Reflections of the 9/9/06 Magical Journey

[captchris]

I have been contemplating doing a live thread from my cruise. Verandah Man and his updates were awesome, and I guess he indirectly encouraged me to give it a try.

I will do this without a computer with me. I am hoping the Residence Inn has a business center where I can get on, and then I will hop on and type as fast as I can when I am on the Magic. I have thought about taking my laptop, and still might, but that will be detemined in the next few hours.

I am hoping that my reports will be informative. I will try to do the best I can in getting the information and excitement of our cruise transmitted to the DIS. In any case, I will be buying a notebook to jot down notes to later put onto the live thread. That way I don't have to rely on my memory!

More to follow...

[RoyalVizier]

Yay! That'll be fun...

Trip reports rock! :cool1:

[WDWLVR]

Love live reports. Have a great time. I believe you are sailing with a good friend of mine named David (DIS ID Foxxboys). Please tell him and his partner hello from me. Wishing you all a MAGICal week!

[captchris]

Love live reports. Have a great time. I believe you are sailing with a good friend of mine named David (DIS ID Foxxboys). Please tell him and his partner hello from me. Wishing you all a MAGICal week!
Yes...I recognize that name from our cruise meets thread. I will be sure to say :wave:

I am thinking I will take my laptop to download pictures onto each night. Are they a pain in the neck to take on a plane??? I have never flown with my computer. My DD will be happy, she can maybe watch a movie on the plane!

[lillygator]

Have a great time!

[curlybop]

Have a great trip! I always love the live reports. :thumbsup2

[JDBlair]

Yes...I recognize that name from our cruise meets thread. I will be sure to say :wave:

I am thinking I will take my laptop to download pictures onto each night. Are they a pain in the neck to take on a plane??? I have never flown with my computer. My DD will be happy, she can maybe watch a movie on the plane!

The only difficulty with a lap top on the plane is you have to remove the lap top from it's bag to go through security and you have to carry the heavy bag. Other than that - it's a huge benefit to have for things like movies and - trip reports!!! :cheer2:

[winotracy]

I have been contemplating doing a live thread from my cruise. Verandah Man and his updates were awesome, and I guess he indirectly encouraged me to give it a try.

I will do this without a computer with me. I am hoping the Residence Inn has a business center where I can get on, and then I will hop on and type as fast as I can when I am on the Magic. I have thought about taking my laptop, and still might, but that will be detemined in the next few hours.

I am hoping that my reports will be informative. I will try to do the best I can in getting the information and excitement of our cruise transmitted to the DIS. In any case, I will be buying a notebook to jot down notes to later put onto the live thread. That way I don't have to rely on my memory!

More to follow...

Can't wait to see you onboard :cool1: :cool1: I opted to not take the laptop this time. But in the past usually have. Other than what has been mentioned, flying with it is fine. I was checking in with work last year (and again this year) so it was a hassle going to the cabin, getting laptop, going to a "hot spot", going back to the cabin, dropping off laptop all the time. This year I'll just get unlimited access. I was planning to do my trip report as I go since this will be our first back to sorta back cruises :cheer2:

Tracy

[captchris]

Just a quick update...

I checked in with Southwest as soon as I was able to. I got A boarding passes and not only that, boarding passes, 1,2,3,4!!!! I was the first to check in on my flight!!!!

Just a little background information. Our travelling party consists of myself Chris...32 years old, DW Elaine 30 years old, DD Samantha 6 years old, DS James(Jay) 4 years old. My parents and sister joining us. I won't share my parents ages, but my sister is 21.

My parents and sister arrive at MCO around 11 tomorrow. Our flight arrives at 12:50. We will then meet up at the Residence Inn and spend the afternoon on the beach in Cocoa. We are used to the ocean in the Northeast so we are very excited to feel that 85 degree water! As my dad says, there is no shock entering that warm water.

After that, we are going to Grills for dinner. My father thinks it looks like a very family friendly restaurant. My kids may be just a little wired knowing that they are in Florida and will be boarding the Magic the next morning.

I am hoping the Residence Inn has a business center as I don't think I will take my computer. We have enough luggage and bags! With small children, I usually get stuck strapping our luggage together and negotiating the airport!

More to follow...

[WDWLVR]

Grills is a fun place for dinner. They usually have a band out on the deck on Friday and Saturday nights. They also usually have a coupon on their site so be sure and print it off before you leave.

