Disney Magic - Dec 10, 2011 - Western Caribbean Cruise - Sun, Fun and Beaches!

[AK Disney Fan]

Hi everyone!! Excited to be joining all of you on the December 10 Magic cruise. We are going to be a bit unusual in this group. DH (Rick) and I (Lori) are going to celebrate our 30th anniversary and bringing along our 3 youngest kids and a daughter-in-law to be. Our "kids" range from 24 to 19 and are all self proclaimed Disney dorks (and proud of it!!).

We live in Sitka AK and are looking forward to being the tourist instead of the host. We love snorkeling and would love to hear from any of you who have snorkeled at any of the ports.

Excited to be going on our first Disney cruise!

 

[mareeld86]

Welcome AK Disney Fan.

I hope not too many people dont want sugar because thats most of my FE Gift!!

 

[Goaliemom30]

Welcome AK Disney Fan.

I hope not too many people dont want sugar because thats most of my FE Gift!!

Mareeld,

Bring on the sugar and no one in our cabin has any allergies.

 

[Grumpy333]

Welcome newcomers! I had Tracy (sesame) do the free call from Mickey for her kids. Her DD Addie was so super excited to get a phone call from Cap'n Mickey. Just a quick questions about packing. (I like to start early). I've only cruised the Dream before. Is the Magic rooms around the same size and is there anything unusual you pack for a DCL cruise I should set aside? Thanks for the help!!

 

[peg2001]

I guess what I'm asking is for an informal survey of what you guys are doing pre-cruise.

We are driving to Cape Canaveral from East Tennessee. We anticipate it taking 12 to 13 hours since we stop frequently for meals and breaks. DH doesn't want to get on the cruise exhausted from the drive so we are driving down on Thursday and will spend Friday resting at the Country Inn and Suites. We should all be a bundle of excitement by Saturday morning!

Peg

 

[Goaliemom30]

We are driving to Cape Canaveral from East Tennessee. We anticipate it taking 12 to 13 hours since we stop frequently for meals and breaks. DH doesn't want to get on the cruise exhausted from the drive so we are driving down on Thursday and will spend Friday resting at the Country Inn and Suites. We should all be a bundle of excitement by Saturday morning!

Peg

We are driving in from Upstate NY and will be staying the night before at the Radisson. Hoping to get in early enough to enjoy the pool on Friday.

Also we vote for Mickey's Merry MAGICal Cruisers as our #1 cruise slogan and Mickey's Very Merry Cruisers for our #2 choice. I did let KikiMouse know this on the Roll Call, so ignore if you already have our vote.

 

[Goaliemom30]

Welcome newcomers! I had Tracy (sesame) do the free call from Mickey for her kids. Her DD Addie was so super excited to get a phone call from Cap'n Mickey. Just a quick questions about packing. (I like to start early). I've only cruised the Dream before. Is the Magic rooms around the same size and is there anything unusual you pack for a DCL cruise I should set aside? Thanks for the help!!

Grumpy,

Just spoke to a friend who got back on the Dream and has cruised on Magic and Wonder. There is less clearance under the bed for suitcase storage (9 inches for Magic v. 13 inches for Dream). She also said less shelving and nooks and cranny type storage on the Magic. Not exactly sure what that means.

I plan on bringing a clear shoe organizer again. It helped on our last cruise.

 

[KikiMouse]

Welcome! Would you like to sign up for the Roll Call? If so, there is a list (last post of the roll call is #196 AymeKae,) you can copy the list and put your info at the bottom of the list. Then I will add it to the roll call. There is a link to the roll call at the beginning of this thread.

Also, we have a Fish Extender Gift Exchange going- its fun! More info on that see post #30,
from mareeld86--"Fish Exchange or FE is when you hang a bag or Fish Extender off your DCL door and people put little gifts into it for you and you do the same in return. here is the link to the massive FE discussion." She's posted links that have a thorough explanation of it.

If you'd like to join let me know!
Thanks, KikiMouse

 

[KikiMouse]

Hi Goaliemom- yes I did get your votes for slogan Thanks, Kiki

 

[Sinderelly]

Welcome AK Disney Fan.

I hope not too many people dont want sugar because thats most of my FE Gift!!

We LOVE sugar

 

[Sinderelly]

Hi everyone!! Excited to be joining all of you on the December 10 Magic cruise. We are going to be a bit unusual in this group. DH (Rick) and I (Lori) are going to celebrate our 30th anniversary and bringing along our 3 youngest kids and a daughter-in-law to be. Our "kids" range from 24 to 19 and are all self proclaimed Disney dorks (and proud of it!!).

We live in Sitka AK and are looking forward to being the tourist instead of the host. We love snorkeling and would love to hear from any of you who have snorkeled at any of the ports.

Excited to be going on our first Disney cruise!

Welcome aboard and to our thread! I'll bet your "Disney Dorks" will have plenty of company

 

[Sinderelly]

Grumpy,

Just spoke to a friend who got back on the Dream and has cruised on Magic and Wonder. There is less clearance under the bed for suitcase storage (9 inches for Magic v. 13 inches for Dream). She also said less shelving and nooks and cranny type storage on the Magic. Not exactly sure what that means.

I plan on bringing a clear shoe organizer again. It helped on our last cruise.

