Are You Ever Coming Home?...No! I am playing with Wizards,Farkles & Sparkling Friends

[jenseib]

Day 9, July 3,2017, Day at Sea

 

I woke up early again today and went out for my walk with Jeanne. This morning Emily was out walking too. Then Patty and Caleb joined us, and then a little later Brook joined as well (I can’t remember if Henry did too or not).

 

It is harder walking with a bigger group as you can’t walk side by side with all the runners going by and also at each end of the ship you have to walk single file to allow the runners to get by as well. My feet were screaming again, but I kept going. I kind of stayed at the back of the pack to keep out of the way, but sadly I could only hear parts of the conversation today. That was fine though and I was happy to get another 4 miles in today.

 

As we ended our walk, Jeanne was talking about how her and her girls were going to Palo today. She said I should join them since it was only 3 at their table and we all know the table will hold 4. I thought about it a bit. I had not booked Palo brunch this time for a few reasons. One is that I didn’t want to go alone. Two, I didn’t want to intrude on anyone else’s family time. Three, did I want to spend the extra money?

 

After thinking it over, I told Jeanne I would tag along. I guess you are not intruding if you are invited. I know Jeanne, she wouldn’t have invited me along if she didn’t want me to come. LOL.

 

So I went back to the room and took a quick shower and pulled out a dress and dolled myself up. Claire was still sleeping, so I put the do not disturb sign out, but I did let her know where I was going to be. Whether she actually comprehendedt hat, I don’t know.

 

I then went down and knocked on the door and we headed up to Palo. With Jeanne’s family, they always take the stairs….always. Jeanne does the elevator at times, but the kids never do. I don’t do going up well unless it’s just 1 floor. I tend to huff and puff and die. Hahahaha. I think Jeanne and I took the elevator up.

 

We had no problem adding me to the reservation and soon were seated. Since I had just been here in Oct, I didn’t take any buffet pictures today. I did get my plates though.

 

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My favorite chicken parm with risotto.

 

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I also ordered the calzone and it was brought out after the chicken, which I thought was strange.

 

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One of the girls got the Mickey waffle.

 

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My desserts.

 

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I really did good today. I didn’t overload on the buffet offerings too much and I didn’t over stuff myself like I normally do. I was able to walk out without totally wobbling.

 

 

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Jeanne and I got a picture together. This dress I am wearing is not really flattering, but it is so comfortable. I have 3 of them and they are great for cruise eating.

 

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Today there was a family show for the comedian Lynn Trefzger, so we decided to go to that and we put it out in the group chat.

It was in the Tube and we headed down early.

 

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We did find floor seats today.

 

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We got seated and I believe Patty’s family was there and maybe Jeanne too? We saw Patty’s son Zach sitting in the back with a bunch of his new friends. Patty commented on how they had to pretend not to know him…..in a joking way. So I turned around and waved a big wave and in a funny voice said “Hi Zach! Zach, Zach, can you see me?” We all laughed….even Zach and his friends. Good sports! Fred said that Zach has had his grandfather doing stuff like that to him since he was little, so he knows how to roll with it. Zach is really a good kid! Both of Patty’s boys were good kids.

 

Disney Tune Trivia was going on, so after some relaxing, Claire and I met Cass in La Piazza at 2:30. I did this one last time…and I should have been good….but I wasn’t. One of my favorite songs, Drip Drip Drop Little April Showers, from Bambi, was on and I knew it right off the bat. Cass looked at me like I was crazy, but I swore it was right! And I was. She then said she heard it all the time on the ship later and never really paid attention before.

 

 

After all that fun, we headed back to our rooms to relax a bit. Someone was obsessed with the chicken wings yesterday and we had to make another room service order.

 

I got my usual.

 

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And Claire got 2 orders of wings.

 

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I did help her eat them though.

 

Then it was time for the show tonight, Wishes. We met some of the gang down at the theatre and also got our popcorn buckets filled. I was sitting next to Brook on my one side and as the show was coming to an end, Henry said to her…”You’re gonna cry aren’t you?” hahahaha. He knows Brook so well….and she did!

 

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The story line is pretty corny, but it’s still a fun show.

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After the show we moseyed out to the atrium and I made Claire sit on the plush couch for a picture or 2.

 

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We just chilled for a bit and then we heard from Jeanne that her kids were going to the talent show, so Claire and I headed to the Tube to watch. Now some people were really good and some were just awful. Hysterically awful. I am sorry…and I know it takes a lot of guts to get up on stage and sing or do your thing, but some were just ear piercingly bad.

