Live from the Magic, 2/4 to 2/11/2006

[Johnna_Story]

Hahahaha -- we're in.

Actually the one big regret I have is NOT hooking up dinner reservations with you and mark, or one of the other families with similarly-aged kids. I think we would have enjoyed dinner more if we hadn't been at a table for 4.

I TOTALLY agree - it was just the five of us for dinner, and we were disappointed in that. Hey - do you want a foot of snow???

 

[Johnna_Story]

We just got home around 8:45 am this morning. We left Orlando around 10:30 Monday morning and drove straight through. We are very very tired. It was great getting to meet most of you last week on the ship. It was fun seeing familiar faces. Will write more later.

Steve

Glad to hear you're home. Thanks again for the hammock on CC - not that Katie fell asleep, but it was nice of you to offer!

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

I TOTALLY agree - it was just the five of us for dinner, and we were disappointed in that. Hey - do you want a foot of snow???

No! But we have frost. FROST!!!!

 

[vassello]

We too just got off the Magic on Saturday. Didn't make any of the DIS meets but also did meet Steve and Tonya since we were right down the hall. I begged my husband all week to sign up for another. On the way home he finally agreed to another week in 2008. I think we may aim for one of the Disney cruises that stops twice at Castaway Cay since we have so much fun there. Sign us up!!!!

Still cruisin' in my mind!!!!

Shari

 

[Johnna_Story]

Shari - sorry we didn't meet you. Maybe next trip??

 

[Johnna_Story]

Our second full day at sea. So relaxing. Coffee on the verandah again, and muffins/donuts pre-breakfast for the kids. Today was our Character Breakfast in Parrot Cay! So much fun - except for DD who still has a fear of the Characters. So she sat at the far side of the table near the window so the Characters couldn't go near her, and she insisted that we turn her high chair around to face the window when they came around. She would then turn around and look at them when they were with DS, but not wave, smile or talk to them.

Mostly, we spent our time at the Mickey Pool today and in the hot tub at the Goofy pool!!! I thought the kids would be freaked out by the motion of the pool water while we were at sea, but they were unfazed by it!

DH went to the Spa in the late morning, and then DS went to "Detective School" at OC. I can't say enough about how great the OC counselors are with the kids. DS would have spent the entire cruise there if we let him. He really liked Ricardo!

DD and I both napped today! After she woke up, it was her "big test" in the OC - they had to observe her for an hour and decide if she would be accepted to be with them since she's not quite three yet. SHE PASSED!! Yippee! Now we could look forward to another Palo Brunch and Dinner (or so we thought...)

After she passed the test, we went to deck 9 for a snack and caught Cinderella on the Dive-In screen. It's so much fun to watch classic movies up there - if you're planning a trip, you should do this at least once during the week.

Tonight was Formal Night - and the "Captian's Reception" before dinner - one of the few opportunities for free drinks!! Had a very yummy green cocktail. and the kids had their Shirley Temples. We had our professional pictures taken in the lobby, and then headed to dinner. Due to switching Formal Night to Monday (so as not to conflict with Superbowl), we had formal dinner in Parrot Cay - kinda weird to me with PC being the most casual restaurant. But it was still good food!

DH took DD to bed after dinner, and DS went to the club with the intention of going to the Golden Mickeys at 8:30. Well, of course he didn't want to leave the club/lab (they were making Flubber!) so I saw the show with DUncle. Went to pick up DS and of course, it was another battle to leave! Gave him the choice of going back to the room to catch the Golden Mickeys show on TV or go to Studio Sea for the GM "after party" and he chose the room. Probably a good choice since he was exhausted! So we watched most of it on TV and then went to sleep.

Yet again - missed quite a lot of goings on around the ship: all the kids wanted to do during the day was swim! And I have to say, I'm okay with that. At first I thought how much we were missing - all these activities and we didn't do any of them. But now looking back, I can see how it was just perfect for us. If we had to rush from activity to activity, it would have stressed us out so much. So that's another piece of advice - if you don't get to even half the stuff going on, don't worry about it. If you're enjoying yourself with "unplanned" activities, then keep it going. You won't regret having family time and feeling unrushed.

 

[Johnna_Story]

Ah - beautiful St. Maarten! We enjoyed our coffee on the verandah again (good thing room service is FREE!) and got ready for our tour of the island with some beach time afterwards. But, the sun showers were omnipresent all morning - we had some spurts of clear blue sky, then sun showers, and finally, a full out storm. Quite unfortunate - we were really looking forward to beach time. Oh well...

