Cruise Day 19: Sea Day

Well, day 19 arrived and it was, again a beautiful one. 

You'll notice that today's magnet says "Pirates" on it----this is another scheduling snafu.  When we originally got the schedule of events for our cruise so we could start putting together magnets, we were told that day 17 would be Villains and day 19 would be pirates....well you already know (if you've been following along on the blog) that they switched Villains on us.  They also switched Pirates night....and it got moved to Day 21 (St. Maarten)....but, of course, it was too late by then to change our magnets....

...but that's OK....nothing says "Sea Day" like Mickey Mouse decked out in his buccaneer outfit....so the magnet still works for us!! *smile*

Cruise Day 18: Day at Sea

(Note:  Another word regarding yesterday's magnet...in addition to the date being wrong on it because Disney Cruise Line rearranged the date of the Villains show...I also, when I was going back and reviewing the posts I'd submitted so far, noticed that the word "villains" is spelled wrong! (the "i" is missing).   AAAAHHHHH!!  I don't know how Jason and I missed that up to this point....but we've decided this is our excuse:  Spelling doesn't count on vacation! LOL...so file that little nugget away for a rainy day! *smile*)

OK...now back to business.  Yup it was day 18 and, you guessed it, we were still cruisin' out in the middle of the Atlantic making our way from one continent to another!  Fortunately for us----this day, unlike our magnet for the day, did not include any piracy or run-ins with Captain Hook (we wouldn't be seeing him again until the official "Pirate Night" at our next port of call, St. Maarten in the West Indies).

I hesitate to even type this so as not to jinx what little time is left of our vacation----but our weather could NOT have been better.  On our last TransAtlantic voyage, it wasn't awful...but it was a little windy and chilly and the water was definitely choppy...and, of course, we are sailing across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean now during hurricane season and reportedly dodging tropical storm fronts along the way....but the truth of the matter is you would never know it.  The sun has been out daily, we haven't seen a drop of rain on the ship since we left Gibraltar and we haven't REALLY felt the boat moving under our feet since we left the Mediterranean!   This voyage has truly been amazing.....

Cruise Day 17: Day at Sea

The sun rose on another day at sea for us on our 17th cruise day....and I do mean-----HOORAY!!  The sun rose on a beautiful day!

I think I mentioned in my post about our day in Madeira, Portugal that we had to cut our port day short because there were several tropical storms brewing that the captain of the ship wanted to avoid....and, to be honest, we were probably all in the same boat (pun intended!! LOL) in wanting to avoid the nasty weather and rough seas a storm might cause.......

Cruise Day 16: Day at Sea

Well...day 16 of our cruise had arrived and began a string of sea days for us.  I should note that the next several posts, for the sea days, will likely be shorter and have fewer images because these days at sea are much more laid back...but that doesn't mean we're not having a great time!!!   In fact, I mentioned in our last post that we'd seen land for the last time in several days....and we couldn't be happier!!  This was the first of 5 consecutive sea days for us...and it was these sea days we'd been looking forward to for the past 2 years.  We booked this amazing vacation back in the fall of 2008----and we did so because we'd already done a TransAtlantic cruise back in 2007 and with the fond memory of the amazing and relaxing days at sea from that trip still fresh in our minds....so while we had thoroughly enjoyed every single moment of our trip up until this point...we also knew that these days at sea would be amazing.

It's worth noting that the last time we sailed across the Atlantic, we did so starting in Florida and ending in Barcelona....and doing the journey that way, we lost an hour of sleep every night for 6 nights of the trip because we had to move our clocks forward to adjust to the new time zones.  An hour may not sound like much...but believe me...IT SUCKS!!!  So doing the cruise in this direction this time would allow us to actually GAIN 6 hours back by turning our clocks BACK each sea night----HALLELUJAH!!!

So these days at sea promised to be even MORE restful than last time...especially if the weather held up for us.....

Cruise Day 15: Madeira, Portugal

Well...day 15 of our cruise(s) arrived and brought us to the last land that we would see for quite some time---the port of Funchal in Madeira, an island that is part of Portugal (despite being closer to the west coast of Morocco in Africa than it is to the mainland of Portugal).  Madeira is a lovely island with a very unique blend of very traditional rural and (in keeping with theme of most of Europe) mountainous lands as well as very urban and developed city area around the coastline.

