in line, GM and I talked to DD5 about how nice it would be for her to talk to the princesses. She asked what she should say to them so we gave her 3 or 4 ideas. DD5 would pick one and then she was ready to talk to the princesses. It was very cute and the princesses were super sweet about it. I honestly think she was able to spend a little extra time with each princess since she was interacting with them.
A quick change into their Belle dress and we met GM just in time to see Belle. She was wearing her blue dress. Belle was super sweet talking to the girls. DD5 asked her if she was having dinner with the Beast. Belle told her she had dinner with the prince every night and that he wasn't a beast anymore. All the princesses knew their stories and stayed in character the entire time. We saw both Belle and Cinderella quickly as we were in the front of the lines for both.
The girls had not seen Daisy and they pretty much weren't getting off the ship until they saw her. We hadn't seen her at Disneyland either so it was a big deal to see Daisy. A CM had tipped us off that Minnie would likely be with Daisy so we rushed up to Deck 9 by the pool and were first in line for Daisy. The girls were thrilled to see both Daisy and Minnie.
It was interesting that some CM tried to rush people through the photo line while others let you have as much time as you wanted. We found that to be true at Disneyland as well. You could really tell who loves to see the kids interacting with the characters and princesses.
Snow White was the next line to stand in and since we were on Deck 9 mom went to the drink station while we went downstairs to get in line. Then I realized that I didn't have their Snow White dresses so we stopped by the room. Snow White is DD3's favorite. We got to the line at the same time as GM and were very happy to have drinks. We talked to Jeannette who closed the line after us. Most all of the CM are super friendly and nice to talk to. They noticed the girls were talking to the princesses and really enjoyed seeing the interaction. DD3 loves Snow White so she had moved herself to the front of the line. She did run to Snow White but wanted to feel like it was close to being her turn. Very sweet. The line was fairly quick and of course DD5 wanted to know what to talk to Snow White about. Now that DD5 is confident in talking to the princesses she has become quite chatty. DD3 has speech delays (which has improved dramatically since she started preschool 6 months ago) so she really isn't as talkative but enjoys seeing them. DD3 is also still perfecting looking at the camera for pictures. She is getting there and we are super proud that she is becoming such a sweet, well behaved little girl. Anyway, DD5 remembered that Snow White loves all the animals in the forest including bunnies. We have a bunny so she told Snow White all about our bunny Sterling. Snow White was so sweet and you could tell she really enjoyed talking to the girls. I was clicking away with the camera so I didn't catch their entire conversation. DD3 loves our bunny so I'm sure she said something about Sterling as well. The girls loved seeing the princesses and it was a fun morning.
We were pretty tired from all the standing in line and running around so we decided that a sit down lunch at Triton's would be the most relaxing. As usual, I ordered a ton of food to taste everything that sounded really good. This was a great decision as the service was fabulous as usual. The food was again just ok. The best way I can describe it is like park food. There is nothing wrong with it and you sometimes great something that is very good but generally it is average. I also like my food piping hot which it usually wasn't. My girls ordered the chicken tenders which are not the same as chicken strips. They both looked at the cooked chicken with gravy with disdain and didn't try it. Nothing on the dessert menu sounded that great so we all got Mickey bars. These were our first. They were much larger than I expected. We really liked them.
It was after 2 when we finished lunch so we went back to the room to rest. GM slept, the girls watched Tangled and I poured myself a glass of wine and read on the balcony. It was wonderful that we could fit lounge chairs on our balcony. Once again, I was too excited to sit and read. I decided I needed to finish delivering the FE. When I got back they were setting up for a wedding on the 7th floor aft balcony (often referred to as the secret balcony). We later saw the bride taking pictures in the lobby which was really nice. I ran into Mike as he was preparing for the wedding. He is super friendly and always nice to talk to when we run into him which was much more than I expected.
It was 3:30 and the girls really wanted to go to the pool so I took them to the Mickey pool. It was crowded but my kids didn't care. They had a blast and loved it! If you haven't noticed we spent a lot of time running around the ship to see characters and today would be no different. At 4:10 I had them out of the pool so we could get ready to see the princesses. GM went down to the Cinderella line while I washed the girls hair and got them ready. When we were at Disneyland about 3 weeks ago it was easy to spot the girls who had been to Bibbity Bobbidy Boutique they had a tight bun that was slicked with gel and a ton of glitter. My girls both take dance class so I am slowly learning to put their hair in a bun. I decided I could put it up wet to give it that slicked look without gel. It was easy to do it wet. I had bought hair glitter from our local kids salon so I added a ton of glitter to their hair. Honestly, I think they looked great and exactly like what I would have gotten from Bibbity Bobbidy Boutique, which they don't have on the Disney Wonder. I put them in their Cinderella dresses and they looked beautiful. You could tell they felt beautiful and very special. They have been wearing their matching pink princess shoes we bought them at the
Disney store. Surprisingly, the shoes look great with all the princess dresses as they have pink sequins and huge heart gems.