We booked a non-Disney excursion for a tour of the island. Our driver was "Leon the Lover" and he was very knowledgeable about everything - and he made us chuckle a few times also! We picked up a couple of souvineirs at the outdoor flea market on the French side, and took Leon's suggestion not to go to the beach, based on the storm clouds over the Atlantic side of the island (near Orient Beach) so we came back to the ship for lunch. Consider the Story's pretty bummed out at this point.

Aside: Leon kept telling us that Orient Beach was not all it was hyped up to be, and the locals prefer to sunbathe on the other side of the island, not the Atlantic.

After lunch, DS of course went to the Club, and DH and DD went for naps. I went back ashore after the massive storm ended to shop for just a few things. They had GREAT pirate t-shirts for the kids - perfect since Pirate Night is tonight! (Do you think the shops know this? )

Got all our pirate gear on to head to dinner. Pirate night is so much fun!!!! I was tropical only, but DH, DS and DD had pirate hats, eye patches, earrings, a hook, and DS's new skull t-shirt, so we were all set! Had dinner early, then thought we could see a movie until the pirate party - so as not to exhaust the kids.

The Chronicles of Narnia was playing in the Walt Disney Theater. Looking back, this was not a good idea. It was a great story, but a little too graphic for our kids (5 and not quite 3) so there were times they were both scared and covering their eyes.

Headed to deck 9 for the pirate party at 9:30 and just as we got a great spot in front of the stage and the dancing started, the kids wanted to go to bed. Now I'm so upset - this was one of the highlights of last year's cruise, and they just didn't want to stay up for the deck party. Oh well - we went back to the cabin and the kids went to bed.

But the evening ended on a better note - we could perfectly see the fireworks from our verandah. I'm a sucker for fireworks - loved them since I was a kid. So this made up (a little bit) for missing the deck party.

Went to bed thinking tomorrow in St. Thomas will be better...little did I know what I was in for...

You'll have to wait until tomorrow for the next report. I'm tired, post-cruise depressed and trying to do laundry before houseguests come this weekend (what was I thinking!!?? )

 

[yachtsea]

Well, Happy Valentine's Day to all! I have now survived two days back at work now. My seventh graders were happy to see me today. They were anxious to hear all about the cruise.

Steve and Tonya - I am glad that you made it back safely. Tonya - how did the new addition go in Orlando? Did it hurt? It was really nice meeting you. When will you be going back on the Magic? I think that we are gonna try for next February. I wish that I had booked on board. Oh well.

Johnna - Can't wait to hear what happens in St. Thomas. Cal and I were beat on pirate night too. We went to the room as soon as the fireworks were over. They were so neat.

Did any of you go to the Castaway Club meeting? Remember when the captain said they are looking at giving repeat customers a little more than they currently do. Anyone have any idea what they mean by that? I think that a nice discount would be great. How 'bout a DCL bathrobe?

Two people that we really enjoyed on the ship were Svenga and Franck from the gift shops. They were really great. Anyone have someone that was special for them?

 

[Billinaz]

We are planning on doing a Christmas Cruise in 2008. I already have my request in to Inventory control........


Hey Feb 4 Disers - if you can believe it, we are already thinking about when we can go again! We're probably looking at 2008... anyone want to join us??

 

[cruisnfamily]

We booked a non-Disney excursion for a tour of the island. Our driver was "Leon the Lover" and he was very knowledgeable about everything - and he made us chuckle a few times also!

Could you tell me about your tour? What was the fee and how did you find out information about available tours?

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

We already started talking about our next cruise. We'd really like to do summer 2007 (I don't want to take dd1 out of school again), but of course that's when the Magic will be in Europe! Argh!

Bill, sorry but we can't cruise with you again because we want your cabin next time!!! Seriously, I think that now that the kids are getting bigger, a Cat 3 may be the way to go. We felt it with one bathroom and 4 potty trained people for 7 days . . . .

