All Work and No Play makes Smee Grumpy: an Oct.'19 "work" TR *New PTR link 4/8*

[Jenny Sanders]

What an awesome tour, absolutely beautiful. Too bad you got stuck with crappy food again...

 

[suse66]

I thought this restaurant was beautiful and I think the prettiest and most interesting of all the ones in the rotation. Next was the Enchanted Garden, it was pretty too but didn't impress me as much as Royal Court:

It is so pretty!

Back to restaurants we toured Palo and Remy, Remy is also gorgeous!

It looks so lovely......I want to see it in person!

After lunch we only had left the adult areas onboard outside of the restaurants and boy were they impressive too! I won't overshare since I've done that already in these 2 posts but here are 2 of my favorite shots.

Gorgeous!

 

[LeiaIsAPrincess2]

That food even looks terrible, I hope you got a decent meal eventually!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Sorry the CM wasn’t to knowledgeable about the cruise ship!
It reminds me of some of the wrong info We have received from CM’s at times! We often know much more than they do!
The Disney cruise ship looks so wonderful, one day we will be taking a cruise!
Does Disney do any cruises down by Costa Rica? Would love that and Andi will be there studying abroad next year!

 

[pkondz]

But honestly, if you were with your family and saw this group walking by wouldn't you be like..................WHO MADE 100 WOMEN WITH VARYING BODY SHAPES AND SIZES WEAR WHITE BOTTOMS!!!!!!

No... I'd be "Oh, no! Tour group! Walk in the opposite direction!"

I guilted the boys into staying in a LM room for a few nights back in 2014 but had never seen a suite and we were treated to a newly refurbished Nemo one!

Cool!

I do know they took up the carpet and the floor is now tile.

Really! Huh. Hmmm... cold on the feet in the morning? But cleaner than carpet... Hmmm...

As it was the end of October there was apparently a CM pumpkin decorating contest going on

I like that.

I had never ever set foot at: Caribbean Beach!

Me neither.

I know great picture

Stunning!

It honestly amazed me how many agents hadn't been to so many of the resorts we toured!

That's... a bit odd. How can you recommend a place if you haven't been?

No pictures please Ariane, you are not a good photographer!" (said in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice) (no that CM didn't have an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice)

ORANGE you glad this day is almost over???

<groan> You went there...

So we were all streaming into BOMA and weren't sure where to sit; the CM's directed us to 3 tables that fit probably like 75 even though there were 100 of us. This was not cool nor were the looks we got from people as 100 of us pranced up to the buffet line, seriously it was like all the other guests had been at 1900 PF when we were too and were now more angry

I'm laughing on the inside... but also very, very glad I wasn't there.

And to top if off I ordered out of the box and didn't like what I got and I cannot for the life of me find it on any menu! It had jalapeno in it though and while I like spicy drinks this was burn your throat spicy and didn't agree with me although at this point in the trip my attitude was approaching burn your throat spicy! The food this time around wasn't that great either so once again I left hungry and unsatisfied

Sorry about that. Hope things turned around after that.

We took a Lyft back to the Lodge and did one of my favorite things: went out to Geyser Point.

That place sounds wonderful...

Nice shot! And how great to be sitting, relaxing with a drink and friends and see that???

it also made me sad that this wasn't my usual fun trip. I missed Steve and the boys and sitting out there I really missed our EPIC May Girls trip crew:

 

[pkondz]

Disney all over! Not quite enough to sway Ricky to pick a college for but hey, it made me smile.

Perfect! Go there.

Nice!

going to WDW for work isn't quite the same as going for you.

No. I can totally get that.

It was kind of like.............having strangers move into your "home" for a period of time and rearrange things without your input!

That's... man that's a perfect analogy!

We're usually told it'll be mid to late afternoon when our luggage is transferred and we wouldn't be to the resort before 5 anyway so we were good, I thought.

uh oh...

If you don't know the Magic and Wonder are the smaller of the ships while the Fantasy and Dream are larger.

Ah! No, I didn't.

after trading in our licenses,

Why?

The ship was all decorated for the Halloween on the High Seas cruises

Cooooool...