I'll explain our magnet for the day just a bit.  Jason designed this magnet because one of the things he found (and once I saw it, I did too) fascinating about Madeira is its airport-----our magnet this day depicted the airport.  The airport is interesting because the runway is literally built up on a bridge! I am guessing that there wasn't enough long flat space to create a usable runway...so they built a runway that is set pretty high up on a fully supported bridge (like you see mickey's plane landing on in our magnet).  This phenomenon became even more interesting when, on the tour we took, we actually drove UNDER the airport runway...and saw that there are tennis courts (& maybe a pool, too??) built under there, as well....like a country club under the airport runway!!  Very odd...but cool!

Cruise Day 14: Sea Day

Ah....Day 14....a relaxing day at sea!  What better way to represent a day at sea than with one of Disney's most famous sea characters-----Ariel, the Little Mermaid! (Also one of my favorite Disney animated films).

Days at sea are, if I haven't mentioned it before, just wonderful-----no getting off the ship...no pressure to do anything (sure, even in ports we "choose" to go and do excursions, etc.....but we've paid in advance for those things so even if you've applied the pressure to yourself you still feel kinda like you HAVE to go and do it).  On sea days, the ship creates a pretty elaborate schedule of activities you can choose to do throughout the day.....OR, if you prefer, you can also just lay around-----swim, sunbathe, play games, watch TV and relax, eat all day, take a nap....or any combination thereof!! It's really wonderful and why sea days are probably one of our favorite parts of cruising!

Cruise Day 13: Gibraltar

Day 13 of our adventure found us in Gibraltar.  Our magnet features Gibraltar's most prominent feature, the rock....with, of course, Mickey Mouse doing a little rock climbing! :)

We were excited to be in Gibraltar because we'd been here once before on our last TransAtlantic Cruise and really enjoyed it.  The views from the top of the rock are amazing and the world famous Barbary Apes live all over the top of the rock and the roads in the area.  They are a small species of apes that have lived here for a very long time and, while not domesticated, are relatively used to humans and so, as long as you don't try to touch or annoy or FEED them....they are cute to look at and take pictures of!

So the plan for the day was to meet our excursion group on the ship and then we would be escorted off the ship to the cable car station, ride a cable car up the rock to the top, spend a little time taking photos, touring the area, watching the apes and then head back to the ship for lunch and to enjoy the rest of the day in the sun.  We had planned on not doing too much more than that to continue the theme of relaxation for this leg of our journey......

Ship Photography

Well, before I start entering more blogs here about the TransAtlantic 
portion of our cruise, I thought I would share some more pictures 
from our Mediterranean Cruise. for those who have never sailed with 
Disney Cruise Line before....the ship has it's own photogaphers and 
photo shop called "Shutters"-----and the folks from shutters take 
photos throughout your cruise...sometimes they're candid shots on 
shore excursions or at the pool and other times they're posed 
shots...often with a nice background or with the Disney characters. 
I have always been one to talk about the benefit of shutters 
photography----because Jason and I absolutely ADORE them. Not only 
do their pictures very often turn out beautifully, but having a 
collection of nice pictures from a vacation that include both Jason 
and myself is a rare treat (because we are most often vacationing 
alone together....many of our pictures that we take with our camera 
have either him OR me in them...but rarely both of us together). So 
we try to get as many pictures taken by the Shutters photographers as 
possible...and then buy the CD that they offer which includes digital 
prints of every picture they took throughout your cruise....and as an 
added bonus, because we were booked with Adventures by Disney for the 
Med portion of our cruise...our CD was included at no extra charge!!

