Magic, Mickey and Mayans - A Pre-trip Report
 

As I nearly finished my last trip report and there is still to much time left between the end of this trip report and our next trip, I have decided to start a pre-trip report for the next trip.

The Cast

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...12/4286906.jpg

Corinna:

I am an absolute Disney-nut and love cruising. I am a big kid at heart and spend considerable time on each cruise and to a lesser extend on our land-based Disney trips meeting the characters. I will celebrate my birthday during the cruise part of the trip and I am hoping that this will be a double celebration. I applied for British citizenship in August and I keep my fingers crossed that my approval comes through in time that I can schedule the citizenship ceremony for the day before we leave.

Graham:

He does not really get Disney, but loves the service aspect of all things Disney. He also loves to cruise. Up to a point, he also goes along with anything that makes me happy. His favourite part of a Disney vacation is going exploring and visiting the various resorts.

The Background:

We have not been to Walt Disney World properly since early October 2010. We have not been on Disney Magic for about the same time. We rediscovered Disneyland and the Disney Wonder has had the more tempting itineraries recently. Graham had spent his last three birthdays at Disney (Disney Magic, Walt Disney World and Disney Wonder respectively) and I decided this year it was my turn. This very nearly went pear-shaped. I had spotted a cruise on the Magic that I really wanted to do just over a year ago. We had every intention to book this when we were on the Wonder last year, but the price that we were quoted was insane. So we passed. I suppose I never really gave up on this. So when my time came to book our Walt Disney World Stay, I booked it from the 17th November onwards, which meant that we were not getting there until after my birthday. I also found it really hard to get excited about the trip for whatever reason. I had spotted discounted restricted guarantee rates for the cruise at the beginning of August and was crunching numbers to see if I could make this work. Then I saw something mentioned on the cruise forum about a website that offers discounts on cruises. I decided to check it out and actually came across an Interline rate (special rate for people working in the travel industry) and this rate made it a no brainer. I suppose all is well that ends well. I am now really excited about the upcoming trip and time cannot pass quickly enough.

The Itinerary:

7th November
Check in at Crowne Plaza Manchester Airport in the afternoon
8th November
Fly to Houston via Frankfurt and check in at Holiday Inn on the Beach at Galveston, Texas
9th November
Galveston
10th to 17th November
Western Caribbean Cruise on the Disney Magic
17th November
Day in Houston and fly to Orlando in the evening, check in at Boardwalk Villas
17th to 21st November
Disney's Board Walk Villas
21st to 27th November
Disney's Old Key West
27th November
The sad day of leaving. Flight from Orlando to Manchester via Frankfurt

Corinna

I'm here for the fun :)

Welcome.

Corinna

Sounds like a great trip planned! So glad you will be able to celebrate your birthday Disney style. Prayers and pixie dust that your citizenship comes through in time!

Thanks, in the the greater scheme of things, it does not matter when the approval does come through as I will still have to travel on my German passport anyway, but this is going to be such a wonderful vacation that I would love to use it to celebrate becoming a British citizen as well.

Corinna

Really enjoy your TR's Corrina :thumbsup2 you really make them so detailed & interesting:worship:

Looking forward to reading morepopcorn::

I am looking forward to this Corinna, as we are doing a Western Caribbean with DCL next October. Will be interesting to see what you get up to on your cruise - so glad you will get a chance to celebrate your Birthday with Disney :thumbsup2

This is kind a do over for us. We did a Western Caribbean on the Magic in October 2009, but the months surrounding this cruise were probably the darkest ones I experienced in my life. I always wanted another chance to do this cruise. We have been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel on that cruise, but Costa Maya will be new. There will be a trip report and plenty of photos after the holiday.

Corinna

Thank you for the heads up - so we, your groupies - can keep following your adventures. I was so lucky to meet you & enjoy your fantastic jewelly making classes on the Hawaii cruise. Now I look forward to you next adventure.
Joyce :hippie:

Hi Joyce,
nice to see you around and thanks for following along.

Corinna

Looking forward to reading all about it! :goodvibes Glad you're looking forward to the trip more now! And even better if you will be celebrating your birthday AND British citizenship on it! :)

Sounds like a good trip. Good luck on getting British Citizenship in time.

That would be really sweet. At the moment approvals for British Citizenship seem to come through about two months after the fees were debited. At that rate, my turn will be 18th October.

Thanks for the good wishes.

Corinna

A number of firsts

I am always trying to do something for the first time each holiday. One would think that with all the Disney cruises and holidays to Walt Disney World that I have had, I would have a few problems finding things that I will do for the first time, but there is a huge long list:

First time flying with United
First visit to Texas
First meal at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company
First time staying in a veranda stateroom on a Disney ship
First time seeing the Mayan ruins
First time staying in the Epcot resort area
First time attending Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
First time going resort hopping to see all the Christmas decorations
First time seeing the Candlelight Processional
First time seeing the The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights
First time seeing the character trees at Camp Minnie-Mickey
First time doing a behind the scenes tour with Graham
First time staying in a one bedroom villa

I am sure there will be a lot more firsts, but this will keep me going for a while.

Corinna

Wow, what a list! I am looking forward to seeing all of it through your eyes.