[jrose529]

Have a Magical cruise! pixiedust:

[wltdsnyfan]

;) Have a great time :sunny: Enjoy :)

[captchris]

We have arrived in Cape Canaveral. We left our home at 7:00 am this morning for Bradley. We arrived at the airport and went right through security.

Shortly after arriving at our gate, the gate agent came on and said there was going to be a delay. Apparantly, our plane was delayed on the ground in Philadelphia and would be arriving late. We were originally scheduled to depart at 10:00 am, we were wheels up at 10:23. The captain came on shortly after we reached our cruise altitude of 40,000 ft and said we would be arriving in Orlando at 1:00...only 10 minutes late. The flight was smooth. There were some rather impressive looking thunderstorms off in the distance. We made a hard bank to the right and came in over Cape Canaveral. As we passed over launch complex 39, I noticed Atlantis was still on the pad. Could it be we would be able to have "front row seats" for a shuttle launch? If all goes well we will! We landed at 1:05 and got all of our luggage at baggage claim.

We went to the Budget Fastbreak kiosk in the garage, and got a free upgrade to a Taurus. It was nice to have a bigger trunk than what we were expecting. We continued north to find some lunch...thanks to these boards, | knew where to go! We then headed toward the Cape.

We arrived and met my parents and sister at the Residence Inn, but due to the launch delay, our room was not vacated by some NASA staff that were in the area for the launch. We got our room at about 3:30 and went swimming in the very warm pool. The Residence Inn is a lovely property. I would recommend it! We have a 2 BR suite. The staff is very friendly! Just coming down here to the business center, a maintenance staff member held the elevator. No matter who we see in the halls, all of the staff greets us. Great place!

For dinner we decided to go to Grills. I have always enjoyed eating on the water, but the food was absolutely wonderful. I got the grilled chix. It was a teriyaki flavored chicken with caribbean wild rice. The food was very good! Everyone enjoyed what they ordered and we were all too filled for dessert. We can't let that happen on the cruise!

After Grills, we went to Ron Jon's to look around, then returned to the Residence. All of us are exausted, and are looking forward to a good nights sleep. We will head over to the Magic at around 10.

My next report, will come either tomorrow night or Sunday morning from the Magic.

More to follow...

[debster]

We continued north to find some lunch...thanks to these boards, | knew where to go! .


Please share, where did you eat?

Thanks for the live reports, I am really enjoying them.

Only 6 months til our cruise :banana:

[Dixielady908]

:thumbsup2 Looking forward to your reports.....have a great trip...
blue skies and smooth sailing.....

Denise :banana:

[captchris]

Please share, where did you eat?

Thanks for the live reports, I am really enjoying them.

Only 6 months til our cruise :banana:
LOL We ate at McDonalds and even ate in the car. We were anxious to get to the Residence to see our family. We knew we would also be eating good that night.

We are eating breakfast right now. When we are done, we will put our luggage tags on our luggage, load the cars, and head to the port.

The breakfast buffet is great at the Residence. They have just about everything. I had biscuits and gravy for a change. It was very good. Almost like my mother in laws!!!! The buffet is complimentary with the room.

Can someone possibly get a screen shot from the webcams of us going out tonight. I am hoping we can be out on the deck when we sail out the channel, but I am pretty sure we have the APL rotation, and will possibly be in Animators at 5:30.


In forty minutes we should be in the terminal. Here's hoping for a #2 boarding pass, and maybe a last minute upgrade!

[JOANNEL]

Have a great trip. And take care of our ship. We will be in your place next Saturday. I can't wait. :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[Spectro is #1]

We will be on the 10:00am out of BDL on Friday, thanks for the report about the flight delay. I hate surprises and knowing you landed only 10 minutes late will lower my stress level if it happens to us.

I am looking for info on the band. Word on the street is X.O.P. is playing and they did not get good reviews. Just want to know what to expect. Like I said before I hate suprises.

[Verandah Man]

Have a MAGICal cruise!!!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a118/VerandahMan/Magic9-9-06.jpg

[lillygator]

have fun!

[nosaj72]

This might sound like a strange request, but I will try to explain anyway. If you get a chance, can you check which "Princess Dresses" are available for little girls at the gift shop? We got some for our girls last year on the cruise and they were perfect for dinner. Last year they had Airel (a white wedding dress.) and Cinderella. If they still have those, we will just bring the ones we have. I will try to find a picture and post it.