If you must find me I'm up towards the top like right across from the hanging "Halloween on the High Seas" sign.

I see you!

I look absolutely thrilled to be taking GROUP PHOTO #45!

 

[pkondz]

So I am super proud of myself for booking the Up Close with Rhinos tour for us on July 4th yesterday!

Nice! That's one I'd like to do.

Well karma got us on board because our guide did not know ANYTHING about how things work with DCL let alone details of the ship!

Oh, no...

This is one of the restaurants in the dinner rotation. How pretty is it inside??

Very! I had no idea.

Speaking of Princesses look who's carriage was masquerading as a bread basket!

Ariel? Mulan? Jasmine?

It's the little touches that make DCL stand out and the napkin folded on the plates was no exception:

I like that.

The coolest part were the doors leading in to the Enchanted Garden! To me they look like elevator doors and remind me of a scene from The Shining. I'm afraid to look at the picture too long in case blood starts gushing from both sides......

But... yes.

One of the rooms was decorated with the Halloween package since it was a Halloween on the High Seas cruise:

Love it!

Wow!

When we were in here an agent asked why there was "G" on the rug in Remy. Those of us who knew kept quiet for a few but our guide had absolutely no idea and suggested it may have been a tribute to an Imagineer who designed the ship????

Oy.

Do you see the little guy hiding in the pattern on the chairs?

Took a bit, but... yes!

one of the agents in our group, Kim, who books like 20 Disney cruises a month and hit 1 million in sales last year was answering the questions for us and correcting him.

Back to the Roy Disney Suite which our guide didn't know existed!

That suite is... sweet!

Yup, lunch at Cabanas which is a buffet.

Oh, no!

This is behind the bar in the adult only Skyline Lounge.

I've seen photos of that... I really like it!

We had to be off before the ship left again.

No! Stowaway!

Or was I

uh oh...

 

[Cloe Colton]

Wow I can't imagine how frustrating that had to be to have a guide who knew nothing! Dan always yells at me because I correct people who say things wrong when we watch vlogs so I probably would have been one of the people calling out the answers! Lol

Bummer that you guys had to eat at Cabanas! That was my least favorite part of our whole cruise the last time because we had a terrible time finding a table and then when we did a family filled in the tables around us and were passing food over our heads! Lol I will be eating at sit downs mostly on our next cruise! Or getting room service! Lol

 

[Wood Nymph]

Does Disney offer tours of their cruise ships to the general public? I would love to see what the ships look like.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

So I am super proud of myself for booking the Up Close with Rhinos tour for us on July 4th yesterday!

Awesome! We loved that tour too!

ell karma got us on board because our guide did not know ANYTHING about how things work with DCL let alone details of the ship!

Yikes that's terrible.

I want this for my house!

It got to the point where he was giving wrong answers or no answer so one of the agents in our group, Kim, who books like 20 Disney cruises a month and hit 1 million in sales last year

Wow! #goals lol

This is behind the bar in the adult only Skyline Lounge. I'm not sure what city skyline is in this shot but the background changes to different city skylines through the night:

Oo I like that!

 

[ariane37]

Remy was good but really our favorite is probably Palo on Fantasy and Dream. Palo brunch is AMAZING and one of our favorites.

I really want to do the Palo brunch but since it's the first time cruising for the kids and it's a short one I didn't want to do anything without them. Technically half way through the cruise Ricky could do it because he turns 18 but then Chris is left out.

So funny that the tour guide knew so little about the ship!

Disappointing! But not surprising after the guide one of the other groups had for the tours.

It's totally worth it. I LOVE my blanket--it is so incredibly soft and the whole back is sherpa lined. I'm so glad I listened to my internet friends on this one LOL

I remember you buying that and that's really what put this idea in the back of my mind and kept it there! And when we toured I thought of you because the Halloween blanket looked SO warm and cozy

Well, I mean...now that I know about the robes...

Yeah ok, quotes coming up!

What an awesome tour, absolutely beautiful. Too bad you got stuck with crappy food again...

