7/6 Mexican Riviera and Disneyland pretrip (now complete with PIX!)

[Dsnylndlvrs]

Hi! We’re from Northern California and did a little traveling down south Disney style. Traveling were myself, DH, DS(15) and DD(12.) This was our second DCL and third overall cruise. We had rebooked a “phantom date” while on board back in 8/2006 and changed the dates once the 2008 itineraries came out. I wouldn’t say Mexican Riviera would have been our top choice to visit, but this was DCL after all, and that alone makes it a vacation for us! Three sea days and no airfare to Florida didn’t hurt either!!

So, our adventure started on Wednesday, July 2nd, heading down to Anaheim. We stayed at the Grand Californian. Ever since staying there the first time way back when, we can’t get ourselves to stay anywhere else! Once we got checked in, we had lunch at Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney and headed over to Disneyland. (I’ll add that the burgers from Jazz Kitchen that DH and DS had raved about, the ones made from filet mignon, were really good!) We were a little concerned about doing our Disneyland trip before the cruise because we knew that we’d be hitting some July 4th crowds along the way. Honestly, it never was a huge problem. I’ve seen Disneyland much more crowded during the summer. (Maybe not as many people traveling with the economy/gas prices, etc.? ) We first entered the park on that Wednesday about 3:30 and were able to hit all the big rides AT LEAST once before leaving at 10:30, including stopping for dinner and a little shopping! We did spend July 4 in California Adventure and the rest of the time at Disneyland. Every day, we went back to Downtown Disney and the hotel for lunch/siesta time and a break from the midday heat. We did phenomenally well taking advantage of fastpassing rides the whole time and didn’t feel like we missed anything at all! I don’t think that we ever spent more than 20 minutes in line, if that even. Learned too, that riding Matterhorn at night is amazing – seeing all the lights around the park as you duck in and out of the mountain- soo cool.

For as much fun as I had at Disneyland, I never really felt like I was on vacation. I kept telling myself that once I walked aboard the Magic, then I would feel like it was vacation. Anyway, Saturday night we went down to the lobby and got checked in for the cruise, getting our Castaway Club lanyards (Woo Hoo!!! ) and Key to The World cards right in the hotel. We’re pin collectors and, later that night, the kids and I sat down and transferred pins onto the new lanyards to have them ready for boarding day. I can’t tell you how excited we were!

Sunday morning it was up for breakfast at Storytellers (wearing cruise lanyards now because it was now day 1 of the cruise!) and doing our final packing up to head out for the Magic. Then it was time to check out and go wait for our car to the port. Not much of a wait and by about 10:15 we were on our way!

To be continued…(including what quite possibly was a DCL first??!!)

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

So, after leaving Disneyland at about 10:15, we arrived at the port at about 10:45 I think it was. We’d gotten our check in all taken care of so it was quick and easy skipping that part and we got boarding number 5. Two things that weren’t perfect about the wait at the port – the very loud mariachi band (they were good and festive but way to loud) and the line for kids’ club check in. That line literally didn’t move until maybe 10-15 minutes before boarding started. So at least we had something to do (sort of!) up until boarding. The lady in charge of checking boarding numbers actually let us go in at the tail end of the 4’s so that was cool! It was a little different boarding onto deck 4 instead of 3, but it was so nice to be back on board!!! But, I still didn’t get the “I’m finally on vacation feeling.” At this point, I was starting to wonder if I’d ever get that magical feeling!

After a quick stop at Rockin’ Bar D to make Palo dinner arrangements (OMG it was so cool to see Beat Street again!!) we headed up to Topsiders for lunch. We managed to get the same table we had for our first lunch about the Magic two years ago – a new tradition has now been born! DH and I got the margaritas they were offering. Honestly, they were way too strong for me, but they came in cool souvenir plastic glasses that we were excited about keeping! (We later got two sail away drinks in the same glasses so we now have a set of four to remind us of cruising when were at home! ) By 2:00 we were in our stateroom after meeting our attendant, Panya from Thailand, in the hall. I thought getting to the stateroom might bring on that vacation feeling, but, no, that didn’t do it either. Hmmm…

After checking out the room, we did some touring around the ship to reacquaint ourselves and peer in the shop windows to case out what we might be buying. Oh, and the little matter of the drill had to be taken care of also. By this time DS wanted to go hang out at the Stack and see who he could meet. DD didn’t feel like doing the sail away party, so it was just DH and I. Once we realized the ship was slowly starting to move all we wanted to do was wander around to watch the progress out to sea. I still wasn’t feeling that “vacation feeling” yet but was loving the knowledge that it was all getting ready to begin!

