By this time we’d been in Palo for about two hours in Palo, and we were finally done. The food and service were as amazing as ever, it had been a great way to celebrate our anniversary. As well as wishing us ‘Happy Anniversary’ quite a few guests had also commented upon our matching Tiki Room tie and dress, which was nice of them to notice.
We left Palo and went to get Isabella from the Oceaneer Club, then took her up to deck 9 to get a hot dog from the Duck-In Diner.
Off to get a hot dog
Hot dawg!
As today was a sea day, we didn’t have any other concrete plans, so we headed down to have a browse round the shops and plan the rest of the day. The options were: Christopher Robin in the Buena Vista Theatre, the pool, or ‘FriendShip Rocks’ in the Walt Disney Theatre.
To help us decide, I took Isabella to the kids club to find out what ‘FriendShip Rocks’ was all about
: it was a 30 minute show in the theatre, involving the kids doing a dance routine, and some special guests. This would involve Isabella spending 45 minutes beforehand in the Oceaneer Club learning the routine, before going on stage. It sounded like something she’d enjoy, so she decided that she would do it. This wouldn’t be happening until late afternoon, so we still had time to do some of the other things on our list, including checking out the character dance party going on in the lobby.
While Isabella and I had been sorting out the afternoon activity, Jo had stayed in the shop and bought Isabella a DCL Pandora charm for a Christmas present. We met up with her again, and then headed to the lobby. It was pretty busy, but we got to see Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Daisy and Donald showing off some moves. Isabella didn’t really feel like dancing (perhaps she was saving her moves for when she went on stage!), so after about 15 minutes we decided to squeeze in some pool time instead.
Dance party
"Quick, give me your phone..."
"...it's Mickey!"
After a quick change back at the room, we headed pool side and while Isabella enjoyed the slide and the pool, Jo and I relaxed with a ‘Drink of the Day’. I actually made note of todays drink, it was a High Tide (Malibu coconut rum, Amaretto Disaronno liqueur, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice) - yummy!
After about an hour poolside, Jo and I were feeling peckish, so I got us some chicken tenders and fries to share.
About half an hour later it was time for Isabella to get out of the pool and dry off and also enjoy a strawberry and vanilla swirl ice cream while she did so! Jo also got herself a chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream - I wasn’t in the mood for an ice cream so abstained.
Fun at the pool
Once they’d finished and Isabella was dry we returned to our room so that Isabella could get ready to go to the Oceaneer Club for her ‘FriendShip Rocks’ rehearsal and show.
Back at the room we were sad to find our luggage tags and debarkation information for tomorrow.
Isabella had a bath, got ready and by 4pm was ready to go to the club. While I took her down there Jo started on the packing.
At about 4:50pm Jo and I made our way to the Walt Disney Theatre and found ourselves some good seats to watch the ‘FriendShip Rocks’ show.
The show was cute; all the kids from the Club and the Lab came out did a simple dance routine on stage, and then Mickey and Minnie came onstage and did some dancing. They also showed some photos that had been taken in the clubs over the course of the cruise - it looked like the kids had a lot of fun!
At the end of the show, all the kids were taken back to the lab; Jo and I got out of the theatre quickly and I got to the lab before the kids did. This was a good thing, and the line behind me to collect children ended up being huge.
Isabella had gained special ‘FriendShip Rocks’ t-shirt, but had misplaced her Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique tiara that she’d been wearing; she’d given it to one of the youth activities counselors during the show but couldn’t remember which one. We were told they would find it and bring it to our room, and in fact, by the time we got back to the room, one of the counselors was already at the room with the tiara.
FriendShip Rocks
The time was now 5:35pm - time for our last dinner on board the Disney Magic; we were going back to Rapunzel’s Royal Table. Jo had finished all the packing, so on the way out of the room we put our cases outside the door to be collected.
As it was last night we needed to give out our tip envelopes, and so I tried to find Calvin (our state room host) to give him his. After wandering up and down the corridor, I eventually found him. He’d done a great job with our cabin, and every night we got some special towel animals - he’s a bit of an expert and in fact had hosted a towel folding lesson for guests earlier that day!
Tonight’s theme was a party for Rapunzel - there were musicians and a party
planner. However I may have mentioned before about our table not being in the best location so we couldn’t really see what was going on. Despite this we really enjoyed this restaurant, it had a fun atmosphere, and tonight we got to meet Rapunzel again, and Flynn Rider.
Rapunzel's Royal Table
Our dinner choices tonight were as follows:
Me: Ravioli ‘Tiroler’ (Filled with pulled beef and portobello mushrooms tossed in red wine-thyme reduction served with roasted carrots and pearl onions) / Captain of the Guards roasted prime rib of beef (with a double baked potato, broccoli, sweet roasted carrots, and a red wine-veal sauce / Warm braided apple strudel (served with vanilla sauce and butter pecan ice cream)
Jo: Snuggly Duckling platter (A selection of charcuterie with pumpernickel and German mustard) / Tangled Pasta (Angel hair pasta tossed in basil-pesto with caramelised sea scallops, red vine tomatoes, and a sun-dried tomato tapenade served with roasted meyer lemon) Rapunzel’s fry pan sweet bread (Fry bread dusted with powdered sugar, chocolate-hazelnut sauce, and vanilla bean ice cream served in Rapunzel’s frying pan)
Isabella: Slow Roasted Breast of Chicken (served with garden vegetables and steamed white rice) / Birthday cupcake sundae (Butter cupcake with strawberry compote, birthday ice cream, whipped cream, and topped with celebration confetti)
Both of Isabella’s food choices tonight were from the adults menu, and she again persevered with a Shirley Temple!
Ravioli
Snuggly Duckling platter
Prime rib
Tangled pasta
Slow Roasted Breast of Chicken
Apple strudel
Rapunzel’s fry pan sweet bread
Birthday cupcake sundae
Another anniversary cake
During dinner, the kids also got to colour in and make a floating lantern, and were treated to yet another magic trick from our server Jonny - he was a great server; in fact both of them (Jonny & Janey) were the best servers we’ve ever had on a cruise.
As well as the musicians, the character meets, and some singing on stage, there was also a parade around the restaurant; unfortunately the photos I took didn’t really come out as it’s really dark in this restaurant and didn’t want to turn my flash on and annoy people trying to eat!
Shirley Temple!
Jonny
Janey
Floating lantern
Rapunzel
Flynn Rider
Dinner was very enjoyable, and we were sad it was to be our last proper meal on board. We had a coffee to finish off, then said goodbye to our table mates, gave well deserved tips to Jonny and Janey, and then headed down to the Walt Disney theatre for the final show of the cruise.
On the way down, we made a quick stop in Shutters to purchase the photo download of Isabella that had been taken at dinner yesterday, then popped into Mickey’s MainSail to buy a couple of gifts, before joining the queue to get into the theatre - we were early but we wanted to make sure we got a good seat.
While we were in the queue we bumped into wdw-wanderer and her friend. We chatted with them while we waited, and when we were let into the theatre, they sat behind us and we chatted to them a bit longer until the show started.
Nice shirt!
Tonight’s show was Disney Dreams - it’s a really great show, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. By the time it was finished and we’d got back to the room it was 10pm.
We were all very tired, so Isabella went straight to bed. I went to get us a decaf coffee, while Jo got ready for bed too.
Before going to sleep I finished off my notes and went to sleep at about 11:15pm, after a quick shower. We were very sad, and were not looking forward to debarking tomorrow!