Cruise Day 12: Sea Day

Day 12 brought us the first full day aboard the ship for our TransAtlantic voyage....which was exciting because we were so looking forward to this portion of our trip.  We sailed a TransAtlantic cruise with Disney back in may of 2007----only in the opposite direction...and we still have so many amazing memories of how wonderful that cruise was---we were looking forward to having a similarly wonderful experience this time (maybe even better since THAT time we lost 6 hours in time changes....and THIS time we GAIN 6 hours!! LOL)

Beginning the TransAtlantic portion of the trip was also bittersweet, however, because it meant we had begun the trip home.  I know people all thought we were nuts to take a trip that lasted almost a full month....but I'm not kidding when I say it has FLOWN by and we wish we could stay longer!! LOL

As you can see from today's magnet, today was a day at sea...so Jason chose an image that was both Disney and nautical! :)

Cruise Day 11: Barcelona (end of Med, beginning of TransAtlantic)

(NOTE:  Sorry there aren't a lot of images in today's blog....we weren't doing much picture taking today!)

Well, Day 11 of our cruise arrived and we found ourselves back in Barcelona.  We designed our magnet today with some images from Barcelona----specifically from Park Guell---even though we didn't really get off the ship and go into the city for the day.  If you look WAAAAY back at the posts we did about our visit to Barcelona BEFORE the cruise (I believe it was posted around Sept. 7th), you might recognized some of the images in our magnet from the pictures we took that day when we spent most of the afternoon in Park Guell.

So anyway, we opted not really to get off the boat and go into Barcelona.

Cruise Day 10: Day at Sea

Day ten of our cruise found us with no port to visit at all----a sea day!!  To celebrate a sea day....what better character(s) than the cast of "Finding Nemo"?! LOL

I have to admit that this sea day was both good news and bad news.  The good news was that sea days are generally relaxing.  You don't have to get up by anytime.  You don't have a busy schedule to keep (unless you so choose---obviously they offer things on the ship to do, but you can opt into or out of any of it).  After 7 straight days of ports, some of which were super busy and hectic, a day to relax and just enjoy the ship and the sea was a welcome respite.  The bad news, however, was that this sea day meant that the Mediterranean portion of our cruise was coming to an end-----and that meant not only that our vacation was now 50% over...but the Adventures by Disney portion was coming to an end, as well...as I've already posted once on this blog....that was kind of sad considering we had such a wonderful experience.

But before I get too mopey about that.....I'll tell you all what we did this relaxing day at sea.....

Cruise Day 9: Villefranche/Monaco/Monte Carlo/Eze

The seventh day of our cruise brought us to the port of "Villefranche."  This was, sadly, not only our final port for the Mediterranean portion of our cruise, but it was also our final full day on land with our Adventures by Disney crew.  The day wasn't scheduled to be too grueling physically and promised to be a pretty leisurely day in Monaco, Monte Carlo & the village of Eze. Our agenda was, once again, not jam packed...just some light sight-seeing and a nice lunch.

(Just a note about today's magnet----we were struggling with ideas that could link Disney with Monaco or Monte Carlo and the closest that Jason could come up with was the movie poster for the film "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo"....but we weren't loving it....and then we remembered that Monte Carlo is a city with a strong focus on gambling/gaming....and that means cards...and that Alice in Wonderland had a playing card theme (remember all the Queen of Hearts' guards were playing cards..."painting the roses red"?)....and so, VIOLA!!!  An Alice/Queen of Hearts magnet for Monte Carlo day!!!

Cruise Day 8: Ajaccio/Corsica

The 8th day of our cruise found us in the port of Ajaccio on the Mediterranean Isle of Corsica.  As you might guess from our magnet today----which makes both Jason and I giggle (and our adventure guide, Robyn, found amusing, too)---one of Ajaccio's claims to fame is that it was the birthplace of Napolean Bonaparte in 1769....so we thought it only appropriate that our magnet be a Disney-fied Napolean! LOL

Today was another pretty casual and relaxing (& fun) day---both on and off the ship....so again I'll just run you through what we did and saw for the day. 

Day 7: Florence

The seventh day of our cruise brought us to the port of "La Spezia" on the coast of Italy.  This is the port from which we made our journey up into the Tuscany region of Italy to the city of Florence.  Jason created our magnet for this day with a picture of a very famous covered bridge in Florence (called Ponte Vecchio) with Mickey on a gondola boat (we know that's really more Venice...but we thought it looked good on the magnet and it was, at least, Italian! LOL).  Keep a lookout later in this post because Jason and I were able to visit this very bridge and take some pictures...it was nice to once again see the images we pulled off the internet for our door magnets in real life.