We had been assigned the 8:30 seating so DD, DH and I took in the 6:15 “All Aboard: Let the Magic Begin” show and really enjoyed getting a taste of things to come. Back in the room, waiting for DS and getting ready for dinner, I suddenly felt like I was on vacation! Finally. The trick that brought about that feeling? – the rocking! I’ve become so spoiled by cruising, that I need to feel the ship rocking in order to truly feel like I’m on vacation!

After dinner, both kids headed to their respective clubs and DH and I headed to the fun at Rockin Bar D. Magic Quest was hilarious. We found ourselves part of a group of some great people and had a ball. And, to top it off, our group somehow won! We were awarded little DCL flashlites! Now, in my first installment, I hinted to a possible DCL first and here’s where it comes in… after Magic Quest was Match Your Mate. This is a show that’s done all the time and is a lot of fun so we were looking forward to it, but there was an unanticipated twist that threw our host, David, for a little bit of a loop. When looking for a newlywed couple, one guy raised his hand very excitedly saying he’d been married only two weeks and holding up the hand of his…husband! (The laws in California did recently change after all! ) David was very up front that after hundreds of times hosting Match Your Mate, he’d never had this situation come up, but then he invited the newlyweds up to the stage. There were a couple awkward moments like when it was time to invite the “girls” to head off stage, but with lots of giggles from the audience, David got through it doing the best job I could imagine. Somehow the situation just added more to the fun!

Anyway, that’s pretty much the first day highlights. Up next: found – Heaven on Earth!

 

[unionville]

That loud Mariachi Band almost drove us insane. We couldn't even have a conversation with each other without yelling! We were just happy they didn't board the ship with us!

 

[Kouris_Family]

Great trip report, can't wait to hear more.
SOunds like you will be having a great time. We were on the Magic 6-29-08, had a great time too. Little different for us with a 5 & 9 year old.
Kay

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

So, the first day at sea. While we were interested in seeing what the ports had to offer, it’s the sea days that we were most interested in! We slept late that morning, had breakfast, watched the kids head off to their stuff and then DH and I went to the “Castaway Clubhouse.” We were so excited to be able to go to this for the first time – even if we read the event was nearly as good as it used to be. We enjoyed meeting a few officers and staff. One, Mary Jo, was the head of merchandising. She couldn’t remember the answer to a question we had and promised to get back to us. (As it turned out, we ran into her later in the day and she remembered us and gave us the answer in person. It was so cool that she knew who we were. Her name will come up later in my report too.) Anyway, at the castaway event, there were 8 clocks to be raffled off – nothing else, but…..we won one!!! Very exciting!

Afterwards, we had lunch, just the two of us and did a little shopping. All very low key and relaxed.

Now, I ended my last installment mentioning Heaven on Earth. Want to know where it is? Go up to the spa on the Magic. Head down the right hallway and go into the (I think) second door on the right. There will be Heaven just waiting for you! Of course, you should probably reserve Heaven in advance… That was our spa villa for a few blissful hours. Really – it was just as I would imagine Heaven. Our experience started with a foot cleansing ceremony during which they prepared a wonderful aromatherapy stew in the Jacuzzi for us. We had about 45 minutes to soak in the spa overlooking the ocean. The sun had just finally come out in force (just for us, of course! ) At first we spent some time giggling and laughing as we moved around the Jacuzzi trying to find the perfect positions (no, not that kind of position – sitting and relaxing kind of positions!) Once we had finally gotten settled, and relaxed (and done laughing about how much water we’d sloshed over the side and onto the floor ) then it was time for massages. DH had never had a professional massage (kind of unsure about it as a man, LOL!) Well, we both had the hot stone massage and loved it. Absolutely wonderful! Actually, so wonderful that I needed to lean against a wall to stand up afterwards! After that, it was time to relax back outside on the comfy lounge for two, sipping tea and eating fruit and watching the ocean go by. By the time we were completely done, it had been 3 glorious hours! No, it hadn’t been cheap, but it was so very worth every last penny!

Beyond that, I can’t remember much of what happened later in the day other than it being formal night and watching a funny Jeff Civilco in that nights adult cabaret. Maybe my brain was still a little too relaxed from the villa experience to remember much of anything!

next up - Our day at Cabo, including (I hope) a few pictures!

