Magic-al Thanksgiving Cruise ~ Having a Food Moment

I excused myself to the hall to wrestle with technology and just generally start walking in the direction of the Club/Lab (since they were probably the ones trying to get ahold of me). It ended up Kylee almost had an accident.  She made it just barely in time but got a little (insert body fluid euphemism here) on the lower part of one legging (still not exactly sure how that’s possible, but Kylee’s talented.) So the counselors had procured spare shorts for her to wear back to get changed in her room and then come back to the club. (Yay!) So I took her to get changed out of her top and skirt and leggings (no jacket!  Pretty sure this is when and where it was lost forever) and into a different top and leggings. I made it back to the Studio in time to see Ernesto’s M&M cream sauce risotto with beef medallions crush Sergei’s sweet potato mash, cheese shell, turkey creation (which had very high marks for presentation, but did not utilize the M&Ms in as many components of the dish.)

M&Ms and Beef Medallions?

Ben said they were odd, but actually quite yummy. After receiving a magical moment certificate from the CM, we collected both kids for a family Topsiders meal.  Upon retrieving the children, we all got caught up in the excitement of watching the drama and art that is Jack-Jack's Diaper Dash.  The sport of baby racing is hilarious and family friendly and adorable. It almost made up for the fact that we missed puppy bowl the previous year.  Chris and Kylee thought it was awesome.  Chris wants to have a child when he grows up entirely to train it for this race.  This is also hilarious and perhaps a bit wrong.  Anyway After receiving our sanitation wipes from Hygiene Girl at the entrance to Topsiders, I carried a separate tray all the way through the line for DD to declare the only thing she wanted was plain white bread.  And water. Since Kylee felt super picky, she started subsisting almost entirely on peanut butter tubs eaten with a spoon and pieces of bread.  Needless to say, five minutes after we had left Topsiders, she decided she was STARVING. 

Starving!!!

So we stopped by Pluto's to see what they had that was Vegan, or at the very least, dairy free.  They managed to rustle her up a veggie burger and bun with a side of fries. 

All allegedly vegan!  No one got sick, so they’re probably at least dairy-free.  Kylee took two bites of her veggie burger, considerably larger amounts of her fries and declared herself to be happy again. On wandering back across the ninth deck, we bumped into the Fun in the Sun deck party.  Although listed as a party at the Goofy pool stage with the guest DJ, Premonition, this was so much more than just a DJ.  Although not listed as a Character appearance and being quite sparsely attended, the hour long dance party involved rotating members of the fab five and their handlers dancing with the kids.  Basically Chris danced with Pluto for half an hour until he got bored.  Kylee still hadn’t forgiven Goofy for sneaking up on her at the character breakfast so kept one eye out for him while dancing her heart out with Minnie, Mickey, Donald and Pluto. 

Yep, just jamming away with the big cheese.

It was CRAZY.  I have never seen such long small group character interaction. It was immensely fun to be able to thank the character handler who was out with Mickey, because he definitely is friends with Peter Pan from the Dreams show Thursday night.  He told us he’d be sure Anne-Marie and Peter heard how much we enjoyed the show.

The kids wore themselves out dancing with their new best buddies and retreated to the clubs for some chill out time while I tried to repack our bags.  Ben wisely offered to help or stay out of the way.  I told him he could helpfully take a nap.  He obliged and I packed while watching the DIY network Project Xtreme Featuring the Disney Magic’s 2008 dry dock renovations.  I actually managed to somehow squish everything back into the suitcases which seemed quite impossible.  Perhaps they’re bigger on the inside? 

Ben and I went for a nice relaxing walk around the ship then headed over to the Walt Disney Theatre in time to watch FriendSHIP Rocks! 

Basically it involved a cute little dance party, Mickey, Minnie and all of our kids and their counselors dancing on stage and then watching a slideshow of all the cute things the kids got to do in the labs and clubs during the past week. The kids would be eating their meals in the clubs this evening (again, Kylee ordered specially through our waiter, this time it went off without a hitch.)

We, on the other hand, were heading back to see what Silvio Jr. cooked up for us this time. 

I’m sorry for the dim lighting in the Palo photos, it is a lovely low lighting romantic dining experience, but it does not make for the best iPhone photos.

We each started with the Antipasti, prosciutto and parmesan reggiano for Ben, marinated olives and sun dried tomatoes and some kind of olive tempenade for me. 

On arrival, our server let the chef, Silvio Jr., know we were there and he came out to talk to me about my vegan dining. On talking to Silvio, I told him I trusted him and I didn’t have any particular dislikes and would enjoy whatever he wanted to send for me.  He smiled, said that made him happy to be able to pick what to send and send he did.  Be forewarned if you go vegan at Palo and give Silvio Jr. free reign, you'll be getting six or more courses.  And dessert.

A separate set of bread came out for me, cheese free.  Super fresh and warm.

The first dish out, bruschetta was simple and yummy.  I hadn’t figured out not to eat everything on my plate until three plates into this dinner, so there is that to keep in mind.

For a pizza course, I received a spinach, tomato and asparagus creation that, again, like the berry pizza from brunch, had an exquisite balance to it, a little bitter, a little sweet, and a little salty

First palate cleanser a yummy little lemon ice.

With a blueberry!  Yummy.  Cold. Light. All good. Pasta course and I’m starting to feel full. 

Penne pasta with asparagus, basil, and I’m guessing a coconut cream based sauce?  So good.  So almost finished it even though I felt pretty stuffed.

Second palate cleanser or first dessert? 

Either way, the Strawberry Basil Sorbet topped with fresh strawberries and blackberries.  One of my top two foods all cruise.  Ben asked if he could have a taste and he loved it too.  Super light and refreshing. First dessert or second dessert?

Poached pears.  I don’t know if I just was too full to enjoy this heavy of a dessert at this point or if it really was just too sweet for me.  Either way, Ben liked it.

But not nearly as much as his chocolate soufflé, which quickly disappeared.

We thanked everyone profusely and headed toward the kids.

Over their protests, we managed to retrieve both Chris and Kylee from the clubs.  The kids’ pillowcases reappeared as part of our turn down service.

After shooing the luggage into the hallway for collection everyone fell asleep by 9&

Yes, we missed the Remember the Magic show, not to mention the 'Til We Meet Again show.  But given how much of a food coma came on, I’m not sure we’d have stayed up even if we'd made it into the theatre.

This post is Part 18 of an Ongoing Trip Report Covering Our Thanksgiving Cruise 2012