Eastern Magic 12/10/05

cristit14

<font color=blue> An older <font color=red>I am Do
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Apr 2, 2004
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Okay, here it is my trip report. I will tell you right off the bat it is long and maybe not quite as entertaining as some (Tenorsings comes to mind), but I finally finshed it so here it is.

Dec 10-17 Eastern Magic

Cast of characters
Myself, DH, DD 10 and DS 7

We flew into MCO on 12/7, stayed at the Sheraton Safari. The hotel was nice and the pool was cool. 12/8 we spent the day at MGM in the drizzle. :umbrella: It was great. I think the rain kept a lot of people home. We pretty much walked on to every ride. The longest we waited for anything was maybe 20 minutes for Rockin Roller Coaster. 12/9 we stayed at the hotel for most of the day, mean Mom that I am made the kids work on their homework for an hour or so. :teacher: We headed to MVMCP around 5pm. We had a good time there too. We mostly just did the rides and didn’t do any of the special holiday things.

Now for the best part…….. Sat 12/10. Quick stop at Dunkin Donuts and then on the way to the Magic. We had rented a car from Budget so we had DH drop the rest of us off at the terminal while he returned the car. We were probably at the terminal between 11 and 11:15 or so, can’t really remember I was just so excited to be there. While we were waiting for DH I got us checked in (Castaway Members line was very short) and we met up with Littleton Linda and family. Hi, Linda!!! We had boarding number either 9 or 11. The boarding process really didn’t take long at all. By the time DH had gotten back from returning the car we probably only had a 15 minute wait to get on.

First order of business, for the kids the pool, for DH a nice fruity rum drink, for me food (followed by a nice fruity rum drink). :drinking1 We went up to the Mickey pool and got a table. I did manage to get a little food in the kids while they were in the pool. I ran into several Diser’s while we were up there. Hi Lisa, Tammie, Angie, Dennis, Jordan, Kirsty, John, Mark, Shannon and I think there were a few others. Sail away party was great! I got tears in my eyes when the horn sounded. After sail away the kids and I went to see Sky High in the theater while DH went exploring. Dinner was at 8pm in AP. We had linked dining with another DISer so that was fun having new friends to eat with (Hi Angie and Dennis!) Turns out another Diser was at the table next to us with his family (Hi Jordan and Wendy!) After dinner we checked out the kids club, but it was family time so you couldn’t leave the kids. Headed back to the room we were all pretty tired.

1st Sea Day…..We had our character breakfast in Parrot Cay at 9:45. DH, DD and I went down for that, DS wanted to go to the club for the “Detective School” activity :magnify: . The character breakfast was cute. Food wasn’t great, but we did have fun seeing all of the characters. After breakfast, I went to pick up DS at the club, but he wasn’t ready to leave, so I left and met up with DH and DD on “secret deck 7”. We hung out there for a little bit and then changed for the Goofy Pool. Shortly after we got to the pool DS paged us. DH went to get him and his suit, they came back up and then DH took off for an activity he wanted to go to (the juggler). The kids and I went over to the Mickey pool, but didn’t stay long because it was VERY crowded :crowded: and DS got knocked in the head. When DH came back we all grabbed some lunch around the pool.

After lunch we went back to the room briefly and saw that we had a message from one of DD’s friends from the DIS boards. The kids then wanted to go hang out at the club/lab to see their new friends. DH and I were able to have some “magical” adult time. :love: We even had a chance to see the adult pool. Didn’t stay in the pool long, but went in the hot tub for a little bit. We ran into Vanessa and John at the bar there (Hi guys!). Formal night was great even though we were in Parrot Cay. We had all gotten our pictures taken and they turned out great! After dinner the kids wanted to go back to the clubs again. They were changing clothes when all of sudden DS got sick. DD ended up going to the clubs, but DS was ill all night long. :sick: I don’t know if it was the rocking of the ship, if something he ate didn’t agree with him or if he had a little bug.

2nd Sea Day…… DS had had a rough night (me too being up with him) so he was pretty wiped out. DH and I were supposed to have Brunch that morning, but we called and left a message very early that morning canceling since we didn’t want to risk taking DS to the club just in case he was sick. I ran up and got a quick bite to eat and then DH and DD went up and had a bite to eat when I got back. DD and DH took off for awhile exploring the ship and going to see the magician (I think?). DS spent the morning watching TV in the room and I did a couple of loads of laundry.