So if you have a chance to check that (in the 4-6 year old girl size) it would help us out a lot!

Thanks, Enjoy the cruise!

-Jason.

[SpideyHulk24]

Great report. Have a magical cruise!

[captchris]

Greetings from Key West. We went ashore for a little bit, but it was hot and the kids were fussy. We went back on board, and DS finally got brave enough to go down the slide!!!!

Captain Tom is in charge
Andy is the CD

XOP is the band. I heard them for a few minutes at the sailaway. I wasn't too impressed.

nosa, I will check this evening about the princess dresses. The shops are closed since we are in port right now. There are a LOT of pirates stuff in Mickey Mates.

Thanks for the pic Verandah Man. We were in Animators when that was taken. I had the Filet Mingnon (sp?) It was very tasty. This morning was our character breakfast and it was great. Tonight we are in Parot Cay.

Gary Delena (comedian) is on board as is the world champion juggler...I can't remember his name, but he is quite good.

This is my first DCL cruise. My wife and I went on RCI Nordic Empress two years ago, and this totally blows that cruise out of the water...after just one day.

Our servers are Dante and Cloverly. Stateroom attendant is Arya.

I will check back probably tomorrow. I haven't met any DISers yet, I have been chasing the family around!

More to come!

[RoyalVizier]

Yay! Thanks for checking in! :)

Be sure to have fun! A group of my friends are on that ship with you. If you see a group of four young ladies having too much fun tell them Jafar is watching from afar. ;)

[Verandah Man]

Tonight we are in Parrot Cay.


We had the APL dining rotation last month, what table are you at? Who is your head server?

[Disneygrl36]

Subscribing so I can live vicariously through you.
Have a great cruise............ :sail:
Mine is still too far away as you can see below.

[Spectro is #1]

thanks for the band update.

It sounds like you rented from Budget at the airport and returned at the port? If that is what you did can you give me a report about it? how long did it take, was the shuttle there and where did you fill the tank. We will be doing next week and could use a heads up on the process.

[Spectro is #1]

Have a MAGICal cruise!!!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a118/VerandahMan/Magic9-9-06.jpg


You can always count on Veranda Man!
Great report from last month Andy!

[captchris]

I will post fast today because the internet is REALLY slow.

Greetings from Grand Cayman! We had a great day at 7 Mile Beach...at the Courtyard Marriott. There was a thunderstorm in Georgetown that looked like it was coming our way, so we met our driver and came back to the ship. It was really freaky....you couldn't see the Magic from the Beach from the rain shield!

Andy...

We are at Table 19. We have DAnte server, Cloverly asst, and Aleksandra is our head waiter. She is great. She comes over and teases my son every night. She checks to make sure he ate all of his vegetables and is behaving. She has earned her tip this week!


As for the info on Budget. We only had to wait about 2 minutes to catch a ride back to the port. Since I went under 75 miles, I had them charge $9.50 for gas to save time. There is a Raceway gas station between the Residence and RAdisson and the price is arou $2.65/gallon.

I checked on the Princess dresses. They have Ariel, Snow White, Belle, Cinderella and Aurora ( Sleeping Beauty) I think I got them all!

Well, this is going to cost me quite a bit today as the internet is slow...as Andy the CD says...Ciao for now!

[debster]

Greetings from Grand Cayman! We had a great day at 7 Mile Beach...at the Courtyard Marriott. There was a thunderstorm in Georgetown that looked like it was coming our way, so we met our driver and came back to the ship. It was really freaky....you couldn't see the Magic from the Beach from the rain shield!



Glad to hear you are having a great time! Did you have a day room at the Courtyard in Grand Cayman? or did you just take a cab to the beach there? Any other tips on doing this in Grand Cayman.

Thanks for the live reports!!!

[ktpbell]

Did you get to see the shuttle take off!!?? :sunny:

[Spectro is #1]

Thanks for the budget update.

Ask them if they can change the band for us. :rotfl2:

[JNorris]

Can someone on the ship now tell me if they still sell the Mickey Bears in the store on the Magic? We are cruising Saturday, and DD has 3 of the Mickey Bears, and wants to get the purple one on the ship. She has bought one of a different color on each of the 3 cruises we've taken.

