Jen, Stacey & the December 2011 Shindig!

[DisFanJen]

Ok! I'm safely back home and had a day to recover from the jet lag so during the night I'll get all the photos together and post the rest of the TR.

I might even have time to get up a few of the videos we took on the iPhones.


I'll start doing them about 11pm so look for them from about midnight onwards (in other words, check tomorrow. )

EDIT: Well it took all night to convert and upload the photos so I'm going to catch some ZZZ then I'll get thos last TR posts done, honest!

 

[TheStalker]

hurry up with the photos the suspence is killing me, I have to know how it ends!!!

 

[DisFanJen]

Today was the last day of reunion, but unfortunately we couldn't attend as we were off to sample the delights of the Disney Dream!

Because we went back to the room early the night before we were already washed and packed so we decided to go to the ultimate in breakfast cuisine, a Ponderosa!

Where I got to indulge in one of mu guilty pleasures...

Grits! gotto be savoury grits though. No sugar (or in my case artificial sweetener).

Stacey had a random pile of veggie stuff.

And we both had the omelette (All pretence of hardly eating eggs has gone out of the window for me at this point).

As it was all you can eat we both had another plate of random veggie food, well be rude not to!

Then it was into the car and off to the cape. The timing worked out perfectly as by the time we dropped off the car with AVIS (bye, bye Camaro, I'll miss you! *sniff*) and caught the shuttle bus to the port it was time for us to check in.

Hello DCL!

We got straight on the ship with practically no fuss and our room was already ready for us.

Love the room! Not sure if it's bigger than the one we stayed in on the wonder but it felt it!

And we got a Castaway club goody bag.

The verandah was huge! A good 1/4 the size of the room it seemed.

And you can't argue with that view.

Anyway, we freshened up then headed out to the DVC member meet. If I'm honest mainly for the freebies.

Hmm, free Mimosas...

Stacey really liked the Mimosas, the fact that she liked them so much is probably why she volunteered to be the the team leader in team Cinderella for the games!

The horror!

Seriously, the DVC event was great fun and we got a couple of goodies which was nice. Of course the tried to sell us on buying more points but as usual it was a very low pressure pitch.

Once the DVC event was over we had to do the obligatory emergency drill. But at least you don't have to wear your life jacket any more.

Strangely our muster point was in the Walt Disney Theatre. But hey I'm sure the great powers of Disney know what they are doing.

Once the drill was over I headed for the sail away party. Not because I'm into that sort of thing (it's actually quite cheesy) but to get you a photo.

See what I put myself through for you guys...

She sure is a pretty ship. It's too bad I couldn't get a pic before I got on.

Then I was feeling a little peckish as we'd missed lunch so we popped to Filmore's Favorites to grab a snack.

A Mozzarella Tomato and Pesto Pannini (Though personally I'd just call it a toasty) and some Greek Wraps. Both very yummy. Much better than the QS food on our last cruise.

Bye Port Canaveral!

Then we spent a little time exploring the ship. It's amazing!

The main atrium was beautiful!

Just breathtaking!

 

[DisFanJen]

Then we went off to catch the first of the shows, The Golden Mickeys!

This was our entertainment director, Clayton. In a strange co-incidence, he was the entertainment director on our first cruise. Nice to see you again Clayton!

Then the captain and executive officers came on stage which was cool. Though if they are all here, who's piloting the ship? Dah, dah, dahhhhh!

The show was great, staring the amazing Ensign Benson.

(Excuse the lousy photos, at this point the camera had started dying but we were unaware at the time)

Lots of scenes from great Disney shows, including one of my favourites, Mulan.

And there was enough magic left over to give Ensign Benson her happily ever after.

Then it was off for dinner at the Enchanted Garden

The dining room was beautiful, I'm really glad I got to see this one in it's evening glory.

Our server was Gokan and our head server was Zita. Unfortunately the name of our assistant server has slipped my mind but all three were very attentive without being obtrusive. I highly recommend them.

The starter was a small bread stuffed with mushrooms and vegetables. It was OK but nothing to write home about.

Next was a Portabella mushroom dish that was yummy!

Then I had a no added sugar raspberry mouse. Again this was great, especially since on the last cruise I was stuck with fruit cups.

Stacey didn't fancy anything on the desert menu so they made her an ice cream Sunday. The empty glass when she finished makes me think she liked it...

Then we headed back to our room to find our first friend waiting for us.

A towel octopus!

So we moved him to the dressing table and snuggled in for the night.

