Disney Trivia Answer
Here is the answer for the previous day trivia question
I thought that since the big activity of the day was the butterfly farm excursion I would focus on that for the blog.
Premise
It was described as a family tour in which we would depart from the boats, board tour buses, take a tour by bus of the island, arrive at the butterfly farm, get back on the bus, head to the downtown area, go shopping, and finally head back to the boat.
Morning
It appears that "Time" and after yesterday, Stitch, have become our family's nemesis. Per our tickets we were required to meet at the meeting point for 8:30. At 8:40 we arrived at our meeting place with food in hand (my fault, I did not follow Rule #11). Our hope was that our excursion group had not left. It was close, but we managed to give our group leader our tickets and followed a couple hundred people out to the buses.
To the Buses and the Tour
Within a few minutes we were on the buses and ready to head out. Our tour began, and I must admit that our driver was full of energy, and trying his hardest to provide humor to our trip. Unfortunately, he was in a losing battle. I would blame the early morning, or the fact that he had a bus load of small children, who wanted to see butterflies, not a building that survived a hurricane.
After about 15 minutes the bus stopped at one of the premier viewing areas. The first picture is the view to the left, and the proposed new hotel site.
The second picture is the view to the right.
After our quick stop, it was on with the tour. Listening to our driver, I drew the following conclusions, (1) the island is small, where everyone seems to know everyone; (2) there are a lot of casinos on the island at least on the dutch side (11 in total); (3) a bus can fit in a very narrow spot when the driver is motivated and (4) my favourite, the local hospital is called the miracle centre. No explanation was given, just that it is the miracle centre.
Local Shopping
The tour continued for another 15 minutes and we were brought to one of the tourist shopping areas. It consisted of many individuals selling their wares on a bunch of tables with a few shops and restaurants thrown in for good measure. We were told prior to leaving that we would have 30 minutes to shop and than it would be off to the butterfly farm.
Blogger editorial
Looking back I have determined that our family is not very good with the pressure of a time table. I firmly believe that it is because we have 3 women and 1 man in our family. They overwhelm me with the need to be late for everything. Short of having a cattle prog, or following rule #11, we are just not going to make it on time.
Back to the Story
We toured the various tables and the girls found a couple of necklaces that they wanted as souvenirs and the negotiations began. Asking the price, I was told "a one time special of $20 per necklace". It is my humble opinion for $20 I could buy the majority of her stock, the table and still get back some change. (My attempt at humour) I countered with $5 for both. It appears that I struck a nerve. I know this cause it is the same look I get from my wife when I tell her that we are going to be late. (Which as usually we are). The clerk went a little nuts waiving her arms and telling me in her language that I was cheap (my educated guess). It appeared we were at an impasse and so we went to the next table, and to my great surprise (sarcasm) they were selling the same stuff. We picked out the same two necklaces and the negotiations began again. This time it was a little more quick and the final price of both necklaces for $10. We proceeded to do a little more shopping and than make a quick washroom break and back to the bus. As usual, our 30 minutes deadline was missed, and we boarded the bus a good 10 minutes late.
Butterfly Farm
After another 20 minutes drive and tour of the island, we finally arrived at the butterfly farm. I think that it is fair to say, a farm does not do it justice, it really should be called a Butterfly Green House. The facility was approximately the size of a standard rink surface. Although we have between 45 minutes and an hour to tour the facility, it really would take you 4 minutes, 7 minutes if you wanted to take a few pictures. However, it was OK because they had filler stuff, like spending 20 or so minutes discussing the various life cycles of a butterfly.
After hearing about the different stages we, along with the other 50 or so bus mates, and the couple of hundred (my guess) of visitors throughout the morning were given a cup full of nectar and told to dip our fingers in it and slowly go to a butterfly and it would fly to your finger and lick it off.
My observations are the following:
(1) There is no such thing as slowly for a 4 year old, and there were many 4 years old in the green house, I mean farm.
(2) Like giving candy to a 2 year old, it is the same as giving nectar to a butterfly, they are all hopped up, and are not settling for anyone.
(3) The butterflies that were not hopped up on fruit juice were just plain scared and they had no intention of letting anyone touch them. If I were a butterfly, I would not want to introduce a five stage to my life cycle, having a small child rip my wings off either.
A couple of drunken butterflies managed to fly into the children and some pictures were taken.
At long last our bus driver signaled that it was time to head back and we left for the boat.
Conclusion
If I was to score the tour, I would have given the driver a strong 9 out of 10. He kept the bus moving, was insightful about his homeland, and provided good energy the entire time. The butterfly farm had knowledgeable staff but was rather small, and although the baby enjoyed watching fluttering butterflies, it was just not a top tier place. I would give the excursion a 2 and a future pass. It is excursion if you want a narrative bus riding tour, and see a few butterflies but I struggle to feel that I got my moneys worth at the end of it.
Disney Cruise Fun Facts
How many pillows are on board the ship?
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