Fantasy Cruise Part 1: At Sea

We just finished a seven night Caribbean cruise on the Disney Fantasy. We got a great rate as cast members, and invited some friends with us. While similar to the Wonder, which we cruised on in 2017, the Fantasy is a little bigger.

We booked four veranda rooms and were assigned midship deck 7. We were able to have the veranda partitions removed, and enjoyed sitting on our huge veranda as the ship left ports. Besides our embarkation and debarkation days, we had three days at Sea and three in ports.

Our first two full days, Sunday and Monday, were at sea, and we spent our time relaxing on the top deck, enjoying the ship’s activities, and eating. We took an mixology class that was fun, and watched “Frozen” and "Aladdin" in the theater. Like the Wonder, the Fantasy had three rotational dinning rooms, a buffet area called Cabanas, and snack windows by the pool. 

The atrium on the Fantasy seemed larger and brighter than the one on the Wonder. It features a statue of Minnie. Characters were often out around the atrium for photo opportunities. 

We had to wear masks indoors except when at our dining table. The three dining rooms on the Fantasy are Royal Court, Enchanted Garden, and Animator’s Palate, and the latter was a little different than the one on the Wonder. We really enjoyed the dining rooms, the food, and our servers. The wait staff rotate with the guests through the dining rooms so start anticipating their preferences. Ours were soon joking with us.

Hilton Head

For Susan's birthday we spent a couple of nights up at the Disney Resort on Hilton Head. Bryan and Jenn came with us, so we got a two bedroom villa. We swam a bit and drove around downtown Bluffton, and ate at the Salty Dog at the Outlets, but mostly just relaxed in our villa.

 

Last year, Buc-ee's opened stores off I-95 in St Augustine and Daytona, so of course we stopped at one on our way there and another on the way back. We also visited several book stores on the way and in the Hilton Head area.

This Thursday Susan, Bryan, and I flew back to Portland to attend a memorial service for a friend. We were dismayed to see how much the city had deteriorated, with tents all over the sidewalks downtown and along the freeways, and plywood covering up many of the windows of the buildings downtown.

While it was a somber weekend, we did enjoy hitting some of our favorite places to eat while we were there. We had some Pietro's Pizza and a dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and we stopped by a new Voodoo Doughnut in Oak Grove, south of Milwaukie. We flew home this morning.

Gingerbread Houses Part 2

Saturday we went looking at houses, and Sunday we drove my mom to Cocoa Beach and Disney's Vero Beach Resort.

Monday morning Susan and I took her to Epcot, then took the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center. Work continued in the center of Future World.

From there we took the Resort monorail to the Grand Floridian, and enjoyed seeing the gingerbread house.

Because of the 50th celebration, they didn't put up the usual Christmas decorations at the Magic Kingdom. Afterward we took the boat out to the campgrounds to look around. Yesterday morning before work I drove my mom to the airport.

Gingerbread Houses

My mom came out to Florida last week and I took her around the parks for a few days. Thursday we went to Animal Kingdom, where she enjoyed watching some of the shows, walking the animal trails, and riding the train out to Conservation Station. We also watched the new Kite Tails show.

Friday I took her to see the shows at Hollywood Studios, then we met the rest of the family at the Ale & Compass restaurant at the Yacht Club for my birthday dinner.

We also spent some time checking out the Christmas decorations at the resorts, especially the gingerbread houses. At the Beach Club they had a gingerbread carousel on display.

Holidays in the parks

After Halloween, the decorations in the parks switched to the Holidays, and in Epcot, the Food and Wine Festival gave way to the Festival of Holidays after Thanksgiving. As they did with the Halloween parties, Disney held some Christmas themed After Hours parties in Magic Kingdom rather than Mickey's Very Merry Christmas parties.

 

The restrictions for covid continued to be eased, and more things returned. Recently Disney announced the return of the Cast 5K, and this morning Susan, Jennifer, and I took part. It was held in Animal Kingdom.

On Friday, WDW celebrated the 120th anniversary of Walt Disney's birth.

Wormsloe

 

On the way home from Charleston Susan and I stopped at the Wormsloe State Historic Site outside Savannah. Wormsloe was the colonial estate of Noble Jones, a carpenter who arrived in Georgia in 1733 with James Oglethorpe and the first group of settlers from England.

We spent about an hour going through the museum, and then another walking around the grounds.It was pretty interesting.

Earlier this month Jenn was promoted to a relief coordinator at the Emporium. Yesterday she and the other coordinators spent a day at Disney Springs and played a round of mini-golf at Winter Summerland, the course next to Blizzard Beach. 

Harmonious & Fort Sumter

I didn't get into the parks in late October or early November. Disney reopened the Sassagoula boats at Disney Springs, and a lot of cast members from the Friendship Boats were reassigned there, meaning those left behind worked a lot of hours. Last week, however, Susan and I were able to attend a special showing of Harmonious for Epcot cast members. We got to view the fireworks from a front and center spot, and even got some free snacks.

 

Susan and I made another quick trip to Charleston this week. While we were there, I took the ferry from downtown out to Fort Sumter to look around. Fort Sumter is where the Civil War started in 1861, with South Carolina troops taking the fort from Union soldiers.  

It takes a couple of hours to ferry back and forth across the harbor and walk around the fort, but it's definitely worth it for someone interested in history. While I went to Fort Sumter, Susan took two of our friends kids to the aquarium next door to the visitor center.