In the early afternoon, DS felt better so we decided that we needed to get out of the room for a while so that they could clean and we could get some fresh air. We met DH and DD up on deck 4 and played shuffleboard. While they were playing I went into Shutter’s and spent all of our money. When I came out there was Donald Duck playing shuffleboard with the kids! :donald: They were very excited! After shuffleboard it was up to the pool area for lunch and we watched Cinderella on the Jumbotron. Castaway Club reception was that evening so we headed for that and met up with Linda and her family again. We went to see Twice Charmed at 6:15. Loved it! Then it was off to dinner in Lumiere’s (I think this was my favorite restaurant). After dinner we went to the Family Spy Party in Studio Sea. We had a really good time there and we are still doing all of the “secret” spy handshakes. As soon as that was over the kids and I headed to the room and DH went to see the Juggler’s show.

St. Martin….. We brought breakfast to the room for the kids (we never could seem to get them up before 9:30am). Then we went on shore. We took the water taxi over to Great Bay Beach and got a couple of chairs. Then I turn around and who do I see right next to us? Linda and her family. I swear….it is like they were following us, or was it we were following them. ;) We had a nice time at the beach, my DS and her DS really hit it off. DD got really tired so DH took her back to the ship around 2 or so. DS and I went back around 3:30 and found both of them sound asleep in the room. After I cleaned up, I went back on shore for a little shopping by myself. I didn’t stay long though because I felt kind of strange all alone. I did get some souvenirs at Del Sol and another little shop. The ride back to the ship was nice because the sun was setting and I got some GREAT pictures of the sunset. Back on board I found a note in the room saying they were all playing shuffleboard again (that was DS’s favorite thing to do) so I went up to join them.

Then it was time for Pirate night! pirate: We all went back and changed into our costumes. I didn’t see a ton of people dressed up in our dining room, but we got some really good comments. Pirate Night dinner was in AP again. I loved this menu! The crab cakes were really good! Mid way through dinner our table and Jordan all left to meet up with other DISer’s in the atrium for a group picture in our pirate gear. That was a lot of fun. I never did see the picture that Shutter’s took, but luckily a couple of DISer’s had their cameras too so I was able to get a copy. Back to finish dinner and then up to the Pirate Party. The Pirate Party was a lot of fun! We all had a good time dancing and watching the fireworks. We had planned on meeting up with some DISer’s up there, but didn’t see anyone except for… you guessed it…. Linda and Fam… (Well, Angie and Dennis too, but we had gone up from dinner with them). The buffet looked really good, but I was too stuffed from dinner for anything. I did end up taking a plate of cookies back to the room for the kids though.

St. Thomas……Up briefly for Customs at 7:15-7:30 then back to the room for a little more sleep. DH and I went to Lumiere’s for breakfast at 9:20. You may wonder why I remember the exact time. Well, the Navigator says open seating breakfast 7-9:30. We were seated at 9:20 there were only one or two other families eating. The CM’s were all busy cleaning and it seemed liked we were bothering them by being there, plus I didn’t enjoy my food. I decided to stick with the buffet after that. After we ate, we stopped the buffet and grabbed the kids some donuts and milk. We finally got off the ship around 10:30 or 10:45. We just walked around shopping for a little bit, the kids got some souvenirs and DH bought a nice watch (and some liquor).

Then we headed back to the ship to meet for our shore excursion. We did the Doubloon Sail & Snorkel. pirate: :boat: It was loads of fun! We went on their pirate ship to a nice snorkeling area and then were able to walk the plank to snorkel. DS had decided that he wasn’t going to get into the ocean (he doesn’t swim, but we all had float vest on) so he opted to stay onboard with the “pirates”. DH, DD and I went snorkeling and had a great time. While we were out there, we looked back over at the Doubloon and saw that DS was climbing over the side (with a pirate). He was in his float vest and they had given him another float to hang onto. He got his own private snorkeling tour. It was great! On the way back to port, Melinda the bartender started passing out Banana Benders to all who wanted (and water or soda to everyone else), they cranked up the music and we sailed back. We met a nice Australian couple onboard (Hi Meredith and Stuart, if you are reading this) and had a good time talking to them and made plans to meet up with them at 80’s night. We had a really nice time until we got back to the port. We had just gotten off of the Doubloon and were walking along the small pier when I (who was busy talking and not paying attention) ended up falling off of the pier and into the water. It was quite exciting. I felt like a total moron. :blush: My first thought as I hit the water was “I can’t believe that I just fell in” and my second thought was “get up quick the kids are freaking out”. I swam up quickly and they threw me a float, then I swam over a little ways so they could reach me to get me out. Luckily, I didn’t get hurt too badly. My left leg and knee was bruise up and then I had a nasty scrape on my right leg. They bandaged me up and called ahead to the Magic so they wouldn’t leave without us. We got to the cruise ship area at about 4:33 and the guys at the gate (not at the Magic, but the outer gates) were giving me a hard time telling me when all aboard is at 4:30 you are supposed to be back to the gates by 4:00. Okay, now picture what I look like at this point….. I am sopping wet, my t-shirt is filthy, I have a huge bandage on one leg, the other leg is bruised and my DD is crying. I nearly lost it with them, but I held myself together and asked if I could please come on through. I limped on down to the Magic where they were waiting for me and got onboard. After I cleaned up in the room I headed down to the medical clinic and got some more bandages, Neosporin and Motrin, then back to the room to rest for a bit. We did go to the show and see Gary Delana that night. The kids and I really enjoyed it, but DH didn’t care for it much. After dinner that night, we went to see Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer in Studio Sea. We didn’t get picked, but had a good time watching. After Studio Sea, DH and I did manage to make it to 80’s night for a little while. We danced for awhile, but then my leg started hurting so we went back to the room.

