Disney Magic - 05/10/13 (May 10, 2013) - Calling All Kids At Heart

[thorpedo1015]

For those who live in tx, are you driving in the night before or morning of? We're out in temple, and I thought we'd do the 4 hr drive the morning of the 10th to make our 1200 embarkation time, but now I'm freaking out that something will happen and we'll miss the ship!

Thoughts?

We live in Dallas and always go down the night before. We are staying at the Springhill Suites on Galveston island it's a decent hotel and not very expensive. For us it cuts down a lot of stress going down the night before eating the free breakfast and getting up later and heading to the boat.

 

[Icats]

We booked the Dessert and Fireworks at Tomorrowland Terrace. It's going to be a looooooooong day so it will be nice to sit down and relax before heading back to the ship.

Thanks for reminding me about this Dessert Party! I've been checking for availability periodically, but it had slipped my mind the past few weeks. Just went to the WDW site and booked it!

 

[mickeydavis]

For those who live in tx, are you driving in the night before or morning of? We're out in temple, and I thought we'd do the 4 hr drive the morning of the 10th to make our 1200 embarkation time, but now I'm freaking out that something will happen and we'll miss the ship!

Thoughts?

It took some debate but we're leaving the night before. Like you said just in case something happens. Never been to Galveston and with our luck we'd get lost. Got a free night at a la quinta so thought we'd use it before it expires.

 

[golfpccc]

For those who live in tx, are you driving in the night before or morning of? We're out in temple, and I thought we'd do the 4 hr drive the morning of the 10th to make our 1200 embarkation time, but now I'm freaking out that something will happen and we'll miss the ship!

Thoughts?

We are only 2hrs, 15 min from Galveston. Cruise a lot out of Galveston and usually drive down the day before, that is if the hotel prices aren't out of site. With the cruise leaving on a Fri, the hotels prices for Thurs. are very reasonable. Have found it is just fun to start the vacation a day early and no stress about getting to the ship on time especially with the Houston traffic on a week day. Also, a lot of the hotels allow you to park your car for the duration of the cruise for free and many have free shuttles to the port and back. We are staying at the Four Points.

 

[golfpccc]

Nope, you are not the only ones on the ship without children or grandchildren. We are also in your same category. Who knows, maybe they will assign us together.

We decided to do Animal Kingdom first since we've never been there. Not sure where we will be after that. We are going to end our day at Epcot. We've signed up for the Illuminations port adventure. It was highly recommended here on the boards. It allows you a private seating area, and desserts are served while you have prime viewing for the fireworks show at the end of the day. According to the reports of past cruisers, they will then escort you to a waiting bus to make it back to port. Will be nice not to have to find seating for the fireworks or scramble for a bus.

We have been to WDW many times, so think we'll just stick with going to Epcot and Hollywood. Imagine we will head back to the ship fairly early since we have seen all the fireworks shows.

Maybe we will be assigned together!! We are also big RCCL fans and cruisers.

 

[golfpccc]

Another question!! Does Disney stick to the assigned embarkation time you are assigned? DH loves to get to the port early and since we just booked, the earliest time we could get was 12:30. Just wondered if they would really turn us away if we showed up early.

 

[SapphireMind]

We are driving down morning of. We live in Houston and it's <1 hr usually to get to Galveston. We'll probably leave 10-1030am (I think our boarding time is 12) I'm not worried about getting there. DH is going to drop me and DD off so we don't have to pay for parking down there.

 

[wajones2]

We are flying in the day before and staying at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston the night before. I hope we have a smooth travel day, so we get in to Galveston and can enjoy some of local spots since we have never been there before.

The Magic will be back in Galveston tomorrow but since the weather is supposed to be nice here again, I doubt we will watch her sail away.

I have been looking at pics from our last cruise & I can't get over how much DD has grown.

 

[s232271]

We always drive down night before and stay at the harbor house they have a great rate right now and watch the ship pull in on Friday morning since we r right at the port!

 

[SapphireMind]

So excited! Just figured out what I'm going to do for our FE project!!! :dance:

 

[maiziejenga]

We are only 2hrs, 15 min from Galveston. Cruise a lot out of Galveston and usually drive down the day before, that is if the hotel prices aren't out of site. With the cruise leaving on a Fri, the hotels prices for Thurs. are very reasonable. Have found it is just fun to start the vacation a day early and no stress about getting to the ship on time especially with the Houston traffic on a week day. Also, a lot of the hotels allow you to park your car for the duration of the cruise for free and many have free shuttles to the port and back. We are staying at the Four Points.

That's a good thought about traffic and parking. If we were going to spend $75 on parking anyway, may as well avoid the traffic and have breakfast at the pool.

 

[MissAverysMomma]

We will be in Houston, so we will just drive down that morning.

 

[denamo]

For those who live in tx, are you driving in the night before or morning of? We're out in temple, and I thought we'd do the 4 hr drive the morning of the 10th to make our 1200 embarkation time, but now I'm freaking out that something will happen and we'll miss the ship!

Thoughts?

I truly understand your concern of making it to port especially since this will be a weekday departure. We do live in Texas, but as you know Texas is a big state. Our drive is almost 7 hours! We're at the southmost tip of TX. We always drive up the day before. We would have to leave very early to make it to port on the same day.

In January we cruised on the RCCL Mariner. When Princess, Carnival, RCCL and Disney cruiselines were in Galveston: hotels were a premium price so we stayed in Texas City. This time with two of the four not there and staying on a weekday, hotel prices are definitely down, so we are staying in Galveston the night before.

