Awwww yeah – we are back baby!
This time, we are covering Day 4 of our epic Land and Sea Disney World / Disney Wish August 2023 trip. This is our first day of waking up on the ship and it’s an at sea day so we spend it exploring the ship, eating, drinking, laughing, all the stuff.
And, I mean…it was a given this gif would make an appearance at some point so let’s just get it over with right now.
I’m not super proud of it. It’s a little too on the nose but it had to happen. Now? We’ve done it and we can move past it.
Let’s go!
Our 2023 Disney Land and Sea Extravaganza: Day 4
Before I get into the full-on Day 4-ness of Day 4, I should mention our morning would not have been possible without some prep on Day 3. Last night (again, Day 3), we filled out the card in our drawer and put in our order for room service breakfast to be delivered in the morning. After filling out said card with our order and the time we were hoping to have our breakfast delivered, we hung it on our door and voila!
We woke up to this bit of amazing being delivered to our room at 6:30AM.
We ordered some orange juice, coffee (both regular and decaf), donuts, plain croissants, chocolate croissants, and Froot Loops.
We ordered it so early because I wanted to be able to head down to the gym to get a run in on the treadmill before truly starting our day BUT Nickie and I still wanted to be able to enjoy a coffee out on the verandah before I headed out.
Seriously. That picture? Artsy AF.
I also paired my coffee with a chocolate croissant.
And, like, don’t worry. That wasn’t the only breakfast we were planning on eating today. This was pre-breakfast breakfast.
That’s how we do.
After enjoying my coffee and croissant, I went down to the Senses Fitness area to make use of their treadmills.
But it ended up being a less-than-stellar gym experience. The gym itself was hot as crud and when I got there, the treadmills were all taken. I waited and ended up getting a treadmill about 5 minutes or so after arriving, but still…hot. Plus, the movie I downloaded to watch – Turning Red – wasn’t playing for some reason. Which was a bummer. I’ve been making my way through the entire Disney animated catalog on the treadmill over the past couple years and I am just now coming to the end.
And since WiFi wasn’t really a thing we had on the cruise, downloaded content was the only thing I could use to pass the time. I ended up listening to a downloaded playlist on Spotify but between that not-so-great start and the heat, I only made it about 2.5 miles before calling it.
After finishing my run, I met up with Nickie, Larissa, and Stephanie at the Cove Café. They had gone up there after their morning walk. I felt odd walking in there considering I sweat like a, um…a piece of lasagna at a Garfield convention?
A, erm, can of spinach at a Popeye convention?
Uh, a grub at a Timon and Pumbaa convention?
Sorry, all I have are “cartoon characters and the food they eat” similes I guess.
I was sweating. Is what I am saying to you now.
But when I got there, Nickie surprised me with a coconut caramel coffee. Which is a pretty great surprise. I hung around for like 5 minutes or so but I was afraid I was scaring the normal so I got out of there quick.
But at least I left with a caramel coconut coffee.
When I got back to the stateroom, I went right out to the verandah. And legit I could like never get sick of looking at this.
Apparently, Sophia agrees.
Ugh though, these two. Right?
While the boys and I were getting ready, Myles started up Hercules on the TV.
“I Won’t Say I’m in Love” btw? Probably in my top 5 Disney songs list. Jussayin.
As I said earlier, our room service breakfast was our pre-breakfast breakfast. Now though? It was time for our real breakfast breakfast. So we headed down to meet Nickie and the Falzones at Marceline Market.
On my way, I snapped an early morning picture of an empty pool deck. Which is a rarity round these parts.
And then it was off to Marceline Market.
People obviously love breakfast, I guess.
Who knew?
Now I understand why the pool deck was so empty.
Marceline Market is a buffet-style restaurant and for breakfast, they had a pretty good variety.
Buffets work for me because my favorite type of food presentation is “pile.” As you can see here by the plate I constructed for myself.
Eggs Benedict, Corned Beef Hash, Bacon, Sausage, Mickey Waffle, Hash Brown.
I liked all that. Myles claimed their Mickey Waffles were soggy but I thought they were pretty good. I think my favorite thing on the plate was the Eggs Benedict. Often, when you get an Eggs Benedict from a buffet, the eggs are cooked too hard but as you can see from the photo above, these eggs were perfectly runny.
The hash brown was a close second. I love those hash brown patties they have on Disney Cruise Line.
After breakfast, the boys went off to take part in a free throw contest while Nickie, Tony, and I went to try our hand at some Star Wars Trivia at the Bayou.
