"Doctor Strange said not to touch anything!" - January 2018 solo MDAS/WDW (FINISHED Sept. 4)

Yeah, I'd heard about the show being after both dinners on other cruises, but I'd also heard that sometimes it was different -- also, I'm not sure if the pirate buffet is something they don't do anymore, something they don't do on the smaller ships, or just something they don't do if they put the show between dining times like they did on my cruise. The MDAS show was later at night, though, so I don't know why do one earlier and one later. I kind of preferred the later show because it was a good end to the night; on pirate night it was a little weird to go to dinner afterward and then find other things to do with myself until bedtime.

We did have the buffet, after the fireworks on the Wonder. It was heavy on Mexican food with fresh fruit and desserts available as well. I agree, it was a good end to the night. I wonder if maybe timing has something to do with where the ship is located at that particular point. Like maybe there's a restriction on the fireworks in parts of the ocean after a certain time?
 
We did have the buffet, after the fireworks on the Wonder. It was heavy on Mexican food with fresh fruit and desserts available as well. I agree, it was a good end to the night. I wonder if maybe timing has something to do with where the ship is located at that particular point. Like maybe there's a restriction on the fireworks in parts of the ocean after a certain time?

I'm not sure I would have wanted a buffet after dinner...but I probably would have nommed on it anyway if it were offered. Or paced myself better at dinner if I knew it was coming, I guess. I also have to wonder if maybe it's a cost-saving measure...I dunno. Without knowing the pattern of when it's offered or not it's all guesswork.
 
January 24 (part 1)
Good Morning, Marvel!

Before going to bed the night before Marvel Day at Sea, I combed through the navigator to set my schedule for the next day. I don't have my choices in paper form since I did it by marking everything I wanted to be certain I attended as a favorite in the DCL app--on other days I'd favorited anything I thought I might like to go to, but reading over the MDAS navigator quickly made it clear that I needed to have a plan for the overall day if I wanted to be sure I could make it to everything. Most activities were offered two or more times, but it was possible to create schedule conflicts that could lock you out of seeing something at all if you weren't careful--particularly considering I had tickets to both ticketed meets, so my schedule was locked down from 3:15-4:15 regardless of what else I chose to do. I successfully tetrised my schedule before going to bed, and for once set an alarm to get up bright and early--I needed time to get ready! Why? Because I'd spent the month leading up to the cruise re-learning how to use my housemate's sewing machine so I could make a Doctor Strange costume!!

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Aww yiss

A few words about this costume. Those who don't care about the specifics of comic book character costume design or cosplay, skip ahead until you stop seeing comic book images.

This is obviously not a screen-accurate Doctor Strange--this costume is based on the comic book version, and more specifically, the comic book version as he was drawn from 2015 to 2017 by Chris Bachalo. That run was really the first run of comics I'd been seriously drawn into reading, so I've got a real soft spot for it--besides which, I just find Bachalo's art really compelling in general.

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The cloak's collar--or lack thereof--flies in the face of earlier depictions of Doctor Strange, who has this massive, pointy collar I don't even know how to begin to construct. I mean, I know other cosplayers have managed it, but see above re: putting this together the month before the cruise.

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Bachalo also did away with the gray/white sidepanels in Strange's hair, and because I was kind of working last minute on the hair (I ended up using Manic Panic's Dye Hard gel to turn my hair black) I just kind of followed his lead and went all black rather than mess with it. It's not a faithful Bachalo-era costume all the same, though; I feminized it by using knee-high boots and leggings in place of trousers and work boots, since I had decided early on that crossdressing was too much work and too uncomfortable (seriously, I've done it before and it's a pain--worth it sometimes, but not for a cruise).

Side side note: since the Doctor Strange comic changed hands to a different creative team his look has been redesigned once again to bring him closer in line with the "traditional" Strange. So I cosplayed a genderbent version of a costume that only appeared in a two years out of five decades. :oops:

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While I'm still happy with this costume overall (though I'd like to replace the trim on the cloak with something more page-accurate), looking back I'm very unhappy with how I did my hair. When I wore the costume again at a convention in May a friend suggested that I do my hair a little more like the movie version of the character, and helped me put in white streaks using facepaint (yeah, seriously. facepaint). Also, I tried putting the hair gel in dry hair rather than showering first and I think it worked a lot better (it didn't kill the volume as badly), so I'm including a picture here since we'll be looking at bunches of pictures of me with dumb-looking hair in this report. Once it set it just was what it was; Dye Hard makes one's hair very stiff and crunchy.

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That's better.

The Eye of Agamotto pendant is a resin cast I bought on Etsy, and the leather belt pouch I used on the crusie was likewise an Etsy purchase (it's the same one I wore as a pirate...same leggings and boots, too. Efficiency!). I'm happy to provide shop names if people are interested (the blue-edged belt pouch came from a local vendor/craftsperson at the convention, but I could probably dig up their info as well if wanted).

Alright. PHEW. We can all move on from costume talk and let that breath out in a big, loud chorus of....

NEEEEEERRRRRDD!!!!!

I finished getting ready earlier than anticipated and went to Cabanas because apparently it just never occurred to me even once to go to Lumiere's on mornings when I was up early enough to go to Lumiere's. This was the earliest I'd been at the buffet, and I got a seat with a better view than usual.

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I kind of love it!

I had a bit of a perfunctory breakfast. I think part of why I didn't go to Lumiere's was that I didn't really feel hungry, to judge by this...spread.

