March 9th, Disney Wonder ~ Puerto Vallarta

March 9^th, Disney Wonder ~ Puerto Vallarta

Today we had a relaxing morning. We got up and went to the Beach Blanked Buffet for breakfast again. This is our favorite place for breakfast because you can pick and choose what you wish to eat and it has a wide verity of food. The "flowers" they had at the start of the food line were made of potato slices and carrots.

After breakfast we met up with our friends to go off the ship to see the port area. We can see a Walmart and Sam’s Club across the street from the port! We did not go out of the port gates and our friends went as far as Walmart to get bottled water. Bottled water is very expensive on the ship so the advice is bring it if you drive yourself to the dock. While we were off the ship we purchased a gift for our daughter. Then back to the ship for lunch and a quick shower before watching Tron - Legacy in the Buena Vista Theater with our friends. After the movie it was time to get ready for dinner.

Tonight Dinner was in Parrot Cay! The meal was tropical island style foods. The service and food were amazing per usual! Our servers are fun to watch as they move around the room. When they see a person, adult or child that seems to be unhappy or not having a great time they will spend a few minutes “playing” with them. They will make napkin hats and puppets to play with. They will stick with that person until they get a smile or until the person requests they leave. Tonight there was a little girl at the table next to us that was unhappy for some reason. The servers make napkin hats and put them on the entire family and when that did not quite work they made a “mouse” with a napkin and played with the little girl until she was laughing.

After dinner the life stage show was “Toy Story the Musical.”  Once again it was fast paced fun show packed full of wonderful music. They added a lot of new songs to the Toy Story music book. In fact most of the songs are new. Disney had thought of bringing this show to Disney California Adventure to replace the Aladdin the Musical show in the Hyperion Theater there.

When Disney announced they were going to take Aladdin out of DCA and bring in Toy Story many AP holder of the Disneyland Resort complained. Having seen the show I agree it was a good idea not to bring this show to the Hyperion. It is a good show well worth seeing, but in my opinion I do not believe it will keep people coming back over and over to see it. There is no place to change things or adlib parts. In Aladdin several parts are given leeway to adlib and change things so the show is slightly different each time you see it.

After the show we were tired but not ready for bed. We decided to sit in the Cadillac Lounge to listen to the piano playing of Fred Potyin. He is amazing!! He plays jazz and we enjoyed requesting some very old classic favorites. After he was done with his shift at the piano he sat down with us and we talked for about another 30 minutes or so about many different topics. He is an intelligent and fun person to talk to. Check out his blog at FingersFred.com. He went down the lift to us back to our room and we said our good nights when we reached our deck.

March 8th, Tuesday ~ Disney Wonder Day at Sea

March 8^th, Tuesday ~ Disney Wonder Day at Sea

Today we got up early and enjoyed breakfast at Parrot Cay! It is our day for a Character Breakfast! Mickey and all his friends came to visit us at the table dressed in their best tropical beach clothing. Our friends did not join us for breakfast so we had the characters to ourselves. Duffy and Piglet joined in the fun and said hi to Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip. Dale was there but did not stop at our table. What a fun time we had! The food was great and the company even better!

At 10:15 am we went to see Chef Marcel from Disneyland’s Club 33 do another Disney’s Art of Entertaining. Today he was to teach us how to make Braised Prim Short Rib and Horseradish Foam. Instead of that he showed us how to make Dark chocolate Terrine with Strawberry Chantilly Cream. I must say we LOVED it!! After he showed us how to make it we got to taste it and they even pared a wine with it to show us how to pick a good wine to go with desert.

Next it was to the Buena Vista Theater to watch Tangled! We had hoped they would play this movie on the ship because we had not seen it yet. We loved the entire movie but the mime bits were amazing to us. (We are retired professional mimes.)

Right after the movie we enjoyed lunch and a few minutes to relax. Then back to the theatre to see a Disney’s Behind the Scenes with Leslie Iwerks! She is the granddaughter of Ub Iwerks, Walt’s original partner and co-designer of Mickey Mouse. In truth, as Ms. Iwerks says, Ub was the “Hand Behind the Mouse.” We watch her new award winning documentary on ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) and how they have affected the art of movie making and society in general. After the show there was a Q&A with Leslie Iwerks. It is interesting to know that 4 generations of Iworks have worked for the Disney Company, starting with Ub.

After the show it was back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Tonight we are in the Animators Palate and tonight the room changed colors right before our eyes! What a wonderful meal and fin place to eat! Even though we will eat at Animators Palate 3 times on the trip this is the only night the room will change color during the meal.

We chose not to see tonight’s show because it was the Comedy and Ventriloquism of Taylor Mason. He is really a good performer but just not to our taste. He is clean but had a “touch of blue” in his humor, even when he knew his audience was families. Nothing rude or crude just a little on the edge for our taste. Instead of the show we spent time in the Quiet Cove adult pool area. We swam in the pool and relaxed in hot tub with our friends.

What a wonderful day!

March 7th, Monday on the Disney Wonder ~ Formal NIght and Golden Mickeys!

March 7^th, Monday ~
Formal NIght and The Golden Mickeys

Today we had breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffet on Deck 9. It is a wonderful place on the aft of the ship. We chose to sit outside and enjoy the sunlight and view off the back of the ship.

After breakfast we went to an Art of Entertainment class with the head chief of Club 33! Chef Marcel St. Pierre taught us how to make Falafel Crab Cakes and other wonderful things to go with it. Along with the cooking lesson we got a short talk on how to pair wines with this dish. After the lesson and talk we got a taste of both and really enjoyed! Watch Minnie’s Kitchen for the recipe for all we pick up from Chief Marcel! (They have been posted!)

Then it was off to lunch at Parrot Cay with our friends. After lunch we went to a video presentation on the top 10 innovations in Disney Animation. It was interesting to see how much the Disney Studios added to the art of animation! Disney has done everything for being the first to use synchronized sound to being the first to use stereophonic sound with animation. They also developed the multi plane camera along with many other innovations that improved the art form. After the video presentation we decided to just spend some time walking around the ship before we had to go get ready for dinner.

Tonight was Formal Night and the night we got to meet the Captain of the ship Captain Thord was there to take pictures with all the guests. Pictures were taken in the Main Lobby. We also got our pictures taken with Mickey and Minnie all dressed in their formal attire. We got all dressed up for dinner and enjoyed a great meal at the Animators Palate. Tonight the menu in all the restaurants is the same. Tonight the room did not change color but stayed a formal Black and White. The food was wonderful! What a great meal! After diner we had time to run back to our cabin for a few minutes to change for the Golden Mickey’s! The Golden Mickey’s are the ships version of the Oscars! The show was fun and fast paced. The show had lots of singing and dancing along with characters, both hero and villain.  The show has been updated since we saw it last in 2005. They added some of the newer characters from Disney Movies to the show. After the show we went to the Golden Mickey’s Family After Party in Studio Sea. There was music and dancing with kids joining parents having a good time. There was also an adult After Party that we decided to pass on.

The Quiet Cove pool is open until midnight most nights. After the show and after party we went to the adult Quiet Cove Pool to sit in the hot tub for a few minutes to relax. What a wonderful way to end the day!!

Back in the cabin we found Fish Extender gifts in our pockets.