We had to drive quite a ways to get to Florence from the port, but our tour guide Samuelo filled part of the time with some information about what we'd be doing that day and the rest of the time he let us just chill on the bus----a nice time when some of our fellow Adventurers napped (after all it was a long day the day prior in Rome and another early morning for this adventure)....and Jason and I spent time visiting with our new friends, Trish & Ben, who were also in the Adventures by Disney group (....just for the record...for those of you who think Jason and I are crazy for taking such a long vacation....get this........

Day 6: Rome

Well the next stop on our cruise of the Mediterranean with Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney was one of the stops we were most excited about:  Rome. Of course Rome is an epic city with such mythology (both figuratively and literally LOL) around it.  It's full of amazing iconic things to see.....things that almost everyone in the world recognizes if you see a picture of them...but that not everyone really gets a chance to see in person (like the colosseum in our magnet----with "Emperor Goofy" LOL----Jason was particularly pleased with how cute this magnet turned out!).  So we were very excited for our first trip to Rome to see some these amazing pieces of the past....and it's good that we were excited, because our guides, Robyn and Tina, had already warned us that Rome was going to be our longest day of the adventure----as most of the day would be on foot so we should be prepared to do a LOT of walking. Tina kept joking and saying, "You know they always say that 'Rome wasn't built in a day"...but we're gonna see the whole thing in a day!!"....

....and she was right!!  It was a busy day...with a fair amount of walking (Jason and I are relatively active in our lives, obviously....not really "fitness people" necessarily, but not averse to a good walk.....so we didn't find the amount of walking to be too much, but at the end of the day we definitely knew we'd walked the entire city of Rome!! LOL

Cruise Day 5: Naples/Sorrento/Capri

Well, Day 5 arrived and very much like Meryl Streep circa 1985, we were "Out of Africa"!! LOL....and our next stop, as you can see from the day's magnet, was Naples----or at least that was the port at which the ship docked.  In actuality, Adventures by Disney and other (and better) plans than for us to just stay there near the port.  Instead we spent the morning part of our day in the town/region of Sorrento (and, very appropriate to our magnet, our activities for the day did involve pizza) and then the afternoon on the island of Capri.

It was an early day again....UGH!  Of course, to be honest...at this point on vacation any day that starts with me getting up before 9am is starting to feel "early" to me...and with our current itineraries, it seems I am having to get up each morning anywhere between 6am and 6:45am each day (and for those of you at home, you have probably done the math and realize that's actually earlier than I get up for WORK!!!------tell me how on earth did I end up on a vacation with earlier mornings and longer days than my job!?!? LOL)  Anyhow....an early day...and a relatively long one....with a lot of sun....so by the end of the day, we were really feeling it----but it was an amazing day.  It's hard to say that any day is "my favorite" so far on this trip since we've done so many amazing things and been so many amazing places already.....but this day was a good one and one of, if not THE, best (so far)!

Goodbye Adventures by Disney

Well, here in Barcelona it is now Saturday, the 18th of September-----
and I know that in terms of my actual posts I am several days behind
(having not even yet gotten our Naples day up on the blog yet----I
promise to try to get everything up in the next few days....keeping
up with blogging is much harder than I imagined it would be! LOL).
That said, however, I think it's worthwhile to just acknowledge that
a new phase of our vacation is beginning today. This morning most of
the Mediterranean cruisers got off the ship and all of our
TransAtlantic shipmates started boarding the ship and we've already
started connecting with some old (and new) friends....

....but that also means that a phase of our vacation has come to an
end. Last night was our final night with the Adventures by Disney
group. We had a reception where they played a slide show with images
from our trip that really tugged at our heartstrings...gave us our
final pins and then at dinner we said goodbye to all of our new
Disney friends from this adventure----and to Robyn and Tina. I gave
them both a hug and I actually cried when we said goodbye. It was
hard to consider that this morning we would wake up and we would
still be on vacation....but without all of them. At the beginning of
the journey they told us we would all end up being like family....and
they were right.

