A Wondrous Time

 Our last morning on the Disney Wonder was bittersweet. After a fun-filled, memorable week of Disney at sea, it was hard to say goodbye to an experience like that. We were up and ready to head to our last breakfast on the ship at 8:00 AM. We ate breakfast at Tiana's with french toast as the final meal. We said farewell to our waiters, Anthony and Galang, once again and headed to the atrium. Mom had an earlier flight than Joe and me because she was headed to a conference for work. So she disembarked the ship while Joe and I waited for our group to be called so we could grab our luggage. We were called around 10:00 or 10:30 AM and officially said goodbye to the Disney Wonder as walked down the gang plank into Vancouver. 

 

We ordered an uber and headed to the airport for our flight back to San Diego. After checking in our luggage, going through security, and customs, we were surprised to find Mom still at the airport. She tells the full story on her blog, so I won't repeat it here. All I can say, is I'm glad I don't have travel curse she seems to possess. We flew on Air Canada and despite sitting next to a gentleman who was oblivious to personal space on an airplane, the flight was smooth and uneventful. We landed in San Diego with no problems and Dad graciously picked us up. Besides being exhausted from the twelve day adventure (I slept for 11 hours that night), I thought back to all the highlights of the trip. 

My Favorite Activity in Vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was fun to walk across such a long bridge and the views were stunning. Also getting to walk across smaller bridges on the trees was pretty cool too. 

My Favorite Activity on the Disney Wonder: Disney Trivia. I was honestly surprised how much I enjoyed doing trivia. I think a big part of it was the crew members were so engaging and funny. Also, it was fun to see my Disney knowledge compete against others who loved Disney as much (or even more) as I did.

My Favorite Excursion in Alaska: Skagway's White Pass & Yukon Historical Train Route. This tour experience was so immersive. With Max Glacier being our energetic guide and the fascinating stories of Soapy Smith, how could this not be my favorite tour of the trip?

Favorite Food I ate: French Toast at the Cabanas buffet. Hey, I said beforehand that I'm not an elegant eater. Just give me my favorite breakfast food and I'm satisfied. Also, the chicken tenders and burgers from the grab n go station were pretty delicious too.

Favorite Family Moments: Eating dinner together every night. It was lovely to share a meal each nice in fabulously themed restaurants. While we did a lot activities together, there were always days where we'd split up to do different things. So it was nice to catch up every night at our table. 

All in all, this vacation was extraordinary. Vancouver is a great city, but unsurprisingly the star of the trip is the Disney Wonder. There was so much fun to be had on this ship. Games, shows, food, I could go on and on. But it wasn't just the wealth of fun on the Disney Wonder, it was that everything seemed to go the extra mile. It wasn't just trivia. It was Disney trivia with a hilarious host. It wasn't just a show. It was Disney show that praised there most iconic moments. It wasn't just a fancy dinner. It was a fancy dinner in a restaurant in which your own artistic creations were brought to life. Every crew member was friendly and just seemed to enjoy what they did. Our room host, Ebit, always greeted us and asked about our day. Plus he kept our room spotless every second we were on the ship. It was a delightful week spent on the magical ship and all credit to the incredible crew members who strive to make every guest's day magical. Thanks Mom for letting me come and paying a lot of money for the trip.

If I had to describe the trip with one word it'd be Wondrous.

If you'd like to read the trip's events from my Mom's perspective, you can read her blog here.

Slides, SEA, & Celebrations

Today was our last day on the Disney Wonder before we disembark tomorrow morning. I began the day at sea by sleeping in. As much fun as I was having on the cruise, i was not getting a lot of sleep, so I tried to catch up on it this morning. Once I awakened, I joined Mom and Joe at Bingo in one of the ship's lounges. Everyone was playing for $10,000 prize, but smaller cash prizes were awarded for other rounds. While we did do a traditional bingo round, I thought the extra rounds were more fun because you'd have to get a certain pattern (e.g. an X), or get a bingo on a certain color card. For the grand prize round, we had to fill the entire bingo card in 46 moves or under. Unfortunately, no player achieved this, but the first person to complete their card afterwards did earn a $500 reward. 

 

 

Following Bingo, Mom and I went to the Cabanas to eat some lunch and then I joined Joe for Toy Story Trivia. I felt fairly confident during this round of trivia since I've seen the films quite a few times. I did pretty well except for one question that stumped me and everyone else playing (excluding one other team who managed to get it right). What is Woody's last name? As far as I could remember, it's never mentioned in movies. The answer: Woody Pride. After trivia ended, I participated in a few rounds of Spirits & Spirits, but then returned to our cabin to put on my bathing suit. Did I forget to mention the Disney Wonder has a water slide? 