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

Tuesday was Cabo San Lucas Day. We were actually pretty lucky that the temps weren’t bad at all. (Come to find out that we missed a heat wave into the 110’s at home while we were gone – lucky us!) After a breakfast at Topsiders we went to wait for our excursion – the “Harbor Cruise and Scenic Drive.” The harbor cruise was on a double decker catamaran that left from not too far away from the tender boat landing. Light refreshments were available and there was someone taking pictures, both with passenger cameras and also with their own cameras for sale at the end. The ride was very nice and enjoyable.

Here's a picture of the "front" side of Los Arcos as I'll call it:


And here's a shot from the "back" side (I laugh when I look at this picture, it's not the clearest, but it looks like the Magic got marooned on Lover's Beach!)



After that, it was a short walk to the busses (very nice, new and with a bathroom) for the scenic drive part of the excursion. Honestly, there wasn’t that much to the actual “scenic drive” part of the excursion other than a stop at a nice restaurant with amazing views of the harbor. There were some simple foods for sale there besides going to the main restaurant (pizzas and sandwiches) and everyone got one beverage. The pizzas we bought weren’t the best in the world but we really enjoyed sitting and eating in such a beautiful spot! If you do this excursion, grab your drink, go pick a table and then send someone to buy food. If you get a good table, you might have views like this (notice the Magic in the background.)

My DH and DS:



My DD:



The bus ride back offered us a choice between being let off in town to shop or a ride all the way back to the tendering area. We chose to be let off in town and do a little shopping as we leisurely walked back on our own. By the time we got back, it was still fairly early (maybe 2:00 or so?) and we went ahead and boarded the ship again.

At the time we got back, it was very relaxed and quiet around ship – great for walking around, grabbing a light snack and enjoying the pretty scenery. That evening is when we rebooked (for December 2009 but planning on sailing summer 2010) and played our first round of bingo for the cruise. We also took in the show of the night and adult cabaret in Rockin Bar D. What was so nice about this being our second Disney cruise is this relaxed feeling that we didn’t need to rush around trying to take in everything. It was as easy going as being at home – but with someone else picking up after you, doing the cleaning and cooking and serving. Ah – what a life!

The sunset from our verandah:

 

[Dizney73]

our excursion – the “Harbor Cruise and Scenic Drive.” The harbor cruise was on a double decker catamaran that left from not too far away from the tender boat landing. Light refreshments were available and there was someone taking pictures, both with passenger cameras and also with their own cameras for sale at the end. The ride was very nice and enjoyable.

Glad to read about your excursion in Cabo. we are booked on the same one and I haven't heard anyone talk about it yet! I love your photo of the beached Magic!

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

Wednesday was Mazatlan day. I have to say this was our least favorite port. I have some family members for whom Mazatlan is a very special place and I know a lot of people enjoy it. I actually feel bad that we didn’t like it! On top of everything else, it didn’t help that the day started out a rainy, dismal day. It did clear up later on, but it didn’t change anything for us.

Anyway…Our excursion was called “The best of Mazatlan.” It included a bus ride around the city, stopping at a cathedral for a about 15 minutes, then an area where cliff diving is done (we were there about 5 minutes and saw one dive while off the bus and one dive as we were driving away) and a very brief stop at a lighthouse (we didn’t even bother getting off the bus there.) Following that was a trip to a resort where we had a fairly good Mexican buffet lunch and folkloric show. The show had dancing and other entertainment, some of it good, some of it, well, kind of cheesy. (Sorry, I feel bad saying that! )

Here's the church and cliff diving location (a diver is standing on a railing





After all of that, we had a fair amount of time to spend beach side. Somehow, we didn’t realize that we’d be at a beach for any significant amount of time and didn’t come prepared for that. So, three of us waded a little in the water and sat relaxing for a while, wishing we could find a way to get to the “Golden Zone” for some shopping (gotta stop and get that free charm from Diamonds International, you know!) After looking at our shopping map for a while, I was able to figure out that the resort we were at was actually right at the beginning of the “Golden Zone” (at least I think that’s what it was called!) Just a quick walk out the resort driveway and a turn left down the road and we were right in the shopping zone. After walking around there for a while, we went back to the resort to get our open air taxi ride back to port. That taxi ride was something – kind of felt like I needed to hold on for dear life, but we got back safe and sound!

