Once they were back, Meri saw Chip and Dale and HAD to go meet them! She gave them both kisses, and ended up bonking her mouth on Chip’s nose… which REALLY loosened her already somewhat loose tooth! At this point she was BEYOND excited, because she knew it meant that she would probably lose her tooth within the next 24 hours! Oh the joy!
The big bonk! LOL!
After that, they went to the sports area to play some ping pong and shoot some baskets, and then they came right back to us again. And promptly noticed Pluto! Well. Meri HAD to tell Pluto all about her loose tooth, so off they went! Meri didn't want me to come this time, lol, but I took pictures from across the deck anyway, because they were so cute. There was no line for Pluto so they dominated his time for about 5 minutes until a couple came up, and then they moved on! Later in the trip I met the couple and they told me she was so excited, and they were so charmed! LOL!
Before long it was time for Meri to get into her Alice dress, because the Alice Tea Party was about 45 minutes away. We said goodbye to Timothy and headed down to the cabin to change! On the way back up, we ran into Timothy and Katrina again in the promenade lounge, and since we had some time to kill, we let the kids dance while we had “boring grown up talk” as Timothy called it.
After a little while, Meri and I headed up to the gift shop to browse... and of course came out with a toy. Meri decided she wanted to purchase a pirate telescope! And then we had to test it out!
Finally it was time for the tea party!! The tea party was cute. The tables were all set up for tea, and when you went in, you just chose a table.
The "main table" for Alice and the Mad Hatter was set up on the dance floor.
When everyone was seated, Alice and the Mad Hatter came out. Alice said she was going to teach everyone how to properly serve and enjoy tea. First, however, she needed a March Hare, and then I think she needed the White Rabbit (even though he wasn't at the tea party as I recall). So she chose two children from the party.
Of course, whatever Alice taught, the Mad Hatter did wrong, and made it very silly.
The only thing that kind of disappointed me was that this was a very limited-seating event, and I’d say about 1/3 to 1/2 of the tables were just adults with no kids along. And the majority of the seating in front of the dance floor (where the main table was) was dominated by tables with just adults, relegating the children to sit further back, and not be able to see as well. While I agree
fully that adults traveling alone have paid for their cruise, and therefore for all entertainment, I guess I feel like the adults should have maybe sat towards the back area, letting the children sit up close to be able to see. But maybe that’s biased because I’ve got a kid, so I’m more sensitive to it. I don't mean to be unfair to adults travelling without kids, of course. I just felt bad for these kids that were stuck in the back with no real way to see anything that was going on.
Anyway, we were fortunate enough to get good seats, so Meri was able to see, but my gosh, most kids were really out of luck if they wanted to see anything much! Also, I talked to a few parents throughout the cruise that expressed disappointment that they weren't able to get tickets for the tea party, so if nothing else, Disney should have maybe had a couple of opportunities for this throughout the two weeks. I could understand on a shorter cruise that they'd have to limit it, but gosh, with ten at-sea days, I'm pretty sure people would have gone!
At the end, they had a photo op with The Mad Hatter and Alice, which I thought was nice. The Mad Hatter was really crazy, and so Meri decided she didn’t want to take a picture with him and Alice, so we skipped out on that, unfortunately. I wasn’t going to force the issue – she was really adamant about not taking a photo. I notice that as a rule, she doesn’t like really obnoxious and loud characters, and she tends to shy away from them. I admit I kind of don’t blame her. He really was loud, and I guess it kind of freaked her out. Oh well! She enjoyed the tea party, at least!
After the tea, we headed back to the cabin to relax and get ready for dinner. Tonight dinner was the French menu at Lumiere’s, and I wanted to make sure to have a good appetite!
Meri actually got something slightly different tonight for dinner...
My shrimp appetizer - which was so good I'd have licked the plate if I were alone, lol! Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with White and Green Asparagus, Micro Greens and Lemon-Dill Dressing with Horseradish Cream
French onion soup - which was a must-do on French night!
Mom got the sea bass tonight - she was really excited about it being on the menu. Triton's Seared Sea Bass - topped on a Mushroom Herb Risotto, Sweet Onion Marmalade and garnished with a potato crisp.
