Another Magic 11/26 trip report

[Michelle2]

Sorry, this report will be detailed because those are the kind of reports I like to read. That, and I want to be able to save it for myself for the future...things start to fade the longer the time goes!

Cast of Characters:

Me (34) - Disney lover and leader/trip planner...keeper of the Disney LUCK.
DH (35) - Goes along with the Disney trips, but does not appreciate the Disney spirit like I do....weirdo.
DS12 - Just going along for the ride. Would rather hunt for gekkos in the islands all day.
DD11 - Our Miss Socialite, loves meeting new friends and gets along with everybody.
DD9 - Our Drama Queen
DS3 - Our Stitch

Pre-arrival: Day 1: Thanksgiving, an exciting start to our trip, and first dose of my Disney luck.
We were going to be leaving from Boise, with a stop over in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving day. Which was wonderful bonus because we could have Thanksgiving with family on the way. I am not rhyming on purpse

Boise got struck with a HUGE inversion that made everything so foggy that all flights the 2 days before were being cancelled. The inversion was supposed to last until Thursday afternoon, and it was worse in the mornings. We were scheduled to leave at 8:00, so it did NOT look good. Our airport is small enough that they need like the longest visibility limit FAA requires...so that really did not look good....

To make a long story short (I know, too late! ) they seeded the clouds around the airport to make it snow...(did not know THAT was possible, go figure...) and we were able to be the FIRST flight that left out of Boise airport in 2 days. We were still about 30 minutes late and had a MAJOR tight connection in Salt Lake. It was the one time I was honestly hoping a flight would be running LATE!

Three of the kids and I RAN over to the other gate in SLC airport, which, even though it was the same airline carrier, happened to be CLEAR across the airport and we only had 8 minutes. I sent DS12 to run ahead and tell them we were coming, while DH and DS3 waited for the stroller that was gate checked.
We arrived at the gate, and they wanted us to hurry and get on, but DH was nowhere to be found...every minute they were telling the gate attendants, we need to get this plane out of here, and I was telling them, he was waiting for the stroller, he will be here any minute!
It seemed like forever, but was only about 4-5 minutes, we were about to give up and succumb to a later flight, DH came up huffing and puffing. We got on the plane very winded..and feeling a little embarrassed for making the people on the plane wait. Thank goodness about 5 minutes later another couple from our last flight came in very winded too, so we were not the only ones everyone was waiting on. LOL The flight attendants were so nice and gave us all some water.
Poor DH was coughing and not talking the entire 50 minute flight to Las Vegas. He said he about killed himself hurrying to get over to the gate. He is not too out of shape, but wasn't used to making a 5 minute sprint across a huge airport either! LOL

Thankfully, even though we left about 20 minutes late, we arrived in Las Vegas early! Thanks Delta The rest of the flights went without a hitch. We had Thanksgiving all day with family, and went on the red eye out of Las Vegas on Song at about 10:50pm and arrived in Orlando at about 6:00 am. This worked out for the kids, they mostly slept the whole time.

Arrival! Day 2: Friday, November 25th--Arrival in Orlando and Port Canaveral and the Radisson:
When we arrived we headed to the rental car counters, and found Budget. Both times we have arrived in Orlando there have been not a single person at these car rental counters. Of course we arrived either really early, or really late....
The people at the Budget counter were really nice and helpful. We were able to upgrade to a 12 passenger van for only 20 more bucks. We needed it for our crew! LOL

We headed straight to Port Canaveral, and when we drove in, I wanted to get a lay of the land and see the Disney terminal. Since it was Friday, the ships weren't there, but it was wonderful seeing the terminal in person! We went to the Radisson at the Port. and checked in. Thank goodness our room was ready at 8:00 am! We used our breakfast voucher that morning in their "restaraunt" (it was more like a large lounge with alot of tables and chairs) and looked around the place, checked out the pool, etc.
We then all crashed from 1:00 till about 4:30 or 5:00pm.

