The Cruise Review You've Been Waiting For: Part 1

Those of you who are my Facebook friends, or specifically asked to, have already seen these pictures. Not all of those who visit the blog fall into those categories, however. And, let's face it - not everyone has time to wade through the 430 pictures I uploaded to Facebook! For the record, that represents only a smaller number of the pictures I took on the trip (*cough, cough* 1351 *cough*), so count yourselves lucky!

Part 1 will cover the time at Disney before the cruise. Enjoy!

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If you remember, I spent Sunday-Tuesday by myself at the park. On the bus from the airport, I finally drove onto property!

This is my hotel - the Boardwalk Inn and Villas.

I walked over to Epcot and saw the Friendship Ferry ferrying passengers back and forth to the park.

It was the Flower & Garden Festival, and there were lots of flowers and topiaries to take pictures of.

I had a studio room - just perfect for this party of one. :) 

It was Mother's Day, so the concierge staff wanted to give me a carnation. I explained I wasn't a mom, but they said, "Well, you have a mom, right? Take it!" I'm nothing if not obedient. 

One of my favorite nighttime shows is in Epcot, and I never get good shots of the fireworks there. This year, I got one I really liked!

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Monday, day two, sent me to the Magic Kingdom, so I had to get proof I was there by myself. :) 

And got to ride a favorite ride, the Peoplemover, twice in a row without getting off. 

This cast member, named Gayle, was awesome. She was "just" selling drinks in this mobile drink cart, but she was totally into the parade as it went by. I walked up to her and told her she's just the type of cast member I think Walt Disney would have wanted - she was spreading the magic just by being enthusiastic about her job. She thanked me and we chatted for a bit, and I later left a positive comment card for her at Guest Services. I love it when CMs love their jobs, especially when they aren't glamorous ones!

That night, I went to Hollywood Studios for evening Extra Magic Hours (where guests staying on Disney property can stay in the park after it closes to the public). I rode this ride - Aerosmith's Rock 'N Roller Coaster. It's a favorite ride that goes upside down twice, with a shoulder harness that straps you in - and down (that will matter in a moment). I had my camera with me in its camera bag, so when I got into the ride, I pulled the harness down over me and put the camera bag on the floor of the ride vehicle. The bag also held my park tickets (which have fallen out of my pocket in the past, so I keep them there now when I can), money, my license, my room key, and my iPhone. I looped the strap over my knee. For whatever reason, I didn't hold onto the strap. The ride starts, and the first thing the ride does is go from 0 to 60 and puts you through the first loop. Super fun! Except this time, the camera strap slipped down toward my foot. Because I was strapped in - and down - I couldn't reach out. Picture me, frantically trying to have super stretchy arms to reach down and grab the strap while flying through the dark indoor coaster with Aerosmith music blaring all around us. When we went around a corner, the strap came completely off my foot. I was then trying to have super stretchy legs to scoot the bag over to my feet. Awkwardly, I knew rationally this was supposed to be fun, so I'm also intermittently squeaking, "Woo!" and "Yay!" in a really pathetic voice (I chuckle every time I think about that). FINALLY, I got the bag over to my feet and squeezed it between my feet, pushing it down and hard against the seat under me so hard that my thighs were burning, just as we went through another loop, where the bag would have fallen far down to the bottom of the building below. Whew! The ride came to a stop, but I bravely went on again - this time with a death grip on the bag, held firmly in my hands. 

After my ordeal on the roller coaster, I tried to stay "in the moment" and took pictures of the park. It was around 1 AM now, so the park was pretty empty. 

Time to head back to the hotel, which looks lovely against the water at night. :) 

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Tuesday morning arrived. Miss and Hannah were arriving that night, but I wanted to soak up fun in the parks that day as much as I could. Here's another shot of my hotel. 

I wandered into Epcot and had a nice quiet lunch, reading my iBook and taking pictures as I felt like it.

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On Wednesday, we started off in the Magic Kingdom. Here we are waiting in line for Dumbo. 

I always take a shot of Hannah and Miss on the ride; it's a tradition. It's fun to see how Hannah has grown over the years by how much of her head and body you can see above Dumbo's head. This year, I thought to include myself in the picture, and it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of the entire vacation!

On the Royal Carousel, we did the same trick. 

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Over in Animal Kingdom on Thursday, we got some great shots of the wildlife. This gorilla posed for about 3.2 seconds for the humans before turning his back on us. I always feel sad when I go to the zoo, where animals are kept (and probably kept well and are well cared for) behind glass. They always seem sad to me, and my heart is easily tugged by an animal who appears sad since they can't get help for their feelings. I don't feel this was nearly as much at Animal Kingdom, where animals aren't behind glass and appear to roam freely. 

My favorite of the animal kingdom and the Animal Kingdom - the giraffe!

Then again, who can resist adorable elephant babies and adults? 

I think I've explained this before, but at Animal Kingdom, there is a creative performer called DeVine. This is a woman who is on stilts and covered in greenery. She comes out on the hour and moves slowly, elegantly, over the crowd. If you walk by and don't know to look closely, you'll miss her as she blends into the trees. I LOVE watching her. She doesn't speak, but she's acrobatic and truly divine! My mom and Hannah love her, too (Miss likes her but probably would be content to stop for a moment and then move on. We, on the other hand, are happy to watch her for her entire 5-10 minute performance and follow her around as she poses in various places). 

She wandered over to a wall and laid over it. She looked just like vines on the wall. She laid there for a few minutes, so still that people who walked by were puzzled by those of us staring at and taking pictures/videos of the "vine on the wall."

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The last day at Disney, we went to Hollywood Studios. It was Star Wars Weekends, so there were a lot of Star Wars events happening. While waiting to ride Star Tours, a Star Wars themed ride, Hannah wanted me to take her picture in about 13 different spots and 9 different poses. I loved it!

My sister, the Star Wars fan, had to get this moment captured on film!

Right beside it, there is an umbrella hanging from a lamp post a la "Singin' in the Rain." If you stand on the grey slab behind it, it spray water. I showed Hannah this little trick, and she loved it, asking for a picture! I love that she's turning into a child who likes and wants her picture taken. 

On the way home, on the bus, Hannah and I played our game "I'm watching you," where we point to our eyes and then at each other. She's so cute when she does it - so serious!

We had moved over to a new hotel on Wednesday, but I hadn't taken time to get pictures before Friday. While Miss did laundry before the cruise, Hannah patiently wandered the lobby with me to get some shots. I will spare you all of them. This just shows how tall the lobby atrium is - 5 stories. It's themed after the great lodges of the Pacific Northwest, and it's a gorgeous resort!

Here are some of the shots I took as we walked around outside. The lobby has a stream running through it that feeds the waterfall outside, which runs down into the pool. It's a really lovely set up that I took about 12 gagillion pictures of. 

There's also a man-made geyser, again going with the Pacific Northwest theme, that I only ever managed to see when we were in the pool and in a decidedly camera-unfriendly location. Oh well. It was pretty, and I got this picture of the geyser at sunset. 

We took the boat over to the Magic Kingdom once, so I went back down to get a picture at sunset. 

We stayed in on our last night, gearing up for the cruise on Saturday, which I'll post pictures of next. Stay tuned!