(click on pics to enlarge)

Wow, we’re already up to day 5! It’s another gorgeous day at sea! We did a lot today, but more to come on that later. First, we started with a leisurely breakfast at Cabanas, sitting by the water.

You know I couldn’t resist taking more pictures of the big blue sea! It’s just so calming.

We just did a quick lunch at Cabanas again, instead of going to one of the sit-down restaurants, because there was something very cool coming up that we wanted to get to.

So, the night before, I was scrolling thru the activities for today in the app and came across something called “Broadway Artist Presentation” or something actually more nebulous than that. I almost scrolled right past, thinking nothing of it, but I happened to click on it to read the description and it said there was a Broadway actor on board who was in Les Miserables and other plays. What?!? Les Mis was the very first ever Broadway show that I saw as a class trip in high school and is still my all time favorite show! It’s what made me discover and love musical shows ever since and holds a special place in my heart. So, I had to check this out!

We went to the presentation after lunch. It turned out that Disney cruises have a guest artist program where Broadway artists do 6-month residencies on the ship stage shows! I always said that the cruise shows are Broadway caliber! So, there actually are Broadway actors in the shows!! How is it that in almost 8 years of cruising with Disney, I had never heard of this program before?!? Disney definitely needs to publicize this more! Even this presentation should’ve been featured more than just being another item on the list between a trivia game and a craft. What the heck?!? OK, enough of my shock n awe. You know I definitely gave my feedback to DCL about this.

Our guest artist was Joe Spieldenner, who talked about his life growing up in a small town in Maine and his journey to Broadway and beyond. He led a very fascinating life doing all sorts of things and gave many great insights and advice to aspiring actors, or really, anyone trying to chase a dream goal. Of course, he also showed many pics of his Les Mis stint and sang a small snippet from the show. He played several roles, but most notably Javert and Thenardier. He was a very charismatic speaker and this was definitely a huge highlight of the cruise. We laughed, we cried. I just wish they had a recording of his whole presentation for everyone to see. It was awesome!

My biggest advice, look out for events like this on your next cruise and definitely go! And please also give your feedback to Disney to feature things like this more! Support my cause! LOL! I always tell people that the cruise shows are amazing and one of the biggest reasons we sail Disney. They need to tout the fact that they also have Broadway actors in them, though all of the cast members are great too and can also be on Broadway. Make sure you don’t miss the shows!

After that inspiring presentation, we went to another activity. This time, we were active participants! It was an animation drawing class where we learned to draw Goofy and Pluto. Now, we’re by no means good artists, so don’t laugh, but hey, it was fun and at least we tried.

We also did a craft where we made a family Christmas Wishes ornament. Basically, they gave us one of those clear ornament balls that you can decorate yourself and we could write what our wishes were for the upcoming year on strips of paper to put inside. It was very cute!

During all Disney cruises, they would play current Disney movies that may even still be in movie theaters, and if a movie happened to be premiering in theaters during your sailing, they will also premier on the ship that same night! During this sailing, we were able to watch Encanto and West Side Story, both of which were great! Obviously, I couldn’t take pics of the movies, but here are pics of the theater, which was beautiful!

Then, a little before dinner, they had another dance party up on the top deck where alot of the characters came out for a little dancing fun.

I told you we did alot today! Finally, it was time for dinner. Tonight, we were back in Enchanted Garden. I don’t know if we were just extra hungry since we did so much today and didn’t snack as much during the afternoon, but everything was extra good that night. And again, our servers insisted that we try every dessert. LOL

After all that food, we had to do a few laps around the walking track on deck 4. The moon was still bright and beautiful, and a little spooky.

This guy was waiting for us back in the cabin. Giant lobster??

It was a jammed-packed but awesome day! I’ll leave you with more fun facts about the ship. Time for bed!