My Disney Cruise: Day 1

I am a Disney junkie. I take multiple trips to the theme parks every year, I watch the movies (even the straight to video ones) and I even took a trip to Walt's grave:


Still, there was one Disney vacation that I had not done...

What could it be....

Isn't this suspenseful?

It was...

The Disney Cruise.

Until now. Luckily I was recently able to take a four night voyage on a ship called The Disney Wonder. The ship's name is "Wonder" and it's operated by the Disney company... It's not named "Disney" and run by the Wonder Bread company... but that would have been pretty cool, too.


DAY 1:
Before entering the ship we saw a wonderful model of the Disney Magic (a different Disney ship.)


The model was possibly just for display, but I like to imagine that when really short people show up they let them sail on that. I also like to imagine that when really tall people show up they pretend that is the real ship and tell them they are too tall to ride. Then they cry.

Something about a crying giant really cracks me up.

I think it's interesting that they had a model of the Magic on display when we were there for the Wonder. Perhaps they both leave from the same place.

I bet if they get another ship they would call it Imagine or Discover. I can foresee the whole fleet: Magic, Wonder, Imagine, Discover, Exasperation, Celebration, Motivation, Maximum Cleaning Power, Alpha, Mister Googily Goo, Shemp and Joe Derita.

Once on the ship I had a chance to look around before the safety drill at 4pm.
For the drill everyone (and I mean everyone) had to put on a life vest and line up in an assigned spot. We were told this was the only serious part of our cruise. They even passed out rubber chickens and whoopee cushions after the drill to drive home the point.

Actually they didn't. But they did show us a video of a crying giant. It was hysterical.

As we set sail the Disney characters were on hand for a "Adventures Away" party. It was lots of fun with music and streamers. The drink of the day was the "Bahama Mama."

I bet if you take the cruise to Greece the drink of the day is the "Greece Niece" ... uh ... and if you go to Yemen it's the... uh... "Yemen Insurance Salesman."



Also on board were Disney Channel stars : Mitchel Musso, Jason Earles, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle and Brandon Smith.
During the cruise I saw them at a few special functions and I saw them wandering around the ship.




Almost every night featured a Broadway style show. The first night was a show called the Golden Mickey's. It was the least grandiose of the three shows, but it was my favorite.

It was themed as an award show and featured many performances from many Disney films. It certainly got me in the right mood for the rest of the trip!

First night's dinner was at Animator's Palate, a unique restaurant that changes color throughout the meal.


I wish I had taken a before photo so you could compare them. I also wish I could think of an exotic island that rhymes with "brother."

This is me with Lavendra, one of our servers. The servers are assigned to your party for dinner. So, no matter where our dinner was, Lavendra was there.



Back on land, I occasionally look around for Lavendra as I heat up a TV dinner. Then I feel sad. Then I think of a sad giant and I feel happy again.


Day 2 coming soon....