Day 7 started very differently to others. We went to Parrot Cay for breakfast as today was Character breakfast. We had to be up early, 7:15 to be there for 8 as our early seating for dinner means we have to take the early seating for breakfast too. Paul indulged in a fry up whilst I had pancakes with syrup, choc sauce and cream! As we ate we saw Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Goofy and Pluto making there way around the room. They came to every table and a cast member took our camera and took pics. Our serving assistant also made funny hats from napkins. I got a Minnie bow and Paul got Goofy ears. We got the full set of pics before we left. We saw many people arriving an hour late, clearly having forgotten to add the hour on. Goodness only know how as it is plastered everywhere and you can’t even get into bed without moving the ‘put clocks forward’ sign.
After breakfast we needed some routine so made our way to trivia. It was Cruisin’ for trivia the multiple choice general knowledge one. We seemed to be doing well and when the scores were tallied we had a 4 way tie, each with 24 out of 25. One member from each team had to go up for a tie break so I sent Paul up. The first question started with ‘in what port in Spain…’ then the guy paused waiting for hands to go up and guess Barcelona. No one bit so he carried on with ‘…will Magic go into dry dock?’. I was shouting come on Paul and as no hands went up he took a guess. And what a guess it was NOT. The word that came out of his mouth….. Venice! I couldn’t help but yell ‘that’s in Italy you div head’. The audience laughed. No one else guessed right so there was a second tie break question. This time the question was ‘what character was originally cast to play sorcerers apprentice before Micky?’. We’d had this question in a previous trivia so I shouted ‘you know this’. Paul immediately raised his hand and redeemed himself in style with the correct answer of Dopey. I cheered and we won more damn key chains. I could start a shop!
It was onto another very different event now. We’d heard about this at the end of last night’s show. Disney were producing a huge mural to go on the wall in a hospital in Barcelona, to be given them on our arrival in Barcelona, and we could go along and take part. It was in Animator’s Palette and as we arrived the tables were all laid out with sections of canvas. Each one had the black outlines all drawn and the other areas marked with a dab of colour (kind of like painting by numbers). The whole project was part of the Disney VoluntEARS initiative where cast members give up their own time to do these kind of things to help others and give back. The added bonus this time was that Don ‘Ducky’ Williams the famous Disney artist was there. We arrived about 10 mins early yet still many seats had been taken. We searched around looking for a piece of the mural we could identify and eventually found a canvas with Flounders face on it so opted for that. The whole mural was a Little Mermaid scene. We sat next to a very nice lady who was a retired school teacher who now liked to travel. She had a very intricate piece of canvas with lots of different coloured sections of Flounder. We were given special honorary Disney VoluntEARS bibs to wear and warned that if the paint dried on our clothes then it would not wash out.
The paint was delivered to our tables in small pots with fine brushes. The lady with us asked our cast member helper what she usually did on the ship and she answered she was in entertainment. We instantly knew that meant she was a character so I joked that I needed to look at her height to guess who. She answered with the fact that we would see her face so that meant she had to be Princess Tiana, which was pretty much confirmed the first time a camera was pointed at her, striking a distinctly royal pose!
We began painting, I had only yellow, although had many intricate lines to work around and Paul had two expanses of sea; blue and green. Paul’s first green coat was very patchy but we were told it needed at least 2 if not 3 coats. I worked my yellow carefully around the lines. As we moved up the canvas we realised that starting from the bottom was very dumb as we now got our wrists and even my bracelet in the paint. We patiently completed out section and waited for it to dry. Paul offered help to the lady next to us and she reluctantly accepted, I think she really wanted to do the whole canvas herself. There was a line forming of people coming in so everyone was asked if they would mind giving up their spot for others to complete coat 2. We decided to be honourable and did so. I asked the girl taking over to look after my Flounder face. Lots of people had run to their cabins to get the Don Williams’ commemorative lithographs we’d been given on day 1. Instead of doing this we decided to get our bibs signed. So now we have signed bibs from the painting WE competed with THE Don Williams.