If they do not have them, I need to make sure we get one from DTD the night before.

Thanks!

[LaRue]

Can someone on the ship now tell me if they still sell the Mickey Bears in the store on the Magic? We are cruising Saturday, and DD has 3 of the Mickey Bears, and wants to get the purple one on the ship. She has bought one of a different color on each of the 3 cruises we've taken.

If they do not have them, I need to make sure we get one from DTD the night before.

Thanks!
Thanks for posting that question. My DD (5) has had her heart set on getting the brown and blue bears. She bought the purple one on our cruise last November.

[tinytink]

This might sound like a strange request, but I will try to explain anyway. If you get a chance, can you check which "Princess Dresses" are available for little girls at the gift shop? We got some for our girls last year on the cruise and they were perfect for dinner. Last year they had Airel (a white wedding dress.) and Cinderella. If they still have those, we will just bring the ones we have. I will try to find a picture and post it.

So if you have a chance to check that (in the 4-6 year old girl size) it would help us out a lot!

Thanks, Enjoy the cruise!

-Jason.
I found the dresses to be much more expensive on board. You should check out the DS or online.

[jrose529]

Thanks for taking the time to share your Magical cruise with us! :wizard:

[DisneyZell]

sounds like you are having a great cruise...let us know about Grand Cayman and if you got a day room.... :yay:

[captchris]

Greetings!

We are here off the coast of Florida heading for Castaway Cay. Tonight was Disney Dreams and that show was wonderful!

As for the Grand Cayman question. We got off the ship and there was a gentlemen holding a sign that said, "beach" we asked him about it. He told us that he could take us to the Beach Club colony (been there done that) or to the Courtyard Beach. There was a fee for the Beach Club Colony, but the Courtyard is free. There is no need for a day room. They had bathrooms, bar, watersports, and a cafe there. It was a nice place.

We went to Paradise Beach in Cozumel and after about an hour a thunderstorm parked itself over the beach. DW, DS, DD and I, grabbed a cab for PUnta Langosta. Don't get excited, the pier is not quite ready. The tender dropped us off there. Pier should be ready soon, perhaps next month.

We had some pixie dust arrive tonight. MY DD Samantha, age 6, the other day made a rose in the Oceaneer's Club and decided to give it to Belle. Belle was taking pictures in the atrium the other night and Sam handed it to her. When we returned from Disney Dreams tonight, there was a picture under the door with our stateroom number on it. We opened it and it was an autographed picture from Belle thanking Samantha for the rose. Now, there was only her name and last initial on the back that the OC wrote. Someone, took the effort to track down my DD and thank her. 800 kids are on board and my daughter was sought out for this special thank you. It was an exciting and emotional time for us.

My signature says that I took a RCI cruise 2 years ago. We are now locked in to DCL. Ray, the Asst. cruise director called me out for wearing a RCI t-shirt off the ship the other day. Don't worry Ray, there will be no more of that!

Ciao for now!

More to follow...

PS we did see the shuttle launch. I will post pics in my final report on Sunday.

[wltdsnyfan]

;) sunny: How wounderful that they took the time out to find your DD. :thumbsup2 That will always be a special memory. That was also sooo sweet of your DD to do that. :thumbsup2

[lillygator]

sounds like a wonderful time. How special for your DD! I'm sure that will be something she keeps close to her heart forever.

[Credit Man]

Enjoying your report. Thanks for posting.

[captchris]

:sad2: :sad2: :sad2:
This is a sad time!!!!! The tips have been given out, pagers returned, pictures purchased, and now the final show is about to begin!

We had a great day at Castaway Cay. The weather was great, and I am now as tan as I have ever been! I did not get burned too much. My italian blood really helped me out this week.

I checked in with Southwest, so I thought I would jump on a give a quick report.

My dad, sister, wife and I went parasailing at Castaway Cay today. It was a lot of fun. The bahamian crew called DW Bahama Mama as she was afraid of being dipped after the ride was over. We were the only duo to get dipped twice, but it was all in good fun. Cookies was great! The family beach was wonderful! We had a great time today as a family playing tag in the shallows with our kids.

I can't believe this great cruise is about to end! :sad2: To all who made it great, I appreciate it. It is a sad thought that it will probably be a few years before we can do this again! I am locked into Disney now. There will be no other ship for me! The Magic is it. Great ship, great crew and great ports of call. Next time we will either do a Eastern or a double dip WEstern.

