Adventure In The Great Wide Somewhere

  Welcome Tiggerific Tiger-ific Tuesday Trivia blog hoppers. Thanks again to Jodi from  +Magical Mouse Schoolhouse , Heidi from  +Heidi's Head , Jenn from Disney Babies Blog  and  +Mike Ellis  for co-hosting! Did You Know... The Disney Dream which travels at a leisurely 22 knots while in service, can best that speed by quite a bit. Full Speed Ahead! Traveling faster than an adult tigger tiger in a charge, the Dream maxes out around 24.7 knots (also known as 28.4 miles to us landlubbers.)

Although Disney lists limits on dress (no swimwear in the dining rooms, etc.) here on their website, what exactly do people "normally" wear?   I've got you covered. Formal, Semi-Formal, Cruise Casual, Optional Dress Up, or Pirate will be noted as the evening attire on the front corner of your Personal Navigator each day. So let's break those down Formal These evenings, most guests seem to go with somewhere in the range of "Sunday Best" to cocktail dress. Some opt for tuxes and ball gowns (when else can you really wear one?) Jackets, although requested on the website, seem pretty rare. Dark slacks and a button down are more common.  Rocking the sweater vests and tiaras. The little princesses often choose a favorite costume from their wardrobe (yes, leftover Halloween costumes, tiaras and fairy wings are welcome) while the boys range from tiny suits to khakis and sweater vests and full length jeans are not unheard of in the elementary set. ...

#SilentSunday #tiltshift

Welcome Blog Hoppers to The Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere "Shorts Saturday" Blog Hop for the week of March 1st. March? Already? Every week, I host this link up blog hop to share a short and sweet version of our Disney love as we answer Disney related questions. I'd love for you to grab the button and link up your post! We all love comments, so half the fun is visiting each other's blogs and commenting on their thoughts. Our short and sweets prompt this week is Disney Resolutions Recap <50 words! I keep moving forward on my Disney Resolutions ! I'm so excited for my "Girls Only" trip (received my tickets today)! Cruising concierge proved incredible and we even survived 15+ foot seas ! Kylee may yet clear the 44" mark before November and can't wait to cruise on the Fantasy! All I have left to do is join the moms panel. Piece of cake. ;) Very Merrytime on the Disney Fantasy, here we come! Now it's your turn! Link up ...

Welcome Blog Hoppers! This is your friendly neighborhood reminder for your Shorts Saturday blog hop prompts! Every week, I host this link up blog hop to share a short and sweet version of our Disney love as we answer Disney related questions. I'd love for you to grab the button and link up your post! We all love comments, so half the fun is visiting each other's blogs and commenting on their thoughts. Our short and sweets prompt tomorrow is Disney Resolutions Recap < 50 words! The rest of March is as follows! Write it up, link up tomorrow and comment away.   href ="http:// magicalfamilyadventures . blogspot .com/search/label/shorts%20saturdays"> img border="0" src ="http://1. bp . blogspot .com/-2C0kMiUL87M/UmpwqiMB9tI/ AAAAAAAACPo /CK8m0HsI3aI/s1600/Shorts+Saturdays. png " height="150" width="150"/>  

Welcome Foodie Friday Blog Hoppers! Allergy Free Chocolate Cake Location: All Rotational Restaurants as well as Palo, Disney Wonder Cost: Included in Cruise Fare (Palo has a surcharge) As I said in my "The Royal Treatment" trip report, our recent cruise allowed for us to see how the Disney Wonder handled allergy free dining. On previous Disney Magic cruise, we received a wide variety of desserts. On the Wonder we received this lovely, squishy sweet delectation for the first time. I noticed it was soft and sweet chocolate-y gooeyness.  I possess a very odd sense of humor though, since I found it hilarious when we were served it in: Parrot Cay after boarding lunch Triton's first evening at dinner Animator's Palate-Show Night second evening at dinner Animator's Palate-Pirate Night third evening at dinner Studio Sea (Family Studio) fourth afternoon at the princess tea and finally Palo fourth evening, after dinner. I don't know. I think the ...