We made it through the princess lines really well thanks to GM, mostly because she would go get in the next line (overlooking the lobby as opposed to outside the theater very close but separated by the gift shops) before we saw the character we were waiting for. GM was very unselfish about standing in line which I really appreciated. The girls were floating around in their Cinderella dresses and even posing in front of the backdrop before Cinderella arrived. Cinderella loved their dresses and hair and was very sweet. DD5 of course was telling Cinderella how we said Bibbity Bobbidy Boo when I put the glitter in their hair. Yes, of course I did this....so fun! I also tried to put glitter in my hair but it wasn't showing up, of well. I really love the poses when the princesses are sitting down with the girls sitting next to them. I requested they do this and they happily did. DCL was really great about you taking your own pictures so I felt like I was able to take the same pictures their professional photographer took and more as I would snap them hugging and signing autographs. As a result, I barely looked at the pictures DCL took and am happy with mine.
Belle was wearing her yellow dress and by the time we changed and found GM she was in the front of the line. Yes, I did carry around a bag with each of the princess dresses that I expected to see so that we could change to match the princesses. It think it adds a lot to the pictures, my girls love it and the princesses love it too. I also think it made us memorable as I don't expect many parents would have their kids changing their clothes all the time. I didn't see anyone else doing this. I love it and think it is totally worth all the changes. I don't think I would do it at Disneyland but on the cruise it was easy and fun. Then again only time will tell.
Belle clearly remembered the girls from earlier and they quickly picked up their conversation. It was obvious Belle loved talking to the girls.
Snow White was next (Cinderella left and Snow White took her place) and she is equally as engaging as Belle. The girls had an intense conversation with Snow White and Dopey was also there for pictures. It is magical how perfect Disney casts the princesses...they look the part. DD5 has been studying the princesses while we have been in line and picked up on the fact that they change their pose between pictures. She is now posing for the pictures and changing her post frequently. It is super cute! We never mentioned this to her so she totally picked it up on her own. It is darling to watch her pose like the princesses and smile with such joy. DD3 still doesn't look directly at the camera and smile. DD5 gets tired of waiting for little sister so her smile becomes more forced. I take tons of pictures with the hope that they will both happen to be looking at the camera with a nice smile. When I do get these it is gold. I take their pictures all the time so we go through this drill frequently so I am not sure why it isn't perfected. I have taught them to hug each each other and we call it sister hug. I can now usually get a great picture if they do sister hug. However, with the princesses I don't want to call sister hug as the princess would be standing in the background and not part of the hug. I keep telling myself that this is part of being little and it will be a memory one day a happy one.
Unfortunately, GM isn't in any of these pictures because she was always giving us her place in line and then leaving for the next line. I actually don't think she really wanted to be in all the pictures but I would have liked her in them. It is beyond magical to see my girls with the princesses!! They really believe in them and admire them. The princesses are fabulous, super sweet and make them feel special. I love this!! DD5 is in preschool and loves all things princess. However, friends with older girls tell me that it will come to a quick end. Seriously, I live in fear that this will end all too soon. There is no question that I will miss it way more than they will. So I am living the dream and relishing the magic while it is there. My hope is that I have several years but that is optimistic. They have the same innocent love for Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto. On this cruise they have also fallen in love with Chip and Dale. I am not as worried about them falling out of love with these characters. Everyone loves Mickey, right?!
We met GM in the lobby to see Mickey in his wizard outfit. Once again, we were right in the front. I even think GM had let people pass her in line. The girls happily greeted Mickey. As soon as they turned to face the camera DD3 looked up, pointed and yelled Yook (look) Captain Hook. She smiled for her picture with Mickey only after I promised we would go see Captain Hook next. Upstairs we went to the balcony overlooking the lobby to see Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The girls have been watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates so they are familiar with Captain Hook. Captain Hook had a great costume and Peter Pan fit the part. The girls were happy to see them, especially DD3. What fun!!! In about an hour we had seen Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Mickey, Captain Hook and Peter Pan.
It was 6pm so it was time for dinner. We found that it worked best for us to get in line early so we were in the front of the line and could see more characters. Dinner at Tritons was fabulous! I loved my food tonight jumbo shrimp were huge, the lamb was succulent, the lobster mac and cheese was decadent and the grand marnier souffle was delicious. The french onion soup didn't have enough cheese for my liking and the dessert trio was just ok but everything else was amazing. The Wonder can have amazing food, just not very consistently. The girls stayed awake during dinner. They are getting better each night. GM wanted to see the show which was a ventriloquist and the girls wanted to go as well. We all went to the theater and within minutes the girls were falling asleep. I decided we had a big day tomorrow so the girls needed to go to bed. GM agreed to take DD5 up. I felt bad GM missed the show but the three of them went to sleep right away.
I should mention that they had pin trading at 7:15 most nights. I have really gotten into the pin trading and bought 100 pins on ebay. My pins were pretty good but you could completely tell the cheap pins from China. They traded with everyone and were really generous. GM couldn't believe all the good trades I made. I brought about 60 of the pins and traded them all. Becca is in charge of pin trading and she is super sweet. If you do any pin trading tell Becca hello from Suzanne. I also had the mission to get 2 full puzzles made up of 6 pins each that are DCL exclusive. Mom and the girls went into the gift shop while I did the pin trading.
I must say we are having a fabulous vacation!! We are on the go a lot, standing in line a lot but enjoying the trip immensely. I went to bed happy and excited to go on a pirate ship in Puerto Vallarta. The girls have no idea about the pirate ship....the surprises are fun for all of us!!