Sorry it took me so long. Thanks for everyone else who posted too! Here is my report for days 1 and 2:
Day 1:
Today is the big day! I woke up at about 6:30 in the morning and started getting ready for the big day. DH got up about 7:00, we packed up and left the Country Inn at about 8:00. I had forgotten to pack something so we made a quick stop at Publix, and as we passed by Budget, we saw a whole lot of people getting ready to take the shuttle over to the port. I was pretty surprised since it was only 8:40! So I had DH and DS drop me off at the port and then he would take the shuttle and meet me later.
When we got to port at about 8:40, there were already about 5 or 6 groups in front of us. I figured so, since on our meet thread a lot were talking about arriving early. I found out later, the earliest was there at about 7:30 am. This surprised me since I arrived at 9:30 on our last cruise and was the first one in line.
It was so nice to meet a lot of Disers while waiting in line waiting for the terminal to open, and then once again inside waiting to board. A lot were there wanting to see how much upgrades were. From what I understand, someone in a category 12 who wanted to upgrade to a category 7 it was $1967.00 A lot of the people did not want to pay that money in upgrades. I have heard conflicting info about this though--I have heard some say it is from the originally priced cabin purchased and some say it is from the category you were upgraded to. So I have no idea how it all works. We were not interested in an upgrade so I never waited in the line---all of this is just what I gathered from other people. But from what I gathered, a lot of people were pretty surprised and not too happy with how much upgrades were. Many did not pay to get upgraded and were fine with what they had.
An empty terminal and the model ship.
Chase, and two other little boys (one is Rio) enthralled watching the cartoons.
Boarding went smoothly and quickly at about 11:45 or 12:00. I did not have a watch so I was not exactly sure, but seemed about usual.
Once onboard I had heard someone say that they had never seen the
DCL parking lot so empty...here is some pics to show you:
When we boarded, there were quite a bit of cast members cheering in the lobby. The ladies were wearing long blue skirts, and they were handing out free drinks (I found out later it was rum punch) but since we dont drink, never had one. I immediately headed to Palos, but basically so did everybody else
I went to make Palo/table changes while DH took DS directly to the Mickey pool.
I had Palo dinner and brunch reservations, but went and got them changed to different times and days. They said they would see how the first days reservations went before deciding if people could start reserving more than one reservation. I have not checked back on that yet.
After about an hour, I went and joined DH up at the Mickey pool with DS, this is later in the afternoon, and was about as crowded as the Mickey pool got that day:
Our staterooms were ready right on time at 1:30, and all of our bags were promptly outside our door soon after. They were very efficient and quick.
We were in stateroom 8076 a cat. 4 stateroom. We really like it!! Great location, and so convenient. We prefer aft over midship any day, but that is just us.
On our stateroom desk, the had some neat flyers about all of the port stops we would be making, as well as the navigator and movie and tv listings for the week. They will give the second weeks listings at the end of the first week.
These are the movies listed: At the show, they said they were trying to show movies that had themes or settings relating to the Med stops, so maybe this will be the movie listing for the Med cruises since ours does not go to Italy or France:
Déjà vu
Count of Monte Cristo (just one showing)
The Incredibles
The Wild
Italian Job
Wallace and Grommit and the curse of the Ware Rabbit
Wild Hogs
Bridge to Terabithia
The Invisible
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest
On the Walt Disney Theater: Meet the Robinsons
Here are the main shows for the 2 weeks:
Welcome Aboard
Walt Disney Theater Showtime: Jimmy Tamley
Golden Mickeys
WDTS: Mike Super
On the Nose
The Art of the Story
Twice Charmed
Boyz II Men: Live in Concert
Disney Magic Crew Talent Show
Jim Brickman
When Mickey Dreams
Disney Dreams
Remember the Magic: A Final Farewell
These are some of the activites they have planned:
Adventures away (Sail away party) 5/12
Desperate Shipmates (who dunnit at sea): 5/15
Pirates in the Caribbean: 5/18
Party Paradiso: 5/23
Today was a really hard and up and down day for me. Most of the time I was amazed and SO excited we were back on the Magic so soon (we just went on an Eastern in November) and the other time was an unexplained disappointedness that I am admitting only because I am being frank. It had nothing to do on DCLs part. They were fine, but I was tired from not much sleep the night before, and there were a few little glitches that would happen on any trip. That and I was surprised at all the savvy cruisers out there. I am used to being ahead of the game, and it seemed like this time (at the show they said over 1000 were CC members/repeat DCL cruisers) I was right in the thick of the crowds, standing in line at every turn, because everyone knew what to do. Case in point, I went to change my Palo time, and there was only a line of about 4 people. No biggie, but as I was in line, I made the decision to jump over to the dining line since no one was in it. After I spoke with a head waiter to check on our table location and size (we wanted to try for a table for four) I went back to get in the Palo line and it was about out the door of Rockin bar D. This was a matter of about 5 minutes. I was not happy with my dumb decision, and it seemed like I made dumb decisions like that all day. Nothing serious, but just in the mix of things all the time and being tired, did not help. I am playing a violin here. It was a rough day
..
I am sure I will snap out of the funk tomorrow.
The sailaway party was great. We got up to the party too late, so I did not have the best spot to film the countdown. There were only 3 times the whole cruise that I remember kicking myself for not taking the time to get there earlier, and this was one of them. (They were all doozies too. LOL)
Here is a shot of the sailaway
They were handing out these neat metallic streamers on a stick things and some Mickey hand signs that we could wave--I did get up there in time for that. There were some people who got there too late, and they were already handed out. After the countdown and the horn, we were not moving, and time went by, and still not moving. A few of us up on deck 10 were watching to see if anyone was making a mad dash to the pier, but I had started to hear that there was a mix-up and someone's luggage was being waited for. I was so hoping that they would make it becuase I could not imagine a 2 week cruise, or who knows how long without our luggage!!
I saw a truck rush towards the ship (do not know if that was the reason for the hold up or not) and soon after that, the terminal people came out to wave us goodbye, and we started moving.
We were switched to a table for 4 at the last minute, but our server did not know we were his table, so we waited for about an hour while we watched him take orders and meet his 4 other tables. His assistant server got our drinks and knew we were there, but since we were put there all of a sudden, he was not made aware. Poor guy, he didnt know! But this made dinner extremely slow. We were probably one of the last families out of the dining room that night. So who said early diners feel rushed? LOL We are pretty sure tomorrow things will run so much smoother.
The welcome aboard show was great. The entertainers were a guitar playing guy and a illusionist/comedy magician guy. Sorry cannot think of their names right now
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We went to bed, not used to going to
Castaway Cay the next day. We were used to it on the last day, not the first day!
Stay tuned:
Is this Castaway Cay????
How many kids did you say were on board?
Why oh why do people let their kids do that????
I set my alarm for 6:30 since we could disembark Castaway Cay at 8:30 am. I wanted to see the sunrise and I wanted to watch us dock at CC. Did I do this? Stay tuned to find out
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Thanks for the updates 