 

Nick had positioned himself behind a propped up menu so he could hide himself if he started to laugh. That right there made me laugh.

 

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And laugh he did.

 

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And once we started laughing, we just couldn’t stop. Even when good people came on, we started to laugh now. I guess the lack of sleep and the case of the sillies was to blame.

 

Jeanne came down then to watch and one person was particularly bad and she started laughing and left. Then she was messaging me that she could still hear it in the hallway and couldn’t stop laughing.

 

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Oh My Gosh! We are all going to hell! Luckily it wasn’t too long and it was now time for dinner.

 

Enchanted Garden tonight. We had the rotational dining menu tonight. Cass’s family was doing pool time again, so Patty’s family joined our table once again.

 

My appetizer.

 

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I think I got a Caesar salad again too.

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Entrée

 

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Dessert

 

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And Claire got “Nothing” for dessert.

 

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I like this restaurant’s menu and all was very good tonight.

 

Ferdi came over to do his tricks again tonight.

 

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We had a lot of fun with him.

 

Then we sent the little ones off. I think Claire went to the room again tonight to watch another movie.

 

Several of us went to see Match Your Mate. We sent Kelsey and Emily ahead and they got us some decent seats.

 

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It really was a funny show and the older couple was hysterical. One question was basically where is the most unusual place you have done it. The guy then says, “well in my daughters driveway or Walmart parking lot.” We totally died laughing. Deano was hosting and he was just having so much fun with them. Come to find out, they had a motor home and had parked it in those locations when the deed was done. When the wife came back out to answer and try to match the answers, she says “Well it’s hard to say. I can think of 2” and of course Deano prompted her to say more and she matched his 2 answers and ended up picking the right one he did for his final. The daughter was in the audience and was totally dying.

What a fun show!!!

 

I headed back to the room then.

 

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And our towel animal for today.

 

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And off to bed we went. Tomorrow was another port day and the 4th of July! My family has a party every year and I would be missing it this year. Actually I already missed it as they had it on the 3rd this year. I was ok with it, but still bummed a bit about missing the traditional party with fireworks. Fortunately, Disney announced that they were having a 2nd showing of fireworks for the first time on the Fantasy in honor of the 4th of July!

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July, 4, 2017, St.Kitts, 4th of July!!!!!! Day 10

 

I woke up this morning and we were getting close to St. Kitts already. I headed up top to take a look.

 

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Patty, Jeanne and I went for our deck walk today since we didn’t have to get off the ship as early this morning.

 

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We could see rain coming across the water. It was reallyneat to see.

 

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It ended quickly and a rainbow came out.

 

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We docked and people were being let off.

 

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What a great view to have when exercising.

 

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The deck did get a little wet, which meant I had to be careful. I am famous for slipping on wet surfaces.

 

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After our walk I got Claire moving and we got some breakfast. I could also connect to the data on the island and saw a facebook message from my uncle. He sent some pictures from the party at home and said it was a nice party. He also told me that Skip did come to the party and seemed to be having a good time, but was missing his family.

 

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Today’s port adventure was ziplining. This would be a first for me and honestly I never thought in a million years I would do it. Jeanne, Cass, and Brook’s families were all doing it and kind of pushed for me to do so as well. Claire also wanted to do it. I was pretty nervous, but excited too.

 

We met at DLounge and then were taken off the ship.

 

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In this building we had to sign waivers and get weighed…..what? LOL! I knew there was a weight limit, but I was praying all this cruise food didn’t throw me over. I think it was actually pretty high though.

 

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We waited in line to get weighed.

 

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The lady weighing seemed to be just getting a rough estimate as she wouldn’t let the scale totally settle on a number in most cases. When I got weighed the number was much higher than I expected though. I think it was like 15 more. There is no way I gained 15 lbs on this cruise. Even the skinny girls said the scale was way off, so that made me felt better.

 

We then were to get in line for the vans. They said something about a bathroom and I like to use a bathroom every chance I can, so I ran with Cass. Kelsey had to go too. Jeanne looked at us like we were all little kids. LOL.

 

Our ship view as we waited.

 

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We then got divided into 2 groups to take vans over to the zip lining place. We had enough to fill 1 van.

 

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Selfie time!

 

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And off we went.