I can't remember if you've ever done a Disney cruise but their ships are unbelievable! Every detail is of course done the way you'd expect from Disney, even the sections that don't scream Disney like the adult lounges and clubs etc. Having seen a Norwegian ship and Royal prior to ever seeing a Disney ship I was in AWE when I toured the Magic and the Fantasy is even more grand.

It looks so lovely......I want to see it in person!

Take a cruise!!

That food even looks terrible, I hope you got a decent meal eventually!

Eventually is the key word...........................

It reminds me of some of the wrong info We have received from CM’s at times! We often know much more than they do!

Right? This guy could definitely fill in at the call center lol. Although I'm sure when he's at Shades of Green doing his job he knows his stuff!

The Disney cruise ship looks so wonderful, one day we will be taking a cruise!
Does Disney do any cruises down by Costa Rica? Would love that and Andi will be there studying abroad next year!

Well sometimes their Panama Canal itinerary has a stop in Costa Rica; it did in 2018 but for 2020 it does not but it does change from year to year. However those are also long cruises, usually 14 days!

That's... man that's a perfect analogy!

Sometimes I'm RIGHT on the mark

Why?

It's for security purposes so they know who's on the ship that isn't sailing. When you tour ships they're usually leaving again in a few hours - for all the tours I've done we get on between 9 and 10 and have to be off by 2 or 3 and guests are coming on as we're touring - so having our licenses means they know if someone didn't get off the ship. I mean I get it but it's kind of stupid? Like, "we'll make sure you leave our ship before we sail because if you don't, you can't have your license to drive yourself home!" Yeah but in that case Id be stowing away on your ship so go ahead and hold that license for me...........................then there's the slim chance someone disappears.....you know it's happened before where someone actually can't be found on a ship! Whether they've gone over or whatever the case. So yup, safety/security thing and it's been that way on all the different cruise lines I've toured.

 

[ariane37]

Nice! That's one I'd like to do.

It's perfect; just an hour and like $40 per person so it doesn't take up a huge chunk of your day. One of the best parts when I did it was seeing how much the CM animal trainers truly care about the Rhinos.

Ariel? Mulan? Jasmine?

Ha ha Mr. Smarty-Pants!

Dan always yells at me because I correct people who say things wrong when we watch vlogs so I probably would have been one of the people calling out the answers! Lol

LOL I do this when we're in Disney! If someone in line behind us or sitting next to us on a boat or bus says something totally wrong I'll say something half out loud, half under my breath to correct them and Steve is like "STOP"!!

Bummer that you guys had to eat at Cabanas! That was my least favorite part of our whole cruise the last time because we had a terrible time finding a table and then when we did a family filled in the tables around us and were passing food over our heads!

It was hard finding seats with 50 if us and then especially since so many guests go right there to eat when they board and are waiting for their rooms. That's horrible what the family did to you lol! I'm really looking forward to all the restaurants

Does Disney offer tours of their cruise ships to the general public? I would love to see what the ships look like.

Sadly no but wouldn't that be great? You'll just have to take a Disney cruise

Wow! #goals lol

Right?? I don't know how some of them do it, we had 3 agents hit a million in sales last year. I know the one in particular I mentioned being in our cruise tour group's husband has a cousin on a popular daytime soap (like the one that's left lol) and she gets some famous people business so I'm sure that helps! She does tons of ABD's too, like tons.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

I can't remember if you've ever done a Disney cruise but their ships are unbelievable! Every detail is of course done the way you'd expect from Disney, even the sections that don't scream Disney like the adult lounges and clubs etc. Having seen a Norwegian ship and Royal prior to ever seeing a Disney ship I was in AWE when I toured the Magic and the Fantasy is even more grand.

Nope, have not done a Disney cruise. But, if we do, you will be booking it for us. ❤ ❤

 

[pkondz]

It's perfect; just an hour and like $40 per person so it doesn't take up a huge chunk of your day. One of the best parts when I did it was seeing how much the CM animal trainers truly care about the Rhinos.

That's really quite reasonable. Both in time and money.

Ha ha Mr. Smarty-Pants!

 

[Steppesister]

Great tour of the ship and the restaurants. All of them look so lovely, but I think my favorite would be Remy's. Too bad you couldn't eat there! That food looked pretty... average.

