Our Island Hopping, Rain Dropping, Champagne Popping Adventure About This Page:

[mpwife153]

Great pics from Castaway Cay & from dinner!

[lazanya]

What a fabulous day! Beautiful portraits!

[mommapants]

All caught up. So far your cruise sounds amazing. I had no idea they found take down the walls on the balcony.

[MayraLR]

What a great day!

[HiddenMickey]

I was getting all worried about your Castaway Cay day being a washout, but it ended up pretty great! The portraits of everyone are excellent. I hope you got a enlargement of the family photo for your wall at home.

[MontiMouse]

I had completely forgotten about Macy and Gem getting "lost" on Castaway Cay. When they left with Charlie to go parasailing they had given me their room keys and the wave phone so they had no way to get in touch with us. Somehow Charlie heard that we were moving from the family beach to the area closer to Pelican Plunge but Macy had not. Charlie found us with no problem but the girls went to get snacks and then came looking for us. She said they looked up and down the family beach for us and we must have been in the water when they came by Pelican Plunge. She was freaked out enough to ask a CM to borrow his wave phone but we weren't answering (I really wish those things would actually ring instead of just vibrating). When we realized they had been gone quite a while I got a little concerned. I noticed I had a bunch of missed calls on my wave phone so I figured Macy would be freaking out. Luckily I spotted them and the CM not far from where we were. She was panicking and was happy to see us. They did stay with us for the remainder of the day

Charlie and I started our morning with room service coffee while getting ready for a day on the beach. We had breakfast in Cabanas and then headed off the ship. The girls, being typical teenagers, wanted to be able to sleep in some mornings. We agreed to let them sleep in and get off the ship without us for our two days at Castaway Cay. We had taken care of the paperwork with Guest Services the night before and it really worked well for us. They just called us on the wave phone when they were getting off the ship to see where we were and then came to meet us.

It was cloudy and drizzling when we got off the ship as you can see from this picture:



We decided to so some shopping and walked around a bit. The drizzle stopped but it was still cloudy so we decided to walk over to the Heads Up bar to take a few pictures. We were the only ones there for a while and the bartenders looked bored so we decided Konk Koolers were in order - after all we were on vacation and it was about 10 a.m. by now. We got another couple to take a few pictures for us while we were hanging out visiting with them:





Macy and Gem called us shortly before lunch to say they were getting off the ship and were hungry so we agreed to meet them at Cookies. By the time we got there it was starting to rain so we quickly grabbed a table. I noticed Jill at some point and went over to let her know we had a table to hang out at until the rain stopped.

[lauriep]

Glad you saved the poor bartender from his boredom!

[chezp]

What a shame about the drizzle, but sounds like you made the best of it.

[shazza]

Enjoying your report. The portraits came out perfect, and what a great day on CC!

[Jillybean]

Sunday, June 3

So . . . Thom had volunteered to put the room service order outside the night before. Guess what we found in the room the next morning when we were wondering where our room service was? So off the four of us went to the Enchanted Garden for their buffet breakfast.

We ended up being one of the first people seated that morning - - and in one of the cool circular booths to boot! Plus we were the very first people to go through the buffet on the left hand side. You almost hated to mess up the works of art . . . almost. It was a delicious way to start the morning and I was kind of glad that Thom had forgotten to put out our room service order the night before (although don’t tell him I said that ).

We headed back to the room to brush our teeth and sunscreen up.



Monica ready for the day ahead.



The Mitchells were heading up to Cabanas for breakfast so we followed them up there after a bit. We found them outside enjoying the scenery of where we would be soon - - Atlantis. I also had just one more cup of coffee since we had a big day ahead of us.



Once everyone had finished breakfast, we made for the gangway and quickly found a taxi along with 3 other ladies. Once the taxi driver finds you, he is not going to let you go. He made sure that he got his entire group through the crazy crowd as we made our way to his taxi. He dropped the women first at Atlantis and then dropped us at Comfort Suites.

There were no lines so Monica and I quickly checked us in and received our passes for Atlantis. The walk back to Atlantis was quick, but finding where you turned in your passes for arm bands was the hardest part.



