Cape Canaveral/Disney Cruise/WDW Trip

We started off our final day at the Carriage House at SSR. We printed our boarding passes, did a round of pin trading, and refilled our mugs.

On the way out, I did another close look at a few of the rocks leading down to the pool area, and finally found the hidden Mickey!

We then headed on over to DHS. This is the tree at the entrance to the park.

The park was not busy at all. We did Star Tours twice, both times we walked right up to the loading area. We also did ToT, again, walked right up to the library. We did a lot of pin trading and got some of the new cast lanyard pins.

We had lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In theater.

The food here has gotten considerably pricier for the food that we got. $8 for 6 pieces of onion rings! Not ordering that again.

On our way out, the obligatory shot of the Hat.

And that, folks, was the end of our 9-day vacation!

I'll post more photos of the earlier part of the trip, and a few videos once I get a chance to edit them.

Zz.

One good thing about this trip was that we paid attention to things before we left. One example is the info we got out of the latest Mickey Monitor. It mentioned about a special commemorative ornaments for sale to passholders, and that can only be found at the gift store at the America pavilion at Epcot.

So when we got off the ship, the first opportunity we got to get to Epcot, we made a beeline to the gift store. It turned out that these ornaments aren't even on display. You have to ask a cast member for it.

The ornament came in this black velvet sash.

When you take it out, it looks like this, and yes, it is glass!

The back has these:

It retails for $12.95 before your appropriate passholder discount.

Two of them are now on my Disney tree!

Zz.

Our final day on The Disney Dream was a day at sea. So we took the opportunity to participate in a few of the on-board activities that they offered that day. I got 3rd in a 70's music trivia contest, and our group also took 3rd place in a Disney trivia game. Oh well, no prizes this time, unlike last year.

We also took a tour of the ship and learned a bit more about the Dream. The highlight of the tour was a close look at the two signature restaurants on the ship- Palo and Remy.

First up is Palo (which we were scheduled to have dinner that evening). They have an impressive glass chandelier at the entrance. We all thought it was a Dale Chihuly creation, but our tour guide told us that it isn't. The chandelier was supposed to depict spaghetti and meatballs. I said that it looked nothing like it, and the tour guide threatened to throw me off the ship! Here, look for yourself.

We then got a tour of the entire restaurant and got the inside scoop on various parts of it.

Turned out that it was a good thing that we got to see the restaurant during the day. When we actually had our dinner there in the evening, the lights were turned down rather low, and we would not have been able have as clear of a view of the restaurant as we did during the tour. We certainly got to see quite a bit more of the restaurant when it was brighter.

We then moved on over to Remy and saw its own light fixtures.

Remy also have several "Hidden Remy".

This particular hidden Remy is a crystal that's worth an obscene mount of money.

We were told that all the crystals and gold plating that we saw were real. They did not spare any expenses in creating this restaurant.

Of course, the big attraction with Remy is their extensive wine selection and wine parings with the meals. We got to see some of the more exclusive wine collection that they have in the restaurant.

What was most interesting was the special Pixar wines that belong to John Lasseter on display in the wine cooler. John Lasseter, if you don't know it, owns a winery. I didn't quite get if these wines came out of his winery or if these were specially bottled for him.

One of the more stranger stops that we made during the tour was a look at the women's washroom on Deck 12 that's in between Remy and Palo. We were told that the sinks were made out of 24-carat gold.

Really now!

It was a very fun tour, and I highly recommend people taking it, especially if you've never been on The Dream before.

Zz.

More stuff that I bought on this trip. This was a t-shirt that I bought at the Kennedy Space Center. While it isn't a Disney-related item, it still has something familiar that we hear at Disney theme parks all the time. So I thought it was rather funny that the same phrase was used here!

This next t-shirt will reveal what a nerd I am. I had a good laugh reading this shirt that I had to buy it.

Here's a closer look at the math equations:

The embarrassing thing here is that I know almost all of the equations and started rattling off to my friends what they were right in the store. So sad!

I just need to wait for warmer weather to wear them!

Zz.

Why? Are they nerds like me?

Zz.

Food was a major part of the cruise experience. Some may even say it is the most important part of it. I wouldn't argue with that at all! We did eat A LOT!

Most of our meals were at the Cabanas on Deck 11. In fact, we had our sailing day lunch, and all our breakfast and lunches there (except for lunch on Castaway Cay) throughout the entire cruise.

Being a buffet and having a huge selection just made it a convenient place for the whole group. People can just pick and choose what they like. The following photos are some of the food items they had for lunch.

{burp!}

I was quite happy with the food selection and quality. I mean, for a buffet, it was perfectly fine. And certainly, no complaints on the quantity. I will be working off for the next couple of months all that food that I ate on this cruise.

Zz.

Funny you should mention that. We are now looking at cruises for next year. I think you should come along!

Zz.

Pins! We bought a lot of pins on this trip! Too many to mention. However, here are a few worth mentioning.

There were quite a few Passholder/DVC pins, and a couple that were released while we were there. So of course, we had to buy a few since a lot of people back home would want these.

This "poster" pin is also something we bought for trading. The top shows what the pin looks like closed, while the bottom shows what's on the inside when you open its cover.

We bought a few Cruise pins, but this one is my favorite. The outside looks like an oyster shell.

The shell opens to reveal "pearls" on the inside!

We're hoping that many of these things will trade well this Saturday at our monthly WCPT meet. In fact, the rest of my group that went with me aren't back yet by then, so we will be the only ones with these new pins! I think we will be rather popular at this pin meet!

Zz.

Whenever people find out that I'm a physicist, one of the first things they asked me is if I watch "Big Bang Theory". While I've heard of it and am aware of it, I have never watched it. Maybe one of these days, I might...

In any case, continuing with the trip report, we will stick with food again this time. Our second night at sea, we had dinner at the Royal Palace.

Walking in, it was cute that they folded the napkins into something that looks like a jacket.

I had the escargot appetizer. I licked the dish clean. It was delicious!

Others at the table had other appetizers. I forget what they were.

For my entree, I had the lamb chops.

Another person in our party had the beef tenderloin

And I forget what this was.

It was food galore!

Zz.