 

[DisFanJen]

The night was a bit rough, the ship noticeably rolling with the seas but we managed to get some sleep as we never noticed the ship docking with Nassau.

Once we were up and about we decided to get breakfast at the Enchanted Garden as we knew how to get there without having to look up directions.

However the veggie options were pretty meagre.

I grabbed a couple of hot items and some Granola (Muesli)

Stacey found some scrambled egg and some Mickey waffles.

Then a server noticed our dilemma and broght us both a veggie omelette.


Once we'd finished we headed to our verandah to grab some photos.

Look, Nassau!

Look! More Nassau!

But for those looking for a whistle stop tour of this Bahaman 'Paradise' I'm now going to disapoint you as this is the view we wanted...

That's right, we stayed on the ship.

Getting shots of things like this amazing Ginger Bread House in the Atrium.

Then the photos stop for a while as Stacey and I went to the Buena Vista theatre to watch a flick.

Mahna Mahna!

The only thing better than the Muppets film was free Muppets film!

Then Stacey went back to the room to veg out on the verandah while I went to watch tonight's show.

Honestly I think Stacey had the better idea this night. Some of the scenes were ok but for the most part it was jokes about DCL or modern in-jokes about things like the Kardashians.

Not really my thing. Then it was rush back to the room to get changed for our dinner at Palo.

 

[DisFanJen]

So a quick change an $40 to DCL for dry cleaning and it was off to Palo.

I didn't get a photo but it's very beautiful in Palo, very elegant.

The servers were great, they went all out providing little extras and going that extra mile. Maybe they heard we were going to Remy the next day!

Like this Italian sampler platter.

The first 'real' course was a dish made with the infamous Portabella Mushrooms in an amazing sauce. Very scrumptious!

Then another surprise, a tomato and mozzarella dish that was simple but very tasty.

Then it was a mushroom risotto with Parmesan shavings. Yum (unless you hadn't guessed, Stacey and I love mushrooms)

Then it was another surprise. A sort of Ratatouille. Again, very nice.

Then onto deserts.

I had a no added sugar sweet ravioli, which was both strange and amazingly tasty.

Stacey went for the Soufflé, she loved it but said it wasn't as good as V&As one.

By the end we were both stuffed.

As you can see! (She's going to kill me for using these photos! )

Then back to the room for another new friend.

A puppy!

 

[DisFanJen]

This morning we decided to head down to the Royal Palace for breakfast. Partly because it's not a buffet and partly because we'd missed the restaurant as we were at Palo the night before.

It's amazingly pretty in there I'm really glad we took the time to pop in for breakfast.

Even the cups are dainty and 'princessy' like.

They also did a 'big breakfast' that was easy to convert to veggie and was scrummy.

But this was Castaway Cay day, so we got ourselves together and headed off the ship.

That's a really big butt!

Stacey got straight into the swing of things as you can see!

At the first stop we split up, Stacey went for a walk along the biking trails and I headed off to Serenity Bay.

This place is just gorgeous! I'm not a lay on the beach sort of person but I could get used to this. I got to play with my Christma present, a Kindle Keyboard 3G which I used to read the first few chapters of the Steve Jobs biography.

Finally the chance to get a shot of the ship. Hello beautiful!

Well at about 2ish we met up then headed to Cookies where there was some food pre-ordered for us by the head server in Palo.

This is the first problem with food we had on the cruise.

The salad was edible but not great.

But the veggie burgers were foul and the 'steamed veggies' were raw. But the one to top it off is that they ordered me some sugar free ice cream, then forgot to put it in the freezer so I got vanilla soup! Ahh well, it can't be perfect all the time.

After the food we slowly wandered back to the ship, where Stacey chilled out on the verandah and I went to the theatre to watch 'The Help'.

These Christmas trees still look weird in the summery weather.

Then it was time to get dolled up again for Remy!

 

[DisFanJen]

Wow! Remy was amazing! And menu was constructed by Chef Scott, the head chef at V&As. This was going to be a good one.

Everything had subtle hints of Remy...

Even the pattern on the chairs!

Even the plates had Remy around the edge or on the side. Way cool.

Even the water is tarted up.

First they made us a cocktail made with Absolut Vodka infused with mint, Tattinger Champagne. It was amazing!

It's the black truffle brioche yes!

Then it was the Amuse Bouche. It was some mushroom mouse on top of a cheese crisp with a different mouse underneath. It was amazing!

Then it was on to the ratatouille in Calamarata pasta with 8 year old Balsamic vinegar. We'd had these before at V&As and I have to say that the one at Remy was better!