When we finally located the spot, we stood in a somewhat long line since one poor girl was working by herself. She was fast, however and we had our arm bands in no time.

We walked through the really cool aquarium and then we were outside for the real action.



We first found the place where you could rent lockers and it was probably the longest line of the day. We had planned to share one large one, but they ran out shortly before we reached the front of the line, so we each got a small and packed everything in.

Finally, we were ready for some fun, but we didn’t realize that finding rafts was by far the biggest obstacle of the day (one of my fellow jurors went there the week after us and had the very same complaint ). People were essentially forced to stand at the entrances to the river and stalk people as they were getting out. We finally got one two-person raft and Thom and Maddie were off. Monica and I checked out every entrance and finally found several more floats at the main entrance. I can’t tell you what a high it was when someone told you they were leaving and you could have their float. We finally ended up with floats for everyone.

When Thom and Maddie came back around, I switched off and took Maddie. I quickly discovered that this was no lazy river. We later coined it the “chaotic river.” On our second time around in the wave area, Maddie and I were going along just fine until a wave overtook us right in the perfect spot and we took a dive. A lifeguard was beside us in about two seconds, helping both of us back on the float. He even brought back my sunglasses which I didn’t even realize I had lost. Maddie was a little shaky but quickly overcame it and loved telling everyone how we took a dive.



When we came back around, Thom took Maddie to a pool while the rest of us went around again and went for the falls.



The girls took their own dive as we made our way through the wave section. If a wave is coming right when you're at the bend, then you're a goner.



This was probably the first true water park that I had been to and I was amazed how you could just spend the entire day in your raft if you wanted to. We took the cut off for the “falls.” This was much better than just waiting in a line - - when you can float in a raft while doing it!

"Waiting" in line . . .



When we started going up on a conveyor belt backwards, I started to wonder if I should worry.

Going up . . .



When we got to the top, the belt started going down and your raft was dropped into a pool of water. The belt stopped right before our raft was dropped and Mary Devall and I essentially were backwards on a downhill slope for a few minutes. Talk about a good ab workout!

When we were dropped into the pool, it split off into the “falls” and the “drop.” Our raft was headed for the drop line , so we paddled like crazy to get ourselves straight and then the lady in front of us hung on to our raft to keep us from drifting off into the “drop” line again. The falls ended up being a lot of fun and wasn’t too scary at all. Now I wonder what the drop was like?

Going down . . .



One important note: I didn't take a single picture at Atlantis - - all pictures are compliments of Monica!

After the “falls,” we were propelled back into the rapids course and finally gave up our rafts at the point where we entered. I tried to look for a worn out looking mom or dad to give ours too - - I did and they were most appreciative!

We quickly found Thom and Maddie at a pool next door and I switched children with Thom so that he and Mary Devall could go and have some fun with Macy and Gem. Monica and Charlie showed Maddie and me where the kids section was and then they did a little exploring.





Maddie had the best time in an area that was finally just her size, but I had to laugh the first time that a big bucket of water came splashing down near her. After a momentary pause and a look of panic, she went right back to playing.

The sun and the chlorine were starting to wreak havoc with my eyes at this point and I had to keep my eyes shaded to even be able to open them. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a hat, so I did the best I could with my hands.

Maddie played for about a half hour and then I lured her out of the pool with the promise of ice cream. There was a nearby snack bar, so I got a mango margarita and a kids grilled cheese and tomato while Maddie had an ice cream bar (I had discovered that she and Thom had eaten lunch earlier).

All the tables were full around the snack bar, but a family was just finishing up and gave us their table. Being in the shade did wonders for my eyes. As soon as we sat down, everyone returned and filled us in on their adventures.

I couldn’t believe it, but Mary Devall had gone down one of the big slides with Thom, Macy and Gem. She didn’t particularly like it, but she did it. Monica was even there to capture it.

Thom . .



Macy and Gem . . .



Mary Devall and Macy . . .



Macy and Gem grabbed something to eat also and we sat around eating and chatting about our day. I ended up giving my sandwich away because my margarita truly hit the spot.

