FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Jan 9

Captain Henry made an announcement that was music to our ears. To make up for missing out on Castaway Cay, we were going to Aruba a day earlier. Everyone was excited about the prospect of staying overnight at Aruba. This evening, we would be able to put our feet on terra firma.

We decided to have a full table service breakfast at Triton’s. I reacquainted myself with Little Mermaid’s Morning, a very healthy meal of Belgian waffles stuffed with Dulce de leche and rolled in sugar and cinnamon. It was served with watermelon wedges so it had to be good for you.

Sharon, unfortunately, was still feeling unwell and had to go back to the room. We hung on to Sam to give her a chance to rest. I dropped Sam off at Flounder’s and he screamed. Luckily it only lasted for 10 mind and he stayed settled. No such luck with Jonah so we had to keep him with us. We tried to go to Art of entertaining, a series where guests were shown how to make dishes and taught about the details of fine dining. We were rejected as it was classified as adults only and we had Jonah with us. Drats. Eventually Flounders had enough staff and they were able to take Jonah over in to the Oceaneer's Club where he had a blast with Lara, Emma and the other children.

Malcolm and I headed for Ducky William’s presentation. He is the senior illustrator at the Walt Disney Company. He has been with Disney for over 30 years as an illustrator of books, lithographs, magazine ads and commercials. It was astounding to discover how many things were drawn by him! As he sketched away character after character, he told his tale of how his Disney career came to be. What an incredible story of dreams and persistence! It was truly inspirational. At the end of his presentation, he raffled away the 26 life drawings. I won one!!!

Don "Ducky" Williams at work

Mulan

Signed and in my hot little hands!

When Malcolm picked Jonah up for lunch, we found out that Sam had fallen asleep! Malcolm tried his luck again at chip it golf...No cigar. He missed out on winning again. He took Jonah for a nap to console himself with his second placing.

Malcolm at Chip It Golf

More characters!

Things you have to do to entertain yourself whilst your parents are busy...

I settled myself in the Buena Vista Theatre to watch the Prince of Persia. Sometime during the movie, the ship had docked (early). Unbeknownst to me, the Marr Boys got pulled out of movie right near the end while I stayed on and finished the movie. I emerged to find everybody waiting for me to go off shore. Oops...

It was exciting to finally be at our first port! Unfortunately, Sharon had to stay onboard. Although she was feeling better, she thought it best to recover properly rather than pushing her luck. It was probably a very wise move.

Boy was Aruba humid!!! We arrived just at the right time to admire the beautiful sunset! Our plan to have dinner at port was thwarted by our inability to find a restaurant that was open. So after, a short stroll, back to ship it was for dinner at Parrot Cay. I missed the Magic Show and opted for sleep as there would no sleep in tomorrow.

Aruba