Specularius

I forgot to add a picture of our little zoo of towel animals. I also forgot that Shardi, while trying to find Abi in the theater, thought that a set of steps was a ramp in the dark. She took the step that wasn’t there and popped her knee. It began to swell. Once back in the Stateroom, we talked to our Concierge host about it. Within a few minutes he returned with instant ice packs and an ace bandage. Over the next several days, Shardi was hobbled though. We also received a very nice gift from the Concierge Team. A lovely Disney print. Wednesday morning we awoke just as the ship was

Something that I noticed with the Cabanas. We were in #19, but there were flags inside, which I should have grabbed a picture, that showed it was #23. Some of the literature I saw stated 25 cabanas, but there were only two more cabanas past us. I am not sure what happened to the first 4 cabanas because I could see the flags in the last cabana and it was #25, but the sign in front of it was #21, the family cabana, which was twice the size of the other cabanas. I also noticed that several of the cabanas were hosting 2 families, with one even hosting 3 families.

Yep, Concierge gets first crack at renting the Cabanas. In one way it did make up for missing it last time, but at the same time, it cements what we missed, which is a little depressing.

Monday brought us back to Castaway Cay. Shardi decided that since we are fair skinned European descent, easy to sunburn, rarely get to the beach people, that she would rent a Cabana on Castaway Cay for our second day. It is a bit pricey but has some very good perks. You get soft drinks and snacks, snorkeling gear rental, bicycle rental, and golf cart service to run you around the island. The Cabanas are at the end of the beach. Each Cabana has its own fresh water shower to rinse off. I am not sure if it was by design or not but the Cabana area has its own swimming area separated from the other

Saturday night we had supper at the Enchanted Garden. Ian has this thing where he hangs a spoon on his nose at restaurants. He is very good at it. I have timed him at over 5 minutes with the spoon stuck to his nose, even while drinking from a straw. There was a young man about the same age as Ian at the table next to us. He stuck a spoon to his nose too. While they were having this impromptu contest, Steph, our table host, looks and Ian and ask if he can hang one off his cheek bones. Ian said, “I only have 1 spoon” so Steph went and got him and his competitor 3 more spoons to play with. Ian qu

It is a great little camera. It is very easy to find all those. They all have a buoy marking their location. We wound up visiting everyone at least three times that day. That day was the first time I had ever snorkeled, ever. And we did it for over 6 hours. I was dead tired.

That big trailer was there when we left on Friday morning the 2nd, but was gone when we checked back in on the 7th. I bet it cost more than 90% of the campers in the Fort.

yes, it was a Double Dip. More to come when I get to our second day on Castaway Cay. You have made a HUGE mistake. You will be so spoiled, that any other cruise line, and any other room level other than Concierge, will be a complete letdown. We went on our first ever cruise May of last year in an outside single portal stateroom. It was fantastic and hooked us bad. In January of this year we went back, same level of room, had a horrible trip in some aspects, but still loved it. This was our third cruise ever and all three on the Disney Dream. We are booked for a 9 night Alaskan Cruise

Saturday morning I was up very early. It was not raining at the moment, but was very overcast. The winds were steady at about 10 mph. Here we are, backing into the dock at Castaway Cay. This was the view from our Balcony I even took a selfie. We had made it. Finally we would get a day on the Cay. We made our way to the second tram stop, walked out under some palm trees and staked claim to some lounge chairs looking back at the ship. We spent the next four hours snorkeling. That was a workout. I also got to put my Olympus TG-870 to the test. It performed great. Notice the s

Friday morning we are a bit over eager to get to Port Canaveral. I get the camper hooked up and pull it to the overflow lot, get a great parking space, unhook, disconnect the battery knowing it would not last for 5 days, and we are off….at 8:30 am. This was our third cruise ever, and the first one that we actually parked at the terminal. I had no idea of what to do, so I just followed the line of cars. We dropped off our suitcases at the curb and proceeded to the parking garage. The attendant took my money and said I may want to park in the outside lot at the end. So we did and it was a shor

Wednesday morning we lounged around the camper taking our time to get started. We eventually made our way over to Animal Kingdom to walk through the Land of Pandora. We had fastpasses for the Safari ride, Dinosaur, and Primeval Whirl. We got a family picture at the entrance to Pandora. The theming in the new area is very good. I could tell that things were designed to be lit up at night and looked forward to seeing it at night. The new path along the side of the river to Africa was very nice as well. The line for Flight of Passage was to the bridge that separates Pandora from Africa.

We had taken a 3 night Cruise the first week of January that wound up being a less than spectacular cruise. Shardi got sick with a sinus cold, the weather was horrible, and we never got docked at Castaway Cay. This was a bit of a downer, but we had reservations for a Double dip in June and hoped to make up for our January cruise. During planning for the June Double Dip, it was pointed out by the rest of the family that we would be close to Disney World just as the new Blue People Zoo was opening....and they just had to go. So, being the devoted husband and father that I am, I booked three nigh

I am on Jason's list for Christmas to New Years as well... at least I hope I am.

I just want to make up for the deficit...Cause I will be back in October.

The fire ban was officially lifted at the Fort yesterday, the 7th. The day we checked back in before heading home. There is now standing water at the Fort. The next time there is a fire ban, and you would like it lifted, just pay for me a site and I will be happy to come end it!

Oh it is still hot hot hot!

Here it is, Tuesday night at the Fort, raining, just as I predicted!

Be aware that Big Green Egg products purchased at Sam's Club do not come with the lifetime warranty. And If it was just the Egg, then that price can be beaten by an Authorized Big Green Egg dealer.

MNSSHP is a great event, but it pales in comparison to the Fort on Halloween night. My children have had so much fun during Halloween night at the Fort that they begged to go back this year after missing it this past year and the oldest is 19 and the youngest is 11. I am sure we will go to MNSSHP but it will not be Halloween night.

I predict that the rain shortage will end starting the day after Memorial Day.....The day We check into the Fort.

That is exactly what I do. The inspecting people always give me a hard time for trusting something that is not coast guard approved. The regulations state a coast guard approved personal flotation device must be on board for every person on board but is not required to be worn, except children under the age of 13 must wear one at all times while on board any vessel under 26 feet long.

My only complaint with life jackets and coast guard approval is the cost for a manufacturer to get approved. I have a very fast, almost 100MPH, boat. I do not trust any life jacket that is coast guard approved. I DO trust my life to a custom made, full racing life jacket that is impact tested to over 100MPH. It does not have a coast guard approval though. I have been fussed at on several occasions by coast guard auxiliary during an inspection for not wearing a jacket with the approval stamp. To get that stamp, the manufacturer has to submit close to 100 jackets along with almost $200,000 for t

I'm guessing they have it out for Valentine?

With Disney's record of name placement in other attractions, I believe these people to be on the design team.

The SKU is 400000677880 if that helps.