Disney Cruise - Adventures of Chip N Dales

Chip's story starts out like many other small fluffy animals, in a barrel in a retail store.  But Chip's store was special it was on the Disney Cruise Ship "Magic", which fits, since Chip wears a little sailor suit with the Disney Cruise Line logo on his shirt!

Chip's adventures begin on Friday, October 24th, the last night of a Western Caribbean cruise as the ship is leaving Castaway Cay.  A little girl named Sianna comes in with her Daddy, picks him up and buys him with her Daddy's Key to the World Card!

His first adventure is dinner in a place called Lumiere's as Sianna and her Mommy (Tanya) and Daddy (Mike) eat their last fancy dinner on the ship.  The nice family did not forget to share their dinner with Chip.

After dinner the little girl wanted to go play with the other kids, but Chip couldn't come, so her Mommy and Daddy volunteered to Chipsit while she was in the Kid's Club.

Not having much experience watching little chipmunks, Tanya and Mike weren't sure how to entertain the new little addition in their lives.  They decided to take Chip back to their rooms to finish up getting ready to leave the ship.  On the way there they bumped into their friend P, who is from Thailand.  P had spent all week making sure they were comfortable in their rooms and cleaning up after them.   Chip wanted his picture taken with P.  Chip was also able to help out with getting the luggage into the hallway.

"A tour of the ship" said Tanya, "that's what we can do for little Chip". Mike agreed and off they went to explore the Magic on all of their last night aboard.
"Where should we go first?" asked Mike.

"Deck 9" was the reply, and off they went!

As they went up the elevator, Chip got his picture taken, then again when they visited the arcade.  Unfortunately, Mike had used up his arcade card allowance days ago, so they weren't able to play any games. Next a stop at the pool.  Even though it was night, Chip was not alone in the pool, however he couldn't swim, since water and furry stuffed animals do not work well together!

It was important for Chip to know all the places his new family dined while they were on the ship all week.  So Tanya and Mike introduced Chip to all the restaurants on deck.

Chip grabbed a quick drink at the soda fountain, shook hands with a very still Goofy then headed towards the lobby.

Since furry rodents and nosy passengers are not allowed to steer the Magic, Chip settled with the big wheel in the lobby.

Since it was evening and the Magic 'rocks' every night, Tanya and Mike decided to let Chip check out the bar scene.  Chip was 21 in munk years... right?


Chip went into Diversions and wanted to play some games, then have his photo taken on a bar, but Tanya and Mike learned that the bars did have a little policy against Disney characters being shown in the same photo as alcohol... so Chip got his picture taken on a bar stool.. not the bar.  Close enough.

Since smooozing with the stars is what its all about; Chip made sure he got his picture taken with some the top Disney Stars!  The High School Musical 3 crowd seemed to be taken back by such a forward fuzzy fan...but hey what rodent wouldn't be star struck!

Seeing Donald's nephews and Mickey and Minnie just outside of the store where he was bought, made Chip lonely.  He was thankful for the grand tour of the ship, but he wanted his friends and a nice warm bed.

Tanya and Mike understood, for how often do you see Chip without Dale?  How could Sianna take home just one?  And to wait another 2 years for the opportunity to get the cruisin' Dale, just didn't seem fair.
So Tanya and Mike went in the store and found Dale, and together the 4 went down to the room to surprise Sianna when she came back from the kid's club.

Later that evening both Chip and Dale got to go to the Lobby for the Final Farewell party with Sianna.  There they played with their 5 ft counter parts Chip and Dale who seemed ready to take them home.  But thankfully they ended up back into the arms of Sianna who took them home with her in her Princess backpack.

Our story has 2 happy endings, because in December 2010, the Elderts and Chip and Dale will join the Chip n Dale Cruisin nuts on a Eastern Caribbean Cruise.

Disney Cruise 2010 - Departure

Day Eight
Departing and Relaxing

Maybe I should call it "Departing and doing a ton of laundry".

We ate at late dining, so we got to have breakfast at 8 pm.  Much nicer than the 6:45 if you had early dining (another advantage to eating late).  We met Michelle, Jim and Ryan at the table for a final breakfast and pictures.  Sianna said goodbye to Lauren who was only a few tables away and by 9 we were headed off the ship.

No lines this year.  Just a quick run through the off loading area to find our luggage and get through customs.  We snagged a porter (no way we were hauling all this luggage ourselves) and he expedited us through the line with our bags.  Just an additional note, I have been through customs in several other countries and come back into the US.  It is nothing like that getting off the ship.  In fact, I don't even think they looked at our passports.  There are separate lines if you are a US Citizen versus someone from another country, but they move you quick through there.

By the time we hit the sidewalk with our luggage to call the Country Inn and Suites for a pick up (it took them about 5 minutes or less).. we were on the bus within 15 minutes of leaving the ship!

We got the car at the Country Inn and started towards Orlando.  We were at the Sheraton Vistana by 10:30.

At first they said "you are too early to check in", but I pointed out we were actually late, because our check in was the day prior (I planned it this way).  We were put in the new rooms in the Spa Cove area.

When I say 'new', I mean NEW.  The building's outside still smelled of fresh paint (inside was fine) and apparently it had just opened the day before so we were the first guests staying in 444.

It was a nice 2 Bedroom, 2 bath apartment and was huge!  There was a separate dressing and makeup room, dining room, full kitchen and a balcony that overlooked the pond.