It was now after 11 so we relaxed on deck for a while before an early lunch. Lunch was also a change for us as we had Pinnochio’s Pizza. The daily special was barbecue chicken which was so yummy we went back for seconds. We’d taken early lunch as we had a DVC members meeting at 12:30. We got the usual folio and hats and were entered into the prize drawer. We also knew the special offer was the first day release of the new Grand Floridian Resort. I had to leave after 20 mins for my spa appt so left Paul with the thought that we could afford 50 points there if he wanted.
I headed up to the spa and was directed to the changing rooms. I had a facial, eye treatment and shoulder massage booked so donned my robe. I sat in the waiting area and waited, and waited. Five past one went by, ten past one went by and I was planning to go and complain at 1:15. At twelve minutes past my therapist finally arrived with no recognition at all for being late. She led me to the salon area where I sat with my feet up and head back. She began with my shoulder massage and she didn’t hold back. For a small therapist she sure had some strength as she pounded my shoulders. She could obviously feel my tension and knots and was on a mission to roll them out. It bordered on extremely painful but was also strangely good. This followed with a great facial and eye collagen treatment. The whole session lasted about an hour. I was then recommended umpteen expensive Elemis products but did actually buy the eye treatment as it was on offer and cheaper than at home.
Before I continue I just wanted to see if you think not locking the toilet door is weird. Yep, an odd question and interlude I admit but the reason I ask is that it seems to be really common and I have twice walked in on someone and witnessed others do the same. Each time, the occupant is horrified and yet it’s them who have not locked the door. One time I apologised and the lady in line behind me yelled, it’s not your fault, she should’ve locked the door.
Anyway, fresh faced from the spa I headed back to the cabin to meet Paul. It transpires he had won nothing in the DVC prize draws but did make a 7:30 appt for us to buy the Grand Floridian points. I showered and applied some makeup, being without it all morning felt weird and when the pictures and videos of the painting are posted on Facebook I hope I look OK. We wanted to make the 4pm trivia but were running late so arrived at question 11. Weirdly, Shaili and Apurva arrived right after us. We joined forces but with only half the questions answered we stood no chance. After the quiz we all played a scrabble like game that Shaili had. Basically you took 15 random letters and had to make a crossword. If you got stuck you could either “drop”, where you put back 1 letter and took 3 or “peel”, where every player had to take 1 letter. This was if you saw an opponent nearly complete to stop them but everyone was concentrating so much on their own words it was not really used. Once all letters were used up in a legitimate crossword you shouted bananas. Each round only took a few minutes and we each won some rounds.
It was time to get ready for diner so we did so and made our way to Parrot Cay for this evening’s gastronomic delights. Starter for me was mozzarella and grilled vegetables and Paul had the Cajun chicken. He followed this with a mixed grill whilst I had roast chicken. I did take his lamb chop and asparagus as well. This was followed by an ice cream sundae for Paul and baked cheesecake for me.
After dinner we went straight to our DVC appt. We knew were buying the 50 GF points so the guy got an easy sale. We paid the deposit and agreed a 1:30 appt the following day to sign the closing papers. After this we went down to the atrium where there were lots of character photo spots so we got in line for all of them. We got Sorcerer Micky, Donald and Minnie. A usual meander through the shops resulted in Paul getting a bargain DCL polo shirt for just $9.99.
The show this evening was Vita Voca, a kind of poor mans Il Divo. They consisted of 3 Brits (one being a scouser) and a guy who described himself as Swedish and British. They were ok. They did a couple of James Bond tracks and some well know tunes such as Unchained Melody and My Way but each were sung in Italian. The crowd seemed to love them giving them a standing ovation.
We went back to our cabin again afterwards as Paul was running out of clothes so took a trip to the laundry. Boy, American machines wash quick. He did both loads, coloureds and whites whilst I was falling asleep. I think I barely remember him getting into bed himself.