You know your youth is long gone when...

LindsayLoves · Oct 3, 2012

sweetpee_1993 said:
Okay so I got to the restaurant for lunch with Tracey and asked him if he knew what a ginger is. He smiled and was like, "Duh. It's a redhead." So my next question was, "But is it a bad way of saying someone is redheaded?" He said yes because to his knowledge it started with some jerk-off on YouTube declaring an "Beat Gingers Day" then posted videos of him walking up to random redheads and punching them. I'm glad that jerk didn't find me on that day. He'd have been embarrassed all over YouTube... LOL! I had 3 older brothers growing up (2 step sibs). I didn't take crap off boys. Ha! Anywhoo, aparently I'm the only person left on the face of the earth who as of this morning had no clue what that meant. Seriously! If someone had called me that I'd have been like, "Wow! Thank you!" because it reminds me of the starlet character "Ginger" off Gilligan's Island and she was gorgeous! LOL!

If it makes you feel any better it took me two years to figure out why Geri was "Ginger Spice" in the Spice Girls. Its a British term more than anything else, so its more of a cultural thing than a young person thing (though most youngins will know the term because of Harry Potter and the ginger Weasley's.

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

LindsayLoves said:
If it makes you feel any better it took me two years to figure out why Geri was "Ginger Spice" in the Spice Girls. Its a British term more than anything else, so its more of a cultural thing than a young person thing (though most youngins will know the term because of Harry Potter and the ginger Weasley's.

Apparently our oldest son hates the term "ginger" with a passion because the bullies he went to school with a few years back (prior to homeschool) loved to taunt him with that. I just don't get the derogatory association at all. I mean, "Ginger Spice" was pretty, "Ginger" from Gilligan's Island was a bombshell, the ginger Weasley's from HP are a family I'd love to join. I guess it's another thing the kid needs to disassociate and let go. I swear, the past 3 years and even now, it's this long adventure in deprogramming from the trauma of a crap-tastic school full of ignorance. Sheesh! Like I told him, when I was a kid there was little boy who made fun of my red hair and called me "Basketball Head". Really?! Oh but the world was coming to an end! He might as well had called me "Booger Face" or something else awful. LOL! You look back on this stuff and just laugh at the absurdity of it all...

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

So back to our regularly-scheduled program!

When last we left you, Tracey & I were butterin' up with the sunblock/sun lotion (he thanked me for that last flattering pic) and getting ready to hit the river. I sigh just thinkin' about it! I took a ton of pics and video so the girls on the girls cruise could see. I almost died when we were chatting about excursions and someone asked "What's to do at Atlantis?" Only THE most AMAZING river EVER! Some of it is calm, slow, and relaxing. But then there's sections that are rapids and fun. THEN, there's another section that throws waves at you and that can be super-fun! The landscape/scenery is lush and beautiful. Never a falter in the theming. I honestly think Disney should totally reImagine the river at Typhoon Lagoon. They could so do something akin to this and kick the whole park up a notch!

About to dip off into some rapids:

Nice flow...relaxing...

Rapids ahead!

Ooooh...and I won't say "If only the sun was out" because the morning was pleasant!

Floating past the rock climbing walls. I think this is where Tracey asked one of the lifeguards if it was supposed to rain. The lifeguard didn't know. That's when I piped up with, "That's a dumb question. You're on Paradise Island. It doesn't rain here."

RAPIDS!!!

On the backside of where we entered the river we came to the little split-off to float up to the big conveyor that takes you to the top of the Power Tower without ever getting your butt up out of your tube. Literally. You float around this narrow river that lines all the tubes up, you go up a long conveyor belt, then you float around to 1 of 2 water coasters. But when we got to the split-off to go to the conveyor it was closed off. Boo! Hiiiiisss!!! The 2 unOfficial CM girls were in front of us and they were pretty disappointed, too. A lifeguard heard us comisserating and said they thought it'd be opening at noon. Well, that doesn't help me at 11:00. The whole point was to NOT have to get off my butt here. Go ahead. Laugh. It's the little things for us old farts. Soooo, not ones to miss a good water coaster just because we'd have to actually walk, Tracey & I got off the river and walked up the Power Tower. We shared the work, tho. He carried the double tube. I carried the water camera. Fair. Right? LOL!