We went to Walmart and bought waters, and another suitcase (one of ours was really old and didnt have wheels, so we wanted to leave it full of un-needed things like jackets and backpacks and such at the Radisson while on the cruise). We also got soda, and other last minute things we would need.
The kids really wanted to go in the pool, so we took them down for about an hour. They had a good time, but wished that there was a slide or something else there....
We then went to Pizza Hut for dinner, and also went to Ron Jon's Surf Shop that night with all of the kids. That place is huge and has everything!! We got back to the Radisson, and I re-arranged our suitcases so that we could leave un-necassary things in the one we were leaving at the Radisson while we were gone. We knew we had an early day the next day, so hit the sack a little later than I wanted at about 12, but we had a huge nap that day, and we were used to it being 2 hours earlier, so it wasn't bad.

 

[rjh8115]

Thanks for your report so far. Looking forward to your next installment . . .

 

[DiaLady]

Hey Michelle2 --

Great start! Can't wait to hear the rest!!

 

[MelanieC]

I can't wait to hear the rest!!! Glad you made it to Vegas without having to take a later flight.

 

[Michelle2]

Day 3: Saturday, November 26th: Boarding the ship at last!

We woke up early in the morning and got off to a pretty good start. The kids just ate something quick and DH and I went without, I was too excited and nervous to eat anyways...
We had a room that overlooked the port, but there are condos being built that totally block the view. Not only that but the Disney terminal and port was right behind the Carnival one. I could see its ship, but nothing of Disney. I even got out the binoculars and could see that possibly there was a second ship directly behind the Carnival Glory!

We had a question for Budget, so wanted to drop by there before we left the hotel for good. This was also a great excuse to drive by the terminal early and see the ship for the first time ever!! (And my anal side wanted to get another "lay of the land" --I still had no idea as to what I was doing in regards to entering the terminal....)
We went by as the Thanksgiving cruisers were disembarking at the drop off, shuttle pick up area. I felt so lucky that they were getting off the Magic, and we were about to get on!

We went back to our room to gather all our luggage and drop off that extra suitcase to the Radisson front desk. There were sure alot of people there waiting to get on the first shuttle over to the terminal. I was glad that we were able to drive over there ourselves. But I was a nervous wreck, and I know looking back now, that it was all for nothing...especially with the new boarding procedures.

Whenever anyone described the drop off prodedure here on the boards, and talked about gates and parking lots across the street, etc, it was all one big blur unless you are there to see it yourself, the descriptions are really hard to picture...But this is what I found out after arriving there early, and talking to several port people, which didn't help much, but I understood after a little bit. Each one of them said to wait in a different area! LOL It was like being on a wild goose chase at first...

This is confusing, but hope it helps someone. It sure would have helped me before we left....

So here is the low down with all the drop off info. I FINALLY GET IT!
If you want to be dropped off by DH or whoever that is going to go and drop off the car at Budget or a car rental place while you check in, be dropped off at the little straightaway that has the numbers along the top of the ceiling (there is a covering over this area.) Even if you are early and not many people are there yet, there will be a gate in the center that the porter will come and set the luggage there to be taken inside. We really just set our luggage in the area where the porter told us to move it to, and then left to go into the terminal.
I think this area is also for shuttles, and other drop off services.
I received the impression that the only people actually allowed INSIDE the gates at the actual curbside of the terminal are for those that are on the ship's invoice who want to go in to park at the closer parking lot....I could be wrong with the limo services, but anyone correct me if I am wrong with this. We were there before that gate even opened.

The one thing I am sure of, is the people that were waiting in the parking lot across the street, were waiting to drop off their parties, but then be able to be let into the little parking lot that was closest to the terminal. There are 2. One smaller one that is right by the terminal, and one that is larger and across the street. If you arrive later, the smaller one is likely full and you would have to park in the larger one across the street anyways. So there was no reason for us to wait across the street in the parking lot because we were not going to be parking at all! Once the attendant finally heard this information, he told us to go where we needed to go which was the drop-off area with the numbers.