 

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We went through some winding roads and it was really hot in the van. I asked the driver to turn the air on and the vents were just blowing warm air, he said he had it on. Obviously it wasn’t working. It was really uncomfortably hot in there and a few people opened their windows and that helped a bit. Then the driver turned off the fan since the windows were open. Ugh. At one point we came to a stop on a winding road and then we had to back up as a big load came down the road. It was stifling hot. Not a pleasant ride at all.

 

I had come to the conclusion this morning that if I wanted to see Happily Ever After Fireworks when we got back to WDW, then I would probably need to get a dessert package. I had tried to look on my phone but it was giving me a fit. Brook suggested I ask one of our co-workers if she would do it for me, so I messaged her while we were driving. She went in, found a couple of them available and asked me which one. I told her to just do the cheapest and she got it. I asked how much I spent and she told me and it wasn’t too bad. I was now happy that I wouldn’t have to fight people to see them once we got back. Thanks to Dawn, it went smoothly and only took a short time for her to get it for me.

 

Finally we arrived. I have stolen a few of Cass’s pictures of the place because I was slacking off.

 

We were told we had to rent a locker, which cost something like $3. (Again, this is something that should have been noted on the DCL description). Also if you wanted to use the bathrooms, they had to give you a ticket….I guess to prevent random strangers from coming and using them? Really strange.

 

So Cass and I took a ticket and ran to the bathroom. Better go now just in case.

 

This is the bathroom building and we made our way over there.

 

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There was a guy telling us when we could go in. He then told Cass it was full but when one opened, she could lay her ticket on the counter and go in….he had to go number 2. Hunh? Did I just hear that right? And he went in the door and passed the women’s stalls and further into another connecting room….which was the men’s bathroom. Yes…we were all one happy family with one big bathroom…with the first 3-4 stalls being for the girls and then a doorway into the mens.

 

I am a shy bathroom person and I thought…I am not sure I can go in a situation like this….but I did and I was fine. At least the bathroom was somewhat clean. I asked Cass if I had heard the guy right and she said yep! And we were totally laughing.

 

I had a bag, so I got a locker. I went in and paid my $3. It was a total cluster muffin in there with them handing me a key, but making me wait to pay with another girl who was helping other people and kept ignoring me. Finally I just said….here is my money for my locker….my party is waiting for me…and they were as they kept texting me….and I can’t wait for you to decide to take my money…and I then left.

I found out later that they basically didn’t have change, so if people did not have exact change, then they would make them buy drinks or something. Also if someone wanted to charge the locker, again they wouldn’t take a charge under $20. This was basically robbery and luckily I had exact change or I would have pitched a major fit. Again, this is something that is supposed to be included in Disney excursions.

 

I finally got my stuff in my locker and met my waiting group.

 

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This is the building we went to then to get harnessed up.

 

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Don’t we look attractive?

 

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We got a few pictures with some of the guides.

 

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The helmet totally makes the outfit.

 

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The first one we would do was a practice course and we would go side by side with someone else. It was low and basically there for us to learn on. We were shown how to hold our hands and arms and legs and to spread our legs out as we approached the end so that we wouldn’t hit the wire or spring.

 

I was nervous, but compared to Brook, I was calm. LOL

 

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Here we go!!!!!!!

 

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After we all had a chance on the practice one, we loaded into a truck to head up the mountain…..and they packed us in there. Rob and Kira ended up sitting in the cab of the truck.

 

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And off we went.

 

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The road was bumpy and at time it felt like we were going straight up.

 

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It took a while to get up to the top and we did some screaming and laughing as we bumped along. Finally we made it and Rob jumped out and took a picture of all of us.

 

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And now the moment of truth. We had to carry our little trolley things too and they were a little heavier than I expected them to be, but not bad.

 

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Kelsey and Emily went right at it with no fear.

 

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I figured it was best to just get it over with and headed out. I took a few pictures as I went.

 

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It was not bad at all. Nothing like how I expected it to be. The kind of harness we were wearing basically made us in the sitting position. The height didn’t seem that bad because the tree tops really weren’t that far below.

 

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We did 3 right in a row without waiting for the others. The first one was the longest and I think the 2nd was the fastest.

 

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It was a little awkward getting hooked and unhooked, but nothing too bad.

 

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After the 3rd one we waited then for several of us to come down before walking over to the next one.

 

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The last one was pretty short and was a side by side one.