Day at Sea…..DH and I had our “makeup” Brunch scheduled at 10:30 so the kids went to the clubs while we went to PALO. It was funny because at the table next to us was Meredith and Stuart, from the Doubloon. We had a nice time talking with them again. Mid-way through brunch the pager goes off. DH goes down and cannot talk DS into staying. So, he goes and picks up DD from the lab and makes her watch DS in the room while we finish up. She was not happy. DS was definitely in the doghouse with all of us. I felt terrible about DD being so upset for having to leave, so she and I went shopping so I could make it up to her. We had an adult only Dismeet planned for that afternoon so we took the kids back to the club and lab again and then headed over to Vanessa and John’s nice category 3 room for a wine/cheese meet. We both had a lot of fun there and the room was beautiful. Neither one of the kids wanted to be in the kids show, so DH headed up to pick them up around 4:30. DS left with him, but DD had decided to be in the show after all. Thursday night was PALO dinner so the kids were off to the clubs again (DS was told that the only way he could page us was if he was REALLY sick). Dinner at PALO was great! We had Florencia from Argentina as our server and really enjoyed her.

Castaway Cay…… We got off the ship around 10am and headed for the family beach. The weather was absolutely PERFECT!!!!! :sunny: We found a couple of chairs next to… you guessed it… Linda and Fam…. The kids had a blast playing in the water. DH and DD rented snorkeling equipment, but didn’t stay out very long since you couldn’t see much at all unless you went way out there. Sometime after lunch DD found her friend, Karli, from the ship so they hung out together and we ended up finding several other DISer’s too. I had thought that we would only stay on shore until 2:30 or so and head back, but they ended up having to drag us back on the ship at the last possible time, kicking and screaming…… After we all got cleaned up the kids and I went to see Chicken Little and DH went to the Farewell Variety show. We enjoyed the movie, but DH didn’t like the show at all. He said it seemed like one big commercial to come back. After dinner DH and I had planned on going to Pub night in diversions. Once we got back to the room though he lay down on the bed and said he wasn’t moving again. So, I went to Pub Night by myself and ran into Jordan there (Hey Jordan!). I thought the skit was hilarious! After the skit, back to the room to get some sleep.

Debarkation day…… Boo hoo!!!!!! :sad2: :sad2: :sad: We were all very sad this morning……. We had breakfast at Topsiders and then headed off the ship right at 9am. We managed to get the first shuttle over to Budget, but there was a wait over there. We finally got our car and headed to EPCOT for our last day. We had a lot of fun at EPCOT, but never again will I ride Mission Space. :scared1: The rest of the family can do it without me. We then went to the airport for our 7:50 pm flight that didn’t end up leaving until around 1am. Finally fell into our bed about 5:15am Denver time.

Highlights: Shuffleboard with Donald Duck, Meeting all of the great DISer’s :grouphug: :disrocks: , Snorkeling off of the Doubloon and Every moment on Castaway Cay!

Disappointments: Not too many…. Didn’t like the breakfasts in the restaurants… preferred the buffet, falling off the pier, but that was my own stupid fault….. (ruined the digital camera by the way), and the fact that they made us leave…….

Food wise: Aside from breakfast, I never had anything I didn’t like at all. At each meal there were usually one or two things that I really liked and the rest was okay. I loved the butternut squash soup and the cold cream of mango and papaya soup. I also loved the crab cake on pirate night and the coconut crusted snapper. Love the deep fried camembert at Lumiere’s, and the smoked bacon and onion tartlet (can’t remember which restaurant). As far as the desserts go…. Loved the grand marnier soufflé and the chocolate espresso walnut cake. Oh yeah…. The calamari in PALO was really good and so was the chocolate soufflé!

