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Day 5: At Sea
After such a jam-packed first week of our trip, we were very grateful for this long-awaited day at sea. I have never been on a cruise before that had so many port days before a day at sea, so we were exhausted and grateful for a day to rest and recuperate before our day in Rome.
As Disney Castaway Club Members, we were invited to an exclusive character breakfast at Animator’s Palate to kick off our day at sea. This was free-of-charge, but you are limited to one exclusive offering per person (they are only offered at days at sea). The boys opted to sleep in, so the breakfast was just my parents, my sisters, and myself.
Note: There was not a ship photographer present at this event, so you will need to bring your camera if you want any pictures. I was grateful that I brought mine! This was the first time that we opted for a character breakfast (last year for the British Isles cruise, they offered an exclusive meet and greet with Anna and Elsa in Animator’s Palate).
We enjoyed eating breakfast as a family and interacting with the characters. Since most crew members play multiple roles on the ship, we recognized some of the character attendants as performers from the shows and got to chat with them. This is another reason I love cruising on the smaller ships – it allows you to build those relationships and have those personal conversations with the crew members which makes the ship really feel like a community. It was great to get photos with the fab five without having to wait in line, or even get out of our chairs!
Layne was grateful to get some autographs to fill up her new autograph book, a tradition that I miss from my childhood. The cruises are a far less stressful method of filling up those autograph books, as you could easily spend 4-5 hours standing in line to meet those characters in the parks!
Goofy’s character attendant was one of the singers in the show “Once Upon a Song” the night before, so Goofy took it upon himself to mimic the dancing from the show.
Although Genesis was not our assigned waiter for the breakfast, he was working that event, and frequently came over to check on us. He was a butcher in the Philippines before he came to work for DCL, so he always insists on cutting our meat for us at dinner. As he always says “Allow me, princess, the butcher is here.” As soon as Layne’s breakfast arrived, he ran over to cut her breakfast for her, which was such a thoughtful and loving gesture.
After our character breakfast, my dad and I raced to Palo for the adults only “Art of the Theme” ship tour. I always make a point to attend this tour as often as I am able. This tour takes you through various areas of the ship, where you can learn the meaning behind the décor of the ship. My favorite part of this tour is that it is different every time you go, as their information packet is 60 pages long. I have been on this tour at least 10 times, and have never left without learning a few things about the ship. It’s amazing to me how much work and thought the imagineers put into every last detail of the ships! Here’s a few of my favorite secrets that I’ve learned on these tours:
When designing the ships, the imagineers were specifically ordered “not to create a fleet of floating milk cartons.” They wanted the outside of the ships to resemble ships during the golden age of cruising, but did not want a bunch of all-white ships. Furthermore, they wanted the ships to be Mickey Mouse colors. They decided on red smoke stacks and put a great deal of effort into the yellow life boats (for Mickey’s shoes), but didn’t want an ominous looking black on the bottom of the ship. The imagineers spent weeks trying to come up with a dark blue color that would be perfect for the ship to make it seem brighter, but were stuck without a decision. That day, a woman named Monica walked in wearing dark blue pants, and they knew they finally had a solution. They said to her “Monica, we need your pants.” The color of her pants was matched, and to this day is the dark blue color that you see on the DCL ships! It is called “Monica blue” in her honor (still no word on whether or not she got her pants back).
Curious about the effort that went into getting those Mickey yellow lifeboats? Before Disney Cruise Line, the only approved international maritime lifeboats were bright orange. Channeling Walt Disney’s attitude of “if you can dream it, you can do it,” Disney challenged international maritime regulations and underwent a series of tests to prove that the yellow lifeboats were just as visible as the orange lifeboats. In honor of the extensive effort required to get this color approved, the yellow color is named “Mickey Yellow,” and other cruise lines have since adopted the use of Mickey Yellow lifeboats.
The 5th floor is the home of all of the kid’s club areas including It’s A Small World Nursery and the Oceaneer’s Lab and Club. You will also notice that the ceilings here are significantly lower, and as you walk from aft or forward towards midship (where the kids areas are), the paintings on the walls become larger. This is because the imagineers wanted children to feel big, brave, and strong as they approached the kid’s club. They literally created a world that they perfectly fit into, so they would have the courage to leave their parents to go make friends and have fun.
After the Art of the Theme tour, I grabbed a bite to eat and changed into my bathing suit to meet my friends at the pool. We spent the majority of the afternoon lounging and relaxing as we enjoyed the weather and opportunity to get a tan. I very much enjoyed not being on a tight schedule after so many busy excursions earlier in the week!
Have you ever been on the AquaDunk? This slide was added to the Magic a few years ago. The Dream and Fantasy both have the AquaDuck, a longer water slide that uses tubes and goes over the edge of the ship. Since the Magic is smaller it did not have the space to accommodate such a large slide, so they added the AquaDunk instead, a body slide which features an almost vertical drop at the beginning where the floor literally is pulled out from underneath you!
We left the pool to get ready for the first formal night of the cruise (which usually occurs on the first sea day). Layne went to the officer’s pin trading with the pins that she brought onboard, and the adults headed to the Captain’s reception in the atrium.
On formal night, you can enjoy complimentary wine and mixed drinks (virgin drinks are available as well) in the atrium. You can also have the opportunity to meet the captain and get your family’s picture with him!
If you’re planning to eat at Palo for dinner during your cruise, I recommend that you do not plan your Palo experience for formal night. The formal night dinner is always significantly nicer, and you don’t want to miss it! We enjoyed the show at Animator’s Palate, including a finale featuring Sorcerer Mickey. We ate dessert and sipped coffee as we discussed the full day in Rome ahead of us.
As usual, the adults went to Fathoms for the nightly entertainment and the kids went to the kid’s clubs with their friends. We all turned in early, prepared for an early wake up call the next morning in Rome. Our excursion was scheduled to meet at 7:15 AM, and we knew we were going to need our rest – ESPECIALLY with a predicted temperature of 104!!!
Don’t miss the next installment of our trip report as we take on Rome and the Vatican City! Taking bets now on whether or not we were the final force that destroyed the Coliseum!
Up Next: Day 6
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Danielle is a 23 year old Disney fanatic, ICU Nurse, and travel blogger from Nashville, TN. When she is not traveling, you can find her snuggling with her 2 English bulldogs and spending time with her family of 7. You can read more about her trips and adventures at www.daniellefarideh.com.
Instagram: @daniellefarideh
Facebook: www.facebook.com/daniellefarideh
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