 

 

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It was a lot of fun, but way too short. For the amount of money and the time it took to get there and then harnessed up, I wish they offered a chance to do it again….even for a small fee. Kelsey and Emily have done this before and they said that this was really a baby course. For me it was perfect, but they said for the amount of money we should have gotten more.

 

We headed off to get everything off then and I had to have help dislodging the harness from my never regions. Hahaha. The one guy started ripping off my helmet before I was unstrapped and it was ripping my ear. I even made a comment that it felt like he was ripping my earings out……sure enough, later that night I did realize one of my small diamond stud earings (I have 7 holes in one ear and wear studs in most of them) was missing. I could tell you exactly where it lay too. LOL!

 

We had time to wait before our vans were coming back. They had the monkey guys around but they seemed good when you told them you had no desire to see them. However, they were scamming people with the cost. One lady kept telling him no, and then I guess she agreed with 1 or 2 other people in her picture and then they tried to charge her per person in the picture and she made a huge stink about it. I think they “reduced” the price for her, but she was not happy about it at all. Some people bought some drinks and we all just kind of waited and rested. Brook found out there was free wifi here. Many of us had data packages on the islands, but the wifi was moving fast, so we soon were all on our phones….and Brook took this picture.

 

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I’m sitting on the floor kind of behind Rob, so you can’t see me.

 

Our van arrived and we were hoping to get in the other one this time so we could have some air. Jeanne and a couple others did get in but they made them leave and go with the same driver. Ugh. It was hot again going back.

 

Rob took a picture of us all.

 

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And then Brook did.

 

 

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And off we went once again…in the hot van.

 

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When we got back to port, many of us separated. I think Cass was going to do some quick shopping and head back to the ship before Cabana’s closed. We did some shopping as well and I was looking for something and found it. Claire found a shirt she liked and Jeanne’s girls were looking for something too.

 

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After we found all we wanted and needed we headed back to the ship.

 

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We boarded the ship and went our separate ways. Claire went to get freshened up and I went up top for a bit and got a drink.

 

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They had the ship decorated for the 4th!

 

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Claire met up with me and we needed some ice-cream. Not just any ice-cream, but some from Sweet on You.

 

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Besides excursions, this was about the only place I spent money at on the ship. We did get a few specialty drinks, but for the most part our splurge was ice-cream.

 

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After ice-cream we got some food to take to the room.

 

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And Claire had chicken wings ordered in for her.

 

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I think this is the afternoon we decided we wanted to play a game and put out the chat group message to let others know if they wanted to join in. Patty and Fred brought a game called Farkle. None of us have ever played it before, but it sounded fun. It’s a dice game.

 

We met up in Cabana’s to play. Even Zach joined today.

 

Brook, Joe and Henry also joined us. Fred and Patty explained the game and we played a few practice rounds. We then got started.

 

We had so much fun. We laughed and joked and had a good time playing the game. Henry was always asking the score. He was just too cute. Brook had said that at home if he wasn’t winning, he would be in tears and throwing a tantrum (which I find hard to believe), but here he was fine and just had a great time.

 

Brook and Jeanne kept calling it Sparkle. Jeanne then changed her “chat” name on the phone to “I don’t Farkle, I sparkle”.

We really had a great time and this became a new favorite game for all of us. I mentioned it to my family when we got home. I told them how much fun it was and that we should all play sometime. Next thing I know, I got a text from Aunt Mary, the one who spoils our kids….that she just ordered Farkle for Claire and it would be coming to our house via Amazon in the next few days.

After our game, we were pulling out and I went out to take a few last pictures.

 

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Claire had a hard day….she took a nap.

 

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We then got ready for the 4th of July party, which was to start at 7:15. For some stupid reason, I never thought to pack Claire something patriotic. LOL! What was I thinking?

 

We headed up and found Patty and Brook and Jeanne soon came too.

 

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They were giving out little flags, so I went and got some for us. I had also given little patriotic sticks for the fish extender gift today, so we had both to wave around.

 

Selfie time.

 

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We had Fred take some pictures of us.

 

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We saw our other co-worker but she was in a hurry to find her son, so we only talked to her for a minute. I never heard from Cass, so I wasn’t sure if she was coming to the celebration or not. I later found out she was there, but further back.

 

 

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It seemed to take quite some time for them to really get started.

 

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Finally they did.

 

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They took a selfie with all of us. LOL.

 

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Then the singers came out to sing some patriotic songs.

 

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One of them had a really twilly operatic type voice. I know some like it, but I personally do not like it and I felt it was ruining the songs.

 

 

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