Good afternoon, contortionists and those who insist on high thread counts, and welcome once again to the Disney Magic cruise ship extraordinaire. The beans had a wonderful 7-night adventure on the open seas with their friends the Lilly family, and one of the perks of cruising is that you get to hang out with all sorts of wild creatures...each made origami-style out of ordinary bath towels. Isn't it amazing what we've come up with the last century? Jet airplanes, cellular communications, hamburgers that stay hot one side of the carton yet cool on the other...and now, towel animals. Okay, on the grand scale of things it isn't up there with nuclear physics, but they're still pretty special nonetheless.

So this first animal is a dog of some sort. We're not sure of the breed, or if he's even housebroken (boy, we hope so), but he knows how to sit up and beg for frijoles, so we'll keep him. Who knows - maybe we can teach him how to hold the camera, and then we can get everyone in the photo at once.

When the beans cruised the Carnival Miracle last January, they met a creature that looked a lot like this one. Hmmm... you don't suppose that Disney and Carnival are sharing towel recipes, do you? Either that, or the beans are beginning to suspect a little cross-cruise line espionage. Either way, the beans aren't taking any chances, and are on the lookout for any counterfeit frijole cans that might try to sneak into the frame.

For those of you who like to kick your animals up a notch, try one of these -a blanket critter. He's either a frog or a toad, depending on your point of view (and how many cocktails you've had).

The beans were tried kissing the frog to see if perhaps he'd turn into Ariel or Cinderella or one of the other fabulous babe Disney Princesses, but alas - the curse was indeed lifted, but sadly he turned into a roll of really ugly carpet. So much for that plan.

Can you say that there's a lot of monkeying around going on around here? Oh, yeah you can. Here BATW Ambassador Ashley helps the beans meet the simian version of the towel genus. We're hoping that Mr. Chimp up there is hanging there because he enjoys it and not because he's still damp.

The beans tried swinging from the rafters like ol' Cheetah here, in the hopes that someone would come along and toss them some peanuts or a banana or two. Unfortunately, they weren't hanging in what you'd call a "high traffic area", and there weren't a lot of fellow passengers coming by to watch their amusing monkey-bar antics, so no rewards for performance for our poor frijoles today. But that's okay - Ashley promised to take them upstairs for an ice cream sundae, so in the end it all worked out.

Finally, there's this androgynous animal. Chris swears that he's supposed to be an elephant, but those are the longest damn legs I've ever seen on a pachyderm, wouldn't you agree? I mean, where was this poor deformed creature made - the towel shop of Dr. Moreau? Anyway, the beans were polite to it, whatever it was... Because you never know - with legs that long, it might be able to fun fast and catch you for teasing it.

So there you have it - proof that not all fine art hangs on gallery walls. The beans salute the talented Disney Magic crew members who come up with these cute friends for the in-cabin enjoyment of their guests. The beans have decided that they too would like to learn how to create these absorbent animals, but first they'll start with the wrappers off those little Disney chocolates, then work their way up.