I already know for certain that in the next few days (as I try
desperately to catch up with blog posts of all the days that are
still missing here) I will reflect back on this experience.....but
until that time I want to just post a message here to say that
Adventures by Disney was everything we hoped it would be and
more....it truly did reshape the way we vacation and gave us the
opportunity to experience an incredible adventure in an even more
incredible way!

(To Robyn, Tina & all our Adventures by Disney friends-----thank you
for such an amazing experience....we miss you all already and we will
cherish forever the memories from our adventure!! xoxo, Erik & Jason)

Cruise Day 4: Tunisia (cont.)

....when last we left our fearless travelers, they were finishing up 
a morning of bread-baking, belly dancing and henna tattoos in an 
authentic traditional Berber village in Tunisia. So what's next for 
our adventurers?! LUNCH!!

That's right....after all the activities already provided by the 
village and the family who run it, they also served us lunch. Lunch 
was served at a long family style table inside one of the buildings 
in the village and was served by members of the family that run the 
village. There was, of course, berber bread (like the bread we baked 
in the stone oven outside----even though Jason is a man LOL) and then 
they served a really nice tomato soup that had an orzo type pasta in 
it. This was followed by an appetizer dish that I believe they 
called a "brick"----it was basically scrambled eggs (and I think 
spinach??) inside a deep fried shell. Then came the main course---- 
chicken served over cous cous with some vegetables (like sweet 
potatoes and, I believe, cabbage and carrots) in it and over which 
they poured one of two kinds of flavor sauce. One they called "hot 
sauce" and was clearly made with hot peppers----it had a pretty good 
kick. The second, a milder version, they referred to as "baby 
sauce" (because, apparently, if you needed to eat that one you must 
be a baby....LOL. Never being one to shy away from spicy foods, I 
opted for the hot sauce.

Cruise Day 4: Tunisia----PART 1

(Ok...so I'm at another little wifi spot for a brief time this afternoon....this time in Villefranche (near Monaco)...so I have time to post a little bit before running to get on the ship)

Well Day 4 of our Mediterranean Cruise took us to, arguably, our most exotic port of call: Tunis in Tunisia...a country in Northern Africa.  Jason was particularly proud of this day's magnet....and it ended up being very appropriate because we got to ride camels...AND, without even realizing the connection, our ties at dinner were Aladdin/Genie ties! LOL   But I'm jumping too far ahead....so....

Now, let me say this right of the gate---I know this port was a controversial one for many people.  Lots of people were excited about it because of how unique and exotic was....lots of people ended up not liking it because they had a bad experience (I have heard rumors that the area of Tunis to which Disney Cruise Line sent most guests was overcrowded and crazy and not as much fun as many had hoped)....and I know that there were more than a few people, both on the ship and back home, who had misgivings about visiting Tunisia because it is a primarily Muslim country and it was, ironically September 11th the day we arrived in Tunis. 

Cruise Day 3 (cont.): Malta (& Gozo)---Part 2

....OK...sorry for the interruption!  As lovely as Corsico is----I definitely didn't want to get stranded here, so I definitely needed to log off and get myself back on the boat...plus we have a character sketching class in just a bit with Robyn, our adventure guide, that I don't want to miss!!

So, for your viewing pleasure I've included a collage here of more shots that Jason and I took while we were visiting the Blue Window.  While the Blue Window itself is certainly the GRANDEST feature of that coastline...it's by no means the only beautiful thing to look at.  The rock formations and waves were really breathtaking...so we took LOTS of photos there!!  It really was awe-inspiring and the weather couldn't have been nicer.  We even bought a nice handmade ceramic magnet that features the Blue Window in a ceramics shop in the artisan village (for those who don't know, we collect magnets from all the places we visit on vacations and we display them on the walls into our basement/den which are painted with "magnetic paint."  On this journey we have really been adding to our magnet collection with all the ports and destinations....as I get closer to the end of the trip I'll try to post a picture of all the magnets we've collected so far.)

Anyhow, the Blue Window was amazing and we could easily have stayed there for a couple hours and enjoyed ourselves...but, alas, the tour must go on! 

