Day Four ~ Who Runs on a Ship??

 

So, Disney cruise ships have one deck that has been mapped out as a ‘running/walking’ deck. On the Disney Wonder, approximately three laps around deck four equals one mile. This is an uninterupted lap that you can run the entire way around the ship. It’s kind of crazy as you run behind the Walt Disney theater at one end of the ship and can see the ropes for the anchors at the other end. The two ends though are VERY narrow. Because of this, I gave out runner ettiequte before we started and instructed some to go up to deck ten to run/walk where they did not have those narrow paths, but they do have more obstacles to run around.

I should start this with our Facebook group. I started a sign up for those that were interested in doing a 5K on board the ship. I had contracted a gal to make medals and offered them at cost to those who were interested. I was a bit overwhelmed when the group of those who wanted to participate grew to approximately 150 people!!! If you know Disney Cruise Line, you know they are ALWAYS working on something to keep things looking fresh and nice. They are always painting something or polishing something. And maintenance happens all the time. These are things you cannot always anticipate. When we boarded the ship, I spoke with our concierge team and let them know about our plans for the 5K and asked if they could find out if there was any scheduled maintenance for the date/time we had pre-selected (really hoping not). They were so kind to make sure that the deck was completely clear for us for our 5K. 

The morning of the 5K, I asked everyone to meet at the stage by the pool (there is a pool under that wooden area in front of the stage we are all standing on) for a group photo. Most everyone arrived on time and claimed their medals before hand so I didn't have to worry about what time people finished and this 5K was on the honor system and could be done at any time during our cruise. I was so thankful to my new friend Amy who helped me during the chaos of handing out 135 medals. There were a few people who missed the morning 5K due to the changing of times. We were moving our clocks ahead an hour a couple of nights in a row, so some people were not realizing that their phones were not correct since they did not take them out of the auto mode. We were on 'ship' time, not 'real' time! 

This was the medal that they were awarded for their 5K!

We had young kids with their parents, teens, adults and older adults doing the 5K. We had people who had never done one before, doing their very first 5K, worried that they wouldn't be able to get it done, but they DID! We had people who run so much more doing it. We even had an amazing runner who runs with a running blade due to an awful accident that took her leg several years ago. It was so great to see so many out on a beautiful morning just having fun. 

After breakfast Dale of course made his way to Cabanas for breakfast, that was his morning routine. I was enjoying the lighter fare in the lounge with fresh fruit and tea or a latte in the morning. Being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we enjoyed time on our verandah, just enjoying the fresh air, beautiful blue water and just relaxing.

We had a Mixology session booked for this afternoon. This was one of only two ‘tastings’ we had booked this trip since we were staying concierge, we felt we didn’t need to spend the additional money on other alcohol things. We have always enjoyed the mixology classes though because they give you good ideas for drinks you can possibly make at home. Or different takes on something you may have tried before. We attended this with one of our new friends Celeste. These classes are always fun and you get three totally different drinks. This time what was so crazy, was the drink I liked the most, was a bourbon drink and I do NOT drink bourbon and the one Dale liked the most was a tequila drink and he doesn’t drink tequila. So this is the fun part of the class.

After a few drinks, thank goodness they were not full size drinks, we had a special character meet and greet in the lounge so we made our way up there. This was another benefit of the concierge lounge, getting to meet a character without any line.

We had dinner this evening in Animators Palate again and it was their traditional dinner. This was one of the meals I was looking forward too. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in my dinner. I will say Disney Cruise Line used to be so amazing with their food, but this trip, it just didn’t live up to what we were used to. I am not one to send my food back. It was edible. And, unfortunately, your servers are always asking if anything is wrong if you don’t finish something. First off, I never finish my meal, but secondly, this time around, things just were not as good and I do not want that reflected on the server. But, Animators is where we do see Sorcerer Mickey, so that was a highlight of our evening as he made his way through the restaurant before we made our way back to our cabin for the evening.