May 6th - Travel Day.
Cast:
Me: Amanda - 25 Disney Fan!
DH: Brian - 27, indulges me.
Eric - 32, our neighbor
Susan - 31, our neighbor
David - XX, Susan's Dad
Bonnie - XX, Susan's Mom
Betty - 83, Susan's Grandmother, David's Mother.
Our neighbors took 7 pieces of luggage! Brian and I had 3 checked bags, 1 small carry on, and then my purse. LOL! We managed to get it all into our Hyundai Santa Fe and were off to the airport.
The flight was painless and extremely comfortable.
Arrived at the airport in Orlando a little early. Goit the rental car and luggage and we are off. First stop was to the
Disney Store outlet to see if anything there was good. We didn't find anything. Then to Goodings for 4 bottles of wine (did you know you could bring your own liquor on a
Disney Cruise?). After that we went to Downtown Disney for an Earl of Sandwich - yummy! Went shopping and got some Giradelli's icecream. I had the coffee flavored in the chocolate waffle cone.
We departed Downtown Disney and I was a little sad
since we won't be back for a LONG time.
The drive to Port Caneveral is about an hour or so. We stayed at the Radisson which was clean. The neighbors and us shared a room for the night to cut down on expenses.
The next morning we were up nice and early - and went to McDonald's for breakfast. I haven't actually had a McD's breakfast in a LONG time, and now I remember why
.
We were actually at the port by 9a.m. - people were still getting off the ship! The Magic in the port looks so awesome! I am so glad that Disney decided to go with the classic design on the exterior. The Magic was docked next to Carnival Glory which was described as a floating milk carton
.
When they finally announced that we could head to the ship it was like a scene from the Amazing Race. The small group that had gathered outside the cars to chit chat all run to the vehicles. You can actually hear people saying, "Go! Go! Go!" Eric (our neighbor) dropped us and the luggage off at the terminal and he went to return the rental car.
Once in the terminal we got in line to "check in" We had the cutest two girls behind us 6/7 year old twins who were so excited about everything! We ran into them a couple of times on the ship and they always gave Brian and me hugs.
Once you are checked in you get to wait in line to actually get on the ship. By this point the neighbors were also checked in and Eric was back from the rental car place. While in line Eric and Susan had a tiff and I had to seperate them. Everyone was tired, excited, crabby, and bored with waiting in line.
It is so cool to walk through the Mickey eared tunnel and ARRIVE. They announce your name and there are crew members in the atrium applauding your arrival. Upon entering the ship we split up for Palo reservations and Spa reservations. Since we were like the 15th person on the trip we got everything we wanted.
We decided to head up to Deck 9 to get soda's and enjoy the buffet. I actually had a really low carb meal w/o planning it. I'm sitting there enjoying my lunch when who pulls up a chair next to me but Mickey Mouse!!! After giving me several kisses he went and danced with Betty for a few minutes.
We decided to explore the ship a bit and man is this thing HUGE!!! We headed to our rooms about 2pm and were able to unpack and freshen up a bit. At 3pm we attended the life boat safety meeting. Very important and very quick - 15 minutes. Then at 4pm we had the sail away party. This was fun! They play fun music, the characters come out and dance and then there is the horn. Now most Ship's horns sound like "BBBAAAAAAAAAAA" The Disney Horn sounds like this, "WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR." All other ships have horn envy!
We went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner. We had our picture taken with Dopey in the atrium and then headed to the show. "The Welcome Aboard" show was cute and fun. It is about Jeremy who wants to be a ship captain when he gets older.
Then dinner was at Lumiere's this is the fancy resturant on the ship. And the floors are done in 5 count them 5 different types of Marble. Their is a huge mural of the ballroom "Beauty and the Beast" scene on the far wall. Our head server was Alain from France, our table server was MLaden from Croatia, and our assistant server was Ever Lee from the Phillpians.
Since the menu's changed right before we cruised I can't remember everything we ate that evening. I want to say my dessert was mushrooms baked in a pastry with some yummy sauce. My salad had pears and arugula in it. My Main course was mustard crusted lamb shanks - very good. Dessert was Kahlua chocolate creme brulee. Extremely rich! Brian had the chicken which I cannot remember how it was prepared.
After dinner we were all exhausted and headed to bed. The bed thankfully was extremely comfortable and I slept like a baby! Next day is Key West!
~Amanda
Let us know how you like the Garden of Eden's cabana boys! 
away for some fun in the 
Anyway, I need to go grocery shopping today since there is literally no food in the house! 