On the walk....scenery....Power Tower in the background:

This is the Power Tower. There's super-fast body slides in the top. But we didn't have kiddos with us so we didn't have to worry about our teens thinking we are too old-n-tired for the thrills. Nope. We were tube-bound! The 2 girls in front of us are the unOfficial CMs I've been mentioning:

Just before entering the tower if you look to the left here's the view:

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

This is where we "put in". Normally, if you come up the conveyor you float in from the left side over there. Immediately there's a split to go to 1 water coaster but if you continue around you can get to the other water coaster. There's 2!

Okay. First video. This is the farthest water coaster from the last picture. It's around that bend. If swearing isn't your thing then turn your sound off. My husband, Mr. Smooth, let 2 swears go. I fussed at him because I didn't need my public videos soiled with the potty-mouth. I apologize. And my squealing. I'm sooooo sorry! The tunnel is pitch black and it flings you thru curves and down fast dips! It's sooooo fun, tho!

Then when you get to the big splash-down you still have a very shallow flow back out to merge back into the river. Sorry I chopped this off the above video:

So back out on the river again, this is fairly soon after the merge back in. If I had turned left and snapped a pic here you'd see the spot where we always "put in". It's zero-entry right near the lockers, a towel hut, restrooms, a bar, and our "camping spot". That's why it's the perfect spot!

I love coming around this bend and seeing the Royal Tower:

Headed back to the rapids:

Here we GOOOOOOO!!!

This is the same rapids we're about to fall off in above. Of course it was taken on yet another loop around. Hear me warning Tracey, "Don't start swearin' like a sailor..." LOL! I apologize for the spinning. No matter what you do, the tube is going to spin you around some way...

So then after this rapids set there's another rapids set then you pass the waves. I'll get to pics/video of those. After the waves you come to the big conveyors. Obviously if you're going to keep a river flowing really well you'll need some elevation change so gravity can help. Well, there's a point where everyone has to go up in order to flow down. Here's the spot where everyone goes up:

I think this is the back side of the Power Tower. The sun is coming out, too!

Disneyfalcon · Oct 3, 2012

sweetpee_1993 said:
Yes! Cabana for the girls! I need to prioritize my list:

1. CC Cabana
2. Atlantis excursion
3. Palo every night.

I'm in love with number 3.

I'm with you. The "lazy" river at Atlantis is our favorite lazy river anywhere. It's awesome and I love your pictures!

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

I think we walked up for another water coaster trip.

What is it with me proclaiming everything to be "Fun!!!" LOL!

Still floatin'...I bet when you woke up this morning you didn't think you'd be getting a tour of the Atlantis river, huh? LOL!

So around the bend from the big conveyor(s) is where that split to float up to the conveyor to the Power Tower is located. And it was OPEN! In we go! See how narrow?! It lines you up!

There's a few of these canopies along the way. I imagine on busy summer days it's hot as Hades and there's so many tubes lined up that you sit baking in the sun for a long time. The water flow here is pretty dang slow, actually. You know us and patience, right. Tracey got out and walked, pushing me along as I stayed on my hiney...

Starting up the narrow conveyor. It's not as wide as the last conveyor. They make the tubes turn around and go up backward (so you don't lay your back onto the conveyor and catch your hair, I'm sure).

It's actually a pretty long ride going up. That's why I didn't video it. This pic is prob'ly 1/2 of the way up. You can see the water coaster off to my right:

2/3 of the way up:

Nice view to the left!

This is the top!

And the reward for sitting on our butts the whole way up a long conveyor...it was such brutal work, actually! In this one you hear me say "Ooooouch!" You gotta pick your butt up so you don't whack/drag it on the dips on the water coaster. Where the jets shoot you up can actually hurt!

NewfieFan · Oct 3, 2012

This is all so fun to read and watch!