Tomorrow we head off to Sea World before catching our 7:50 PM flight home to Bradley International Airport.

I will post a complete trip report with a day to day synopsis when I return.

[wltdsnyfan]

;) Have a safe trip home. Enjoyed the reports. I know whatyou mean about being sad. When we got of the ship in August I know it would be at least 2 years for us to. :guilty:

[captchris]

We are back home. Yesterday was a looooooonnnnnngg day. After waking up at 5:30 am for our 6:30 am breakfast in AP, we left the ship at about 7:45. We enjoyed our final breakfast with Dante and Cloverly and got pictures with them.

Dad and I jumped on the Budget shuttle, got matching Chevy Malibu's, and returned to the port to pick up the families. We said our goodbyes, and I followed my dad as far as the MCO exit. We then continued on to Sea World for the day. DW has been bugging me to go to Sea World ever since we married, so we got the internet special, and planned our day there. I haven't been to Sea World in about 27 years, so I was excited too.

We grabbed our park map and planned our morning. We were able to see everything we wanted too. We also got a chance to feed the dolphins! That was a highlight for all of us. We spent $15 on food, and then another $20 on pictures, but it was worth it. I also liked the Dolphin show Horizons a little more than the Shamu show Believe. However, in Sea World's defense, one of the stars of the show was expecting to deliver a baby whale anytime, and the show was somewhat altered.

After the dolphin show, we headed for the exit and MCO. Returning the car to Budget and check in was a breeze. I was able to snag an abandoned cart in the garage, and got to the Southwest counter. After a quick stop in the food court, we headed for our gate. The plane arrived early and we were able to have an on time departure. It was a smooth flight home to Connecticut. As we flew over the greater NY area, I saw this huge bright light in NYC as we were coming up the Jersey coast. I thought, could it be Yankee stadium? AS we flew over Queens and the Rockaways, I could tell it was Yankee Stadium from making out the landmarks around it. Yes, Yankee Stadium was the brightest light in the tri state area. As a Yankee fan, I took great pride in this! 20 or so minutes later we were on final approach to Bradley.

We grabbed our bags, hopped on the shuttle bus and made our way to the our car. We arrived home at 12:05 am this morning.

I am going to upload all of my pictures today, so I will post links. I will also begin a more unabridged day by day report.

[Verandah Man]

Welcome Home!!! ;)

Looking forward to seeing your pics!!! :goodvibes

[captchris]

Someone asked if we saw the shuttle. Here is our view point


http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g111/captchris74/CruiseVacation2006021.jpg

[captchris]

Yet another...a few seconds later just before SRB separation.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g111/captchris74/CruiseVacation2006022.jpg

[Verandah Man]

Cool pics, thanks for sharing!!! :thumbsup2

[captchris]

I was able to upload my pics today. I have a few yet still to add, but most are up. If anyone would like to see them, click on the link below.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554180195BYepsK

[JDBlair]

Thank you for the TR and the pictures. Way cool!! :thumbsup2

[ktpbell]

Thanks for the shuttle pics. I got to watch it once live and it was just amazing! Wishing them a safe journey back home. :)

[captchris]

I am doing a trip review on my blog. It will be easier for me to show pictures on that. If anyone is interested, the link is as follows.

My Blog (http://connecticutcorner.blogspot.com)

[MikeN]

I was able to upload my pics today. I have a few yet still to add, but most are up. If anyone would like to see them, click on the link below.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554180195BYepsK

Nice pictures. I swear I haven't been drinking, but look at picture 55 of 210. I swear there's a Mickey cloud. Am I nuts?

[captchris]

If anyone is interested, I have posted 9 entries on my blog which is a day to day trip report of our 9/9 cruise. I wrote it for anyone who will read it, so some of it features informational stuff for the non Disney cruiser.

You can access it by clicking on the link in my signature. There are a few pictures on it as well. I was not able to post too many pics and often had difficulty in posting the few that I did.

If anyone has any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them.

Enjoy!

[CRSNDSNY]

Glad you had such a nice trip! I'm off to go look at your pictures and read your blog.

THANKS!

[2canadianfans]

Great trip report and pictures.We were on the cruise with you.Brings back such great memories..thank-you