  Welcome to those of you joining me from Capturing Magical Memories and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 4th stop on our Magical Blogorail . I love Walt Disney World in the the spring time! (Sorry, couldn't resist !) However, if I'm going to do Disney during Spring Break (along with all the added guests that entails) a little extra planning is in order. 1.) Hit the high seas. I highly recommend trying out Disney Cruise Line if you decided to do Disney during Spring Break. Not only do the ships sail at pretty near the same capacity year round, but if you book early or extremely last minute, cruising can be less expensive than a trip to the world. The romance of sailing the high seas. A cruise on a Disney ship is a nice way to enjoy all of the character interactions, service, exquisite details and magical stage shows Disney is known for in a calmer more relaxing environment the Walt Disney World. 2.) Land and Sea should remain i...

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers! This week's wordless Wednesday is brought to you by Disney History!  The Flying Dutchman harbored at Castaway Cay back in the day. The history of Castaway Cay can be found in Fastpass to History ~ REAL Pirates of the Caribbean. Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting! 

So after several months of research, late night conversations and soul searching our family finally decided to take the plunge into uncharted waters. No, we're not cruising to Alaska or the Panama Canal (yet) although that is still firmly on our Disney bucket list. We're joining the ranks of the Duggars; no, I'm not pregnant. Starting at the end of the 2013-2014 school year, we're going to start homeschooling both of our children! Our next great adventure! Channeling my #DisneySide, I decided to celebrate my new found peace and future with some books. After a bit of browsing, my #DisneySide Amazon Wish List is set for the foreseeable future. For a little light reading for me, I picked out The Thinking Fans Guide to Walt Disney World by Aaron Wallace. I thumbed through this a month ago in Barnes and Noble, meant to buy it and got distracted and set it down. It looks right up my alley though and I should have a book review on that once it arrives. More in the...

We stumbled upon a Junior Avengers training session just about to start at our Disney store this last weekend. They've been holding these occasionally since 2012, but my son only recently got into the super hero thing (outside of Jedi of course.) After spreading out the Junior Avengers assembled for the training, a cast member leads the children through a pledge and then some training exercises.  "And assist the Avengers whenever necessary." Although the Iron Man and Thor training are adorable, nothing beats the sound of half a dozen kids stomping, clapping and growling like the Hulk. My daughter's favorite part was getting her very own Official Junior Avenger ID card with her name on it. (The cast member writes the names on them and hands them out after the training.) All if all not a bad Saturday afternoon! I don't know if this is a regular event at the stores, but if you see it going on, I highly recommend joining in and embracing your #DisneySide sup...

#SilentSunday

Welcome Blog Hoppers to The Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere "Shorts Saturday" Blog Hop for the week of February 22. Every week, I host this link up blog hop to share a short and sweet version of our Disney love as we answer Disney related questions. I'd love for you to grab the button and link up your post! We all love comments, so half the fun is visiting each other's blogs and commenting on their thoughts. Our short and sweets prompt this week is "Best Vacation So Far... <100 words" Imagine wishing on a star that Disney Cruise Line could show up, whisking you to the nearest port, taking you to sea for half a week, then cruising off to a deserted private island and leaving you as Castaways for the day. The pixie dust will continue (as it does in dreams) as you find they have included park hoppers to the happiest place on earth along with free shuttle buses. Is Magic! I wished on a star on my first cruise (2010) and the Disney Magic f...

Welcome Foodie Friday Blog Hoppers! Champagne Toast Location: Palo Brunch, Disney Wonder Cost: First glass included with brunch, brunch is currently priced at $25 per guest Disney ships offer a "Champagne Brunch" by reservation on sea days. Hosted in Palo, an Italian adults only restaurant, this quiet getaway is definitely worth trying (it's a must do for us.) Last trip we took my sweet mother in law, Diana with us and she had her doubts about the situation, but gamely went along to see our "favorite restaurant." Just to get this out in the open, Ben and I don't drink. Ever. (Unless I get the wrong cup at communion. So back on my first trip to the Palo Champagne Brunch, I expected a bit of awkwardness around the whole "complimentary first glass or mimosa" situation. I could not have been more wrong. This was completely a non-issue. On telling the waiter that we would like something non-alcoholic, he offered us sparkling cider instead....

