Magic 7/8-7/13 ~ We're heading to Canada, eh? COMPLETED: 9/1/12

[Marilyn11]

Laurie

Enjoying your report. Very nice. It is fun reliving the magic. We were supposed to be down the hall from you on Deck 6, but closer to cruise time changed to deck 7. But we were seated at table 47, which may have been close to your table. 10 of us. I wish I had met you. But you look very familiar, so we must have passed each along the way, those 5 days. Glad you had a wonderful time. We have so many great memories. Looking forward to more of your report.

 

[wdwbailey43]

Thanks for sharing my family is going on the same cruise next Sunday

 

[jenseib]

What a nice afternoon for just the 2 of you!

 

[Laurie12820]

What a nice afternoon for just the 2 of you!

It was very nice. I've never experience high tea before and it was just lovely!

 

[Laurie12820]

Once we were full to the brim, we decided to walk the promenade deck in an effort to make room for dinner. It was after 4 after all! Once we lapped the deck we went back to Flounder's to collect DD. We watched her through the mirrored window, she was having a great time! I was a little concerned about how she would be in the nursery. She was only a mont shy of turning three and I was fearing that she would be bored, or, be the only older toddler in there. Neither ended up being the case. The toys were new to her, the counselors were wonderful and there were plenty of active toddlers in there to keep her busy!
We all returned to the room to get ready for formal night.

DD loved always being 2 steps ahead of us.

Tonight we were dining in Animator's Palate.

This meal is all a blur because DD was not in the best of moods. I can't remember anything that we ordered...Neither DH or I ate much because we were trying to deal with a toddler melting down on us . Here is DD before things got ugly:

Just after our main course arrived, DH had to take her out of the restaurant at one point and returned just before the show started. We were in awe of the change the restaurant went through and DD was of course excited to see Sorcerer Mickey!

We had wanted to see the show tonight, Twice Charmed, but judging by DD's behavior we decided it would be a bad idea and we went back to the room. We got Cassie bathed and to bed and we ordered from Room Service. We had the All Hands on Deck cheese plate and of course, a Mickey bar! As if we hadn't had enough to eat already today! We were then full and sleepy so we turned our clocks ahead one hour and turned in for the night. Tomorrow, we will be in Halifax!

 

[wdwbailey43]

I would like to know what the weather is like

 

[Laurie12820]

The sea days/nights were foggy and very chilly. Like jeans and a light sweatshirt chilly. Luckily, our port days were warm (low to mid 70's) and sunny.

 

[wdwbailey43]

Thanks that will really help my family pack

 

[chiefdragon]

Loving your report. We leave on Sunday for the same cruise, and really had no idea what to pack so this is helping out a lot. I think shorts are out of the question and wool pants may teh item to bring.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Loving your report. We leave on Sunday for the same cruise, and really had no idea what to pack so this is helping out a lot. I think shorts are out of the question and wool pants may teh item to bring.

You could probably leave the wool pants in their summer storage ; jeans will be fine! We did wear shorts on the port days, with a sweatshirt in the morning. Well, some of us did. Come to think of it, DH might have liked having wool pants. Too bad he doesn't own any! Have fun!

 

[Laurie12820]

Honestly, the only time I wore jeans was at the Pirate Party! Born and raised in MA I'm acclimated to the colder weather, lol. I'd pack shorts, pants and a light sweatshirt.

 

[Laurie12820]

This morning we arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our first port of the trip.

We were up at 7:00am. We turned on the bridge cam channel and we saw that it was sunny out. This was a good sign! We got ready for the day and headed to Lumiere's for a nice sit down breakfast. While we were eating breakfast we spotted Mickey in his fly fishing gear. It was so nice to see him dressed in his Canadian outfit!
Once we were finished we went out on deck to check the temperature. It was nice and warm, a welcome surprise! While we were heading back to the cabin to get ready to disembark, we bumped into Donald Duck at Shutters. He stopped to give DD a kiss and hug and then he posed for a picture. She was ecstatic!

With all of our IDs in hand we walked off the gangway and onto Canadian soil. What to do...We had no excursions planned. We decided to just go with the flow. We decided to get on the Hop On - Hop Off busses right outside of the port.

We took route "c" which brought us to the Citadel.

We got there around 11:30am and were informed that they would be firing the daily noon cannon!

We did some exploring before we headed up to the top to see the firing of the cannon. Boy, was that LOUD!

After they fired the cannon, the drums and bagpipes began playing and we did some more exploring.

This was the perfect place for the three of us. History for DH, a place to run and explore for DD and a great place to photograph for me. It started to get late and we were getting hungry. We decided to catch the bus and head back to the ship for lunch.
Waiting for the bus:

Today, we had lunch at Topsiders and for dessert we had ice cream from the soft serve machines. DD's naptime was approaching, so, we put her down for her nap and I went out to take some pictures of the ship while most people were ashore.

 

[jenseib]

I don't believe that cute,precious little face had any sort of a meltdown. I think you are making that up!