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Frankly I was breaking character by eating real food at all since in the comics Doctor Strange has to eat horrifying toxic magic stuff because his body is too saturated with magical energy to tolerate normal human food and--okay, stopping now.

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Seriously, gross.

I was feeling nervous from the moment I left my stateroom, and it only got worse as I walked the halls and saw person after person after person not in costume. By the time I reached Cabanas I had more or less come to the conclusion that not only was my costume too obscure for a cruise full of people who were probably more used to the movie versions of characters, but also I was probably the only adult who had dressed up at all and everyone was going to think I was a big dumb baby because it was only kids who dressed up on Marvel Day at Sea.

Can you say "social anxiety"? I've gotten better over the last decade, but it still rears its ugly head now and then.

I was still running early when I finished my meager breakfast, so I stopped by the Cove Cafe for a latte, doing my best to convince myself to chill out and wait until more people had a chance to wake up and get moving around the ship.

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The other stencil they had was a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo

I stopped by the Comics Vault, which turned out to be an area in the Promenade Lounge with some iPads you could check out and use to view digital comics. I have a Marvel Unlimited subscription at home, though, so I can read comics any time my phone has internet access. I just skimmed an issue or two until I figured it was a decent time to go start hitting character meets.

I was already off to a rocky start--I'd misjudged and started too early first, and now it turned out I'd misjudged again and shown up a bit late. By the time I got to the atrium and got in line to meet Loki, his line had wrapped around the far railing.

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Oops.

With plenty of time before the first event I wanted to attend, though, I decided it was what it was and stuck with it. The people in line around me were very friendly and it was easy to strike up a conversation...though it was more parents with children than other adults-only groups (no other solos that I spotted). I was still feeling a little awkward, but overall better now that more people were out and I was actually talking to people instead of sitting in a corner letting myself feel self conscious.
 
January 24 (part 1)
Good Morning, Marvel! (continued)

After a while, a few familiar faces started showing up. I was tempted to leave my place in line and go after them before they got mobbed, but stuck with it. I was going to meet Loki, dang it!!

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I love the little character touches, like Hawkeye always watching the goings-on from as high a vantage as he can.

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Hey, I recognize that pair of butts!!

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You can't really tell in this picture but that's Doctor Strange upstairs with his back to the camera.

I finally made it to the front of the line (my time stamps show that I had waited about half an hour), where I had a chat with Loki about alternate universes and not dropping him down portals that would leave him falling for thirty minutes at a time. He was pretty fun! Of the limited number of pictures I had taken on the cruise, the only one I actually bought at the end was one of the pictures with Loki.

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Not this one; this one's from my phone

Done there, I scurried up a deck to try to snag a picture with Doctor Strange before he could disappear somewhere. It was...really awkward, actually? I kind of fumbled my way through that interaction, and unlike some characters he didn't pick up the slack much. I also didn't get any good photos, partly because there wasn't a CM there to take photos (I should have asked the next person in line--I'd just taken photos for the family before me, so it seems like it should have been an obvious solution).

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I mean, Dr. Strange being kind of distant is in character, but seriously. Awkward. Gorgeous outfit, though.

At least I hadn't had to wait more than five minutes to meet him? It's funny; the characters with set meet times had very long lines throughout the day, but the wandering characters were for the most part accessible. I'm guessing they base it on popularity? I almost wonder if the preset lines make people more inclined to wait in line forever, but the wandering characters seem more casual.

There were more characters to meet, but I was off to my first must-do of the day: the Marvel Super Showdown Game Show. The description on the MDAS sheet reads: "Have you got what it takes to win the Marvel Super Showdown? A game show fun for the whole family involving trivia, challenges, and more!" Fathoms had already been switched to Ravagers colors and Guardians of the Galaxy-themed drinks

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So much red and purple!

I sat in the back and ordered a drink because I expected to be a spectator. The drink was called a "Mister Blue Sky," but I'm pretty sure it's the same glowing blue drink you can buy under various other names throughout Disney properties. Very sweet, sugared rim, glow cube. Yep. And yes, this was at 10:00 in the morning, I was on a cruise, okay, don't judge me.

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I thought about that drink a lot as I gazed back at its untouched, unreachable glowing beauty from the stage, where I spent the entire game show. The first round was done using clickers (like we used to have in college science courses) to answer trivia questions. Lo and behold, I answered enough of them right to be one of the challengers called up to the stage for round two...right when my drink order arrived. But I figured what the heck, I'll probably wash out during round two and I can go drink my drink. LOL, no.

Round two had us using little whiteboard paddle things to write our answers (several people got disqualified for misspelling "shawarma"), and round three was me and two other people (a teenage girl and a guy my age or maybe a little older) "buzzing in" using light sticks to try to beat each other to the answer. It was pretty funny when one of the questions asked for the name of the amulet Doctor Strange wears--I was wearing the dang thing, so I had better know it! The last round was where I crashed and burned; they flashed up pictures of different characters and you had to call out their names, and your score was based on how many you got in a minute. I'm not as familiar with most of the characters who haven't yet appeared in the movies, so my last remaining opponent (the guy) beat me pretty handily and got the prize (though to be honest I don't remember what it was). It was a fair win and no hard feelings; I was just excited I'd gotten that far.

The crew member running this was Tisa, whom I hadn't really met before--I think she tended to handle more of the nighttime activities? I'm not sure. I ran into her several more times after this, and she was an absolute treasure. She had an incredible knack for drawing people in and making one feel welcome, and she was very funny to boot.

Game show narrowly lost but my spirits high, I made a quick stop back at my table to basically chug my Mister Blue Sky and nab the glow cube out of it before heading to Cabanas for some eats, since I had a bit of a break before my next must-do and didn't especially feel like getting in line for another character meet or going straight into another trivia game. It was a bit overcast and the Dye Hard gel is water soluble, so I thought it best to stay well under cover. I still went outside to eat, though, because I was feeling a bit 'off'--maybe because I was overheating in the costume, maybe because I'd had so many emotional ups and downs, or maybe because I'd just chugged an alcoholic drink mid-morning after barely eating any breakfast.

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Nice and cool out, at least?

I figured I should try to get something in my stomach, and loaded up my plate with a mix of things that should have been appealing...or at least inoffensive.

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On a normal day I'd be into this food because I am a child at heart and love me some mac and cheese

I managed to eat maybe half of it before I had to throw in the towel--my stomach just wasn't up for food that day. That's not normally a problem I have, but I think there was just a lot happening at once. After a quick look at my schedule, I made the executive decision to take a break and give myself a chance to reset, and headed back to my stateroom. I was pleased to find the Marvel bed...thing...waiting for me; I'd deliberately avoided looking too much into what kind of "goodies" to expect, since the only thing one can really expect is that things will change based on available supplies.

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I still have this thing!

Once there, I shucked my boots and cloak and lay down for a while to give myself a chance to cool off and my stomach a chance to settle. I finally read the Doctor Strange comic I'd brought with me (the latest issue, purchased just before the trip), because I kind of had a theme going.

Next up: Marvel Intensifies
 
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Definitely still plugging away at this thing! In the meantime, I've been working on plans for future trips and am back to having plans for the next two trips, which is how I like things. My bookings are all made for Disneyland Paris and London, though I still need to work out my London daily itineraries and there are a few things (like the Wild West show) that I can't book until I get closer to my date. I've still got a to-do list on that trip a mile long (there's a lot to look into when you haven't been to Europe in a decade!), but with five months to go I'm not stressing (yet).

The other big news, and the driver behind the next trip after that, is that I've taken up running! I've tried once or twice before and not been able to stick with it because of other life commitments, not liking the program I was using, etc., but this time around I'm thankfully at a place in life where I can devote the time, plus things have been much smoother this time around since I decided to use the Galloway method. It's been great getting to know people in the runDisney subforum. With just shy of 18 months to train, my plan is to go from couch to marathon by the start of 2020(!!!). My DCL placeholder expires late in January 2020, so it actually lines up perfectly for me to run the marathon at the 2020 WDW Marathon Weekend, then board the Dream the next day and run the Castaway Cay Challenge as well. I've got a land and sea itinerary for that mapped out (it's easy when it's WDW; I know WDW planning inside and out) and I'll be ready to make my cruise reservations when the itineraries go up this fall, then the race, room, and WDW ticket reservations next spring when those open up as well.
 
I'm not finished with the first ship day yet, but I'm really enjoying your trip report. As for the sail away party I love it but then I like to dance to cheesy music. My youngest likes it too if she makes it into the kids' area but my oldest just rolls her eyes at me mostly.

Your horror story about flights has me wondering if I should fly in two days before for the next cruise since it will be February in Virginia when we leave out of a tiny airport. Of course I am close enough to drive it if I had to but since we are returning from San Diego that would mean an additional flight to go get the car later. Ug, so much to think about.
 
Your horror story about flights has me wondering if I should fly in two days before for the next cruise since it will be February in Virginia when we leave out of a tiny airport. Of course I am close enough to drive it if I had to but since we are returning from San Diego that would mean an additional flight to go get the car later. Ug, so much to think about.

Just think about whether or not you'd rather start your vacation all stressed out about flights and luggage arriving on time, or if you'd rather fly in a couple of days before and not have to worry. For us, it's just not worth all the worry and stress. And sometimes, planning to arrive two days early isn't even enough! Although you say you could potentially drive to the port, remember that if flights are delayed, they're sometimes delayed until the next morning, which would be your cruise departure day. Then, at what point do you decide to drive? Just another worry and hassle, because you'd need to rent a car since you're not even returning to FL. Overall, if you're already wondering, I think that's your answer. ;) BTW, I'll see you on that cruise! We're actually arriving 3 days early, enjoying some time at WDW, then the cruise, then a few days at DL! :) See ya onboard!
 


I now relate all too well with being the only adult in costume on a Marvel cruise!

Although that hasn't stopped me from plotting my first ever Star Wars cosplay for next year.

I'm really bummed we miss the Marvel trivia. Especially since we knew it included non-film characters.
 
I'm not finished with the first ship day yet, but I'm really enjoying your trip report. As for the sail away party I love it but then I like to dance to cheesy music. My youngest likes it too if she makes it into the kids' area but my oldest just rolls her eyes at me mostly.

Your horror story about flights has me wondering if I should fly in two days before for the next cruise since it will be February in Virginia when we leave out of a tiny airport. Of course I am close enough to drive it if I had to but since we are returning from San Diego that would mean an additional flight to go get the car later. Ug, so much to think about.

I'd be a bit less worried about it--if you're close enough to drive, you're close enough that it's probably a relatively short flight (especially if it's direct). I'd book the earliest flight the day before, at least, and check to see whether there are later flights the day before the cruise to which you could theoretically get bumped. I knew better than to book an afternoon flight, and I did it anyway. Morning flights are less likely to get delayed (or as badly delayed), since often the plane will sit on the tarmac overnight and you'll be the first flight of the day. By the time you get to an afternoon flight like the one I took, the plane will have made several trips and if any of those got delayed, it'll cascade into the afternoon flights.

Of course, these are all brave words from someone who's making the next trip a land-and-sea trip and will be in WDW three days ahead of the cruise. :p But only two days ahead of the marathon.

I now relate all too well with being the only adult in costume on a Marvel cruise!

Although that hasn't stopped me from plotting my first ever Star Wars cosplay for next year.

I'm really bummed we miss the Marvel trivia. Especially since we knew it included non-film characters.

If I'd finished this in time I could have warned you! I don't regret it, per se, but I would have felt a little less out of place if I'd been there with someone I knew. I got only compliments from the few people who commented at all, though, and there's a really positive bit coming up in the next update related to the costume. I just had a couple of moments where I wondered "Oh no, am I too into Marvel for the Marvel Day at Sea crowd???" (which of course got better when I got into trivia and met the kinds of people who know Marvel trivia). My previous cosplay experiences had all been at conventions, where you see so many more adults in costume, so it was a little odd being among mostly people who hadn't dressed up beyond a themed t-shirt.
 
I'd be a bit less worried about it--if you're close enough to drive, you're close enough that it's probably a relatively short flight (especially if it's direct). I'd book the earliest flight the day before, at least, and check to see whether there are later flights the day before the cruise to which you could theoretically get bumped. I knew better than to book an afternoon flight, and I did it anyway. Morning flights are less likely to get delayed (or as badly delayed), since often the plane will sit on the tarmac overnight and you'll be the first flight of the day. By the time you get to an afternoon flight like the one I took, the plane will have made several trips and if any of those got delayed, it'll cascade into the afternoon flights.

Of course, these are all brave words from someone who's making the next trip a land-and-sea trip and will be in WDW three days ahead of the cruise. :p But only two days ahead of the marathon.



If I'd finished this in time I could have warned you! I don't regret it, per se, but I would have felt a little less out of place if I'd been there with someone I knew. I got only compliments from the few people who commented at all, though, and there's a really positive bit coming up in the next update related to the costume. I just had a couple of moments where I wondered "Oh no, am I too into Marvel for the Marvel Day at Sea crowd???" (which of course got better when I got into trivia and met the kinds of people who know Marvel trivia). My previous cosplay experiences had all been at conventions, where you see so many more adults in costume, so it was a little odd being among mostly people who hadn't dressed up beyond a themed t-shirt.


Well it's a 14 hour drive. So if my flight was cancelled I could drive it and I have driven it in a day many times but I don't want to because we'll be flying back from San Diego!

We were on the 2nd Marvel Day at Sea and there were tons of adults in costumes. I wore a laid back Medusa costume. My oldest daughter (16 at the time) was Star Lord. They bumped into one another in the hall and he was so cool with her. The best interaction of the trip. Later I ran into him at bingo and he remembered me too and we had such a fun conversation. So he made my day too.
 
I am really enjoying your TR, thanks for sharing. I love how you are so into the Marvel comics. Your costume was great! On our cruise we had adults dressed in costumes - not as many as Star Wars Day at Sea, but it was a much less crowded cruise on a smaller ship. I preferred it anyways.
Looking forward to more!
 
Alright. PHEW. We can all move on from costume talk and let that breath out in a big, loud chorus of....

NEEEEEERRRRRDD!!!!!
I think it's awesome you put so much effort into your costume, especially one carefully thought out as a version of the character that "spoke" to you! You are a Nerd in the best possible way!

I was feeling nervous from the moment I left my stateroom, and it only got worse as I walked the halls and saw person after person after person not in costume. By the time I reached Cabanas I had more or less come to the conclusion that not only was my costume too obscure for a cruise full of people who were probably more used to the movie versions of characters, but also I was probably the only adult who had dressed up at all and everyone was going to think I was a big dumb baby because it was only kids who dressed up on Marvel Day at Sea.

Can you say "social anxiety"? I've gotten better over the last decade, but it still rears its ugly head now and then.
Argh, that would make me sooo anxious too! I hope it got better as the day went on!

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I love the little character touches, like Hawkeye always watching the goings-on from as high a vantage as he can.
That is pretty cool!

I thought about that drink a lot as I gazed back at its untouched, unreachable glowing beauty from the stage, where I spent the entire game show. The first round was done using clickers (like we used to have in college science courses) to answer trivia questions. Lo and behold, I answered enough of them right to be one of the challengers called up to the stage for round two...right when my drink order arrived. But I figured what the heck, I'll probably wash out during round two and I can go drink my drink. LOL, no.

Round two had us using little whiteboard paddle things to write our answers (several people got disqualified for misspelling "shawarma"), and round three was me and two other people (a teenage girl and a guy my age or maybe a little older) "buzzing in" using light sticks to try to beat each other to the answer. It was pretty funny when one of the questions asked for the name of the amulet Doctor Strange wears--I was wearing the dang thing, so I had better know it! The last round was where I crashed and burned; they flashed up pictures of different characters and you had to call out their names, and your score was based on how many you got in a minute. I'm not as familiar with most of the characters who haven't yet appeared in the movies, so my last remaining opponent (the guy) beat me pretty handily and got the prize (though to be honest I don't remember what it was). It was a fair win and no hard feelings; I was just excited I'd gotten that far.
How much fun! On May the 4th a couple years ago they did a whole Star Wars trivia contest at Disneyland. The guy who won was amazing, and they did rapid fire questions where he went through the whole page the questioner had. No one in the audience could even catch their breath and we all gave him a standing ovation afterwards!