On the way, we passed the Pittmans taking part in the Royal Gathering. And I had to take a picture because it looked like the girls were deffo into it.
Which was good. The girls were a bit iffy about meeting characters. Well, not characters. More like character. Singular. Sophia was not the biggest Rapunzel fan on account of she hates the scene where Flynn cuts Rapunzel’s hair. Like, legit HATES it. She gets upset just thinking about it.
I am putting all of this in here for posterity. So that one day, Sophia can look back on this and know one fact.
She is not a fan of short-haired brunettes.
We obviously have NOT introduced her to Joyce DeWitt yet.
Right though. Onto Star Wars trivia.
And this guy. He was great. Really good host of trivia. Knew his Star Wars. Had a Grogu on his shoulder. Dude was a host.
I wanna say his name was…Ian? Was that it? Ian?
Kip?
Ned?
But yeah, whatever his name was, he was great. We even ended up running into him later on in the trip and getting into a deep discussion about the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor game.
But today we were all about the trivia. And being that it was already 10AM, I could feel the withdrawal symptoms coming on was thirsty. So a Coors Light was in order.
They also served us some fava beans.
Which, I mean…if I knew those were coming, I would have ordered a nice chianti.
And so…right, that’s it.
After the trivia we…
Hm?
How did we do?
Oh, well. Um. We didn’t do great. We didn’t come in last or anything but we were definitely pretty far off from first. This room knew their Star Wars, you guys. At least our team name was cool.
Obi-Win-Kenobi.
Not factual or anything. But cool.
Still though. Fun.
After we finished up with trivia, we walked across the hallway to check out Star Wars: Hyperspace Lounge. And you would think while, yeah, we struggled at Star Wars trivia, we would EXCEL at Star Wars drinking.
But alas, they weren’t serving yet. But it was still neat being able to check it out, especially with hardly anyone in there.
I say “hardly anyone in there” because there was a couple sitting at the bar when we walked in there. And I think we interrupted their 10:30 performance of “Luke and Leia in the medical center.”
They were having a makeout sesh. Is what I am saying to you now.
It’s a pretty cool little space. And every once in a while that window above will simulate a jump to hyperspace, bringing you to another planet in the Star Wars universe.
Pew pew.
After we left Hyperspace Lounge, it was time to get pool-ready so we headed back to the room. And on the way we passed this piece of art that we have seen in pretty much every single vlog covering the Disney Wish.
A still picture doesn’t really do it much justice because there are all these little moving parts that make this more than just a picture. But a still picture is all I have. So, like, deal with it.
Once we were all ready to hit the pool, we went down to Deck 11 to meet up with everyone and grab some lunch. And by lunch, I mean drinks. Because we hit the bar first.
Tony and I each got a drink of the day – which I think was some sort of Melon Margarita. But we asked if we could get doubles and the dude, of course, obliged. So essentially, we were just drinking tequila with a hint of melon.
OK fine, we got lunch too. I had a Cheeseburger, Fries, and Chicken Tenders from Goofy’s Grill at Mickey’s Festival of Foods.
Which was really good, actually. I thought the burger was better than a standard quick service burger you might get at the parks. Not the best Disney burger I’ve ever had but it was good. And yeah, of course the chicken tenders were good. Doy.
After lunch, Owen and Jimmy went over to the Hero Zone to play some basketball, foosball, and ping-pong.
Another group of us went to the Chip and Dale Pool on Deck 14.
Being that this pool is a little removed from the main pool area, it was less crowded most of the time. So it’s a good place to go if you wanna get away from people.
Which, like, if you don’t like people – what are you doing on a Disney cruise, dummy?
We hung out there for a little bit before realizing we could actually be in the adults-only infinity pool. This realization hit us hard and we immediately exited and made our way to the infinity pool.
On our way, Nickie had to make a pitstop at the bathroom so I took the opportunity to lounge. On a lounge chair. Kind of the perfect place to do such a thing. And…you guys…this view.
Also I mean…felt cute, might delete later.
To the infinity pool!
You guys, this place though. We were all VERY happy to be there. Look at us. So happy to be there.
I mean, seriously. Look how happy Tony looks in this picture of Steph and Mikey.
TBH, all of this happiness? Might have had a little to do with all this.
I, myself, ended up having a couple Long Island Iced Teas.
And you can tell it’s a good Long Island Iced Tea on account of you can almost see through it.
We also got some nice “came with the frame” shots of Robyn and Terry.
Show me contemplative.