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

At this point we got out and walked. No idea why when we don't have to. No wait! I remember. We were thinking we were about done but I didn't get any video of the narrow fun rapids yet. Yeah! That was it! So we were trying to walk back "upstream" so we didn't have to make the full round...but then I didn't get video/pics of the waves yet so we shoulda just stayed on the river, I guess.... LOL! Walking on the "beach" side of the Aquaventure area:

Had to take the boat pic for Tracey:

Hey! We've seen this one a few times already, huh?

Rapids agaaaaain...

Soooo, if you've not been on a "lazy" river that has waves I bet you're like me and wondering where do they get waves at. Here's your answer:

Here's the same spot but on another trip around:

Tracey hates that last video! He says, "I sound like a hick! I didn't know you were video'ing!" LOL! Love you, babe!
As the river goes along away from the wave-producer it bends which makes the waves crest and get bigger!

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

I guess people who get motion sick won't like these videos, huh? LOL! I'm sorry! Keepin' it fair, here's my pig farmer moment:

Sooooo, when you come off the big conveyor that everyone has to take........((pause for 2 TIPS! If you're getting on one of these conveyors pick up your butt so it doesn't drag. The conveyors are NOT comfy on the tush! ALSO, when it lowers you back into the water, try to be positioned so you can push off with one foot at the last minute. If you don't you'll tend to sorta linger there at the base of the conveyor))........there's 2 narrower rapids sections that I think are the BEST! Here's video of the first set:

If you know where to look at the very end of that last video you can see in the distance where the split is to go up the conveyor to the Power Tower. I can see it but I don't know that you'd be able to if I tried to explain it. But for those that have been there, you might see it, too!
If you don't go up to the Power Tower from here there's another set of the narrow rapids to ride down. I love 'em. Remember last May when Chandler was retrieving his sunglasses and got pulled into the rapids without a tube??? The lifeguard posted right there didn't even hesitate. He dove down the rapids right after my kid! Well, this next video is THAT set of rapids:

And at this point Tracey & I were feeling pretty much done. A few last pics at our "puting-in" spot:

I really liked this one:

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

Disneyfalcon said:
I'm in love with number 3.

I'm with you. The "lazy" river at Atlantis is our favorite lazy river anywhere. It's awesome and I love your pictures!

Yeah, I could live with #3, too. LOL!

Thanks, Tammy! I think the Pentax Optio purchase was so worth it and then some. Just you wait until we get to CC!!!

StarBurst said:
great trip report, a few of us did the royal caribean cruise to the bahamas 2 weeks ago and hit up the atlantis resort..

those pictures are great and and put me right back there..

we loved the power tower and how the one lift just jets you right up to the top.awseome stuff

did u leave out of port canaveral?
This was my first cruise and we had a blast but disney really does it up right

Royal out of Port Canaveral...you were on Freedom of the Seas, right? Yes, the Disney Dream ports out of Port Canaveral. Over this past summer they ran 5-night double-dips (2 stops at Disney's island, Castaway Cay). Now she's back to her usual 3 & 4 night runs. The stops are always Nassau & Castaway Cay, the 4-night adds an at-sea day. We've been on 3 cruises now, all Disney, and we're in LOVE. Thanksgiving 2013 the hubby's entire family are going on RCI's Allure of the Seas on the Eastern itinerary which I think will be fun. I don't expect it to be Disney, tho. I'm sure we'll have a blast. We've actually been thinking of hitting up another RCI before next year, maybe out of Galveston which is right up the road from us. Depends on if we can get a good deal or not.

Isn't Atlantis fun?! I love it! I love water parks, tho, so it's a natural fit for me. LOL! We did more of the slides and things with our teens this past May. This trip we kept it low-key and stuck to the river thrills. Heehee!

NewfieFan said:
This is all so fun to read and watch!

I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's so fun! Do you think your little ones would like it??? I know Aiden is on y'all about takin' him on a cruise with Mickey... Smart boy!

NewfieFan · Oct 3, 2012

sweetpee_1993 said:
I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's so fun! Do you think your little ones would like it??? I know Aiden is on y'all about takin' him on a cruise with Mickey... Smart boy!

