Jan 7 - Castaway Cay

We apparently had rough seas overnight which, fortunately for me, translated to comforting rocking and made for good slumber! I was super excited because today was Castaway Cay day. We got up super early for our buffet breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffet (BBB), packed and ready for our day on Disney's private island. Unfortunately, the strong winds from overnight continued. To my dismay, I was able to see with my very own eyes the multiple failed attempts to dock the ship at Castaway Cay. This went on for over one hour. Then suddenly the noise and shuddering stopped. I knew that the captain had stopped trying and I waited for the inevitable announcement...Castaway Cay was not going to be.

A beautiful morning...or so I thought until

we saw the huge waves crashing on Castaway Cay...

...the island I'm still trying to get to! Perhaps third time lucky?!? This means I have to go another Disney cruise :)

We had neglected our plans to hit the pool yesterday and the children REALLY wanted to swim so it was first on the to-do list. The children couldn't understand my disappointment. "Mum...but we can swim on the ship. No one is in the pool. LET'S GO! We can go to a beach later". Ah...the wonderful ability of children to look on the bright side! I had to shelve my self-pity and get on with it. For a while, we were the only ones in the pool, the only ones crazy enough to go in the water with temperatures in the teens. The water was beautifully heated and it was nice and warm in the Mickey Ears but the water kept receding!!! Finally, I could it take it no longer and got out. I reported it to the nearby cast member who acknowledged that the water should not be receding. And there I was grinning and bearing it, trying hard not to complain! We showered and deposited the older two children to the wonderful kids club. The ship usually sails with around 1000 children. On this cruise, they are just shy of 300!

Thumbs up!

Enjoying the slide

Trying to drink the water!

Sharon and I started on our hidden Mickey Hunt courtesy of Kwan. That sweet man had organised a competition for the group. We received our little individualised instruction pack on the first night. It was simple. Go around the ship and take as many photos of hidden Mickeys as possible. The team with the most points wins! Our little hunt though, had to take a backseat to our rumbling stomachs. We opted for a sit down lunch at Triton's.

Our plan was to watch Toy Story 3 3D at 1pm but this didn't eventuate as we overshot it during lunch. So more hidden Mickey (HM) hunting it was for us. We had a quick interlude at Wavebands with Christian, our cruise director. He was very friendly and offered to show us the SM inside Wavebands. It was nice of him to take the time out to chat to 2 women with babies in strollers, who were looking so intently for HM that they looked like health inspectors. Sharon and I were surprised to discover that we had been on the hunt for over one and a half hours!

We wandered into Shutters for a break. This is the area where the Disney photographers display the photos that they take of the guests. We found the embarkation of our group, and seeing as we all looked so good in it...cough cough splutter splutter...Sharon and I both decided to buy a copy. But why stop there?!?! We were sure that somewhere along the line, Disney would somehow get us to buy more photos...so we made an executive decision and bought a photo package for the whole group!

In the meantime, Malcolm, who had gone off to play basketball, managed to get himself sun burnt in the process. You would think that being a sun savvy Australian, he would know better! So he received the loving lecture from his dear wife AGAIN.

It was time for afternoon tea. We collected the children and settled ourselves poolside with some fruit and soft serve floats. Who should we bump into but the Kohs and the Parsons! The children shrieked like they have not seen each other for months. I was given some precious quiet R&R time in the stateroom whilst Malcolm bathed all three children. Bless that man!

Poor Sam, however, had a big vomit just before dinner. He seemed alright straight after, and so we headed for our dining rotation at Triton's as planned. Once again, the service was good but slow. We were one of the last to leave and make it out until close to 8pm. We had just enough time to change the kids into their PJ's before running for the Buena Vista Theatre. We got the last few remaining seats for Tangled 3D. What a great movie! I LOVED it. I loved the music, the characters, and the story. I was simply too tired to make the Bronkar Lee (the juggling beat boxer in case you had forgotten) adult show 1030pm.

Some of my favourite hidden Mickeys

I returned to the room to discover that my FE had gone berserk! It was filled with so many cool, thoughtful and cute gifts. Some of the DISboarders had also kindly dropped gifts into the FE of our friends. What a wonderful gesture. If this is what I get in one day, where will store all my gifts from the whole cruise...

I hadn’t mentioned it earlier but it was private character interaction day! We watched Goofy try to sunbathe, shared a lift with Pluto, and had an interlude with Donald. Unfortunately, Jonah was asleep at this point. Sam had hugs with Daisy and nearly followed her through the CM's door at Shutters! All in all, it was a great day despite not docking at Castaway Cay. Only 14 more days of this to go...can I cope?!?!

Goofy by the pool

My bursting Fish Extender!