Now, show me “lost in each other’s sunglasses.”
Great stuff. The camera loves you. Now, give me a little mischievous Terry.
OK, awesome. Now show me true love.
That’s beauti…hey wait. Is that my wife? Terry, you sonofa.
We spent about two hours up in that infinity pool, you guys. We really put the infinity in infinity pool.
But eventually, we did have to leave.
We went back to the room so we could meet back up with Owen. And when we got there? We got more fish extender gifts. Check these out.
Personalized water bottles, personalized (not only with our names, but with our favorite Disney characters) keycards for our in-room air conditioning, and check out those hats. I LOVED these hats. This has now become my favorite baseball cap. I literally wear it all the time.
I love you, presents.
Of course, since we were in the room, we spent some time out on the verandah taking in the ocean breeze.
Tony continued to be drunk happy.
Nickie’s plan at this point was to chill in the room and Myles was feeling a little meh so he wanted to take a nap before dinner.
Tony and I had an appointment coming up, but we had a little time to kill so we took Owen down to The Bayou to try our hand at a little redemption at Disney Tunes Trivia.
Once again, I paired my trivia with a Coors Light.
We expected this trivia to be sort of like a “Name That Tune” situation but it was a lot more than that. The keyboardist would play a tune and then the host would ask a question related to the song that was just played, without actually telling us the song.
Despite all those Long Island Iced Teas, we did pretty well. We didn’t win but we came very very close to doing so. Not fully redeemed, I guess, but we were on our way.
Like I said, Tony and I had an appointment to get to. And this appointment? It was at Hook’s Barbery.
Both Tony and I were getting a shave from the maker of miracles, Johannes. And Tony was first, which allowed me to get some pictures in of his process.
Here he is sitting up straight.
Here he is laying back.
And here he is being smothered in his sleep.
So relaxing.
Terry and Jimmy also came down to join us.
Which, I know. They came to watch us get a shave?
Pfft. You dumb idiot.
Hook’s Barbery is not only an upscale barber ship. It’s also a bar, you guys.
Look.
At.
This.
So much to choose from. I was like a kid in a whiskey store. They even had Pappy Van Winkle 23 up in this situation.
Plus did you see Captain Hook’s…erm…hook. Up there in the top left corner. So cool.
And the dude making the drinks was real good at what he does. Tony, Terry, and I all ended up ordering the same thing (though I grabbed mine after my shave so as to not have to let it sit). We were all in the mood for old-fashioneds and the situation at Hook’s is kind of a build-your-own kind of situation. You choose the spirit, the syrup, the bitters, the accoutrement. And this dude goes ahead and builds it for you.
I honestly don’t fully remember everything . I think it was the Old Forrester 1920s Prohibition Style for the spirit. And we chose maybe a cinnamon bitters with, ugh, some type of syrup. And there was definitely a cinnamon stick. And of course we smoked it.
I know. I wish I could remember everything that was in it. But I definitely DO remember two things. One, we all LOVED our old-fashioneds. In fact, we ended up coming back here a little later in the night but more on that later. And two, Terry paid for our drinks. Which was super nice. Here’s to you, Terry.
Oh right. In addition to all the drinking I was doing at this barber shop, I also got a shave. I don’t know if any of you noticed on account of being lost in my eyes but I had let the beard get kind of scruffed up before this trip knowing I was going to be getting my shave on. Here I am, before said shave. Again with my dude Johannes.
Annnnd I didn’t end up taking an after pic. But I do have some pictures from later on that show the whole “after” situation. You’ll just have to keep reading to see em.
Clickbait.
Boom.
And not only did I get a shave but Johannes, upon seeing my out of control eyebrows, was like, “oh um…have you ever thought about getting your eyebrows done?” Which…you know…subtle. But yeah, I ended up getting my eyebrows trimmed as well.
Overall? An exceptional experience at Hook’s Barbery. From the shave to the drinks. Luxury all the way.
Next stop? Dinner.
Tonight’s dinner was only steps away from Hook’s at Worlds of Marvel. Which was, you know, Marvel-themed.
I mean, look at this plate.
See? Marvel theme.
Apologies in advance for the less-than-stellar food pics at this dinner. The dining room was all about the blue so the lighting was subpar for food picture taking. Interestingly, though, it was perfect for Sophia-and-Owen picture taking.
Dinner started off with a bread basket. I tried some of the marble (get it? Cuz it sounds like Marvel) along with the accompanying red pepper dipping sauce.