Here's a picture taken at the beach (if you look very closely, you might see the Magic in the distance!)



We were really quite happy to get back to ship after this excursion. As usual, the evening was filled with dinner, shows and bingo. (No we never won at bingo , although very close. Always had fun at it though – even with the new fangled electronic thingamajigs!)

Up next was our favorite excursion day with lots of pics…

 

[Kouris_Family]

We went to the Golden Zone in Mazatlan, had to get that charm, it was fun, but the best was a restaurant called Ponchos right on the beach. It was beautiful there, the food was great, we went swimming right after lunch. Very warm water in Mazatlan. We almost missed the boat in Mazatlan just wasting time shopping right there at the port not paying attention to time. They pulled up the anchor as soon as us last 4 girls stopped shopping.
Kay

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

We went to the Golden Zone in Mazatlan, had to get that charm, it was fun, but the best was a restaurant called Ponchos right on the beach. It was beautiful there, the food was great, we went swimming right after lunch. Very warm water in Mazatlan. We almost missed the boat in Mazatlan just wasting time shopping right there at the port not paying attention to time. They pulled up the anchor as soon as us last 4 girls stopped shopping.
Kay

Sounds like you had a great adventure in Mazatlan, especially the getting back to ship part! You know I think part of our problem with Mazatlan was that we had too high of expectations. It didn't help that our excursion was called the very best of Mazatlan. Afterwards, I couldn't help but think "this was the very best???"

I have to say, the beach was nice and, yes, that water was a great temperature but we weren't prepared for playing at the beach (our oops!) If we'd just gone for the beach, I bet the day would have felt a lot better.

 

[tksbaskets]

I'm enjoying your trip report. We were a few weeks in front of you. Reliving the memories. We did the City Highlights in Matzatlan quite similar to your tour. We were bothered that every time the bus stopped we were inundated with people trying to sell us 'stuff'. Looking forward to the rest!
TK

 

[CAmom2boys]

We're signed up for the Best of Mazatan tour. Do you think your dislike of Mazatlan the more a result of the town in general or the excursion you took? Would you have enjoyed it more if you had realized your excursion was a "beach day" and had been prepared for it? I think the reviews of Mazatlan are the most varied and it is the port I am most concerned about, wondering if we should keep our excursion, or stay on the ship. I would love to hear your opinions. Your trip report is great. I am really enjoying it!
D'Anne

 

[tksbaskets]

Great pictures

 

[jmatias]

Love reading your report We are on the July 27th cruise and the anticipation is making me

Jen

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

We're signed up for the Best of Mazatan tour. Do you think your dislike of Mazatlan the more a result of the town in general or the excursion you took? Would you have enjoyed it more if you had realized your excursion was a "beach day" and had been prepared for it? I think the reviews of Mazatlan are the most varied and it is the port I am most concerned about, wondering if we should keep our excursion, or stay on the ship. I would love to hear your opinions. Your trip report is great. I am really enjoying it!
D'Anne

You know, it's hard to say exactly. By the name of the excursion, I think I really was looking forward to seeing the highlights and my idea of highlights was probably higher than what Mazatlan has to offer. I was really disappointed with the few little stops we made prior to getting to the resort for lunch and beach. I think we would have enjoyed the excursion better had it just not included those things (church, cliff diving, lighthouse.) And, I do think there was another excursion that was pretty much just that. Who knows though - with a bright sunny day and a different, more informative guide, maybe our experience would have been completely different.

Oh, and the show - like I said, some of it was good, some of it wasn't so good but was entertaining and some of it was a little weird. Prime example - one of the entertainers on stage brought up an excursion guest and they took turns pretending to be a bull while the other pretended to be the matador?! Kinda goofy!

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

Great pictures

Why, thank you! I was pretty pleased with how some of them turned out too!

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

Love reading your report We are on the July 27th cruise and the anticipation is making me

Jen

Lucky you! I hope you have a fabulous time!!!

 

[dleyel]

Loving your TR~thanks for sharing! We're on the August 3rd cruise and have booked the same Cabo excursion. My kids are 12, 9 and 6. Do you think we would be better off just doing the harbor cruise and skipping the bus tour? It was only about $8 more, so I booked it, but am wondering if it's worth the extra time. Also, did you see anywhere in Cabo to parasail? Just wondering if this would be any easy thing to arrange once we are there.

