Everyone has to eat.

On this trip, SharkBoy and I ate like Gods the entire time, except for the first day we entered into Disney’s warm embrace. The day of embarkation onto the ship, we were so excited we missed getting some lunch, thinking we’d drop our bags in the room and then run around enjoying the ship. But we dawdled so long they closed the buffet prior to departure. Then we couldn’t find the pizza/burger station. We wandered aimfully (the opposite of aimlessly since we had our cameras going on full) until our scheduled dinner at 8:30pm. I was running on pure adrenaline at that point. After that our entire Disney trip was food food food.

With Disney Cruise Lines you’re seated in different restaurants for every night you’re on the ship – you retain your table number, dining guests and waiters, but it’s in a different venue each night. Our first night was at Animator’s Palate, decorated like an L.A. sweatbox animator’s studio, replete with toys, models and light tables, but not so much on the sweaty animator smell. Our table was all adult, all women (SharkBoy and I were honourary women). Each lady had their quirky ways: one looked like Deirdre from Coronation Street, one photographed a tiny dragon with all her plates, one was “the sidekick” to the Dragon Lady, one was old and mostly silent and the last one I can’t for the life of me recall what her special quirk was. Miss Seasick? We got along, regardless and it was pleasant to eat with them, not like the “Jap Killing Vet” from our previous cruise. We had a good time trying to get a clear photo of Bruce the Shark every time he came up on the monitors (See Below).

The meals in the “regular” (yet extraordinary) dining rooms were superior in quality, yet smaller in portion than any other cruise we’ve been on, but we were encouraged to order seconds, so it was all good.

At the end of our first dinner, I’m pushing the remnants of my desert around on my plate, wishing that I could guilt-free order 2 more cheesecakes, when I notice that all my table-mates are staring past me with saucer-sized eyes. Over my shoulder comes what I thought was an actual Disney/Pixar character, the chef Gusteau from Ratatouille. Thing is, this guy was actually THAT FAT, complete with a huge front ass stomach that swayed hypnotically. Talent will out, I suppose…

Know that we got our Disney Dining Plan for free as part of an early booking bonus and we wound up not using all the “points” we were allotted. I would be disappointed if we had actually paid for it, but since we didn’t we didn’t shed a tear.

Sad Diner – Had to put her here, she was the only person not having fun: