Arrival was great. Slightly crowded and it took a while in line just getting in to park.

Once inside, the Characters were out to meet everyone!! There were a few cast members handing out the Map Pursuits to all the cruisers. Can you believe it? Some of the people did not know about pins!! LOL!

Well everyone boarded the ship, and registered for the LE pins! Pins first....Lunch Later! Priorities people! When we went into register they had a board of pins up. Hmmm look at that....New Lanyard pins! Donald in a Tux, Peter Pan Gold Nameplate like the Sleeping Beauty pin. There were 6 in all, but I hardly got a chance to look at those before I saw the GARGOYLES! Yes from Hunchback! Three of them! They each had their own pin. Oh and just below that? Chernabog, Evil Queen and Old Hag! That's 3 Villains pins there folks! Count um!

There is another series that I did not quite understand.....Mickey, Minnie and Pluto, Daisy, Donald and Goofy with a small Circle with Tinkerbell and something about Believe in Magic. Some GREAT looking pins I can tell you that!

OK we got a coupon for the 2,000 cruise pins and then off to explore the ship while getting those stamps! Oh Lunch? OK later then!

Off to cruise the ship. People finding nooks and crannies all over to trade! Got all the stamps...tired fatigued and now STARVING to death we head off to lunch! Lunch is over just in time to put on the biggest pin lanyard in the world. Life Vests! Yes there was a drill and we all had to put our life vests on. Disney should really think about that! You certainly could fit a LOT of pins on those things!

No sooner finishing the drill, then time for the sail away..... Celebration! OK well there still is time before Mickey Mates opens so sure!

OK the ship has left port .....Mickey Mates was to open at 5 something. People lined up orderly and talked and traded in line. Everything was quite nice an civil. They they had to open the store. Hmm.. Imagine Someone yelling Iceberg.....that was a small sample. I guess we quickly forgot the "orderly fashion" that was mentioned during the lifeboat drill. The doors were opened and people poured into this tiny shop by the hundreds! The pins were only on one rack. People who were trapped on the bottom became pin moles. They would show "Chip an Dale" and thrust a hand up from the floor where hungry pin collectors would empty it in seconds. This went on for quite some time. Seems the CORE pins were not limited.....oops...what's that on the back of the Chip and Dale pin? LE 2,000!!! YIKES! PANIC ON THE BOAT! : )

Well that was going to be the popular pin anyway but now that it was a LE the fever had hit. Actually we were all so crazy with our pins that MOST of us never heard the announcement from the captain that the ship WAS BEING TURNED AROUND! Seems there was a medical emergency on board and we had to head back towards the port to meet up with a vessel that would evacuate the junior cruiser that had injured his hand.

SO anyway....back at the mayhem of the shop. We were informed that there was a 2 pin limit per person, per day for the Chip and Dale pin.

Certainly a great idea ....I went by at closing tonight and there were still a BUNCH of them sitting in bins. Glad to see them being fair about it. Good news for the Cruisers but bad news for the folks at home that we will be limited on how many of those that we can grab up.

I arrived so late to dinner after purchasing pins that the other members of the table were eating their desert! I hear that some people missed the dinner entirely!! Hmm Got some salt for those pins?

The after dinner show was Hercules the MUSEical. Sort of an odd spin on the movie. After the show it was trade trade trade everywhere!

Well it is 1AM and the lady next to me is snoring with the mouse still in her hand......guess that is a sign that I need to find my room and get to bed.