 

[ariane37]

That's really quite reasonable. Both in time and money.

It is! Caring for Giants with the elephants is also around that price point and lasts an hour.

Great tour of the ship and the restaurants. All of them look so lovely, but I think my favorite would be Remy's. Too bad you couldn't eat there! That food looked pretty... average.

I agree you'd probably enjoy Remy And average just about sums up 90% of the food I had on this trip!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

It is! Caring for Giants with the elephants is also around that price point and lasts an hour.

I want to do this one too!!!! ❤ ❤ ❤

 

[pkondz]

It is! Caring for Giants with the elephants is also around that price point and lasts an hour.

I had looked at that, but... you don't get very close to the elephants. So I'd much rather do the Rhino tour.

 

[ariane37]

"Ah, so here is where the FAM really is over and I get to just be myself and enjoy Disney!"

Is what I thought as we rode the bus back from Port Canaveral on

DAY 5 OCTOBER 27TH
DAY 5 PART 3: AND NOW THE FUN BEGINS

We were on the bus back to the Contemporary by 3 and Cathy and I had big plans for the night ahead! We had NO commitments other than some FP's at AK and the commitment to each other that we would drink a few alcoholic beverages together. We were going to do a quick check in at our new resort and head right over

We walked from the CR to MK and hopped on a bus to our new home for 2 nights:



Could I BE any more vague?? It's the new check in area at Caribbean Beach! I was kind of happy to be trying a new to me resort but I will admit, at Cathy's urging we had asked at WL before checking out if they had any availability for the next 2 nights without our TA rate but they were full. neither of us really wanted to leave the deluxe lol.

We checked in and got our room location which was in Aruba, so kind of far. I was ready to walk to our room but Cathy wanted to ask bell services if our luggage had arrived before getting all the way out there - OK! No problem..................
If you remember up-post I said when we checked out of WL Cathy asked what time our luggage would be delivered to CBR, she was nervous because she'd never had luggage transferred between resorts. It was now about 4:30ish and our first fastpass started at 5:15 so time she was a tickin'!

Rather than my usual wordy posts let me give you the series of events as they unfolded regarding our luggage and ultimate arrival at AK:

-we find out our luggage is not at CBR yet; CBR tells us it never arrives from WL BEFORE 4.
-Cathy gets angry and tells them we need to be in AK soon and she needs her luggage to change because no way she was wearing a skirt there
-I am fine wearing my light sundress of sorts from the ship tour and flip flops and also ok with our luggage not being there yet, because I KNOW.
-Bell service CM calls to try locating our luggage; WL cannot locate van driver delivering luggage
-Cathy gets on phone with WL manager and is not friendly
-CBR manager comes out to see what's up and after Cathy goes a bit nuts ends up giving us a voucher for a Mears taxi to get to AK quicker (quicker being the key word)
-Cathy says that's not enough this is ridiculous, and manager puts a $100 credit on Cathy's account
-We wait in room for luggage which comes at 5:10 - totally reasonable for us being told it wouldn't arrive BEFORE 4
-call Mears and they say they'll be there in 15 minutes
-go to pick up spot, Mears comes in 30 minutes just as it starts absolutely pouring and while Cathy has poncho I have NADA
-Mears driver gives me his umbrella to take into park
-our EE FP had become an anytime but because of the rain pretty much everything was closed except the safari but the water was literally past our ankles walking, neither of us wanted to trudge to the safari and ride with the wind crazily blowing so instead Cathy agreed to go here since I was HANGRY:




OMG! We could have been there earlier and at least gotten on EE if we didn't have to go through all the luggage drama, but at least now we had these:

Kiwi Kimono
Don Q Coconut Rum, Vodka, Midori Melon Liqueur, Fresh Kiwi, and Sweet and Sour




And with this guy watching over us we calmed down, drank a few, and ate a bit.