We asked the porter where to put our luggage and he told us to move it to a certain location and asked if our tags were on, which they were. I had no idea where to go after that. But I had corresponded with Grlzmom from the cruise meets thread (they were DCL pros!! ), and she and her family were there early as well. Our girls met, and we chatted for a bit, and then she showed us where to go, and we followed them right into the terminal. We were the first and second families in! It took me a little longer to go through security, with a stroller and case of water and a few carry on bags, but once through, we went to the elevator and the attendant there gave us the boarding number 2! Once upstairs Grlzmom showed us which line to get in (I was waiting in the CC club line, and it was longer than the first timer line!) There were only 2 groups ahead of me in the regular line....There would have been no one if I went to the right line!
Checkin was a breeze, my DD9 and Grlzmom's DD9 hit it off like old friends, and I got some GREAT pictures and video of an empty terminal. DH arrived really shortly after, and we enjoyed exploring the terminal and taking some great pictures off of the back balcony....just awesome!!

When we boarded, we happened to be standing in the right place to be the first ones on in group number 2...We got our picture taken, so glad we did, it is one of my favorites! We had our names announced and got some pictures in front of the Mickey statue and the band. I love the sound of the steel drums!

The rest of the day was a blur...I sent DH and the kids to have fun in the Mickey pool while I went and changed our Palo reservations. Our dining rotation was not what I thought, and since I liked it better, I just changed Palo around instead of the dining rotation. We had the same time and rotation as Grlzmom's family, and were just a table away!
I went and saved a table at the pool, and DH and I took turns going and getting ourselves and the kids lunch while they swam. Others are catching on to the idea of going to the Mickey pool because there were already others there when we went there.... They did not open up the slide until 12, and by that time, more people had come. I was sooo glad I saved a table instead of deck chairs. It gradually got more crowded as the time went on obviously. But I loved it!

I had some excursions that I wanted to switch around too, and checked out our room on the way back to the pool. After swimming, we took the kids back to the rooms and I headed up to the DIS meet. Did not get to meet everyone, but I really tried. I was a little late because I forgot my nametag and magnets and had to go back to get them. Some were saying that they arrived at the port only a half hour later than we did and were given group number 6!

After that, the lifeboat drill. It was really quick and painless, but had to wake up DS3 and put on that lifejacket....yikes!! He was so grumpy the whole time, and they make you line up where he could not be next to me, put him way up in front, and we couldn't hold him. Big problems. Thank goodness it was quick, and as it went on, he found his way back to me.

I LOVED the sail away party. We went up on the side on deck 10 (best place to be for those parties in my opinion) and loved the countdown, and the horn, and just having fun! As we were sailing by a boatful of people were cheering and yelling, "Let's hear it!! Let's hear it!!" So the captain blew the horn again. That was awesome. It was fun to watch the people cheering and waving as we were heading off!

By then it was time to get ready for dinner at 6.We had a wonderful time going to dinner and meeting our servers. Agi from Indonesia, and Pema from India. They were great! My DS12 particularly liked Agi. We had the PLAPLAP rotation at 6:00 and it was just perfect. We had a table of 6, so we were seated on our own. Our tablemates next to ours was a very nice family, and we still had great conversations!

I may be in the minority, or just because it was my first time, but I loved the Welcome aboard show! It was one of my favorites. We had a great time that first day and were really happy that we had 2 more sea days after that. We mostly unpacked that night because everything was so jam packed. We went to bed a little late, but everything was so exciting, and we started watching a movie on the stateroom tv. Great first day!

I was mentioning to katiesmom at the DIS meet (who had a room only a few doors down from us--we ran into her and her family all throughout the cruise), that I made way too big of a deal on arriving at the port. If I could go back and do it again, I would NOT have been so stressed, and just relaxed a little more...