I managed to eat maybe half of it before I had to throw in the towel--my stomach just wasn't up for food that day. That's not normally a problem I have, but I think there was just a lot happening at once.
I totally get this! Especially at Disney, when I have a schedule, I end up sacrificing meals to accomplish it!
 

I don't have any pictures from lunch, once again because I don't think it's polite to photograph my food when I'm lunching with new acquaintances.


I usually just get past that by explaining that I am a travel blogger. (Helps explain it to serving staff too).


I was feeling nervous from the moment I left my stateroom, and it only got worse as I walked the halls and saw person after person after person not in costume.

I can SO relate. On Towel Day this year a local distillery was releasing a special "42 Whisky" and having a release party. My hubby and I show up in our dressing gowns & Pj bottoms, with towels.
Nobody else was even wearing a Hitchhikes Guide shirt (except the staff). FTR the staff loved that we dressed up. Also, the only thing "party-themed" going on were some themed drink names and the Movie was playing on the big screen TV. Most of the people there were just on their normal date-night tasting room drink stop...not socializing at all except with their insular group. Many seemed unaware of the significance of the day, etc.

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Did I mention that we also walked Several blocks from where we parked dressed in our robes (err dressing gowns)......
Proudly flying the geek flag can occasionally lead to social awkwardness for certain

Loving your trip report!
 
January 24 (part 2)
Marvel Intensifies

Holy...I decided this weekend that I would power through as much of this trip report as I could and was feeling a little disheartened that all I managed to do was finish MDAS. Then I looked at the photo count in my temp file for resizing: 87 images. Uh, yeah. This would probably normally have been two or three updates. Since it's been a month, though, and I do want to try to finish and soon (regardless of how many people I've lost with my sllllow updates), I'm just going to deal with the post-splitting and formatting and put this up as one long update, though I will need to split it into at least 8 replies to get all those photos posted. Sooo if you reply before you see the footer for the last part of the update, just know there's more coming in the next few minutes.

After about half an hour with my boots off I was ready to face the world again. That was good, because one of my must-do events of the day was the Costume Celebration at 1:15. When I'd mentioned at the Cruisin' Solo lunch that I was planning to wear a costume I'd been told in no uncertain terms that I needed to show up, and I thought it'd be nice to see who else dressed up (though by this time I expected, rightly, that it would be mostly children in costume). I went via deck 5 (...if I'm remembering deck numbers correctly) to see if I'd run into anyone interesting along the way, and lo and behold I super did! The line was very short--I was surprised throughout the day to find that the wandering characters were generally accessible with only short waits, and that only the ones with set meet and greet lines got swamped. I'm not sure if that's a psychological thing born of the lines themselves or if Disney really is just that good at predicting which characters are too popular to go without structured queues.

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I don't remember exactly what was said, but my notes indicate that Hawkeye and I talked smack about both Stephen Strange and Tony Stark. Probably something about Tony's super secret tech requiring all this Avenger security onboard the cruise ship and Stephen being...Stephen.

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I arrived downstairs as the CMs were finishing wrangling everyone into the right areas/tell everyone their category--they'd broken it out into rough themes/groupings of characters and would have children and adults go up separately for each. I don't remember the name of the category I was given--Galactic? Something to do with outer space. Which, hey, since Dr. Strange isn't technically an Avenger in the MCU, and since the Avengers category was already the biggest, I wasn't about to argue. He does space things.

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Btw when I was looking for that image I also came across this on Reddit; unfortunately I don't know who drew it:

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Categories given out, the Cruise Staff kicked off the event! There was a pretty solid audience on the upper levels.

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All of the participants (and the parents of young participants) were down on the atrium floor in two roped-off sections designed to leave a corridor from between the elevators up to the "stage." The idea was that you would go to the back of your section, loop around between the elevators, and walk up the center to get "onstage" when your category was called.

So...here's where I had a minor ethical dilemma in writing this trip report. I had through and done a writeup of the entire Costume Celebration, going through category by category and commenting on my favorite costumes. But then, as I was reaching the end (and reaching a picture of a little girl in a particularly awesome Princess Loki outfit with custom mouse ears--you can see the back of her head in one of the photos below) I started worrying about whether it's okay to put individual (or near-individual) photos of other guests, and particularly of their children, on the internet. All my commentary was positive, but I feel like when some rando on the internet posts a picture of your child and singles them out for praise it's still just a little skeevy. I can mean it from a place of pure innocence, but when I think about how I would feel if I came across some random internet person's commentary on my family I just feel like I'm not entirely okay with it.

So I'm just going to post a few crowd shots, since I've posted crowd shots before and I think that doesn't cross the line.

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That last one is actually from the very end, when they had all the children come back onstage together for group photographs. The category in which I found myself was about halfway through the (short) program, and it pretty much consisted of myself and a couple of people in Guardians of the Galaxy-themed costumes. It was a pretty fun event; they kept it moving quickly enough to avoid overtaxing everyone's attention span, but managed to make each participant (or, well, at least make me) feel included and welcome and appreciated.
 