My Aged Angus Grilled Beef Tenderloin on Olive Oil Smashed Potatoes, Bacon-wrapped Green Beans and a Mustard Madeira Sauce
I could carry on for hours about how good this menu was!!!
The kids played with napkins for a while... crazy little beasts...
Then Kadek did the mouse-napkin for the kids... and that was a hit again!
Then, lo and behold it happened! The event that the entire world now knows about! Meri’s tooth came out while she ate her ice cream!!! Needless to say, she was VERY excited, and of course a huge production was made of it!
This was the night they did the Beast show, and I admit, we were all thoroughly unimpressed. We were seated way back at the far table, and we couldn't see a thing. It was all so fast that before we even realized what was happening, it was done.
All that happened was that Belle and the Beast, along with two other fancily dressed couples (extras, as I call them) were announced, came in, did a little quick waltz-type dance, and then bowed and waved and left. The least they could have done was parade around the entire loop of the restaurant, so everyone could see them. Oh well. Anti-climactic at best, but I'm sure the tables in the middle were jazzed about it, lol!
Then Taner did another trick for us - this time with cups! He'd pour a little water in a cup, then shuffle them all around, then we'd have to guess which cup had water in it. None of them did, at any point! We think we figured it out, though, lol.
After that, I shuffled all four kids off to the Oceaneers Club – but before I could stop her, Meri had gone to the Guest Services desk to tell them about her tooth! They gave her a big button, and she was very proud of herself! Then we went off to the club, where I dropped them all for some event or another!
I went back down to enjoy my crème brulee and coffee – yummy!
My delicious creme brulee
Mom's chocolate dessert
We had another challenge issued by Taner... and this time I'm the one that figured it out. But to be fair, I'd seen it before. You have to get the butter on the outside of the design, keeping the same design, and only moving two crayons - not the butter.
I liked these sconces
We adults chatted a while again, and then figured we’d better get out of the way so they could set up for the second seating!
I loved that Tina had quickly picked up on the fact that I was using the extra blanket on my half of the bed, and she started making the bed with the extra cover only on my side. Extra brownie points for her, for sure!
I picked Meri up at a little after 8, and barely recognized her – they had painted her face to look like the Cheshire Cat (on her pin), and she was so cute!
We headed back to the room for a while, to relax before going up to meet Pinocchio at 9:30pm and Mickey at 10pm! We skipped the show tonight – I just didn’t feel like going. At 9:15pm we headed up to Preludes to meet Pinocchio, and on the way we ran into this guy in the stairwell!
You know she was telling him about her tooth...
Then we continued on our way to Preludes. The line wasn't long here, which was nice!
Yep. She's telling him about the tooth...
Then we sat down to watch other kids meet Pinocchio while we waited for Mickey to come out at 10. At one point, a little kid got Pinocchio’s face dirty, and the “handler” wanted to wipe his face, but Pinocchio wanted none of it, trying to wiggle away, etc. It was hilarious, and reminded me exactly of Meri when I try to wipe dirt off of HER face! Finally the dirt came off and all was well again. But it was a cute little interlude.
Before long, Pinocchio was gone, and Mickey came out! Meri was so excited to tell him all about her tooth and how it came out! I know, shocking, right?
Once we met Mickey, it was back to the room, where I washed Meri’s face, had her brush her teeth, and then I stuffed a very excited little girl into her bed. I hopped into the bath tub (amazingly, I fit well enough to soak in the tub!) and read my book a while, and then got out, set the clock ahead an hour (to midnight) and climbed into bed!
Then I remembered I had Meri’s tooth fairy gift in the safe – a stuffed baby Minnie that she was admiring in the shop – and I got it out and tucked it into bed with her before tucking myself back in! It was definitely an extravagant tooth fairy gift (usually she gets $1) but I figured Tinkerbell would be generous on a Disney Cruise, so I just went for it! Of course, Meri has since been telling everyone exactly how much it cost... sigh.
Up next: More fun at sea...