Is it similar to Crush 'n Gusher at TL? My kids will do a lot of stuff at the water parks - they're more adventuresome at the WPs than they are at the parks, go figure!?!

Aidan has asked to go on a cruise more times than I can count! One day...

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

I know...it's only 12:30 by now and we just paid a boat-load of money to come to Atlantis. We were ready to get back to the ship, tho. We still had our meal vouchers we could get lunch with and we were really hungry. But the more we thought about it, the more we didn't really want to eat a burger or hot dog. Here's the meal voucher just so you can see what's included:

And here's a map because this is the only prayer you have of finding those specific eateries. One thing is for sure, Atlantis is NOT generous with the signage. It's hard to find which is which until you walk up and ask, "Are you one of these?!" Oy!

We decided if we happened across one on the way out we'd stop but if we didn't we'd just eat on the ship. So, on the walk back I started snapping up pics to show y'all some of the other stuff at Atlantis. It's really very beautiful here!

Okay. This one is hard to explain. Around another slide tower there's a series of little "pools"...not shallow as tidepools but not deep either and they're small...that are connected by all these little short slides. I tried to get a pic of it but it's hard to capture it. Anywhoo, these looked like a ton of fun for kids.

Racing slides!

I was trying to capture those tidepool little slide things again but found an OSHA nightmare....not that it applies in the Bahamas but yikes! Do you see it???

This is the kiddie water play area. You couldn't pay me to get up in that mess nowadays but once upon a time we'd have been happily running right in the thick of it...

Not exactly sure where this is but it does look like a lovely "camping" spot, doesn't it?

Walking back towards the Royal Tower:

The backside of the speed slides (no pun intended!) looks like a fun place for little kids to splash and play. Tracey was dying laughing that I even took this picture but it was hot in the sun and I wasn't standing around in the hopes that the "backside" would walk away so I could get my pic. So, my apologies ahead of time...

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

Oh! Yes! This was the "off season" so a few things were closed for refurb. Yep, happens even when you aren't at Disney. Didn't hurt my feelings but there was some seriously miffed folks when we walked onto the island they were informed by the lady leading us to the bus. So, the super-famous slide that plunges you "into" the shark-tank was closed for refurb. I still got this great picture of it from up-top. You can see there's no water running, tho.

This is all landscape. You can't get into this water. It's gorgeous, tho!

This pool is called "The Baths". Tracey swears he wants to "camp" here next time. It seems really low-key here. If you walk from this pool over towards our favorite spot you pass another big pool that has a DJ set up in a booth and they jam all day. That's sooooo not our scene. But "The Baths" certainly is!

Picture break!

Sooooo, who knows what the unofficial name of the suite that's in the "bridge" behind me is?! Here's a few hints: 1.) It was "named" for the first guest who stayed in it. AND 2.) He is no longer of the living.

If you guessed "The Michael Jackson Suite" you'd be correct! He was the first guest to stay in that suite so all the staff & islanders call it that. Anyone wanna guess how much it rents for???? $25k/night is what we were told. Soooo, we'll just admire that baby from waaaaaay down here with the commoners together.... LOL! We were also told that it's not uncommon for it to be rented out for weeks at a time.... I don't even wanna know who does that!

More scenery before we hit the a/c:

So we wanted to walk back thru the Royal Tower because we had seen the booth to purchase the pictures the Atlantis photogs take and we hit a few of them up while on the river. Yes, they have photopass-like photogs standing in the water who snap your pic then put a sticker with like a 7-digit number on your wristband. I wanted a picture! We returned to the booth and waited for the employee working there to return from a potty break only to discover that none of our pictures were ready yet. I guess the photographer hadn't been in with their memory card to upload yet. Bummer. We were hungry. We weren't going to actually wait. For information sake, here's the price list:

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

I couldn't not snap one more picture! It's so beautiful!

