KsquaredMomma
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2011
- Messages
- 67
Long time lurker here and I must admit that Ive been completely obsessed with the trip reports here. Ive found that theyve provided so many valuable tips and useful information so I wanted to join the fun. Hopefully I can do the same while simultaneously re-living the best vacation ever! 
First of all my crew included myself (mom), DH (Chris), DS 1 (10yo), DS 2 (4yo), grandma and grandpa. We booked the May 10-18 2013 sailing on the Magic out of Galveston Tx with stops in Castaway Cay, Port Canaveral, and Key West. It really surpassed my expectations and Im not sure that I have anything to complain about. This was the first Disney Cruise for everyone in my party. It was the 3rd cruise for DH & I, the 14th for the grandparents and the 1st for our boys. Needless to say the excite-o-meter was off the charts for all of us. We were going to be celebrating Mothers Day as well as my graduation from college and acceptance into law school (yes I did things a bit backwards but a dream deferred is not a dream denied right??)
Day 1: Embarkation Day, Sail Away Party, Dinner at Lumieres
Embarkation day welcomed us with torrential downpours! We drove down to Galveston that morning from Louisiana (about a 4 hour drive) and arrived at about noon. We had a 1:00 boarding time and was placed in boarding group 26 upon arrival. Embarkation was a relatively smooth process. There were tons of people and we were anticipating quite a long wait before boarding the ship. We had the opportunity to check the kids into the Oceaneer Lab/Club there in the terminal but the line was atrocious and we were advised by a CM that wed be able to do so once on board on Deck 5. After a relatively long day on the road, we opted for the latter. Before we knew it, boarding group 26 was called and we were headed to the ship, well before our boarding time of 1. We walked onto the ship and our family was announced and greeted with applause from the crew. Looking back, this was definitely a taste of the exceptional service wed come to receive aboard the Magic.
After making our grand entrance : we headed over to Parrot Cay for the lunch buffet. I was so beyond excited that I dont even recall what was on the menu that day. After lunch we made our way to the deck 5 to check the kids into the Oceaneer Lab. We had the opportunity to meet the counselors and explore both the Club and the Lab with the kids. We were very impressed and my gosh if I were a kid again this place would be like heaven! There were so many activities and games, I knew my kids would love this place (more about that later lol). They were given their bracelets and we were asked for a secret password that wed provide each time we checked them out. We were given the option of allowing our 10 year old to check himself in and out. I was a little hesitant as Ive often referred to myself as a helicopter mom but I felt he was ready for this responsibility with a few rules so I okayed it. Cheers to letting go&. A little bit!
It was 1:30 on the dot and our rooms were ready, no bags yet but we were excited to see these rooms. Now the fiasco with the room situation had me a little concerned. We literally booked a month before sailing and with our budget had very few room options available to us. Our room would be on deck 1 (1032 to be exact) and the grandparents room would be located on deck 2 (2543). I had cruised before and had never been so low on the boat and didnt know what to expect. I was a little scared to be honest but this ended up being a blessing for us. We were literally around the corner from the gangway and the forward elevators which weve never ever had to wait for. The room had two small porthole windows that worked well enough for our family. The room size was a welcomed surprise after being on other ships with way smaller rooms. There was more than enough room for our family of four and we were very pleasantly surprised. My parents room was located directly beneath Rockin Bar D and I had read reviews of the noise level but my mother said theyve had absolutely no problems with noise. She is a light sleeper and came prepared but out of 8 nights, she said she may have heard faint noise only once. All in all our rooms worked well for us and I was worried for nothing. I would still LOVE to try a room with a verandah&next time maybe :
After checking out the rooms we made our way to deck 9 to check things out and wait for the Sail Away Party. We liked the layout of the ship and was especially excited about the Mickey Pool area. We would come to spend lots of time with our boys here. The slide was a big hit for our eldest son and the pool was perfect for our little one but we quickly came to find that this area gets really packed at certain times of the day. Emphasis on REALLY packed&like let your kid wear fluorescent and neon colors in order to not lose them in the masses of people in the pool packed. We found that early morning swimming (between 8-11) left us with both the Mickey and Goofy pools practically to ourselves. 12-4 was probably the busiest times at both pools.
http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/ksquaredmomma/media/DSCF3256.jpg.html?sort=3&o=367
The muster drill took place at 3:45 and was followed by the Sail Away party at 4:15. We found that we were still relatively early and was able to get spots for our kids right up front. Everyone was so excited as we awaited the arrival of the VIPs! We danced, sang and had a merry old time. My husband and I moved off to the side as to allow more kids the opportunity to see the show but I tell you some adults had absolutely no problem shoving little kids out of the way in order to get closer to the stage. I literally saw a 6 foot something man step in front of my 4 year old to get a picture of Mickey. Mama bear was not pleased to say the least but thanks to the power of the pixie dust we forged on without incident. I came to realize that this would be a recurring thing going on throughout the cruise. I think this would probably be one of the very few complaints Id have.
We attended the Welcome Aboard show in the Walt Disney Theater which was phenomenal. When it ended everyone was pretty tired so the grandparents went to their room. We thought wed do the same but the kids were curious about the kids activities so we checked both of them into the lab. The lab is more so catered to older kids but accessible to kids ages 3-12 with the Oceaneer Club geared more for younger kids. My youngest son wanted to stay with his brother so we checked them both into the lab while my husband and I went to dinner. Our first stop on the rotational dining lineup was Lumieres. I was blown away by the beauty of this restaurant and the attentive servers (Mo & Supatcha) but the food this night was not our favorite. After dinner we checked the kids out of the lab, thinking since this was a family vacation wed limit the use of the kids program (yeah right lol) and spent the rest of the evening watching movies in our room.