Then it was a vegetable medley with a mushroom sauce. Again it was gorgeous!

This was the best dish of the night! lots of little vegetable bites with their own mash, or sauce. I absolutely loved it!


We then had a cheese platter but I forgot to take a photo. Doh! They had a load of different cheeses including one that was extra strong and so runny that you had to eat it with a spoon! It was delish!

Then it was desert! I'm just showing this one (Stacey's) as they were almost identical. The differences in mine were a different type of mouse in the chocolate cone and berries instead of the gelato. Stacey loved hers where as I thought mine was a bit bitter.

Then Stacey got a chocolate selection that she ate a couple of then had to stop as she was stuffed.

So she got a to go box.

Then it was back to the room to recover from another amazing meal.

To find a bunny!

 

[mmtska]

LOL I love that picture of Stacey I've decided that someday, we're going to HAVE to try Remy and V&A. Lord knows how that's going to work out with me being so picky, but meh. Also, the veggies from Cookies look awful I would have gone back on the ship and back to the quick service places lol.

I like the Christmassy stuff onboard and at CC!!!

 

[DisFanJen]

Well we're getting there. But I'm getting tired so I'll catch a ZZZ or 2 then put up the last days.

 

[DisFanJen]

Today was a sea day so we had a lie in then moseyed down to The Royal Palace for breakfast. No photos as we had the same food as the day before.

But as it was the last full day it was time to pay the bills, get our photos from Shutters (the whole 1 photo we had taken) and make a phone call to the mainland (which you'll find out about later).

So while Stacey was in line to have an item signed by the Captain...

Cool eh?

I did all the running around to places like guest services.

Then we vegged on the verandah for a few hours, watching a few films on the room TV like the new Captain America movie and one of my favourites, Flight of the Navigator.

Then we headed out to watch the last show, Believe.

It was a great show, but personally I preferred The Golden Mickeys.

Then it was off for dinner. Would you believe they made the last night an 'optional dress up night'? Well we'd already got tarted up for two nights in a row so we decided to exercise the the optional part.

This is the restaurant we'd been waiting to see, we'd heard good things.

I loved the design of the entrance area.

My favourite girl was even hiding in the corner.

I'm glad we didn't get dressed up though, it really didn't feel like the place where you would...

I loved the little touches though, like Loxo Jr and Remy's brother hiding on a shelf.

And the design of the center pieces.

And of course there was the cork boards around the room.

That were actually screens!

It was so cool! Just like going to Turtle Talk with Crush.

Again the little touches are really nice. And for those who frequent eBay, yes, this is the infamous butter knife that keeps appearing for auction after being pilfered from DCL.

The starter was a nice mushroom risotto. Not as good as some of the ones we'd had at places like V&As but still nice.

Then a Butternut Squash soup. This I really liked.

Then it was time for the villian of the piece. Chipotle cakes on a bed of rice. Stacey liked them but I couldn't stand them! (maybe remembering the Chipotle Away episode of South Park didn't help! )

So I asked for something else and the brought me this:

Based on the plate I imagine the went and got it from The Royal Palace. It was a vegetable and tofu dish that was very nice.

Then onto desert!

We both had the no added sugar lemon mouse. Then decided to be naughty and had another desert.

I had a no added sugar brownie. Very nice.

And Stacey had this fruit tart.

Then it was back to the room for the last night on board.

And another puppy dog!

 

[DisFanJen]

It was the end of the cruise and time to get off, and because we'd set ourselves a tight schedule we headed straight off the boat without breakfast.

But we couldn't leave without getting a shot of the beautiful view.

Well, mostly beautiful. What's that ugly thing.

So we got to AVIS and picked up another car (just a Chevy POS unfortunately, but it was only for 2 days) and headed off to Kennedy Space Centre.

We quickly popped to Guest services and had our tour, booked for 2pm, changed to the next available one at 10:30 then waited for it to leave in about 45 minutes.

Catching a few of the sights while we waited.

Then we headed off for the 'Close Up' tour.

On our way to the bus I spotted this gate so grabbed a shot as I thought it was cool.

They took us over to the NASA causeway where we'd watched a couple of shuttle launches. It seemed weird to be there when it was so empty.

However that wasn't why we were there, we had come to see the Vehicle Assembly Building which for the first time ever people were aloud inside.

That's not bad but we want to be closer.

Closer...

That's more like it!

I tell you, the inside of that place is big.

Really big...

Really, Really big...

Amazingly astronomically big!