So we got on the first bus that was headed back to the ship. The unOfficial CM girls were on it, too. LOL! Several families walked up and paid cash out of pocket to hop on. It was the same driver we'd had earlier coming over. Tracey tipped him this morning, I guess for not killing us. So when we finally got moving there was a passenger who wanted to ride shotgun. He tried to make conversation with the bus driver by saying, "How's your day going, man?" The driver responds, "Not very well. Nobody's tipping." Aaaaaand the 5-spot Tracey had in his hand went right back into my bag. TskTskTsk. It coulda been better but ya had to go and say something that crappy, dude...... Oh well!

When you get off the bus you're sorta forced to walk thru this little festival center that has all these little booths with trinkets for sale. That's the only way to get thru the security check (gotta have photo ID and your KttW card!) back out to the pier. You have to walk thru here. There's a stage with live music playing and it was colorful so I snapped a pic:

Well, the Carnival Sensation had just gotten in. There was a chick standing near a beverage cooler popping open various beers and things getting the incoming crowd to taste then selling them cold beers and things for like $2 a pop or something. As hot as I was, I was tempted but resisted the urge. I just wanted to get back into my Disney bubble at this point.

Before the security check there's a small post office window to the left. We bought 5 postcard stamps so we could send a couple postcards from Castaway Cay tomorrow. You can't bring US postage from home, folks. You gotta buy Bahamian postage. Postcard stamps are $.50 each. Juuuuust an FYI!

The Bahamian security fellow was super-sweet! He looked at our IDs then back at us, smiled, and said, "You best be takin' gooooood care of dis' pretty lady, Mr. Tracey!" I love that accent! I could sit and listen to them talk all dang day! Tracey smiled and responded, "Oh yes! I brought her here, didn't I?" Yes, babe, you DID and I appreciate every stinkin' second of it!!!!

It's not that far a walk down the pier but if feels like it is when it's hot. A group of fellows with the Carnival bunch were walking out and calling out colorful things to the Bahamian Navy guys holding machine guns on their small ship. Not the brightest colors in the box, huh? Tracey just shook his head. I'd have loved to see them march those guys right back to the gangway and deny them entry to the island. Ugh!

Eventually we arrived by our ship. Strategically NOT in this picture would be the half dozen empty dumpsters waiting for the ships' crews to fill up with offloaded garbage. I'm not usually one to admire the aft of a pretty lady but this time I think it's okay... Yes?

There it is! Bump-out balcony! Almost HOME!

Oh yes! Welcome Home indeed! See the antibacterial station on the right? Can't be bringin' those outside germies into our Disney bubble, can we?!

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

StarBurst said:
We were on Monarch of the seas.

was its next to last voyage b4 being sold we were told..

was a nice ship and cruise, i so wanna go again but on one of Disneys

Oh yea Atlantis is one of a kind..

Okay! Yeah! I forget where we heard about the Monarch finishing up and being sold. I have no idea how it would be to compare RCI to Disney (yet) but I hear RCI is a pretty "safe" line for the Disney-spoiled to go with. LOL!

StarBurst said:
Oh i think we saw the Allure at port canaveral..its big

Allure and Oasis generally port out of Ft. Lauderdale. My in-laws have been on Oasis and loved it. I think those ships are too big for Port Canaveral but I could be wrong. The size of the Oasis class ships really worries me. They're so stinkin' huuuuuge! That's one reason I want to try to get on a Freedom class before Thanksgiving 2013. I want to try to get the rhythm of RCI cruising before I'm thrown into the "big boy" ship. LOL!

StarBurst said:
my girl is a travel agnt for AAA and got us the room upgrades and atlantis day passes for free.

Oh awesome! I've been getting a lot of emails from a lot of cruise lines including RCI for all sorts of incentives. I guess the fall is just a slow time for cruising period. Doesn't hurt my feelings, tho! The Atlantis day passes were a great score. Seriously. Just the day pass with no other inclusions is $125. Disney Cruise Line charges $169/adult for the excursion which I don't think is a bad deal because it includes transportation to/from AND lunch. The food at Atlantis is expensive!