After our waitstaff took our orders, Act 1 of the entertainment began. A majority of the show during the meal takes place on the screens all around the dining room.
The main stars of the show were Ant-Man and the Wasp.
They spent this portion of the show talking about some different aspects of Quantum tech and being all Paul Rudd-y and what not.
After their whole introduction portion, the screens switched over to what I would assume was Act 2? All the screens at this point were showcasing other pieces of Avengers technology and what not while our appetizers came out.
Again, they came out before our drinks. Which was not…
Marvel-ous.
I was obviously so mad, this was the best picture I could get of my Steamed Bao Bun.
Which was unfortunate. Because this thing was good. Made with Seared Ginger Orange Pork Belly, Toasted Sesame Seeds, Pickled Daikon, Spring Onions, and a Mirin Soy Honey Glaze, I really dug this situation. It was small but thankfully you could get other appetizers to accompany it. Which I did.
And took no pictures of whatsoever. I think that old-fashioned was finally kicking in. Or maybe it was the margarita? No, it was probably the Long Island iced teas.
Either that or the 10AM beer had finally caught up to me.
But yeah, I also got the Dill and Meyer Lemon Marinated Shrimp with Minneola, English Cucumber, Crème Fraiche, and Salmon Caviar. And this was also real good. Like very good shrimp. Super fresh, super flavorful. I’d recommend both of these apps.
Our waitstaff had finally figured maybe we needed something to wash down our food so my drink did eventually arrive. And once again, I went with a Grey Goose Martini Dirty. This time, awesomely, it arrived dirty and they had the blue cheese stuffed olives up in here.
Actually, on the subject of blue cheese stuffed olives.
Props to our drink server for this one. As you might recall from my last post, I posted a picture of Tony being bummed they didn’t have blue cheese stuffed olives at 1923.
However, when he asked our drink server about them, he informed Tony they would have them at tonight’s restaurant. And did he deliver. Ugh, I wish I took a picture of it but the server brought a legit bowl of blue cheese stuffed olives. There were at least like 10 olives up in this bowl.
So Tony sits down, gets his bowl of olives, and when his martini arrives, he proceeds to knock it over and break the glass inside said olive bowl.
We really are the worst.
My martini though tonight? Exquisite. And it had not fallen into a bowl of olives.
After we finished up with our appetizers, our entrees arrived at our table. I only got pictures of what Nickie and I ate but honestly, I think these dishes represent what a good chunk of our party ordered.
I’ll start with Nickie. She ordered the Chicken Schnitzel. Panko-crusted Chicken Breast, Butter Sautéed Potatoes, Caramelized Onions, Long Green Beans, Lemon, Anchovy, Capers.
For me, meanwhile, tonight was a two-entrée kind of night.
On the left up there is the Golden Mystic Pasta (Caramelized Scallops, Angel Hair, Chardonnay Lemon Saffron Cream, Roasted Vine Tomatoes, Savoy Spinach).
I REALLY liked this dish. I am a sucker for scallops and these were very good. Very fresh. The pasta was cooked well and that chardonnay lemon saffron cream. Pfft. Real good…
Yeah very good. Despite what Mikey might tell you.
On the right we have the Rosemary Roasted Beef Tenderloin. This was carved and served with Celeriac puree, Crisp Parsnip, Buttered Asparagus, Roasted Shallot, and Truffle Cabernet Jus.
This was pretty good. TBH, I came into this dinner expecting them to offer a Delmonico based on their older menu but this was a recent change. And yeah, I mean, it was good. I would eat it again. But it wasn’t like a blow-me-away steak situation.
As we were eating our entrees, Act 3 of the show began. And this was sort of the climax of the whole story. Ultron shows up, he wants some of that yummy Quantum Core technology and Ant-Man and the Wasp have to call in some assistance. So they reach out to Captain Marvel, Captain America, and Ms. Marvel.
And yeah, this part was pretty fun. You get to see them battle all over the ship.
The ship you’re on, guys. And like, here we are eating pasta. It made me feel so ineffective.
Well, that is until I wasn’t. Because guys, there was some sort of confusing logic that required us to mash the buttons on these Quantum Core things on our table.
I dunno. Point being. I saved the day.
And for that? I deserved a cappuccino.
And Spider-Man obviously agreed because he then came by to thank me us. Fine. Us. He thanked us.
And as cool as Spider-Man was, dessert is also cool. And that’s what came next. Dessert.
Nickie and I went splitsies again, opting to get both the Cheesecake Byte (with Fresh Berries, Strawberry Jelly, Whipped Cream).
