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OK. There are going to be a LOT of pictures in this post, because I hadn't shared a lot of pictures of the ship's interiors, which are beautiful. I took most of these right after we boarded the ship, hence the (blessed) lack of random people (the ship wasn't that empty). Just know I'm leaving a lot out; you really have to see it for yourself. ;)
After the
obligatory Mickey waffle...
we headed back to Mickey's Midship Detective Agency. THERE WERE PUPPIES TO SAVE, PEOPLE!!!
Awwww.
As we roamed the ship rescuing puppies, we passed the princess line in the lobby. It was a pretty long line, but you could see six princesses at once.
Belle and Snow White were to the right of Tiana (who had a great sassy attitude). Belle was soo cute with the little girls; it was really fun to watch. She's my favorite princess. Of course, I may be just a bit prejudiced since she's the smart brunette. =)
Good thing all those parents waiting up on the balcony had great seating...
This was a little "cafe" on the second floor of the atrium where you could hang out, have a snack, listen to whatever musical performance was going on in the lobby...whatever.
In the eye candy department, I love this carpet medallion at the top of the stairs in the atrium.
All the carpets were pretty fabulous.
Can't have an atrium without a hidden Mickey. =)
After lunch, we headed off to a dance class. I thought it'd be easy (apparently the yoga on the beach taught me nothing). It was SERIOUS. It was about four eight-counts from "Step in Time" from the onboard show that night. And they didn't pull any punches; even though this was the "easiest" section from the number and didn't have any pirouettes or anything, it was FAST. I may have been able to do it correctly through once. =) Of course, by the end of the class, all the cast members were cheering us on and looking really impressed that we were doing it at full speed. Whether it was shtick or real, it felt good. =)
The dance class was held in the Evolution lounge. Fiber optics and really cool faux burnished metal wall treatments in the hallway lead up to it.
These light panels turn different colors at night when the club's "in business".
You can kinda see the stylized butterfly wings on the ceiling.
After that class, I was desperately in need of water before the Q&A with the cast members (which was fun and very informative). Since there was no one in Evolution, I headed out to the District Lounge where the bartender who taught our Mixology class hooked me up. With water. C'mon, even on vacation you need actual water to recover from dance class!
One of the other awesome adults-only spaces in the District is Pink. Remember the champagne at
Remy?
Yeah, only pink. And inside, it's like being in a champagne bubble.
Lots of pink suede and pink leather...very plush.
As we continued to save puppies, we got a chance to appreciate more of the great Disney-themed art around the ship. I love the Art Deco take on "Plane Crazy", complete with gold leaf:
And how appropriate to have "Steamboat Willie" as ship decor:
This is just one of the fabulous mosaics in Cabanas (the buffet area).
This is probably my favorite piece of art on the ship, though. A "concept art" piece from WALL-E, with Eve.
So sweet. It's tucked away in a stairwell and covers at least two decks...maybe three.
While we were boarding, we saw a big group with T-shirts that said, "Deck 7 Tells No Tales". Hey, we're on Deck 7! Well, it turned out there was a huge group on the ship from
WDW Radio (which we'd never heard of before the trip...
Radio Disney, SURE! But WDW Radio?). They were very enthusiastic door decorators...
We loved seeing the little prizes they'd leave for each other in those red hanging bags they all had on their doors. One door had a riddle of the day, one had a picture for every year they'd been at Walt Disney World (all the way back to the seventies). But this lady really went above and beyond...
All those 1x1" pictures are different shots of her and her family at WDW. Her husband saw us ogling the door and when I told him it was wonderful, he said she'd spent a LONG time on it. We are
totally going to have to step up our game on the next Disney cruise. I forgot the doors are metal so magnets stick to them!
That night's show was called "Believe", and it was fantastic (and yet again I couldn't take pictures). The staging and sets were incredible. It started off a little slow, but once it got going, it was awesome. Sometimes I am really amazed at the ways they are able to fit extremely disparate musical numbers into the same framework, but somehow it all works!
Our final dinner was in Animator's Palate again, but this time we had the non-pirate, "normal" show. The screens start out with
Finding Nemo concept art, but then we get to see out into the sea, and Crush comes around and talks to people at the tables!
He can actually see and hear the people in the "people tank", but I suppose 100-year-old sea turtles don't have great eyesight, because he only talks to the tables closest to the screens. =) Everyone else gets to learn some turtle talk, though. During the courses, the sardines slowly build objects so you can guess what they are (similar to the queue line at "The Seas with Nemo and Friends" in Epcot).
Sadly, after dinner we had approximately 45 minutes before luggage was due to be out in the hall (i.e., 45 minutes to throw all our stuff into our suitcases and not forget to leave out something to wear in the morning).
After a very early breakfast in Animator's Palate, we reluctantly left the ship. And immediately discovered one of the glasses we'd bought on board was broken. This led to an EPIC SAGA involving many phone calls and cast members (tricky to replace the glass because all ship stores have to be closed any time the ship is in port). But thanks to the lovely Gayle (and others) with Disney Cruise Lines, our set of glasses is now complete again.
Fortunately, we were on our way to the parks (and the Wilderness Lodge, where we'd never stayed before). Stay tuned...
| JiffNotes |
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| Disney Dream decor delightful; park play pending! |