StarBurst said:
and royal caribbean is pretty dang nice

That's what I hear! My brother-in-law is a huge RCI fan. I'll be interested to see how it fares in contrast to our Disney cruises. Next May we're booked on a 7-night western on the Fantasy in an aft verandah room. The booking on Allure for Thanksgiving next year is actually 2 rooms (us in a balcony, the boys across the hall in an inside) and has a less expensive cruise fare so far. Yep. 2 rooms for less than the 1 on the Fantasy. We'll be tracking all the extra expenses like sodas and upcharge meals to compare/contrast the two in the end. We're thinking the Allure will end up being a comparable cost if not slightly more. We'll just have to see, tho!

NewfieFan said:
Is it similar to Crush 'n Gusher at TL? My kids will do a lot of stuff at the water parks - they're more adventuresome at the WPs than they are at the parks, go figure!?!

Aidan has asked to go on a cruise more times than I can count! One day...

Yes! The water coasters in the Power Tower are like Crush-n-Gusher, I think. I saw C-n-G but we didn't ride it. It's the same concept, tho. There's also slides, some of which are the plunging types. I guess that's a perk to having teens...send them off to do whatever plunge-slides they need to and the old folks can just keep on floatin' the day away. LOL! If/when we all go together I'll make the boys go do with the littler kids to keep an eye on them while we all relax for a bit! Yaaaaay!!!!

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

KttW cards swiped, bags sent thru the scanner, and we were back onboard. Woot! I love you, Dream! Quick check of the Navigator and we see that Cabanas lunch stops serving at 2:00. It's currently 1:35. Run! We got to Cabanas quickly, scrubbed or grubby fingers with some wipes (handed out at the door), and hit the troughs! I was so hungry I thought I was gonna DIE! Well, okay, that's a little dramatic but I was really, reeeaaaally hungry! I didn't stop to take a pic of my first plate but this was my 2nd:

Above the little carrot cake squares is some sort of like prosciutto cubes in balsamic or something. It's a cold dish which totally was what I needed. Underneat you can see the hints of some ham slices. Just south of the carrot cake squares is a couple slices of the carved beef they had going on. Total stinkin' YUM! Oh! And the little dish up there at 10:00 is warm apple crumble which would've been perfect if I'd carried it out to the ice cream station and topped it with some soft serve vanilla. Iced tea, unsweet and un-spiked. Yes, I needed hydration especially with mixology coming up in a few hours...

After lunch we headed back to our room to relax, shower, cool off, and get spiffied-up again. (<--that means make-up) When we got to our room look what was waiting on our bed!

So sweet!

NewfieFan · Oct 3, 2012

sweetpee_1993 said:
Yes! The water coasters in the Power Tower are like Crush-n-Gusher, I think. I saw C-n-G but we didn't ride it. It's the same concept, tho. There's also slides, some of which are the plunging types. I guess that's a perk to having teens...send them off to do whatever plunge-slides they need to and the old folks can just keep on floatin' the day away. LOL! If/when we all go together I'll make the boys go do with the littler kids to keep an eye on them while we all relax for a bit! Yaaaaay!!!!

You didn't go on CnG!?! Ok, we have to meet up next time at TL - be there!!! It's nothing but squeals and laughter the whole way down.

Ok, your plan sounds good too! Where do I sign up?

disneygirl1 · Oct 3, 2012

Kel what an amazing trip report so far! I am so jealous of all the Disney Cruises you have been on! One day I'll be on that ship!

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

I had to wash my hair but I wasn't about to straighten it. I made use of that lovely diffuser attachment and broke into my bottle of Bumble & Bumble Sea Salt Spray for texture. So the rest of the night if you see a pic of me and I have curly looking sea-salt hair, that's why. Doesn't make much sense when you think about it. You go thru all the work to wash your hair and with hair as long as mine it's quite a job. Takes 3 washings. Then, you spray keratin stuff in to strengthen, add styling lotion, a bit of anti-frizz, then you squirt sea-salt all back in it so it's like you're right back where you started from. Duh! Okay. Enough rambling!