We've stayed in hotels offering complimentary cruise parking with shuttles to port, and we've also parked in both the port lot and commercial lots in Galveston. We've had varied experiences with complimentary hotel shuttles. Once we just gave up and a took a cab.

We've decided it is our preference to use one of the commercial parking areas. We are using BOI Valet this time. Parking is located inside old warehouses directly across the street from the port. Nice to have indoor, covered parking. We previously used a subsidiary of this same group (Park N Cruise) for our RCCL cruises out of Galveston. It is an extremely convenient location being right across the street from the port. We drop off our luggage, go park the car, and walk back across the street. Once back, after clearing customs, I'll wait with luggage while DH gets the car. Painless way to park!

Hope this information is helpful for you.

 

[denamo]

We have been to WDW many times, so think we'll just stick with going to Epcot and Hollywood. Imagine we will head back to the ship fairly early since we have seen all the fireworks shows.

Maybe we will be assigned together!! We are also big RCCL fans and cruisers.

We've only been to WDW once as a family, and I had a work conference in Orlando about four years ago (now retired). I spent an afternoon/evening in Magic Kingdom then. Anything we see will be great to us!

We really like RCCL as well. This will be our first Disney cruise.

 

[golfpccc]

I truly understand your concern of making it to port especially since this will be a weekday departure. We do live in Texas, but as you know Texas is a big state. Our drive is almost 7 hours! We're at the southmost tip of TX. We always drive up the day before. We would have to leave very early to make it to port on the same day.

In January we cruised on the RCCL Mariner. When Princess, Carnival, RCCL and Disney cruiselines were in Galveston: hotels were a premium price so we stayed in Texas City. This time with two of the four not there and staying on a weekday, hotel prices are definitely down, so we are staying in Galveston the night before.

We've stayed in hotels offering complimentary cruise parking with shuttles to port, and we've also parked in both the port lot and commercial lots in Galveston. We've had varied experiences with complimentary hotel shuttles. Once we just gave up and a took a cab.

We've decided it is our preference to use one of the commercial parking areas. We are using BOI Valet this time. Parking is located inside old warehouses directly across the street from the port. Nice to have indoor, covered parking. We previously used a subsidiary of this same group (Park N Cruise) for our RCCL cruises out of Galveston. It is an extremely convenient location being right across the street from the port. We drop off our luggage, go park the car, and walk back across the street. Once back, after clearing customs, I'll wait with luggage while DH gets the car. Painless way to park!

Hope this information is helpful for you.

Even though we stay in Galveston the night before the cruise and usually stay at a hotel that offers free parking, we always park our car at a private lot across the street from the cruise terminal--DH likes to have control of arriving time and departure time from the port!! We basically do the same as denamo--except DH drops me off at the port with the luggage then he parks the car and walks back to the terminal. On departure, we walk across the street with our luggage and I wait on the corner while DH gets the car. Works great for us, no hassel.

 

[golfpccc]

We always drive down night before and stay at the harbor house they have a great rate right now and watch the ship pull in on Friday morning since we r right at the port!

Harbor House is a great location. We use to stay at HH and leave our car for the week in their parking lot for $40. However, they now charge $10 for the night you stay and $10 for each night you leave the car. Or, they give you the option of leaving your car at the Galvez Parking Garage for free and then you can use the Galvez free shuttle to and from the port. Great price for HH on line right now ($80)+. Love to wake up and see the ship dock. Also, the HH is so close to the port you can walk with your luggage to the terminal or they will call the Galvez shuttle to transport you and luggage. We kind of alternate between staying on the harbor and seawall.

 

[tholifield]

My wife and I are taking our boys on their first Disney Cruise. If it is not too late we would like to join the FE Exchange for the Magic Cruise 5/10-18/2013. For our sons Caleb-6 and Caden-4.

Thanks,

Tim and Amy

 

[jim robirds]

For those who live in tx, are you driving in the night before or morning of? We're out in temple, and I thought we'd do the 4 hr drive the morning of the 10th to make our 1200 embarkation time, but now I'm freaking out that something will happen and we'll miss the ship!

Thoughts?

That thought is always in the back of your mind, "what if ..." . We figure it is about a 4 hr drive from Austin to Galv. We leave the morning of the cruise about 8AM...we stop at Sealy for gas and a potty break[walmart]. This will be our 4th time [3 on DCL]. We drive US71 to IH-10, then take IH-45 south in Houston to Galveston. We go LEFT on 26th st to the deadend and turn left to EZ Cruise Parking. I choose 1:30 for our boarding time and so far no problem---we usually get there early.

Of course there is always a first time so for your own piece of mind, you might want to go a day early.

C U on the ship, Jim

 

[mickeydavis]

That thought is always in the back of your mind, "what if ..." . We figure it is about a 4 hr drive from Austin to Galv. We leave the morning of the cruise about 8AM...we stop at Sealy for gas and a potty break[walmart]. This will be our 4th time [3 on DCL]. We drive US71 to IH-10, then take IH-45 south in Houston to Galveston. We go LEFT on 26th st to the deadend and turn left to EZ Cruise Parking. I choose 1:30 for our boarding time and so far no problem---we usually get there early.

Of course there is always a first time so for your own piece of mind, you might want to go a day early.

C U on the ship, Jim

We're coming from that area too! I was wondering a good route to take. Never driven to Houston/Galveston area and looked like lots of options in getting there. Thanks!

 

[Luv2Diz]

So excited! Just figured out what I'm going to do for our FE project!!! :dance:

I'm feeling your excitement....I've started making our gifts and bought some extra Disney items yesterday to add to the gift bags!