January 24 (part 2)
Marvel Intensifies (continued)

That wasn't all there was to the event, though! Cruise announcements had hinted throughout the week that Mickey and friends would be showing their appreciation for their own favorite Marvel characters during MDAS, and here they were to do just that!

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Goofy wat r u doin

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It was kind of fun picking out which Marvel character each of their outfits was referencing, and I thought it was a nice touch.

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Mickey and Captain America makes sense. Goofy and Iron Man...? I think they just needed someone to be Iron Man.

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I feel like Donald's choice of character is really on point. And I mean, there was that romantic subplot between Bruce and Natasha? But also I think Daisy's just a fan of deadly women. ::yes::

I didn't stick around to actually get photos with any of them. They were all pretty much immediately swamped, and anyway, I had somewhere to be--one of the events around which I'd scheduled the entire day.

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This is Todd Nauck. He's a comic book artist for Marvel, and he was the Marvel professional for this cruise. If I'd been aware of this before the cruise it was only peripherally, but something really cool DCL has done with the Marvel cruises is to put an actual professional onboard each MDAS cruise and have them give presentations about what they do. Now, I am actually not familiar with Nauck's work (remember, I only got into comics in the last year or two and I've focused on a handful of publications). Still, it was really cool listening to him talk about how he got to where he is today and about his drawing techniques, workflow, and how it all happens.

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His approach to the "presentation" was very cool--after a brief introduction, he sat down and started drawing a portrait of Spider-Man while fielding questions from the audience, allowing the people in the theater to guide the topics of discussion.

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Occasionally he'd talk about what he was doing, like when he drew the lines in on Spider-Man's mask and talked about how when he was a kid he couldn't figure out how they were supposed to work and would just draw a bunch of criss-crosses.

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He even inked it. Remember, this was only a half hour presentation. Unfortunately, I don't appear to have taken a photo of the finished picture. Everyone who came in had been given a raffle ticket, and at the end of the presentation he drew a number and gave that person the drawing. I didn't win it, but the person who did seemed really jazzed about it, so good for them.

I will say the one negative was that another guest had brought an entire plate of desserts into the Buena Vista Theatre, then left the plate with most of the food still on it sitting on the floor in front of their seat when they left. Now, I get wanting to enjoy your cruise snacks outside of Cabanas. I'm all for having dessert just basically at all times. I just think it's inconsiderate to leave plates on the floor when 1.) the Buena Vista Theatre has such steep stadium seating that it made me feel like I was going to fall over the next row of seats every time I navigated it and 2.) there are people in costumes who might be wearing, I don't know, heeled boots they've not used to walking around in.

Yeah, I stepped on the plate. I did not fall. I just had a brief vision of falling and breaking a lot of bones, and also there was chocolate on my boot. I wasn't into it.
 
January 24 (part 2)
Marvel Intensifies (continued)

Fifteen minutes later, I was back in Fathoms for another game show. This one was called the Marvel Super Showdown Game Show. It was geared more toward families than the Super Fan Challenge had been, and it was set up as a team game, pitting one side of the room against the other.

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I didn't go up to represent my team at any point, and overall I found it a bit more muddled than other trivia game had been. My team (Team Iron Man) did ultimately win, though!

The showdown let out at 3:00, which meant it was time to make my way to Animator's Palate for my 3:15 meet with Groot. I was greeted by a long, long line.

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The line wrapped all the way around the restaurant.

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While I liked the adaptation of the MDAS graphic to a sketchy style that felt right in AP, overall I don't think I'm a fan of this as a M&G location. I get that a cruise ship is short on large spaces that can be set aside for ticketed meets, but there's really no forgetting that you're standing in a restaurant where the tables have just been pushed together and a photo booth set up against one wall.

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Especially not if they leave the edges of the backdrop in frame....:laughing: Though to be fair, this is a photo from my phone. I don't remember if the photos in my folder were any better; I didn't buy any from this meet and greet. I've already mentioned that the only photo I bought was one with Loki. Anyway, even though I wasn't overly impressed with the setup, I had a good time meeting Groot. We carried on a decent conversation; in a way it's freeing to just make up responses to one side of a conversation while the other person says "I am Groot" in various approving tones of voice.

When booking onboard activities online, I had of course had no idea what activities would be scheduled at what time of day during MDAS. After asking around on the DisBoards for advice, I'd settled on what turned out to be a good, safe bet: I had scheduled my ticketed meets half an hour apart. It turned out well on the actual day. Knocking them out one right after the other minimized the impact on my overall schedule--I was able to fit in all the other activities I'd wanted at least once. If I did another MDAS I would probably skip one or both of the ticketed meets because it's just a lot of time to stand in line--frankly, now that I've done it once I would probably skip standing in lines for any characters the next time around.

I apparently didn't take any atrium photos while I was in line, but that's okay since it'd just be a bunch of people standing in line. These lines for the ticketed meets were the time when I was most keenly aware of just how many children were on the ship--I really hadn't been around kids much so far on the cruise, and suddenly I was surrounded by them. But hey. It still wasn't as arduous of a wait as that line for Loki had been, plus I ended up in line near the teenage girl who'd placed third in the trivia challenge and we had a nice chat for part of it.

I thought the D Lounge was a much better M&G environment, so I'm glad I did them in this order. With the lights down and bigger backdrops put up, its atmosphere was much more "right" for the characters.