Here's one of my new favorite blog hops today: Three Things Thursday!  (Be sure to link up on her blog !) Since I already have a blog (and three blogs preceding this one) what haven't I already shared? Once Upon a Time There Was a Princess Who... 1.) Fell asleep every night to the sounds of the ocean. My favorite view in the world. No, I haven't started working on the Disney Magic (or retired on her). I have an app on my iphone that plays white noise. I always set mine to ocean. 2.) Owns several dozen comfy pairs of Disney jammies, but my favorite part of my pjs is the Winnie the Pooh slippers. Sadly they are developing a hole. Anyone know of a good place to get Disney slippers? 3.) Fell asleep standing up, laying down and sitting on the floor in the hall in college. On deck in a lounger. Definitely. For what it's worth, I still can. I could blame my thyroid, but I prefer to think it is due to that one time I got too close to the spinnin...

Hello FastPass to History Blog Hoppers! Thank you, again,  Frontierland Station for hosting this blog hop. Back in 1943, Disney was in talks to make a animated sequences for a variety of different Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales as part of a live action biography of the famous author. Unfortunatley, they found the titular Snow Queen to difficult to adapt, despite the rich possibilities of the story. The whole project (including " The Little Mermaid ", " The Little Match Girl ", " The Snow Queen ", " Thumbelina ", " The Ugly Duckling ", " The Red Shoes " and " The Emperor's New Clothes") eventually got shelved.  Given the success of " The Little Mermaid" and amazing box office and acclaim of Frozen, I wonder what other diamonds sit among Disney's shelved works in progress. Which one would you like to see?    

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers! "Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more." "Ah, you mean you can't very well take less." "Yes. You can always take more than nothing. " Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting this Letter T blog hop!   

As much as I felt blessed to enjoy our cruise, sharing it with family made it all the more magical! Diana (my mother in law) graciously allowed me to share her journal entries from each day of our cruise as both a sum up from that day, and a separate trip report in their own right. This is the final installment of an Ongoing Trip Report "The Royal Treatment" additional sections of this report can be found on the Adventures page

Welcome Tiggerific Tigerific Tuesday Trivia blog hoppers. Thanks again to Jodi from  +Magical Mouse Schoolhouse , Heidi from  +Heidi's Head , Jenn from Disney Babies Blog  and  +Mike Ellis  for co-hosting! Did You Know... Michael Eisner and other Disney executives originally believed that "simply seeing animals would not be exciting enough for guests." The imagineers disagreed and to prove the point, Joe Rohde brought a 400 pound tiger into a meeting with the top brass (or at least Wikipedia says so.) I've never brought this good of a visual aid to a presentation. My own photo, Houston Zoo. Animal Kingdom received the go ahead. Would you want to be in a meeting with a 400 pound tiger? An InLinkz Link-up

I woke up at dark o'clock as we pulled alongside Galveston, both eager to watch the docking process and dreading the dawn. Land ho! It was time for disembarkation day. Sea salt coating the verandah railing and the verandah left a salty crunchy taste in the air. I couldn't stay on our verandah for very long before I needed my coat. Back in Texas, it still was winter. Ducking inside, I looked at the lovely sheets and reflected on some of the awesome times we enjoyed. My favorite souvenir. Funny story, actually. Ben bought the fish key chain for himself when I bought this purse. He asked me if I could carry it for him. As soon as I slid it onto my purse, he figured, given how much I liked it, he wouldn't get it back. I intended to give it back to him, but Ben's mom gifted him a replacement keychain later in the cruise. My favorite FE gift. I wore it the whole cruise, pretty much. As Ben finished up his shower, my first early riser made her appeara...