While I was getting ready Tracey fixed himself another Crown & diet Coke then parked out on the verandah to people-watch. I told Tracey drinking before Mixology probably wasn't a very good idea but, hey, what do I know? I'm just the nagging wifey, right? We'll have to see how that plays out, Mr. Smooth! I was ready to go with time to spare before our 4:00 Mixology class so we wandered slowly down, admired some artwork, etc. along the way.

Mixology was in Skyline. Of course we were early which is always our goal. The only other person in there was the bartender setting up. We wandered up to the bar and asked if this was going to be Mixology and asked where we should sit. The bartender, Suelen from Brazil, invited us to sit right at the bar since we were the only participants this afternoon. Cool! While we waited and watched Suelen set up I took some pictures of the "skyline". This is where I played and found the cool panoramas my new iPhone 5 does! Before someone jumps up and says "the 4S does that" I wouldn't know! I went from the 4 to the 5 and I only did it this soon because my home button wasn't working on a regular basis anymore. Soooo...Panorama time!

I swear this bar is MADE for these types of pics! Class began. Suelen, God love 'er, started out asking questions about different things that are to do with the science of mixing drinks. Remember, we're total lightweights. The extent of my knowledge is what I learned like in high school or college...things like what's cheap, what liquors will kill you, etc. Don't laugh! Really! To top that off, when I was 15 I moved to my dad's house...in a DRY county!!! So it wasn't looking like we'd be the best audience. I think maybe she was coming around to the thought that she'd be mixing drinks with an audience. LOL! She started out with the only frozen/blended drink of the day: the Mudslide! Very tasty and chocolatey. Me likey!

The drinks were not full-size drinks which is a very good thing. They were more like 1/2 or 2/3 sizes. Wanna laugh some more? After this wee Mudslide I was already "feeling" what I was drinking. And we hadn't even STARTED yet!!!

Thankfully, another young couple wandered into the Skyline as we were drinking our Mudslides (yes, Suelen drank a little of one, too). She politely told them we were having a mixology class but said they'd be welcome to stay if they wanted to. They asked if they could join and she said sure if they didn't mind that they'd already missed this one drink. Nope. They didn't mind. So yay for having company! While Suelen went to go get more glasses we all introduced ourselves. Adam and Christie from Wales remembered us from our dance-off the night before and commented that they voted for us. Yay! Not that they would've told us they didn't vote for us if they had voted for the other couple but it made my tail-feather-shaking pride feel a little better. LOL! We recognized THEM because the emcee, Frankie, announced to everyone that they should spend time talking to Adam from Wales because he had the best accent ever. With this, I concur! I love that accent. And Christie sounded like a perfect proper princess even when she'd let a swear slip! LOVE it! Another panorama shot while we wait!

Our next mixed cocktail was a "Sunken Treasure" which I think was the drink-of-the-day today, it being Pirate night and all. This one is where we started taking turns behind the bar mixing our own! The Sunken Treasure consisted of "layering" coconut rum (we used Malibu, I think), then a mix of orange juice and pineapple juice, then a pour of Midori over the top. The green from the Midori "sinks" into the other liquids, hence your sunken treasure. Here's Tracey gettin' his pour on while Suelen coaches:

It's beauty-muss!

We all mixed our treasures them sipped our own creations together. Enjoyable! Christie and I had very similar preferences for our drinky-drinks. We're both down with the fruity!

Next up was a "Black & Tan". It's a beer cocktail! I love me some beer, believe me, but I've never even heard of a beer cocktail before. Nevertheless, beer is involved so I'm all over it! For those as in the dark as I am, a Black & Tan is a layered beer drink. Pour about 2/3 glass of a lighter beer or ale such as Blue Moon then ever-so-slowly you pour the rest a heavier dark. We used Guinness. This was Suelen's:

Me being the patient one didn't pour my Guinness slow enough so mine all mixed up. Tracey, however, poured a gorgeous one! Like Suelen said, presentation is important! Betcha can't guess which is which, huh?

And, side lesson, if you do this same thing with Guinness and champagne it's called a "Black Velvet"! Who knew?!