And I finally had some good food!
The park was closing at 8 and I was hoping to get to EE with our anytime FP if the rain stopped which it did. We hadn't gotten to the restaurant until 6 but with my Landry's card we were seated within 3 minutes, walking past the other dripping non-Landry's card holding guests waiting in the lobby to see if they could get a walk-up. We were done and had the check at 7:20 so plenty of time for a ride, right?

-Cathy decided we should use the $100 credit CBR gave her to pay - ok! She sees it on her account but I'm not sure how the restaurant uses it as it goes to your cc
-Cathy tells server
-Server comes back, apologizes, and says they can't use the credit because it's gone back to Cathy's cc
-Cathy insists it's a "cash" credit sitting in her MDE account and they should be able to use it so she gets on phone with GS for a 30 minute wait, during which our server comes by like 5x to check things because they were closing at 8
-I go to bathroom to call Steve so I don't blow a gasket after telling Cathy 10x I'll pay
-At 7:58 the restaurant manager comes over to Cathy who is still on hold because GS is explaining the credit goes to cc, manager says she's sorry for all the inconvenience and is comping our meal

That was awesome and incredible of the manager and both the server and manager were beyond friendly, acting sympathetic while I'm sure they were in the kitchen throwing darts at our pictures. Needless to say we walked out into a beautiful non rainy evening, closed park, not even in the mood to watch any TOL Awakenings, and bussed it back to CBR.

And now I'm sure you'll all understand as I cut right to the next morning

DAY 6, OCTOBER 28TH
DAY 6 PART 1, IT'S MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY (AFTER THE SKYWAY) (OK LINER, TAKING SOME LITERARY LICENSE THERE)




It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Our last full day (best of times) with one full day ahead (worst of times). I believe this was the 2nd time I was ever looking forward to a Disney trip ending other than our Thanksgiving 2015 trip when I threw up all day on the holiday.

Today was also our VIP Tour day and after all the previous days I was unfortunately not as excited as I should have been! I was lucky to have been picked and happy I was getting to experience this tour without the price tag, but the idea of another day of things not going my way was seriously dragging me down. At least I had 2 new things to try before the tour began:




That's my love from the Skyliner! Cathy and I had our first Skyliner ride from CBR to Epcot that morning. I had originally not wanted to try it but gave in and have since ridden it again; not my favorite but the views are nice! At this point I think lots of you have ridden so I'll stop with that picture.

We were going to Epcot because we had breakfast booked at Ale and Compass. Our 6 hour VIP tour didn't start until noon and - get this - we were NOT eating during the tour - so I needed food before we started. When my lovely group of EPIC ladies did the VIP tour the day before I arrived in May they did indeed have lunch at Sat'uli and I believe, although I could be wrong, that people often do stop to eat something. But "in the essence of having more touring time"it was decided we would not eat at all during the tour. This sentence should be remembered for the future FYI.
I'm sure you can guess how not eating for 6 hours went over with me!

At Ale and Compass we both did the buffet along with an entree:



The buffet was good! Lots of variety and everything was hot and fresh and the restaurant was new to both of us. For our entrees I got the

Blueberry-Bacon Pancakes
with choice of Sausage, Bacon, or fresh Fruit



See how I chose the bacon I enjoyed these, kind of wish I'd gotten the dark chocolate waffles I've heard so much about but there's always next time.
Cathy got

Eggs Benedict
with Poached Eggs, Smoked Pork Loin, Roasted Tomatoes, English Muffin, and Spiced Herb Hollandaise served with Potatoes



I don't like eggs benedict but I know a few of you here do, Cathy loved these and I had to stop her from licking her plate.
We wrapped up a good breakfast and I checked off TWO good meals (well 3, Geyser Point on arrival and then of course my perfect pretzel at Crew's Cup), and we boated it over to Hollywood Studios which was our tour meeting place. We arrived at HS at 11:15 and didn't have to meet until noon, so I figured we had time for the one fastpass we'd booked for RnRc that ended at 11:30.

Up next one of us runs for our life and you'll get my feelings on our VIP tour!

 

[ariane37]

I had looked at that, but... you don't get very close to the elephants. So I'd much rather do the Rhino tour.

That's true, on the Rhino tour you get to actually PET a Rhino as long as the big guys (and gals) are cooperating that day