Halifax looks pretty. So how does the hop on and off bus work? Do you just get a ticket right at the bus, or does it have a little station type thing to buy one and it's good for the day? Is it fairly priced?

 

[Laurie12820]

I don't believe that cute,precious little face had any sort of a meltdown. I think you are making that up!

Halifax looks pretty. So how does the hop on and off bus work? Do you just get a ticket right at the bus, or does it have a little station type thing to buy one and it's good for the day? Is it fairly priced?

Haha! Surely, you know that cute little face can be deceiving!

The hop on/hop off buses were stationed right at the port. You could prebook this through DCL as an excursion, or, they had a little podium right by the buses where they would charge your onboard account! It was for the full day and there are three different routes you could take, you could transfer routes at certain spots too. It was $45/adult. It was partly a sightseeing tour as well as a guide was pointing out different things and giving us some history about Halifax. We found it to be pricey because we only went to the Citadel and back because it was quite a trek, we spent a good amount of time at the Citadel and we waited a good half hour to catch a bus back to the port. By that time it was lunch/nap time for DD. And, we did not want another melt down!

 

[sari8970]

I'm loving your trip report. We are going on the same cruise on 8/12. I'm so excited. I've been debating what to bring for clothing. I was going to do pants at night, but it seems a lot of people on our trip (joined the group) said they are bringing skirts, dresses or capris. I'd hate to be cold, but capris are so much easier to pack in terms of shoes. Unfortunately every pair of pants I own needs a different pair of shoes and I know DH will throw me overboard if I do that

Thanks so much for writing this!

 

[AshAlytwins]

I'm loving your trip report. We are going on the same cruise on 8/12. I'm so excited. I've been debating what to bring for clothing. I was going to do pants at night, but it seems a lot of people on our trip (joined the group) said they are bringing skirts, dresses or capris. I'd hate to be cold, but capris are so much easier to pack in terms of shoes. Unfortunately every pair of pants I own needs a different pair of shoes and I know DH will throw me overboard if I do that

Thanks so much for writing this!

I hear ya about the shoes!! I hate to be cold too so I'm not really sure what to pack! Probably will bring a pair of jeans and some khakis!!!
We are so excited about the trip, but a bit sad because it will be our first trip without our girls ever!!

 

[Joanna71985]

Loving the TR! It looks like a great itinerary (I'd love to give it a try at some point).

 

[Laurie12820]

Thank you all!

I only wore jeans at night on deck and we very rarely were outside at night on deck. Come to think of it, we were only outside at night at the Pirate Party. Otherwise I wore shorts and dresses. I was comfortable in the ship and on land in CA.

 

[Laurie12820]

Once DD was up, we went to go and meet Daisy Duck. We were the second person in line. Notice our matching Minnie flowers! A dear co-worker made these for us !

Port days are the best to meet the characters because most people are still ashore!

We stopped and took some pictures:

After Daisy, came Pluto and DD was very excited to meet him too! She said he licked her. It was too cute!

Once we finished we got DD some supper from Pluto's Dog House and then we got ready to head to Palo for our dinner. We dropped DD off at Flounder's and went up to Palo.
Unfortunately, I did not grab the camera for our Palo dinner. We were warmly greeted in Palo and our server Yelena came right over to see us. She asked us if this was our first time dining here and we told her it was. She explained the menu and left us to decide on drinks. DH, of course, ordered the Palo Signature drink because it had Grappa in it! I ordered a mixed drink, and I do not remember what it was called! It had sparkling wine in it and peach tree I think! Yelena brought us the fresh baked bread and antipasto. For appetizers we chose the Tuna Carpaccio and Lemon Oil Dressing (DH) and the Tuscan Minestrone Soup (me).
The appetizers were delicious as was the bread. Yelena then brought us our lemon sorbet palate cleanser. This was a welcome treat ! For dinner we ordered the Palo Beef Tenderloin. This was delicious as well, we ordered ours with the wine glaze. Yum! At this time Yelena asked us if we would be interested in the Chocolate Soufflé for dessert as it takes 25 to prepare and cook. She didn't have to ask me twice or show me the dessert menu, I was sold . DH was as well! We finished our meals and had a few minutes before dessert came. Yelena asked if we wanted coffee or tea. I ordered a coffee, and, after the Grappa cocktail DH stuck with water, lol .
Our Chocolate Soufflé came and it smelled divine. Yelena poked them open and poured in the vanilla and chocolate sauce. There was some vanilla ice cream on the side as well. This dessert was to die for ! We thought we were done, but, Yelena came back with an after dinner shot . It was delicious as it was made with the lemon sorbet, prosecco and vodka, I think. We rolled out of Palo and headed down to Flounder's. We watched DD through the window again and she was having fun . She didn't want to leave this time, she was actually hiding behind one of the counselors !
We finally pried her away, changed out clothes and headed to the Walt Disney Theater to see Villains Tonight! The three of us loved this show! It was wonderful. I'm sure the popcorn and apple juice helped Cassie to keep her interest. After the show we went back to the cabin and called it a night.

 

[jenseib]

Your dinner sounds so good! Some day I will get there and try the soufflé.