I walked up to the top deck with Mom and waited my turn slide down the Twist n' Spout. The staircase up to the water slide is actually heated which was nice because it was a little chilly outside. After sliding down once, I had go down the exhilarating slide again, so I climbed up the stairs once more for round two. Though the crew member tried to persuade me to ride a third time, I decided there was other activities to be done on our last day, so I headed backed to the cabin to change clothes.

The Disney Wonder has different areas on the ship reserved for different age groups. Two of these places are play areas for children 3-12 years old called the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab. Today both offered open house hours where anyone could explore the areas. I went to the Oceaneer Club first with Joe and Mom. This play area had couple different zones. There was an Andy's room zone complete with slide from Toy Story. There was a Marvel Avenger's zone in which kids could get different missions to engage in. There was general play area where a crew member would lead various games for kids to play. Finally, there was a Frozen area which recreated the Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna from the film. Kids could make crafts here and occasionally you'd hear Oaken himself speak to you through the door to the sauna with a "hoo hoo." Honestly, I could have spent all day in the Oceaneer Club, it was so well themed and a delight.

After packing up my suitcase for tomorrow and eating some pizza, I went to the Oceaneer Lab's open house that Joe had told me about earlier this morning. Geared toward the older age range, this area may have been my favorite of the entire ship. The Oceaneer Lab was part of Disney's Society of Explorers and Adventurers, or SEA. This is a fictional organization you can find in many of the Disney park attractions (the Jungle Cruise in DisneyLand for example). In the Oceaneer Lab, there was a portraits of Mary Oceaneer, one the members of SEA as well as several artifacts she had collected over the years of adventuring. For giant Disney nerds, like myself, this was an absolute treat to see. Similar to the Oceaneer Club, this area was split into different zones. There was a craft area, an area used for cooking and science activities, and a gaming area. The latter had some video games including Mario Kart and Mario Party. I would have been thrilled to play Mario Party (my favorite video game), but I wanted to try out the boat simulator they had. 

 

This game let you pilot the Disney Wonder in a couple different scenarios. I chose to sail the ship out of port on the highest difficulty, but quickly found out it was a lot harder than it looked. After ten minutes of crashing I did finally leave the dock into open water. Next, I tried navigating the ship through icebergs on an easier level, but still crashed a lot. Lesson learned, I am not meant to pilot a cruise ship. Overall, I could have spent the entire cruise in the Oceaneer Lab, it was so much fun!

I met Mom and Joe to watch a Broadway style show called Disney Dreams. The show was about a young girl who dreams of flying, but must discover her own magic to do so. With the help of Peter Pan, many other Disney characters, and a lot of singing and dancing, she achieves flight. It was a heartwarming show, but i think I liked the Golden Mickeys the best. After Disney Dreams, Mom and I went to the last half of Disney Tunes Trivia. I knew the majority of the songs and a lady sitting a couple seats over obviously knew them too. She'd joyfully sing every word of the song when it was played.

It was time for our final dinner at Tiana's where Mardi Gras was being celebrated. We were give beaded necklaces at our table and a band was playing music again. I ordered my traditional chicken dish, but this time with cajun spices. Near the end of our meal, all the staff grabbed tambourines and a dance line was started with Tiana and Louis the Alligator. I joined the dance right near the end and even did the limbo. After taking a photo with our wonderful waiters, Anthony and Galang, we left the restaurant to finish our last night on the ship.

I watched a quick farewell ceremony from the captain of the Disney Wonder, featuring almost every character aboard the ship. It was nice to say goodbye to some of the crew that made the cruise so memorable and wonderful. Later, I joined Joe in one of the lounges to watch part of a game called Intuition. It reminded me a little bit of the board game Loaded Questions. Different questions were asked beforehand by the crew and the audience wrote down their answers on paper which were then handed to the host, Lewis, to read off. They were some funny answers, but Lewis' reaction reading them was probably the funniest part. I closed out my night by watching a little bit of Family Superstar Karaoke. Tomorrow, we say goodbye to the Disney Wonder and head home.

If you'd like to read today's events from my mom's perspective, you can read her blog here.