And the Pym Doughnut Sundae (Dulce de Leche Ice Cream. Pecan Brownie. Caramel Fudge Sauce, Chocolate Glazed Mini-Doughnut, Whipped Cream).
Both desserts were good stuff, but I would give the edge to the sundae if I only had to pick one. And I know, you would expect me to say the doughnut was the best part. But you know what? It was a good part. But the best part was that dulce de leche ice cream. Man oh man that was some good ice cream. And I actually preferred the pecan brownie to the doughnut. The pecan flavor was like legit pecan flavor up in there.
Ugh, I really want that sundae right now.
Scarlett was also happy with her dessert choice of Bowl of Ice Cream.
OK so the next two things that happened after dinner. Both of these things definitely happened but the order in which they happened? Up for debate.
The first, or second, thing? We went back to Hook’s Barbery. Steve wanted to try one of those stellar old-fashioneds so we found our way back there and this time? He bought them for everyone. I only pick the nicest friends, you guys.
The second, or possibly first, thing is that we went back to the room to get spiffed up before checking out that night’s show.
And of course I went out on the verandah to see the sun starting to go to sleep.
We also took some pictures out there to chronologically show how we became a family.
First, there were two (look at that fresh shave, y’all).
Then? Three.
And here we are – all four of us – the complete Goodys.
Then we had to join the Witness Protection Program so we became four completely different people.
Kidding. I kid. That’s the O’Learys doy. I could never pull off that Terry swagger.
Like I said, we were in the room getting spiffy-town for tonight’s entertainment. We then made our way down to the Walt Disney Theater for tonight’s entertainment – The Little Mermaid.
We tried out the balcony seats tonight.
As with our show the night before, we weren’t allowed to take any pictures during the show. But I can give you my take on this one. And my take?
Ehhhhh.
This was definitely the weakest of the three shows we saw this cruise. And that came as a surprise to me given how much I love The Little Mermaid. It’s just…the whole show felt like a middle school class putting on a Tuesday night production of The Little Mermaid.
Let me start with what was good, though. The singing was on point. These performers have fantastic voices and they gave their all every single show (all the actors play parts in all three shows).
But that was really it. The show was kind of all over the place. It was kind of a play-within-a-play structure and felt like it was slapped together. No real character or story development. Like, if you had never seen the film, you would be like…wait, what is going on right now?
Weirdly, the acting felt more off in this show than the others as well. Triton, for example, was not the best. And, like, this same dude killed as Hercules in Seas the Adventure and as Jafar in Aladdin (spoiler alert.) But here, he was super stiff and felt like he was putting on this way-too-fake deep voice. I just think it was the material that was stifling these otherwise super talented performers.
We had far more fun at Seas the Adventure and, as you’ll see a couple days from now, were blown away by how strong a show Aladdin was. Little Mermaid just left me wanting more. I did love sitting next to Tony though. He provided a nice constant stream of commentary in my ear that kept me much more interested than anything going on on stage.
Side note though – I did finally get to watch the new live-action Little Mermaid last weekend and loved it. Recommend.
Day 4 was a long day, you guys. So after the show ended, we all decided to head back up to our rooms. I mean, we didn’t go to bed or anything. But still, we were in the room. Which was a big step.
Our incredible room attendant surprised us with some new towel art. And chocolate.
That towel art right there is a candle because we were celebrating the 25th anniversary of Disney Cruise Lines. And not JUST the towel art was waiting for us. We were also gifted this 25th anniversary print.
All KINDS of cute, you guys.
And of course we spent some time out on the verandah. Tony and Mia are proof we, in fact, did that.
And being that it was nighttime and we were on the verandah, we of course ordered some room service. This time we went in for both the All Hands on Deck cheese platter and some Buffalo Wings.
We were out there until probz like 11:30PM. I mean, some of us were. As the minutes clicked by, people were essentially peeling off until it ended up being Mikey, Owen, Larissa, and me as the sole survivors. I know this because Larissa was hellbent on convincing us to charter a boat in Alaska rather than the Alaskan cruise we were considering.
Like, she was really pushing it hard. I can’t remember 100% why she was so intent on it. But maybe next time I see her…
Alaska.
Get it?
Al-ask-a….sound it out.
Juneau what I mean?
But yerp, that was Day 4 y’all. Heck of a day, I think. And tomorrow? We have another full day on the ship.
See you guys then!
Last post – Day 3
Next post – Day 5
WeHeartDisney 