So we put the brand new washer and dryer to the test with a weeks worth of laundry for 3!  I think I did about 8 loads (small washer).

Mike had the 'I feel like I am still on the ship' feeling for about 2 days after getting off.  Dramamine helped and he wasn't as sick as before, and at least this time we knew about it and it didn't hit us by surprised.  Of course, Sianna was fine.  I took 1 pill the 2nd day, but it definitely was not as bad as the last time we cruised.

Mike napped 1/2 the afternoon and Sianna was asleep in front of her bedroom TV by 7:30.  I went grocery shopping, finished the laundry, and caught up on over 300 emails.

No rest for the weary.

Disney Cruise 2010 - Day Seven - Castaway Cay

Day Seven -  Castaway Cay

I remember when I cruised 2 1/2 years ago.  I wasn't looking forward to 'just another beach'. Hey, I live at the beach, I can get sand in my bathing suit daily if I so desired.

Castaway Cay is different.  It is all the good parts of the beach put together in a space where you can do 'lots of stuff' in a day.  Of course you can not 'do it all',  there are way too many trips and toys to choose from to get close to doing it all. 

This trip we chose the packages with the snorkeling, rafts/tubes, and bikes.  Me, I mainly relaxed, though I did swim with Sianna some and try out the tubes and rafts.  Sianna and Mike started out snorkeling, since we had heard that the earlier the better.  Of course the earlier the 'cooler' too.  The water was 'crisp' but not unbearable.  In fact at a certain point when the breeze started up, the water was warmer than the air when you were wet.

They snorkeled all the way out to find the sunken Mickey (there is also ships and Minnie down there too!).  During this time I relaxed on the raft, sunned, got drinks and iced the beer and Long Island Ice Tea in the rolling cooler we brought on shore. 

We missed each other a bit, since I was also going to the Island Post Office to mail some post cards from the Bahamas (only .65 cents each) and watched some of the crew with life boat practice.  They had to turn a life boat right side up and haul in 'injured passengers'.  It was interesting.  I also got pictures of all the characters wandering around the island.

Anyway, they got back after exploring one of the kid's swim stands off the beach and when we all finally met up again we headed to lunch.  BBQ! And it smelled great.  Warning, do not leave your plates unattended.  We watched a family near us leave full plates on the table unattended, I guess to get drinks. 1 minute later there were 10 little yellow finches having lunch.  It was amazing to watch.  They got new plates of food when they returned.

While eating we stopped to enter our family in a crab race.  We did not win, but had fun cheering on hermit crab #6.  Then Mickey, Pluto & Goofy came over to entertain the group, add in Minnie a few minutes later and they were all doing a Macarena with the crowd.  It was fun. 

After lunch, Mike relaxed and Sianna and I went to go down the new Pelican Plunge water slide.  You have to swim out to it (not a big deal), but then you climb the stairs and wait your turn.  Too cold!  I went back in the water and tread water until Sianna came down.  After that I dropped her off at the Caribbean Party at the Kid's Club Area, Scuttles Cove. 

Mike took his pass and went to go do his 1 hour bike ride.  The rental is only an hour for the bike, but unlimited on the rafts and tubes (which you can trade back and forth as you so desire through the day).  According to him, it took an hour of steady riding to get to the lookout and back, and had Sianna been with him, they would have never made it!

During this time I drank, relaxed, picked up our lounger area, returned the snorkeling gear and the tubes and towels.  I was a bit concerned about not getting back to Sianna before the kid's area closed.  But I learned from a counselor that parents 'forget the kids' all the time on the Island, and that the counselors get them onboard and back into the kid's club on the ship.  Nice of the Cast Members not to leave the kids alone on the Island for a few days.  Can you imagine?  However, if they wanted to leave me, I would be perfectly fine!  I hear some of the food is stored there, the cabanas are nice, and I could get some real quiet time until the Wonder comes in a few days!

Back to reality.  We picked up Sianna, who did not want to leave her friend Lauren.  Lauren is from Vegas, so the chance of them getting together soon after the cruise considering we are in Virginia, is pretty slim.  But they had a great time on the ship together and exchanged emails to stay in contact.

Got the kid, got the husband, back on the ship.  Did I mention the snow?  Yep, they had snow.  Ok, it was 70 some degrees, so it wasn't real.  But the kids loved the snow maker they had set up beside the big tree and sled that was on the dock next to the ship.  In fact when you got off the ship, they had hot coffee and chocolate they were handing out to guests. 

That night was our last night onboard.  Very sad time.  Lots of packing (bags have to be out the stateroom door between 8:30 and 10:30.  Which means pack them before dinner and set them out as soon as you get back.  Squish in that time period a LONG line in Shutters to get your pictures, return kid wrist bands and pagers to the Kid's Club, last supper, a good bye party in the atrium, and a Cast Member skit about what they would do if they weren't at sea (for adults only); and you have a full evening.

When we collapsed in bed at 11:30 we just wanted our last cookies and milk room service, so I called them when we got to the room.  And we waited.  And waited.  And started falling asleep, so at 12:15 called to say "if it is not on the way, cancel it, we are going to bed".  The lady checked, "on its way".   She called back 10 minutes later.  OOPS.. It was delivered to another room.  "Did we still want it?"  Of course "No" was the answer and we went to bed.

It was a disappointing way to end the cruise.