I can't describe the feeling of majesty and history from this place. Maybe you need to be a nerd to understand, I dunno.

But the best was yet to come...

Ladies and gentlemen, may I please present the Orbiter Endeavour.

Standing within 10ft of a real orbiter that'd been into space was really something.

Eventually we had to leave the VAB, but everyone on the tour was reluctant to go and security were starting to look a bit unhappy by the time the guide chivvied us all onto the bus.

Of course we got to see some other things up close too. Like Kennedy's mission control.

This launch tower that may never be used as it was built for the Constellation Program that was cancelled by president Obama. The guide said there was hope it would be converted for use with the commercial program that replaced it though.

And we got to see the VAB door fully open, a rare thing nowadays as they only needed them open that far for the Saturn V.

We also got to get up close (though not as close as with the VAB) with Pad 39A the main shuttle launch pad. Also way cool.

Then it was the end of the tour and over to the Saturn V centre.

We watched the show that simulated the launch of Apollo 8, which, to probably overuse a word, was cool. Then unfortunately we needed to book out of there as we had another appointment to get to. But that's a story for part 2, that you'll get tomorrow!

 

[Linda67]

I've just caught up

Looks like you had a great time on The Dream

I really want to try Paolo and Remy on our cruise next year, fingers crossed we can get a ressie

 

[DisFanJen]

I've just caught up

Looks like you had a great time on The Dream

I really want to try Paolo and Remy on our cruise next year, fingers crossed we can get a ressie

I booked mine at the 90 day window without any problems and one of them was for the pirate night, a fairly popular night to get an alternative restaurant so you should be ok as long as you do it right at the window.

 

[DisFanJen]

Sorry for not posting the last days of the TR yet but on top of Christmas I've been knocked for six by a horrible cold.

Starting to feel better though so I'll get them posted tomorrow when I'm not at work.

 

[Linda67]

Sorry for not posting the last days of the TR yet but on top of Christmas I've been knocked for six by a horrible cold.

Starting to feel better though so I'll get them posted tomorrow when I'm not at work.

Sorry to hear your aren't feeling well

Hope you feel better soon

 

[DisFanJen]

I've finally crawled out from under my cold so it's time to finish off this trip report!

 

[DisFanJen]

Ok, remember that phone call on to the mainland that we made on the Dream? Well, it as to our new favourite restaurant on property...

Yes, we were off to Victoria and Albert's again, however there was no availability in the main room so this time we were in the Queen Victoria room!

(As an aside, once we got home we worked out that we had spend over a third of our total budget this trip just on Victoria and Albert's but we both agree that it was totally worth it. )

The room is amazingly pretty, but Stacey said she preferred the main room as she felt there was more atmosphere. Though I would say that was mainly because at the time we were the only ones in the room.

Now onto the meal!

As always, we started with an Amuse-Bouche. This time the four items were:

Root Spinach Crisp
Mango & Avocado Roll
Pickled Beet and Southern Bell
Corn an Soy Bean Salad

As every time before, each bite size item was exquisite! My favourite was the Pickled Beet, it was, to use a bristonian expression, lush!

Next was Tomato Bouquet with Miniature Greens and 100 year old Balsamic. Well, I thought the 8 year old Balsamic was good but this stuff was amazing! I've got to find out where I can get this stuff!

Then was the Hot Smoked Cauliflower with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing.

The name just doesn't do it justice. what was brought to us was a what looked like a bell jar filled with smoke in a glass, then the glass was removed with a billow of smoke to reveal the meal. The smokyness was infused through the whole dish, it had to be one of the best dishes I'd ever tasted.

The next dish was Artichokes and Bean Radishes with Sunchoke Purée.

The flavours of this were subtle but nothing seemed to overpower the other. It was delicious.

Next we were brought this tiny mouthful of Squash Tortellini. It was really nice but we were surprised at how tiny it was.

Only for the central cover to be removed to reveal a Delicata Squash Soup underneath. Again probably the best squash soup I've ever had.

This was a forest mushroom tart with my new favourite ingredient, white Truffles. This little tart was scrumptious, and the truffle was earthy and delicious!

This had to be the highlight of the meal, Potato Gnocchi with Peas and Carrots & Miniature Vegetables.

As always the description didn't do the dish justice. The 3 Gnocchi in the flavoured mash was amazing, the small bowl of lentils were perfectly cooked and seasoned, each of the veggies had their own sauce, mash, or foam. For me it's the best dish I'd had the whole trip.

Then it was onto the cheese platter. Each with an accompanying item to complement them. I especially loved the Stilton. My appreciation of blue cheese has definitely increased over this vacation.