 

[steveandtonya]

Heys guys! We are so glad that we had the chance to meet some of you. I was just reading some of your boards and I have a great story to tell you all. The last night that our kids could be in the clubs Steve went to go get Zachary and of course he didn't want to leave but we meet down at Mickey's Mates to finish up the last little bit of shopping and zachary was being really quiet not asking for anything(which is unusal) anyway I looked over at him and he was crying I asked him what was wrong and he said that he was going to miss his counselor Pascal from the club and as a mom I told him everything would be fine and started crying myself( as I am doing right now telling you all this). Well the guy Franck(from Mickey's Mates) over heard zachary crying and came over to ask what was wrong we told him and he proceeded to bend down to zachary and tell him that he didn't want him to be sad and that it was not over and let zachary pick one of the pins off of his lanyard and told zack that he wanted him to bring this back to him(Franck) the next time we sailed. That was the highlight of my whole trip! We did go back to the club and let him say goodbye one more time and they we're so sweet they gave us Pascals address on the ship so zack could write that made him feel better. And we also had him sign zack's autograph book which he left a really sweet note.

Debbie, my new tatoo is great it is some tribal work with a mickey head in the middle. Yes, it did hurt! I will not be addicted to these things that's for sure. I did faint, we had not eaten anything since we left the ship that last morning and the anixety from getting the tatoo and not eating I just completely passed out so now that is a big joke for everyone in the family. And I have convinced Steve we need to go again in 2008! Which it really didn't take much convincing. Gotta go I have a ton of laundry to finsh up. Talk to you all soon.

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Debbie, my new tatoo is great it is some tribal work with a mickey head in the middle. Yes, it did hurt! I will not be addicted to these things that's for sure. I did faint, we had not eaten anything since we left the ship that last morning and the anixety from getting the tatoo and not eating I just completely passed out so now that is a big joke for everyone in the family. And I have convinced Steve we need to go again in 2008! Which it really didn't take much convincing. Gotta go I have a ton of laundry to finsh up. Talk to you all soon.

Tonya, where did you get the tat? In one of the ports?

 

[vassello]

Johnna - Did you stay at the Rainy Radisson on Friday night before the cruise? I think I met you at breakfast - did your family have matching Magic tshirts on?

Shari

ps....we are all about cruisin in 2008!

 

[Johnna_Story]

Johnna - Did you stay at the Rainy Radisson on Friday night before the cruise? I think I met you at breakfast - did your family have matching Magic tshirts on?

Shari

ps....we are all about cruisin in 2008!

Yep - that was us at Rainy Radisson with our matching t-shirts! Glad the rain stopped in time for the sail away party! It was nice to meet you then, and I wish we had gotten to talking more so I would have recognized you if I saw you on board! I'm really bad with that by the way - so anyone who recognized me, but I didn't realize it was you, please don't think it's because I'm a snob!!!!

 

[Johnna_Story]

Could you tell me about your tour? What was the fee and how did you find out information about available tours?

We heard about private tour companies from this board at some point, and used shoretrips.com - we took the St. Martin Island and Beach tour - we were in a 15-20 passenger bus (only 8 adults were on the tour, and 3 kids) and it was $55/person for adults, kids under 6 were free. The tour alone was about 3 hours (including the 45 minute stop at the flea market), and took us all over the Dutch and French sides of the island. It would have included umbrellas and beach chairs at Bikini Beach had it not rained!!! The driver would have let us off at the beach and come back whenever we wanted him to. I would recommend it. Our tour guide, Leon "the lover" was very good and knew quite a bit of history and information about both sides.

 

[Johnna_Story]

Debbie, my new tatoo is great it is some tribal work with a mickey head in the middle. Yes, it did hurt! I will not be addicted to these things that's for sure.

Tonya - good for you!!! I've been considering a tattoo, but haven't drummed up the courage for it. Now that I know fainting is a possibility, it scares me even more! (laughing with you, not AT you!) Would love to see a picture of it!

Johnna - Can't wait to hear what happens in St. Thomas.

Debi - so nice to hear that you're following along - I thought maybe I was doing this in vain and who the heck cares what we did. It's been like a journal for me because despite my best intentions, I'll NEVER do a scrapbook.

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Johnna, we're all reading and reliving through you! Keep them coming!

 

[Johnna_Story]

Johnna, we're all reading and reliving through you! Keep them coming!

Thank you!!! That's great encouragement. Hey - you changed your little picture - it's very cute!!

Day 4 report - St. Thomas - will try to do it tonight...

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Thank you!!! That's great encouragement. Hey - you changed your little picture - it's very cute!!

Day 4 report - St. Thomas - will try to do it tonight...

My dh is a lucky kitty lover, so when i saw this, it seemed appropriate. I had Brer Rabbit for a few years now, and it was time for a change.