Back on Board

The Seven Amigos! 

Mucho guapo, fellas!

Getting goofy with Senior Goofy.

After our fun and exhausting canopy zip lining adventure in Mexico, we came back and spent the rest of the day enjoying life on the ship.  Donald and Goofy kept the spirit of the fiesta alive with their Mexican costumes and sombreros.  We couldn't help but do a little cha cha with them.

Luke had fun looking at the city through the porthole windows and watching the window washers hang a hundred feet above the ocean.  He also managed to eat several ice cream cones, of course.

And then hang our by the pool while Dad snoozed in the warm Mexican sun.

Caleb had a great time swimming as well.


As evening approached, the ship set sail again.

But we didn't notice when we shipped off again, because we were back at the Theater watching one of the best shows on the trip, Toy Story the Musical!  It was so, so terrific.  Really Broadway quality.  The whole production was so extreamely creative - from the amazing costumes to the staging and transitions!  It was really quite magical.

Mr. Potato Head's parts moved and popped in and out as required, Slink Dog was played by two people connected by a giant spring, and T-Rex was inflated and his feet were spring loaded so he literally bounced all over the stage.

And of course Buzz was just so... so... Buzz!  And the music and dance were just as creative and impressive!  Such talent!

I loved "the Claw"and all the aliens were great.  One actor was 3 aliens (their head was one, and each of their hands were too) and there was a whole line of dummy aliens along the front giving the illusion of a whole stage full of aliens.  And yes, the Claw really did come down and grab Buzz and pull him up into the air!

Some of the coolest costumes were the mutated toys in Sid's room.  They even had the baby doll head on spider legs that walked around the stage.  That was very cool!  And at the end, of course, Buzz and Woody come flying across the stage into the moving truck.

They said that this show took 3 years to create.  I can see why.  It was really awesome.  Worth the cost of the cruise tickets just to see that.  Seriously.  Great entertainment!


But maybe Dennis was inspired by the show because right after the show, and right before dinner, he became quite the entertainer himself.

Believe it or not, we went to a family hypnotist show, and Dennis actually volunteered to go up on stage and be hypnotized!  Now, if you know Dennis, you'd know that he is just not the type to want to go on stage and do such a thing.  So what convinced him to get on that stage?  It wasn't the desire for fame, or giving in to his children begging him to go for it.  He did it because the hypnotist promised that when you are hypnotized you feel afterwards as if you have had a full 8 hours rest, and that sounded just too good to Dennis who had been partying a bit too hard on this cruise and was in desperate need of a full night's sleep.

Dennis was GREAT!  He zonked right out on cue and when he woke up he was really, truly under.

First, the hypnotist showed everyone a stack of ordinary cocktail napkins and told them that they were $100 bills.  Dennis must have believed him, because he was anxious to get his hand on those napkins, and was even stuffing them into his shirt so nobody could take them from him.  Hilarious.  One guy was even stuffing them in his wallet.

Later he told everyone that they were Hannah Montana, and Dennis rocked it up there with his invisible microphone and imaginary long flowing hair.  The boys were CRACKING UP at their dad!

Then he told them that when he shook their hands they would forget how to talk.  When he called Dennis up, Dennis was clear and completely lucid in answering his questions, until he shook Dennis' hand, and suddenly Dennis was talking in gibberish!  So funny.  And as soon as he let go of his hand he was talking normally again.  Wild.

I think Dennis was one of the hypnotist's favorites because when Dennis was under, he told him that after the show was over and everyone was getting ready to leave, Dennis would jump up an yell "HI-HO!" and then the rest of the audience would reply "Hi-Ho!" and then Dennis would start marching out of the room singing the 7 Dwarf's song. "Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go!"

Oh my goodness.  I did NOT think Dennis would do that.  It is so NOT like him to ever sing anything, especially in front of a crowd.  

But guess what?

He did it!  Sure enough, as soon as it was over he jumped up and hollered "Hi-Ho!" and proceeded to march out of the room singing like a Dwarf and everyone followed him like the pied piper.  It was classic!  As soon as he walked through the door he suddenly woke up and remembered all he had done.  And yes, he felt completely rested and ready to party all night long!

He became sort of a celebrity on board and for the rest of the trip he kept hearing strangers holler "hi-ho" out to him or say "hey, it's the hi-ho guy."

That night was had a wonderful dinner at Triton's, the great seafood dining room.  The entire back wall is a gorgeous tile mosaic from The Little Mermaid.

Luke didn't get much dinner.  He had just played too hard I guess, because there was nothing that Carlo or any of us could do to wake him for dinner.  At one point he simply slipped down under the table.  Poor kid.  Disney cruises are tough.

Maybe it was a good thing that Luke slept through the escargot.  Yep.  Snails.

They boys were abnormally excited when they saw snails on the menu.  They are adventurous eaters, to say the least.  I have never had much trouble trying to get them to try something new.

They liked the snails, and convinced me to give them a try.  Now I am pretty open minded, I think, about new foods, but I have usually drawn the line at insects, bugs, and yes, snails.  Even when we went to France, I had decided it best to abstain.  So maybe it was the salt air or the pixie dust or something, but I decided not to look like a wimp in front of my boys, so I tried one.  Just one.

 And what did I think?  Well, it didn't taste like chicken, that's for sure! It tasted like, well, a snail.  Chewy, earthy, and, frankly, not anything I want to eat again.

Poor Caleb.  Dennis convinced him to try just one too, and he did, but the look on his face above tells you just how he felt about this delicacy.  There were some bitter feelings from that boy toward his father for quite a while after dinner.