Thanks!
Debbie

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

Loving your TR~thanks for sharing! We're on the August 3rd cruise and have booked the same Cabo excursion. My kids are 12, 9 and 6. Do you think we would be better off just doing the harbor cruise and skipping the bus tour? It was only about $8 more, so I booked it, but am wondering if it's worth the extra time. Also, did you see anywhere in Cabo to parasail? Just wondering if this would be any easy thing to arrange once we are there.

Thanks!
Debbie

You know, we did enjoy our little lunch in the beautiful spot - I was glad for it, actually. And, there was plenty of time after the excursion to do shopping and other things. There were a lot of boat related venders right around where the tender boats come in. I know several were for glass bottom boats, some might have been for fishing, general sight seeing. I do remember seeing parasailing going on so I think you would probably be in luck!

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

OK, so we’re onto Puerto Vallarta Thursday! After our normal Topsiders breakfast, it was off to Studio Sea to check in for our Las Caletas Hideaway excursion. I’d read some stuff about Las Caletas, both searching online for info and write-ups from other DCL guests and it all sounded really good, so our hopes were high for a great day. After getting our green Sebastian stickers (I remember this because DH’s sticker was still on the sweat shirt he put on this morning!) it was a short walk to the catamaran that would take us to Las Caletas. The catamaran crew and guide were fun and friendly. The ride over was really pleasant. I hadn’t really had a clear idea what the area would look like, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how pretty it looked. There were a couple small beaches (but quite sufficient for the number of people on the excursion!) and then surrounding the area was lush tropical beauty – trees, plants, etc. A few buildings were tucked in here and there, with paths and bridges winding around in different places. It’s all isolated from the rest of the world and beautiful!









So, the first thing to do seemed to be hiking along to find the best place to set up camp for the family. After taking one turn that lead to nowhere, we got going again and found a spot for the four of us. It probably wouldn’t have been our first choice, but, hey it was four beach chairs together. Some people managed to get little areas with chairs, table and nearby hammock or two located on little “bluff” type areas. It seemed like all chairs available did get taken, but I don’t think there were many people who didn’t get chairs either. Available to us was snorkeling equipment, kayaks, tubes for floating, the chance to go swim with a seal lion (who was very vocal I might add!) hiking trails, bird encounters, and probably several other things that I’m not thinking of. We pretty much just hung out beach side for a few hours. DS hung out with a new friend of his from the Stack for a good share of the time (unknowingly collecting a LOT of sand in his swim trunks. ) DH and DD snorkeled for a while and then DD floated around on a tube.

When it was getting close to the time lunch would be ready, we gathered our stuff to go try to find where we would be eating. It wasn’t obvious at first, but once we got there, we were seated very quickly and helped ourselves to some really good food in a beautiful location! There were salads (I really liked the crab salad!) and corn, beans, potatoes, chicken, ribs, paella, desserts and I’m sure several other things I can’t remember. After eating, we quick tried to find the area with birds and monkeys as it was almost time for the bird and monkey encounter. I’m glad we got there a little early because this turned out to be pretty popular. For my daughter, this was probably the single best excursion event for her – she loves all animals but especially monkeys. Not only did we get to see the birds and monkey up close, we got to take turns holding them! The monkey was a squirrel monkey and very very soft (and cute!)





After that fun, not knowing how much longer we had before needing to get back to the catamaran, we slowly made our way towards the boat launch area. We came along an area, within site of the boat launch, that had three available hammocks! DH and the kids loved laying in the hammocks while I enjoyed quietly sitting nearby and taking pictures. What we had hoped for with this excursion was something as pretty and relaxing as possible to make up for not having Castaway Cay. Las Caletas worked perfectly. I don’t know if we’ll ever make it down to Puerto Vallarta again, but I would definitely visit Las Caletas again if I had the opportunity! (Glowing enough review for you? )







We got back to the port early enough that we could have easily had enough time to grab a taxi and head into town to do some shopping, but we were anxious to shower and then never got around to it. (So much for getting the free charm there!) That’s OK, the day was perfect as is!

That night ended with bingo, dinner, pirate party, fireworks and a movie. Here, I have to say, what was I thinking? We went to the 10:30 showing of Wall-E. I am NOT a late night person! So I saw half of Wall-E before drifting off to dreamland. (I got to see the whole thing yesterday though. It wasn’t free this time, but I did have hot buttered popcorn, so all is good! )

Next installment: Nemo kisses my a%%!