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Spider-Man was delightfully in character. I'd been telling characters all day that I'd come from another dimension, and most of them had played along but in an "oh, okay" kind of way. Spider-Man, though? Spider-Man acted like I had completely blown his mind.

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I didn't quite know how to react to T'Challa. The Black Panther film wasn't out yet at that time, and despite having picked up a collection of his comics a while back I'd never gotten around to reading them--so I only knew him from Captain America: Civil War, and it had been a while since I'd seen it. Since this trip, of course, I've seen his standalone film (plus Infinity War) and have a new appreciation for him.

Also? Super polite. He did an awesome job of working around my moderate awkwardness and making it a great meet. And that's partly the character (let's face it, T'Challa is the Marvel superhero who really would be the nicest to meet in real life) and partly that it was just a really solid personal encounter.

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Also, check that pose. Daaang.

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In comparison to the other two, the Iron Man meet fell a little flat for me. Not to break the magic, but he couldn't really hold a conversation the way the other two could.
 
January 24 (part 2)
Marvel Intensifies (continued)

At that point, the crush of the crowd and the heat of the costume were getting to me again (not to mention my sore feet--walking was fine, but all that standing in place got to be painful!), but I decided to press on and get into the middle showing of Doctor Strange: Journey into the Mystic Arts as planned. In hindsight, I wish I'd taken another break, cooled off, and gone to the third show instead--not least because I got out of the ticketed meet later than expected and entered the theater as the show was already starting.

I don't have any photos of the show because I did abide by the rules whenever I went to the theater onboard. I know the entire thing is (or at least was) on YouTube for those who are curious. It was about what I'd expected: Doctor Strange Does Jedi Training Academy. They flooded the theater with basically every special effect they could load into it, including literally flooding the first several rows in fog (thankfully, I was sitting a bit further back). I thought the script took Dr. Strange a bit too seriously--he was portrayed as a wise teacher actually capable of instructing novices in the mystic arts, rather than a self-centered weirdo who only looks like he's got it together. Really, though, it was clear that the purpose of the show was to foster participation by children and show off some special effects, so I wasn't terribly surprised or disappointed to see that characterization took a backseat.

The plot is that Dr. Strange is teaching new students how to open portals and so on with the help of his apprentices, but he gets called away after a few minutes. In his absence his apprentices get curious about a book they're not supposed to read, invoke a spell they're not supposed to use, and accidentally open a portal to the Dark Dimension. Dormammu tries to enter our universe and devour everything, but Doctor Strange returns (literally flying in from offstage; that was pretty cool) and banishes him with the help of the kidlets.

So, pretty basic, but there were some good moments and good lines.

Apprentice 1: "But Doctor Strange said not to touch anything!"
Apprentice 2: "...Yeah, but it's a book."


MMHMM I think we all saw where that was going (and heeyyyy trip report title ). Even better, though:

Dormammu: "I will build my throne from the bones of all who are here!"
Dr. Strange: "No. I won't allow it, and also these people are on vacation."


:laughing: I think that was his most in-character line.

After the show I spotted...The Ancient One??

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I assume this was another guest in costume; I halfway wish I'd chased them down for a picture but was feeling too shy. I was just very surprised to see them!

I did a little wandering to kill time before the next show I intended to attend, and found that familiar pair of butts from earlier lurking in a hallway with little to no line.

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It was a bit of an awkward meet, to be honest. But then it was on to...the U.S.O. Show!

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If I remember correctly Captain America only made a video appearance in this show. Really, the point of it is the singers and dancers themselves, and they were fantastic.

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My photos, however, were not. Side note: judging by the fact that they never tell you the stage performers' names, it would seem that DCL doesn't really want you to keep track of which performer plays which roles. I'm just going to say, though...if you pay close attention in the stage shows (both the evening shows and others) you'll recognize people from night to night.

I hate to say it, but by the time the show wound down and I slipped out of Fathoms I was definitely feeling tired and cranky--despite having enjoyed the shows themselves, it was over a baseline of general bad attitude born of phyical discomfort and social overload. I briefly considered watching the Doctor Strange show again since I'd missed probably one or two lines of Strange's monologue at the start, but decided that a better move was to take another rest and come back fresh again. I took an hour break in my stateroom this time, which helped alleviate the worst of it.

I emerged and made my way up to deck 9 to check out the Mickey and Friends Superhero Celebration deck show at 7:30. In hindsight, I've kicked myself for not checking out Doctor Strange Defy the Dark Dimension--or any of the other Marvel "training" events for children--any of the times it was offered in the Oceaneer Club, having since learned that the "OH" on the schedule meant Open House and I would have been allowed to come in and observe. This was one of the times I could have gone and done that. Oh well. I wasn't aware at the time that it was anything I could have gone to see, and I'm honestly not entirely convinced that I would have enjoyed watching such child-oriented activities anyway. Guess I'll never know unless I do another MDAS. Or look it up on YouTube. Probably that second one.

Anyway, there was bad news awaiting me up on deck 9: the weather had turned ugly with a stiff wind and spitting rain. The Superhero Celebration was delayed, and it looked like a number of CMs from other areas had been called in to put away the deck furniture. I ran into Tisa, who was doing just that. She recognized me and told me not to worry too much about the weather (nope, I was worrying!), and told me I should come to the second round of the Super Fan Challege at 8:30. Sadly, I had dinner during that time, so a little of that good ol' FOMO crept in, but it was still sweet of her to remember and suggest it to me.
 