We wanted to make sure to get back in plenty of time before the ship set sail, so we gathered our belongings and headed back inside.



We looked around a couple of the shops and Mary Devall accidentally brushed against a display and broke a shot glass. Before we could even offer to pay, one of the workers told Thom in a very snotty voice “You know you have to pay for that.” Oooh, that made me so angry! Not only we were going to pay, but we were also very apologetic. I think I would give someone the chance to make it right on their own accord before making demands. I was truly amazed at how rude they were considering how nice everyone outside was (and they were working in the air conditioning ).

Once outside, the doorman immediately called for us a taxi and we had a very adventurous ride back to the port (a little like Test Track on speed ).



As soon we were back on board, we went to our rooms to drop our bags before heading back out to the Aqua Duck. After Maddie had ridden the “chaotic river” multiple times that day, we convinced her that the Aqua Duck would be no big deal. She finally believed us and was ready to ride. Monica made us both gigantic mimosas and off we went. I grabbed a few snacks from my favorite counter service places on the pool deck and then we settled in to watch Maddie ride (notice that Thom had loaned me his hat by then).



Of course, Maddie loved it and immediately wanted to ride again.

Thom with the piggie-tailed one:





We all spent the rest of the late afternoon and early evening riding the Aqua Duck over and over again. As I stood in line with Maddie, she told me that she didn’t want the guy to kick the raft and she wanted to go slow. I had no idea what she was talking about until we reached the front and realized that the CM was kicking the rafts to make them go faster at first. She told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to kick our raft.

We finally headed back to room and started getting ready for the night. Tonight was our dinner at Palo, but all of the girls were going to our regular dinner at Animator’s Palate. Once Thom and I were ready, we left the girls in the capable hands of Macy and Gem and took off for Palo.

Monica and Charlie met us outside of Palo and we were immediately seated. We had a great server and the food simply never stopped coming. It’s hard to remember where one course finished and the next started. The one thing I do remember (other than Monica and I asking for another bottle of Conundrum to be opened ) is that I had the chocolate soufflé. This Palo was a good bit fancier in decor than the Wonder’s Palo, but it never felt stuffy. We laughed and joked with our server and truly had a fantastic time.



After our meal when we walked to Palo’s entry, Monica and I went to the restroom. All went well until we went to leave the restroom . . . it took us several tries before we realized that we needed pull the door instead of push it (or was it push instead of pull . . . now I’ve forgotten again!) We thought we were all clear until we opened the door and spotted Thom, Charlie and the maitre d’ outside.

Only the maitre d’ wasn’t laughing . . . although he appeared to be biting his lip to keep from it. Apparently, he tried to come over and help us get out, but Thom and Charlie told him to wait to see if we could manage it on our own. You can believe that wasn’t the last we heard about our door issue on the trip. Thom even tried to give us a lesson about knowing whether to push or pull depending on where the hinges are, but it appears to have escaped me now.

The guys laughed about it the ENTIRE way back to the room. Only by separating the two of them to go to bed did we have any peace. Thom had a couple of calls over the wave phone while we were at dinner that night, so we knew that the girls were already back in the room. Maddie was already asleep and the rest of us weren’t far behind her . . . once Thom stopped laughing.

[cubfancolleen]

Great day! We were really surprised by the not-so-lazy river at Atlantis! Especially when you start going up the ramp backward! Did anyone do the slides thru the shark tank?

Palo, mmmmmm!

The bathroom door story is pretty funny! I'd blame the Conundrum!

[chezp]

Oh wow, what a fun day you had! The lazy river at Atlantis definitely wouldn't be for me with those drops - thanks for the heads up on those. The AquaDuck is about my limit.

[lauriep]

A great day for everyone! Glad Maddie got up the courage to try Aquaduck.

[disney_duke]

What a fun day! The fact that you can stay in your raft makes Atlantis quite more appealing. Dinner sounded great, and... uh... memorable?!!

[HiddenMickey]

Wonderful day.
So, I'm curious about the Comfort Inn thing. You booked a room in order to get passes to Atlantis?