First of all my crew included myself (mom), DH (Chris), DS 1 (10yo), DS 2 (4yo), grandma and grandpa. We booked the May 10-18 2013 sailing on the Magic out of Galveston Tx with stops in Castaway Cay, Port Canaveral, and Key West. It really surpassed my expectations and Im not sure that I have anything to complain about. This was the first Disney Cruise for everyone in my party. It was the 3rd cruise for DH & I, the 14th for the grandparents and the 1st for our boys. Needless to say the excite-o-meter was off the charts for all of us. We were going to be celebrating Mothers Day as well as my graduation from college and acceptance into law school (yes I did things a bit backwards but a dream deferred is not a dream denied right??)
Day 1: Embarkation Day, Sail Away Party, Dinner at Lumieres
Embarkation day welcomed us with torrential downpours! We drove down to Galveston that morning from Louisiana (about a 4 hour drive) and arrived at about noon. We had a 1:00 boarding time and was placed in boarding group 26 upon arrival. Embarkation was a relatively smooth process. There were tons of people and we were anticipating quite a long wait before boarding the ship. We had the opportunity to check the kids into the Oceaneer Lab/Club there in the terminal but the line was atrocious and we were advised by a CM that wed be able to do so once on board on Deck 5. After a relatively long day on the road, we opted for the latter. Before we knew it, boarding group 26 was called and we were headed to the ship, well before our boarding time of 1. We walked onto the ship and our family was announced and greeted with applause from the crew. Looking back, this was definitely a taste of the exceptional service wed come to receive aboard the Magic.
After making our grand entrance : we headed over to Parrot Cay for the lunch buffet. I was so beyond excited that I dont even recall what was on the menu that day. After lunch we made our way to the deck 5 to check the kids into the Oceaneer Lab. We had the opportunity to meet the counselors and explore both the Club and the Lab with the kids. We were very impressed and my gosh if I were a kid again this place would be like heaven! There were so many activities and games, I knew my kids would love this place (more about that later lol). They were given their bracelets and we were asked for a secret password that wed provide each time we checked them out. We were given the option of allowing our 10 year old to check himself in and out. I was a little hesitant as Ive often referred to myself as a helicopter mom but I felt he was ready for this responsibility with a few rules so I okayed it. Cheers to letting go&. A little bit!
It was 1:30 on the dot and our rooms were ready, no bags yet but we were excited to see these rooms. Now the fiasco with the room situation had me a little concerned. We literally booked a month before sailing and with our budget had very few room options available to us. Our room would be on deck 1 (1032 to be exact) and the grandparents room would be located on deck 2 (2543). I had cruised before and had never been so low on the boat and didnt know what to expect. I was a little scared to be honest but this ended up being a blessing for us. We were literally around the corner from the gangway and the forward elevators which weve never ever had to wait for. The room had two small porthole windows that worked well enough for our family. The room size was a welcomed surprise after being on other ships with way smaller rooms. There was more than enough room for our family of four and we were very pleasantly surprised. My parents room was located directly beneath Rockin Bar D and I had read reviews of the noise level but my mother said theyve had absolutely no problems with noise. She is a light sleeper and came prepared but out of 8 nights, she said she may have heard faint noise only once. All in all our rooms worked well for us and I was worried for nothing. I would still LOVE to try a room with a verandah&next time maybe :
After checking out the rooms we made our way to deck 9 to check things out and wait for the Sail Away Party. We liked the layout of the ship and was especially excited about the Mickey Pool area. We would come to spend lots of time with our boys here. The slide was a big hit for our eldest son and the pool was perfect for our little one but we quickly came to find that this area gets really packed at certain times of the day. Emphasis on REALLY packed&like let your kid wear fluorescent and neon colors in order to not lose them in the masses of people in the pool packed. We found that early morning swimming (between 8-11) left us with both the Mickey and Goofy pools practically to ourselves. 12-4 was probably the busiest times at both pools.
http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/ksquaredmomma/media/DSCF3256.jpg.html?sort=3&o=367
The muster drill took place at 3:45 and was followed by the Sail Away party at 4:15. We found that we were still relatively early and was able to get spots for our kids right up front. Everyone was so excited as we awaited the arrival of the VIPs! We danced, sang and had a merry old time. My husband and I moved off to the side as to allow more kids the opportunity to see the show but I tell you some adults had absolutely no problem shoving little kids out of the way in order to get closer to the stage. I literally saw a 6 foot something man step in front of my 4 year old to get a picture of Mickey. Mama bear was not pleased to say the least but thanks to the power of the pixie dust we forged on without incident. I came to realize that this would be a recurring thing going on throughout the cruise. I think this would probably be one of the very few complaints Id have.
We attended the Welcome Aboard show in the Walt Disney Theater which was phenomenal. When it ended everyone was pretty tired so the grandparents went to their room. We thought wed do the same but the kids were curious about the kids activities so we checked both of them into the lab. The lab is more so catered to older kids but accessible to kids ages 3-12 with the Oceaneer Club geared more for younger kids. My youngest son wanted to stay with his brother so we checked them both into the lab while my husband and I went to dinner. Our first stop on the rotational dining lineup was Lumieres. I was blown away by the beauty of this restaurant and the attentive servers (Mo & Supatcha) but the food this night was not our favorite. After dinner we checked the kids out of the lab, thinking since this was a family vacation wed limit the use of the kids program (yeah right lol) and spent the rest of the evening watching movies in our room.
Oh you're going to enjoy!!!
What a great Cruise and a beautiful family you have!!!
lol
, but now I'm back in the saddle and trying to pick our next cruise!! 
I also wore a couple of Alabama shirts too. Roll Tide 