Ketchikan, Creations, & Karaoke

 Today was our last excursion of the cruise, small town called Ketchikan. The ship didn't dock until the later that morning, so it was nice to sleep in longer than 7:00 AM. We had breakfast at the Cabanas (buffet style restaurant) and around 11:30 AM, we left the Disney Wonder to explore Ketchikan. We looked through the many shops the town had to offer. It is a tradition that I always give my best friend DeRon a souvenir from our road trips. So I perused through about six different stores, finding potential trinkets to get him. Even Mom and Joe were suggesting various knick knacks for him. I also found souvenirs to give to the other members of our friend group. It was about time to meet our tour guide for the day, so we headed back to the dock.

Joe found a tour company called Wild Wolf Tours and scheduled us a hike through Ketchikan's rain forest and a tour to a totem pole park. After waiting fifteen minutes, our tour guide, Zach, ran up to the dock to meet us. We had to pick up another couple from a different cruise ship port, so we buckled up drove over to what looked like a former industrial park. After picking up the other couple we drove the to the end of the main road in Ketchikan which just ends at the rain forest. Like the other towns we visited in Alaska, the only way the travel to Ketchikan is by boat, plane, or birth. Once parked, Zach guided us on a hike through Lunch Creek Trail.

Zach was probably the most enthusiastic tour guide of our trip and that's saying something (Max Glacier is still my favorite though). You could tell he was passionate about nature. He constantly would stop and show us different plant life or pick berries to eat. He identified a decomposing tree trunk and explained how it became softer and squishier the more it decomposed by jumping up and down on it. We continued down the trail where it led out to the ocean. Without hesitation, Zach ventured out into the water to try and find us examples of marine life. He told us we could turn over the rocks on the shore and might find some creatures under them. I turned over a stone to find a crab quickly scurry away, but that was only creature I found. I climbed some nearby rocks to get a better view of the ocean and by then, Zach returned to shore. He didn't seem to find much besides a starfish and I think some kind of kelp. We headed back up the trail to the van and Zach offered us salmon dip and crackers. He told us the dip was pretty simple and his own recipe was much more flavorful. Joe tried some, but I gladly declined the offer. "Fish are friends, not food." 

We drove over to Potlatch Totem Park next, a totem pole park. Zach guided us through a couple different buildings, teaching us about the history and culture of the Indigenous people. We even saw a totem pole that was being sculpted. According to Zach, the time it takes to create a totem pole varies on the design and artist, so it could take months or longer to finish just one. We also saw a house that had been reconstructed and could be taken apart and moved when the tribe moved to another location. As we walked around the park, he told us the stories behind some of the different totem poles displayed. Generally, totem poles tell either a story or family lineage based on the designs. Zach led us to the gift shop where the was also a display of antique firearms and a 10,000 year old mammoth tusk. More importantly, I found DeRon's souvenir at this gift shop and it's beautiful. Afterwards, Zach drove us back to main shops in Ketchikan.

We spent some more time looking through the many stores in Ketchikan (including the lumberjack shop) and I bought a few more souvenirs. Then we returned to the Disney Wonder to put away souvenirs, eat, and rest. Joe and Mom attended a concert by an acapella group called Pipeline Vocal Project, but I chose to explore the ship instead. I attended some Disney trivia, walked around the top deck, and saw park of a movie being played in the other theater. Then it was time for dinner at Animator's Palate.

When we walked up to our table, there were character template papers to help us create our own animated characters. I tried to draw mine as odd and goofy as I could. The digital canvases around the restaurant walls displayed more scenes from classic Disney films. Once we finished our character drawings, they were collected as our food began to arrive. Near the end of dinner, the digital canvases presented a show performed by our characters, come to life by the magic of Disney animation. We saw our characters skip, march, and dance alongside Disney characters in iconic Disney film moments. It was wondrous and by far the best part of my day.

After dinner, I attended Family Superstar Karaoke. There were some fun songs performed and it was uplifting to see the audience cheering and encouraging each singer, regardless of their level of talent. Next, I saw the latter half of a game called Seriously. The game involved couples standing back to back and raising their hand if they thought a question applied to them more than their spouse. It was hosted by Lewis, the crew member who hosted Disney Heroes Quote trivia and he was as entertaining as ever. Later, I ended my night with ice cream and watching part of Avengers: Age of Ultron on the top deck. Tomorrow is our last full day on the Disney Wonder and I plan to make the most of it.

If you'd like to read my mom's perspective on today's events, you can read her blog here.