Cruise Day 3: Malta (& Gozo)....Part 1

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!!   Actually, we are sitting in a park in Corsica, at the port of Ajaccio, and there is free wireless internet here....so I thought I would make a quick post myself of one of the blogs you've missed in teh past few days while I've been offline!!!   In the coming days, however, you WILL start seeing more activity here on the blog because my dear friend, Hadley, who lives in Germany has volunteered to spend her mornings while we are on our journey posting my musings and photos since I cannot (As many of you know, she started figuring out the workings of our blog earlier this week to get our pictures posted.)  Please bear with her as she continues to figure out the ins and outs of making posts here but also join Jason and I in extending a HUGE THANKS to her a  for her willingness to help!!  

So, without further adieu....here is a post about our Day in Malta....and in the next few days (with Hadley's help)  postings will start to appear about our adventures in Tunisia, Naples/Capri, Rome, Corsica...and then the rest of our journey as we finish our ports and cross the Atlantic....

Well, Day 3 of our fantastic voyage had come to an end....and boy were we tired once the day was over---what with the sun all day and getting up early (after being up probably later than was wise the night before) and a long day of activities!  Day 3 was our first official port ) during the Mediterranean portion of our cruise:  Malta (as you can see from our magnet of the day---featuring Disney's new princess, Princess Tiana----not because she has anything to do with Malto or the Mediterranean...but just because she's fabulous! LOL).  It was also our first day to truly experience what Adventures by Disney is all about.  Obviously we have had a few small events on the ship the last couple days and have spent some time getting to know Robyn & Tina, the adventure guides, and some of the other folks in our group....but we haven't actually done any touring yet.  So before the day even began, we were excited and ready!!

Words Are Worth 1,000 Pictures?!

OK..so you might be wondering what that odd subject line is all about, huh? LOL

Well, we've heard back from a couple of our dear friends (Sandi & Hadley---hey gals!!) who are following the blog that our attempt earlier this week to submit a blog entry by email (as opposed to logging onto the website, which is blocked) was somewhat successful.   We are still not only not able to access the page to edit it or add new posts...but we are also not able to even view it.  So we've heard now that the text we emailed appeared on the site OK....but that the pictures did not.   So....we are moving in the right direction!  Something is better than nothing, right?!  LOL (And I've also heard from them that many of our readers have commented on the blog that you'd rather read our stories without pictures than have nothing at all.....and it may come to that! 

Day 2: Day At Sea

(NOTE:  So I tried to log on tonight and while the internet is working, the blog website is not (it's being blocked by the DCL I.S.P. again....grrrr)....so we're doing an experiment here.  I actually DO have email  access and technically I can send emails to my blog that should post as blogs.  We aren't really sure how this will work in terms of images and formatting, but thought it was worth a try.....but be warned you may be looking at a post that doesn't work at all.  If that is the case, then when I finally can log on again, I will try to delete and/or fix it.  I am really hoping that this works because I'd hate to have to not post my daily blogs.  Even though writing these blogs does eat up some of our free time aboard the ship and makes for some late nights....I have to confess that I really enjoy writing them because:  1.)  it is a great way for Jason and I to recap together how we spent our day and really crystallize some of our memories, AND 2.) I know that so many folks out there are enjoying reading our posts!!)

Anyhow, Day 2 aboard the ship, a sea day, has come to an end----and it was a fabulous day.  You can see our magnet for the day in this post---we were particularly happy with this one because it has the ship out to sea and is cute because it has Dumbo in it (there were only so many characters we could put flying over the ship! LOL).  In the past we've had people ask us (especially when they hear about us doing the TransAtlantic cruises with so many days at sea), "Don't you get bored being on that ship and not being able to get off and go into a port?"  Jason and I always just shake our heads and think----the only people who can be "bored" on a Disney ship at sea during a day are people who have no idea how to have a good time!! LOL Today's sea day was great and we didn't have one "bored" moment all day.

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties.....

Just wanted to log on and give a heads up post to all my readers....apparently for some reason we can't figure out, the internet service provider that Disney Cruise Line uses to offer us our internet here on the ship has intermittently decided to block blogspot.com/blogger.com----there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how or when or why it happens...it works for a bit then is blocked...then is blocked for hours on end and magically re-appears a few hours later.  We have talked to the I.T. folks here on the ship, but it appears there is nothing they can do about it to create a permanent fix...and they also cannot explain how or why we're having the problem (but do recognize for some reason that their I.S.P. is actually blocking the blogger site).  *sigh*

Amazing Cruise Adenture Day 1: ALL ABOARD!!!