This is VERY helpful info. Thank you for posting! DH's suitcase wouldn't fit under the bed on the Magic. We have some hope for the Dream in Oct

 

[CitaPita]

I hope not too many people dont want sugar because thats most of my FE Gift!!

Don't worry, we are decidedly pro-sugar when on vacation.

 

[CitaPita]

I guess what I'm asking is for an informal survey of what you guys are doing pre-cruise.

We are leaving EARLY on Friday morning to catch a bus to Chicago (around 1.5 hours from our house), it's about a 2.5 hour flight to MCO where we'll either pick up a mini-van (my choice for budget reasons) or have a limo pick us up (DH's choice for awesome-ness reasons) and we'll head to Country Inn and Suites where we will relax, pick up anything we might have forgotten, and otherwise wait no so patiently for the next day.

We'll take the free shuttle over to the port the next day.

DH is questioning my hotel choice...he thinks that after 5 for so hours of travel that day the girls won't be fit for travel much further than a hotel at MCO. I see his point, but the location of CIS makes me feel much more calm about making the boat on time. I mean, anything could happen in the hour drive...flat tire, bad directions, traffic, car trouble, etc. But don't mind me, I'm just a class A worry wart!

 

[KikiMouse]

We are leaving EARLY on Friday morning to catch a bus to Chicago (around 1.5 hours from our house), it's about a 2.5 hour flight to MCO where we'll either pick up a mini-van (my choice for budget reasons) or have a limo pick us up (DH's choice for awesome-ness reasons) and we'll head to Country Inn and Suites where we will relax, pick up anything we might have forgotten, and otherwise wait no so patiently for the next day.

We'll take the free shuttle over to the port the next day.

DH is questioning my hotel choice...he thinks that after 5 for so hours of travel that day the girls won't be fit for travel much further than a hotel at MCO. I see his point, but the location of CIS makes me feel much more calm about making the boat on time. I mean, anything could happen in the hour drive...flat tire, bad directions, traffic, car trouble, etc. But don't mind me, I'm just a class A worry wart!

I always stay in Orlando the day before the cruise and head to the port the morning of the cruise. We have stayed at Hyatt MCO and taken the DCL transfers to the ship- that was the easiest by far! Got to the ship very early.We have also stayed at Disney Resort, the DCL bus can be late getting to the resorts and you sometimes arrive later. My sister has taken limo from Disney resorts and that went fine too.I wouldn't worry about getting to the ship on time, if you leave early enough and leave time for the unexpected. We have also driven down in our own car with no problems. One of the reasons to use the DCL transportation is because if something happens, its a DCL bus and they will get you to the ship.
I've never stayed overnight in PC so I can't offer advice on that. I like to be near WDW, we usually try to go to MK the night before the cruise. Also, I like staying at a Disney Resort because its like my vacation at Disney has started, even though I may not get to go to the parks!
Kiki

 

[KikiMouse]

Carmen, here's what my brother and his kids (2 and 5) did last year. They flew in to MCO, got there in the afternoon, checked into French Quarter and relaxed. The next day, they took a limo, no problem. They really liked it because they were at Disney, even though they did not go to the parks, they got to swim etc. That would also work if you rented a van or took the DCL bus.
Kiki

 

[sesame_123]

Welcome AK Disney Fan!!

Don't worry about being a Disney Dork!! I know my whole family could be called that!!

Disney Dorks unite! I think we have a new cruise slogan!


Tracy

 

[CitaPita]

Carmen, here's what my brother and his kids (2 and 5) did last year. They flew in to MCO, got there in the afternoon, checked into French Quarter and relaxed. The next day, they took a limo, no problem. They really liked it because they were at Disney, even though they did not go to the parks, they got to swim etc. That would also work if you rented a van or took the DCL bus.
Kiki

Hmmm...that might be an idea, too. We had planned to stay at a WDW resort post-cruise, but I wouldn't mind starting the vacation a day early. How far are the resorts from MCO?

I wish we could just do DCL transportation, but there are six of us traveling together, so the cost is MUCH less to handle the transport ourselves.

 

[CitaPita]

Disney Dorks unite! I think we have a new cruise slogan!

I'm changing my vote!!! That is too funny to pass up.

 

[KikiMouse]

Hmmm...that might be an idea, too. We had planned to stay at a WDW resort post-cruise, but I wouldn't mind starting the vacation a day early. How far are the resorts from MCO?

I wish we could just do DCL transportation, but there are six of us traveling together, so the cost is MUCH less to handle the transport ourselves.

The resorts are easy to get to from the airport. The directions are very clear, if you are driving from the airport. Its about 30 minutes, mapquest says 20 miles but it doesn't ever seem that far to me!
Or you could all catch one of the Magical Express buses, which takes you to your resort from the airport. They are free if you stay at a Disney resort. Then you could take the limo the next day. Or if you rent a mini-van, then just drive to the port- its really easy!

I forgot to mention that one of the best things about going this time of year is the parks, the resorts, Downtown Disney are all decorated for Christmas and its beautiful. Even if you don't go to the parks, there are lots of things you can do- ride the monorail around and see the decorations, go to Downtown Disney, or enjoy the decorations at your resort. its all gorgeous!