Then it was on to the first desert, yes, I said the first desert!

Stacey had a green Apple Baba with Sour Cream Ice Cream. See that apple there, it's actually a soft pudding! Stacey said it was amazing though the spun sugar was too sweet for her.

I had a no added sugar Apple Cobbler. It was amazing

Stacey then had a Mocha scented Tanzanie Chocolate Mousse Timbale and Chocolate Cocktail. She absolutely loved it.

I had a Mixed Berry Gateau. It was ultra soft and creamy, both sharp and sweet (though fake sweet I assume! ), delish!

And that was the end of the meal. Our newest 'best meal we'd ever had,'

Befer we left though we had the honour of meeting Chef Scott. The man who designed our meal. We would have looked happier but we were so full that we were ready to roll out of there! But we had to finish every mouthful, it was so delicious!

Then it was back to the room to sleep off an amazing meal.

 

[DisFanJen]

Ok, my Air is nearly flat and I don't have the charger here so I'll get the last full day and the travel back posted later today.

It's shouldn't take long as the camera broke for the last day or so, so not many photos. :-\

 

[DisFanJen]

Today was our last full day so we had planned to meet up with Megan and 'Chris' and go to Epcot.

Unfortunately our camera was constantly saying 'System Error' so after some Wailing and a Gnashing of Teeth we abandoned it and went to meet Megan and 'Chris' at Ponderosa for Breakfast.

It took a while to get to breakfast as the dreaded Sat Nav struck again and sent Megan and 'Chris' to the wrong Ponderosa. One that had been shut for over a year too! I said opposite Old Town!

During breakfast we decided to go to DHS for the morning instead as Stacey and I hadn't ridden RnRC this trip and it was Megan's favourite park.

So we went to DHS and straight fir RnRC. We rode it once, with me whooping and hollering all the way. The guys wanted to ride ToT next but afte the big breakfast I didn't fee up to it. So we headed to Toy Story Mania. It turned out that 'Chris' is as competitive as Stacey and 'Chris' vied to be the highest score in the car.

Chris won in the end, making Stacey a touch miffed but it was all fun.

Then we hit Muppets 3D. After watching the show and Stacey pointing out the mistake (Sweetums on stage in front of the film while being in the film a the same time at the end) we decided to grab some lunch so did a walk-in at Mamma Melroses.

Everyone got a Pizza except me as I got the vegetarian Gnocchi. While eating we decided to go play Mini golf, but Megan and the gang wanted to go on ToT first.

I still wasn't feeling it for some reason (maybe the fact we'd now eaten a large lunch had something to do with it ) so I skipped it and waited while they rode.

Then it was off to Winter Summer Land!

We'd done Fantasia Gardens before, but not Winter Summer Land. Again, the competitiveness in Stacey And 'Chris' came out, but in the end 'Chris' won. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that he was keeping the scores.

It was great fun but I think that Fantasia Gardens was a better course. I think they're missing a trick as well, with a bit of a refurb they could turn it into 'Swinter', the Phineas & Ferb tie in would help no end.

Anyhoo, Megan needed to get ready for work and we were already over running so we had to say goodbye to Megan and 'Chris' for this year, though it was a bit of an elongated goodbye as we were driving the same way for a good while so kept stopping next to each other at the lights.

We went back to the room for a quick rest and to start the packing process, then after a couple of hours we decided to head out to Epcot. We needed to pop there for a quick visit as it's sort of a tradition to make Epcot our last park.

Just before we went, Stacey tried the age old trick of 'Bashing the Camera till it either worked or broke permanently' Well guess what happened?

She somehow got it to work!

So we went straight to the land pavilion and rode Soarin', then after that we rode living with the land. It's not as good as when there were live CMs on it who you could ask questions but it's still a good ride. I got loads of pictures while I could.

Dragon Fruit. If you've never tried them I highly recommend them. They are delicious!

Is it just me or are these sunflowers looking a little stunted?

The now famous Nine Pound Lemon! Almost as famous as the back side of water...

Tomato trees. Nice, now all I need is a money tree...

Funky Growing methods are always cool.

And even the land pavilion was getting into the festive spirit. Ahhh.

Then we did a quick run round Test Track.

I love this car, they should build a real one.

But Cinderella has to leave the ball some time and we needed to get up early to finish packing so after a walk around the world showcase we headed back to the entrance where as our tradition dictates...

We threw a coin each into the fountain and made a wish, then we said goodbye to the parks and headed back to our room.