 (Note:  Sorry this post is late....it is now Thursday morning here on the ship but last night as I was trying to upload all the images in this....after 1am...blogspot actually went down on me and I ended up being up until after 2am fighting with it and using up my internet minutes and couldn't get it to work...so had to get up early and hope it was fixed this morning...which it was....I hope you all appreciate my dedication to my loyal readers!! LOL)

Well we're aboard the ship and Day 1 is coming to a close.  Our main image here is our door mini-magnet for the day.  If you recall my previous post about door magnets, you'll remember that we created one large main magnet that surrounds our stateroom number door-sign and creates a "frame" for a separate mini-magnet for each day of the cruise.  From this point forward, the main image for each blog will be the magnet-o-the day....so you'll have to imagine that magnet within the larger one on our door and then also imagine all 24 of them getting scattered along the lower portion of our door as the cruise proceeds, as well!

Anyhow....today was a very eventful day...lots to do but a great day! (And it's late now and I probably should go to bed....but just for all you loyal readers I am staying up to post a blog....thank heavens tomorrow is a sea day and we can sleep in a little bit! *wink*).  So on today's agenda was to get to the ship, board the ship, meet the Adventures by Disney guides, do the safety drill, hand out lanyards to our fellow back-to-back cruisers (there are about 30 of us who ordered lanyards....and then at least a dozen more we met who are B2B but who opted out of lanyards), and then also have dinner and enjoy ourselves, as well!!

Two Years of Waiting----& It's FINALLY Here!!

I kind of wish this picture (taken with my phone) that I took when we woke up this morning had turned out better (and those darn sky scrapers weren't blocking our view LOL)....but this is, indeed, what we woke up to: an amazing sunrise in a nearly perfect sky over a beautiful, calm, blue, glassy sea-----a PERFECT day to board the Disney Magic (for those who don't already know, that is the name of the ship we'll be spending the next 24 nights on)!!

Tuesday: Our Day in Barcelona

Well today was our 1st day here in Europe and it was a nice day...but a bit on the tiring side.  We were already kind of beat from the flight and everything.  When I posted earlier this morning we had thought we might take a power nap before heading out...but thought better of it and so we just showered, had some caffeine and set out to see the city-----which involved quite a bit of walking...so I think we're both going to sleep well and early tonight, but hopefully that will help get us back in a normal rhythm for the rest of our trip. 

We're here!!

We have landed safely and have arrived at our hotel.  This is only going to be a very brief post----because we are tired and feel dirty so we want to shower and take a nap for an hour or so...but I wanted everyone to know we landed safely.

Waiting At The Airport....So Thought I'd Share A Bit...

Well, here we sit in the Orlando airport.  We got out of our resort and to the airport to drop off the rental car and check in for our 2:30pm flight around 11:30am (we were prepared for longer lines because it's a holiday weekend and the need to check in extra early because we're checking in for an international flight).  We were through security and sitting at our gate by 11:55am...so we were probably a little earlier than we needed to be----but that's fine.  We had to leave the resort anyway and so we'll just hang out here, have soemthing for lunch, play on the internet and watch movies and read. Hopefully the other movies we brought will be better than "Where the Wild Things Are"....and I have several books in my new phone on my kindle app.  While we were in Orlando, I actually read "The Brief Second Life of Bree Tanner"----a short companion novel to the Twilight series written by Stephenie Meyer from the perspective of the young girl vampire killed by the Volturi at the end of the Eclipse novel.  I really rather enjoyed it I must say!!  now I have another of her novels to read and have also downloaded both of Chelsea Handler's books and Kathy Griffin's, as well (two of my favorite totally inappropriate female comediennes)!

So.....here we sit in Orlando with some time to kill waiting anxiously for the next phase of our trip to begin........