Our next drink was a total first for me. Y'all are gonna laugh at me on this one: it was a martini...and it was my first ever martini! I'm telling you, we just don't drink when we're out. If I'd never had a martini why would it have occured to me to do that at home, right? Soooo, first ever martini was a fantastic one: The Lemon Drop! Oh my goodness. First Suelen rimmed the glass in sugar (using lime juice, properly, to do so). I swear I wish I coulda got Christie to say "properly" a dozen times in a row. I love the way it sounds when a person from Wales says it! Anywhoo, I forget what the heck was in it but I do remember it was a 2 for 1 special during the Match Your Mate last night. LOL! It was so yummy...lemony with a sour bite that was perfectly balanced with the sugar from the rim of the glass. Suelen wanted to try an experiment with us that she'd heard of recently. After our first sip or 2 she added a small pour of Sambuca which gave an extra sweet kiss at the bottom of the drink. It was so delish! I wish I'd taken a picture but I was well into "tipsy" now and forgot. I think I was distracted listening to Adam & Christie talk. The already bad attention span gets worse when you add alcohol!

Then we were informed that our next drink was..... a shot. Oh my! Okaaaaayyy... Soooooo, we were doing a layered shot called a B-52. My super-simple self thought of a shot as "pour the strong crap in a jigger & throw it down". I didn't realize you could get all fancy-schmancy with these things! For others like me who are utterly clueless, a B-52 is a layer of Kahlua, a layer of Bailey's, and a layer of Grand Marnier. Yep, we poured 'em, too! Here's Suelen's:

Tracey with his B-52. I wonder how he's feelin' about that drink before Mixology now! I do recall this is the point where he was mentioning it...

And me with mine. See my notebook? I was note-takin' like a good pupil!!!

sweetpee_1993 · Oct 3, 2012

Oooh boy! We had to drink those shots, too! Okay, so past experience with shots, like I mentioned, was strong crap in a jigger that you throw down and try to hold it in. I'm well into woozy at this point, holding this shot in front of me, and envisioning the "hold it in" part. I was seriously having this whole conversation with myself about how the heck I was gonna do this. I'm not a fan of that part at all. Eventually I arrived at calling myself a big wuss just before going for it. I threw the shot back, swallowed hard, squenched up my face, and waited for the kick. And waited. And then there was no kick. Oooooh....just the taste of creamy sweet coffee and I was floating on a cloud. Heavenly taste!

So, final drink was supposedly a well-known one. Suelen asked if we'd had it before. No, but I have actually heard of this one. It's the Alabama Slammer but I couldn't even tell you what was in it. I suppose I could google it if I really wanted to. Honestly, I'd have rather had another of the B-52s but that's just me. So something about gin and something..I dunno..I took a pic, tho. I'm glad Suelen mixed & served this one for us because I probably wouldn't have done well on my feet at this point.

And, THAT, my friends is Disney Dream Mixology! $15 each. That's a whooooole lotta octane for just $15, huh? Wowza!

Towards the end of class a couple ladies had come in and sat on my other side. They opened a drink menu that Suelen handed them and I was dazzled! The menus glow!!!! After class I picked up a menu to take pics of it! I was soooooo impressed!!!

How do you gaze at a glowing menu and NOT order something from it, right?!?! Right?!?! I hadn't been off my stool yet or I may have rethought that idea but what the heck. I ordered something. I was just eyeballing the menu but I still can't figure out what this is. I don't know! It had a glow cube. It's a martini drink. I have no clue. It was STIFF! I drank it all like a good girl, tho!

Adam & Christie had to go get ready for early dinner. We chit-chatted with the 2 ladies next to us for a bit. They were from New Orleans so it was like meeting long lost family from home. Man! If Tracey could just make the money there that he does here we'd be gone in a FLASH! Suelen was still giving us bits of info and she told me about a vodka (because vodka is a common cocktail base) that is lower calorie and gluten-free. I knew I'd never remember it so I did the next best thing. I took a pic of the bottle!

You know your youth is long gone when...

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