Day 1 of 6 at sea

Don Ducky Williams




Saturday August 25, 2007
The first day of six days at sea. A lot of people were discussing the facts we had been on board for seven days, on other cruises it would be the day to disembark, and nervous about crossing the Atlantic.

We turn the clock back an hour four or five times this sailing. I can’t keep up. In either case, each time we turn the clock back I seem to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. I can’t read the hands on the clock in the stateroom. The hour and minute hand almost are identical and the alarm hand isn’t a distinctive color. I woke up at a time I thought read 7:20am. I started my morning routine and grabbed my book, thinking I would let Victoria sleep until 8am. I looked at my watch and it said 5:50am! It wasn’t 7:20am when I woke up, it was 5:40am! Sheesh!

I read my book for a little while longer. I woke Victoria up with a bribe of allowing her to choose any spot for breakfast. Of course this meant Topsiders on deck 9. She likes to eat outside. Our plan was to attend the Don Ducky Williams presentation in the Walt Disney Theater at 9:30am.

We finished breakfast quickly and walked around the ship. We got to the theater at 9am, where several people were already lined up. They opened the doors soon thereafter. Victoria was happy because Dominique and Baby Faith joined with their parents. Victoria got to hold five month old Faith and was comparing her to her cousin Xavier.

Don Ducky Williams is the senior character artist who works for the marketing department for Disney. He told us the story of how he came to work for Disney. He used to work as a banker in Springfield, Massachusetts and moved down to Florida when he was in his thirties. While he tells his stories, he sketches characters. Each person was given a raffle ticket upon entrance and the sketchers are raffled off at the end. We didn’t win one. After the presentation we supervised the girls while they went swimming.

Later in the day we attended another presentation with Don Williams where he walks the group, step by step, to draw Mickey Mouse. The kids were getting pretty frustrated with themselves but overall it was a good time. Later Victoria would buy an instructional kit from the store which provides more assistance in drawing the Mickey character.

Sandy, Mary and Victoria had a good time taking pictures together in the atrium area before dinner. After dinner we watched the show of the evening, Twice Charmed, in the Walt Disney Theater. This is a good show and one I would probably go to each time I cruised. I could skip some of the other shows, like the Golden Mickeys but Twice Charmed is a keeper.

Our plan was to watch the movie, Pirates of the Carribean at World’s End in the Buena Vista Theater. It was chilly in the theater and I was snoozing by 10pm. I woke up at around 11pm and watched the rest of the movie. The pirate movies all seem unnecessary long to me. After the movie we went to bed!