January 24 (part 2)
Marvel Intensifies (continued)

The Superhero Celebration did start, maybe fifteen or twenty minutes late, but I decided not to stick around for it. I figured it'd probably be about like the pirate party--a lot of dancing and not much story--and I just wasn't really in the mood for Mickey and Friends. I wanted more of the "real" superheroes, goshdarnit, and I was still glum and worried about the bad weather since I knew that the Heroes Unite deck show was very stunt-heavy and liable to get canceled if the weather made it dangerous for the performers. Instead, I went back down to the atrium, where, to my surprise, I spotted T'Challa!

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Since I'd already met him, I didn't go over and take up any of his time. Instead, I made a snap decision and went down to the vacation planning desk to book a placeholder.

I didn't have a time frame in mind for another cruise and knew that there was a pretty decent chance I wouldn't be cruising again soon enough to actually use that placeholder, but I wanted to give myself the option. I'm glad I did even though now, in July 2018, I don't plan to use it. For a while I'd planned to do a January 2020 cruise, but after a lot of waffling and some fairly significant changes in personal goals and priorities, I'm planning to do Marathon Weekend in January 2020 and stay in WDW afterward rather than take a cruise. I won't know for certain until next summer who's going with me (or if it'll be a solo trip), but I've got the basic itinerary and budget set out already. I'll just let that $200 revert to my account and put it toward the next trip after that.

Literally as we were wrapping up the paperwork on that purchase, someone else quietly made his appearance just a few feet away from where I sat.

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Many of the guests were still up on Deck 9 watching the Mickey & Friends show, so the atrium felt oddly abandoned (especially compared to the earlier events of the day!) as one by one the heroes trickled in unannounced. Thor and Loki stood across the atrium from one another for a minute or two, gesturing back and forth at each other, but came together for a more peaceful contemplation of the musicians below.

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People began to take notice and take photos:

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And someone took notice of one of the guests who had taken notice. :laughing:

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Thor helpfully gave Spider-Man a chance to prove his worth by lifting Mjolnir. He struggled with it for a few minutes before conceding that he couldn't.

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As more people started trickling and the flooding down the stairs and elevators from the top decks, the heroes dispersed to the different parts of the atrium. Thor came over to where I'd been watching, and I asked for a selfie. "Of course!" he said, because he's Thor.

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The atrium didn't suddenly become jam-packed but you could definitely see the crowd filling out. These two photos are timestamped only a minute apart, but in the second one you can see Chip and Dale across the way, meaning that Mickey and his friends had finished their show and come down to join in.

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Last edited:
January 24 (part 2)
Marvel Intensifies (continued)

I still had fifteen minutes before dinner, and had learned, as mentioned previously, that it didn't pay to show up early. Anyway, I was enjoying all the informal interactions between guests and characters. I'd enjoyed the structured activities throughout the day, but these few minutes where where I thought MDAS really shone. No queues, no tickets, just characters sharing the space with us. I understand, of course, that they can't just do this all day--the popular ones would be absolutely mobbed. And, too, from what I heard later they don't always do this, which was why none of the CMs I'd talked to had given me any heads up about it. You can't assume you'll get a picture with any of them if you don't wait in line to do it earlier in the day.

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Nearby, I came across Hawkeye again, this time with Natasha (I hadn't seen her around earlier in the day, but I'm sure she was out and about and I'd just missed coming across her).

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My eyeliner was pretty shot by this point. :laughing: Probably should have washed that off and reapplied one of the times I'd gone back to my room. I don't normally wear makeup and I think I chose badly when I bought it. But! When I'd set up my schedule earlier in the day (and when I'd realized just how long one has to wait in line to meet some characters) I'd resigned myself to only getting photos with maybe half of them. With this photo, though, I offically got a picture with everyone except Captain America. I'd spotted him earlier outside of the Walt Disney Theatre with a formal queue set up and decided not to wait; I didn't see him again after that.

Down below, guests scheduled to eat in Lumiere's were lining up. This photo is timestamped 8:11 and I seriously don't get it. Why wait in line five or ten minutes before they even let you into the dining room? You don't get seated any more quickly by doing that.

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Just when I thought all the characters who were going to emerge had emerged, I was in for another surprise.

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Groot pointed at me and said "I am Groot!" as he walked past, and I replied with a cheerful, "Yes, I remember!"

Not for the casual meet and greet were they, though! Star-Lord stationed himself and then his crew on one of the balconies and did his best to kick off a dance party for the people below.

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Groot and Star-Lord danced. Gamora did not.

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BTW, these right here? Exhibit A on why I'm buying an actual camera before my next trip. I've settled on a compact model rather than committing to a DSLR because I just can't imagine myself wanting to carry a DSLR everywhere, but I've been very particular about picking one that does better in low and artificial light. Part of the trouble, too, is that I zoomed in with the phone, and the iPhone doesn't have a real zoom--it just crops the image and gives you a bunch of blur.

When the doors opened up at Lumiere's and the people waiting in line started going in I turned to head to AP, knowing that by the time I got there the line should be at least mostly depleted and I could go more or less straight to my table. I had to stop along the way, though, when I came across this scene:

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From what I overheard, this little girl was a fan of Loki's but was too star-struck to show her face so her mom could get a photo. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but he just crouched there and spoke quietly to her for as long as it took for her to uncover her face. This is the kind of thing that I think sets Disney apart.
 

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