Sunday: Another Hard Day in Orlando

The back entrance of our resort: Disney's Beach Club villas

Ok....so the title of today's blog isn't entirely true----it wasn't another HARD day....in fact it was quite a relaxing day----what it was was another HOT day.  I haven't posted much thus far about the weather here in Orlando...but let me see...how to describe it? Oh yes...it has largely felt like the Earth's molten core is about to bubble up right through the ground at any moment! LOL  Seriously it is HOTTER THAN HADES down here! It's been averaging over 90 for most of the day...and the sun is just beating down like a fiend!  We have had no rain or hurricanes while we were here...so that is good...but I have to be honest....the heat has been a bit insufferable.  Thank heavens we spent most of the day Saturday at  water park (although we were just dripping with sweat at Sea World)!  Sunday we decided, since we'd done all the amusement parking we had hoped, to have a relatively lazy/relaxing day----a nice breakfast, maybe miniature golf, swim time, and dinner with friends.

Our Saturday Part 2: Sea World

So, as I said in my Aquatica post, we left the water park around 3pm and headed over to Sea World.  It's literally across the street although you have to drive around the block to get to the parking lot.  (Another tip for those of you who may read these blogs and decide you want to head to Orlando and vacation----when there is a chance to buy "Premium Parking"...shell out the extra $3-$5 for it.  It gets your car way closer to the gate of the park which, in the morning means you get in a little faster....but more importantly, it means at the end of a long day when you're tired your car is closer and you don't have so far to walk! LOL)

Our Saturday Part 1: Aquatica

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program as promised!  Sorry it took so long to get around to posting about our day on Saturday at the Sea World parks----but, like I said, last night we were EXHAUSTED and today we actually kept ourselves pretty busy...but I'm getting ahead of myself...I'll have to post about our day today a little later on.

So let's start with Aquatica.....

This picture is how we feel! LOL   It's 11:02pm and we just got back to our villa...we left this morning at about 8:30am.  We spent the entire day at Aquatica and Sea World and stayed until the bitter end to watch the Sea World fireworks.  It was a long day...and exhausting...and we both got a little more sun than we'd intended....and so we're turning in for the night----so no real update tonight.  But just a teaser/trailer----it was a really great day (even if it does feel like we got run over by a truck! LOL)...and we got everything done we'd hoped.  We had really hoped we could finish 4 parks (both Universal and both Sea World) in two and a half days....and we finished them both in less than two----which means that tomorrow (Sunday) is entirely free day.  We are going to sleep in, get up and relax and then maybe swim or play putt putt golf or both....and I promise a nice blog entry or two tomorrow about our fabulous day today!

One More Thing From Yesterday.....For My Dad

Good morning, readers!  Jason and I are just a bout to start getting ready, grab a quick bit and then head out to Aquatica & Sea World for the day....but I remembered that I had one more picture to post here (you'll have to click on the "read more" below to see it)....this one is special for my Dad.

At Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom they have a ride called "Kali River Rapids" which is a water ride with a circular boat that floats through rapids, bouncing around spinning and getting you all wet. There is a very similar ride at Islands of Adventure called "Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges" (pictured to the left-----we are not in that boat, it's a stock photo of the ride, but you get the idea.

Disney Infidelity...

OK...so we cheated on our one true love (Disney) today...I guess I'd better explain.  While (at least in our opinion), Disney is the BEST thing going in Orlando, it is by no means the only game in town...and some of the other offerings here are also a lot of fun in their own way.  When we come down to Orlando, we typically spend all our time at Disney parks and on Disney property...but this trip decided to shake things up.  We haven't been to the Universal Parks or the Sea World parks since 2005 and 2006...and there are a number of fun things there we wanted to do again....as well as some new things that weren't there the last time we visited these parks (like the Harry Potter stuff and Sea World's new water park, Aquatica).  So, since we'd already been to Disney 4 times in the last 16 months, we decided that maybe this time we'd skip Disney parks (but still stay on resort property since we own two Disney Vacation Club, Disney's version of timeshares, properties and can stay for "free") and do the other parks.  It's blasphemous to true Disney fanatics, I know....but we succumbed to the forbidden fruit....and we had a pretty decent time!   Click "read more" below to hear about our day at the Universal Parks and see a lot of pictures.