 

[jjbescher]

I think we are now going to flood the Trip Report with our ours. I think we now have Trip Reports going. I just started mine. I think i will be on he Second Day at sea soon.

jon

 

[Michelle2]

November 27, Sunday, first day at sea: Palo Brunch and Couple's Spa Appointment-

I have go to get this going before I forget everything!
On this day, since it was a sea day, we actually slept in a little till about 9 or so...We had Palo brunch today at 10:30, and our couples spa appointment later on in the day, so we had to get up and going soon.

Jared took the kids up to breakfast while I finished getting ready, and then dropped them all off to the kids clubs. We went up to Palo for the first time ever, and it was beautiful. We had Alex from Croatia as our server, and since we were the first seating at 10:30, and were about the 3rd of 4th table seated, we were taken to a beautiful table for 2 right by the window. I really loved the brunch...we started out with a big buffet that we could choose from. I am not a seafood lover, but saw the big crab legs that I had heard so much about. I love sweet things, and had that special cinnamon sweet bread (forgot the name) that they had with the strawberry jam and real whipped cream on top. Yummm. Nothing else really appealed to me besides the fruit, and I had some real whipped cream on that as well. It was delicious!

Then came the best part for me. The pizzas! I had a margherita one with just cheese and tomatoes. and Jared had the spicy sausage one. They were delicious! I ordered the chicken parmigiana as my main course, and it was to DIE for! I am drooling over it right now. Probably the best chicken parmigian I have ever had....wow. And I am a dessert lover!! They were awesome. I took some to try some of all the ones that looked good, but was so stuffed that I could not eat much. I do not think that Jared took any at all, but as usual had some of mine

When brunch let out at about 12 or so, I think we had barely enough time to get the kids some lunch and then head off to our couples spa appointment. I was a little nervous of this because I had heard some bad things about the massages on the boards not long before we left. Enough where I was going to cancel our REAS. But the ladies Dusty from the UK and I forgot her name, dang, but I do know she was from Sweden, were really good.
It really felt good, and could feel the parts that were really knotted up from tension and tightness, hurt when being pressed on. They were not overbearing about selling at all, and were not snotty about it either. I think my DH had written no sales pitch on his questionaire. They were really nice and gracious...I know we were really lucky, because I really did not feel like a hard sell, and I KNOW we did not have the budget to buy anything from the spa. Maybe they are changing from the hard sell, because I sure have read alot of complaints about it.
It was a very pleasant experience, but I do not know if I will do it on a future cruise since it is not included in the REAS anymore, even though we will not do the REAS anymore either! LOL But it was nice to do once!

When this was over, it was about 3:30. I really cannot remember what we did, but since it was formal night, and Golden Mickeys tonight, and I wanted to get some photos taken before dinner, we had to start getting ready soon after.

We were able to get ready for our formal pictures pretty quickly, but the line in front of the Christmas tree was rather long...I was really disappointed that there were no formal dressed characters before dinner. I was really planning on it. We were going to get Christmas pictures for our christmas cards, and I wanted one in front of the tree, but then one with a formal Mickey or Minnie to choose from as well.

I think I noticed on Shutters walls that there were was Minnie and Goofy dressed formally that night, but they were either while we were at dinner, or while we were at the show, or late enough that we did not want to stay dressed up that long....I was really disappointed and sad. We ended up choosing one of the poses in front of the tree, and it was a really beautiful spot for the Christmas pictures! Our cards turned out really well. We did the 25 cards for 19.95 package, but waited till closer to the end of the cruise.

Afterwards we went and got seats for the Golden Mickeys show that was at 8:30. I loved this show!! It was my favorite one out of all of them...right in front of the Welcome aboard show and the farewell show on the last night. It was really nice to be there early, but I do have a complaint.
(MINI RANT---my opinion, so no flames please!)
We were one of the first ones in, I was waiting at the door for awhile...and by the time we had gotten in, they had given the best seats away before the show to a group of people. I figured out later that these were the families of the kids that were the dwarves for Snow White's segment, but I was not happy. That, and people were saving a whole bunch of seats. I really did not feel like being persistent and taking the seats anyway like others have written about, so we just went to the side section by the aisle....That night I was really mad, but the show was still wonderful!

We were pretty tired afterwards, and really wanted to get the formal wear OFF, so we went up and stayed in the room most of the night. (This is where we missed out on the formal characters that were going to be right in front of the theater on deck 4 forward.) They started at 9:30, but when the show let out, they were not there yet, and we did not even think of it at that time. So if anyone wants to get the formal wear characters, hang around the later show in front of the theater, (or wherever it says in the navigator) and you will not miss them like we did.

I think I went up and got some wonderful soft serve swirl ice cream up at Goofy's Galley, but other than that, we hit the hay!!

 

[Michelle2]

November 28th, Monday: Another day at sea:

We really had too many things that were planned yesterday, I wish that we would have spaced it out and did Palo brunch yesterday and the couple's massage today....I loved the sea days, especially as a new cruiser. It gave us alot of time right off the bat to explore and get to know the ship, the activities, and everything else that the Magic had to offer--which was alot!

I wanted to get to an early start today becuase I wanted to go to the Future Cruise Presentation by Danielle the DCL rebooking lady. I was hoping for some more information about the new itiinerary and dates that we are waiting on, but I should have known, and partially did expect, she didn't go into that. I asked about the rumors of the new dates being released in the late spring/early summer of 2007. But of course, they cannot comment on that, and said it would be available "probably" in April or early spring. It was good to see the discounts they were offering on the 10 night Wonder. I really want to do that, but it is too soon and we cannot afford another cruise that soon. So we ended up rebooking for a "dummy date" 7 night Eastern again.

As soon as this was over, and we asked Danielle questions, etc. It was time to go to the Juggling Workshop put on by the talented David Di'Muzio. While DH and DS12 went to this, I went and had lunch at Parrot Cay. It was the Asian buffet, and it was probably the only one that I really made an effort to go to.

After that, I wanted to hit the matinee of Twice Charmed. The only one that wanted to go with me was DD9, so I picked her up from the kids clubs and we only showed up about 15 minutes before showtime and got great seats! For some reason there were 2 seats in the front row on the right side that no one was sitting in or saving....grrrrr
It was a great show, we really enjoyed it, and it freed up our night after dinner. I was really glad about that!

At 2:00 DH and DS went to the Mickey 200, where they make cars out of vegetables and race them. My DS12 got upset because with the way they raced them, and that they should have won. But he has been Mr. Negative lately, and complaining has become an art form with him

We ended up taking a nap in the afternoon, and as much as I really wanted to go to the Pictionary game at 5:00, we didn't. I swear that motion of ship is so easy to sleep to for me...We never were able to go to it, and I have it as a must for our next cruise, along with the 10 billion other things we never seemed to have time for, or put off, and never got to do.

We got ready for dinner at Animator's Palate, and got to see the "show". I loved this restaraunt and was looking forward to this for a long time. I loved seeing it!
Afterwards, we were able to get more pictures with the characters, and the rest of the night was a blur...We were going to go to the family cabaret show with the magician/comedian Rich Purpura, but never made it there for some reason. Probably pictures with the characters....
Usually every night, we just watched Bewitched, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as we got ready for bed.

All this time (during the sea days), the kids were in and out of the kids' clubs...as they wanted to. It was a great day!

 

[thumpery]

Hi Michelle,

It's been awhile since on the boards, and I'm enjoying reading and remembering the cruise. I missed the cruise meet at the pool, but I thought out of the 3 cruises I've been on this one had the nicest people on it. I think I saw your children a few times - can't miss those red heads. Anyways, we also rebooked for a "dummy Eastern 2007" date. Hoping they change the itinerary, but couldn't pass up the discount. Time to start saving up again!

My son also raced the vegetable cars. He didn't win the race, but won "Most Original Design". We did the race in the morning on a different day. It's nice that they offer events numerous times in case you can't make the first one.

Anyways, I just wanted to say hello and tell you I'm enjoying your thread.
Marcy