Here is a link to my pictures... hope it works
http://www.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=33954936/a=32742142_32742142/t_=32742142
 
HI, Cristi! :wave2: Thanks for the memories. I agree that one of the highlights of the cruise is meeting great DISers like you! :grouphug:
 
Hi, Great report, enjoyed reading it. How did you like Great Bay Beach in St. Marten? We were on the cruise last year and went to Orient which was wonderful. Now we're going 3/4/06 and thought of trying great Bay. I've heard it's convenient to access with the water taxi but noisy from town and a drop off in the water for swimming?
 
ITA! :) It's hard to believe that it was over a month ago. :( :( :(
 

It was actually nice to have to trip report posted a few months out....it made it seem like we were just there. :teeth:
 
drise said:
Hi, Great report, enjoyed reading it. How did you like Great Bay Beach in St. Marten? We were on the cruise last year and went to Orient which was wonderful. Now we're going 3/4/06 and thought of trying great Bay. I've heard it's convenient to access with the water taxi but noisy from town and a drop off in the water for swimming?

We enjoyed our day there,but if I were to go back I might choose a different beach. The drop off was pretty sudden so we really had to watch so the kids didn't go too far in. I think the most fun was sitting right next to Linda and her family and having other people to talk to. It was nice having the bathrooms right behind us too. It was very convenient with the water taxi though. It was nice to see the Magic sitting there from the beach too.
 
MrsMork said:
HI, Cristi! :wave2: Thanks for the memories. I agree that one of the highlights of the cruise is meeting great DISers like you! :grouphug:

Hi Angie! :wave2: I was sorry your Seahawks didn't win :sad1: We were thinking about you when we were watching the game.
 
jordanyosh said:
It was actually nice to have to trip report posted a few months out....it made it seem like we were just there. :teeth:

Hey Jordan! I had actually started a trip report several different times, but never could get it finished. Today I was stuck at home with Jacob being sick so I had plenty of uninterrupted time to work on it while he was resting and watching tv.
 
cristit14 said:
Hi Angie! :wave2: I was sorry your Seahawks didn't win :sad1: We were thinking about you when we were watching the game.
Well, maybe next year! :cheer2: It took 30 years to get to this point, I guess we can be patient a bit longer.
 
cristit14,
:eek: OMGOSH!!! I can't believe you fell off the pier. I bet that was really scarry. That sounds like something I would do. I am so glad that you were not badly hurt. Your picture's were great, your kid's adorable.


Teri
 
Hey girl! Great report....I don't think I'll ever get one done, I started one for our quick weekend Everest trip and I can't even finish that let alone a week cruise!
 
Thanks for a great report :thumbsup2 I can not imagin how scary it was to fall off the pier. Thank God you didn't get really hurt. Sounds like the rest of your trip was Great.
 
Tluvs2talk said:
cristit14,
:eek: OMGOSH!!! I can't believe you fell off the pier. I bet that was really scarry. That sounds like something I would do. I am so glad that you were not badly hurt. Your picture's were great, your kid's adorable.


Teri

Thanks for the comments about the kids. I think they are adorable too, but I am biased. :goodvibes
It was scary falling off of the pier especially since I am not a swimmer. I always said that I could swim well enough to save myself, but I never knew if I really could...... well know I know.... We will never forget this trip and I will never live it down. My kids, DS in particular, tend to bring it up weekly. :blush:
 
:wave2: HI Christi!! Great report. I hate to hear you fell and hurt your leg. That sounds like something I would do.
 
Cristi, I loved reading your adventure. I did not even know you had a cruise going in December. You have to make it more clear on to this Got Juiced girl! :rotfl2:
 
Great trip report and pictures. Those people sounded pretty rude after you were just traumatized by falling off the pier.
 
Those Colorado people follow you everywhere! Great report. Maybe I'll bump into you on C-470 or the Elvis Cinemas! :wave2:
 
LittletonLin said:
Those Colorado people follow you everywhere! Great report. Maybe I'll bump into you on C-470 or the Elvis Cinemas! :wave2:

Linda, please don't "bump" into me on C-470. That wouldn't be good. :lmao:
We need to have you guys over soon. Jacob misses Jack. I will give you a call and set something up.
 
AWESOME report cristi!!!! I LOVE your photos! I am going to send my DIS meet friends over to see them too. We will be having a cat 3 wine and cheese party too. I also love the photo of all you guys dressed up for pirate night! Great idea to get the group photo!
 
The wine cheese meet was so much fun! Our cruise meet thread had about 80 or so people on it, but once we actually got on board there were probably only about 30 of us that got together. We had a great time though. And we did recognize other Diser's from the board so it was nice to say hi to them even if we didn't hang out.

Lisa got a photographer from Shutter's to do our picture pirate night. We had about half of us from late dining and half from early dining so we in late dining ended up leaving dinner part way through to get our picture taken and then rushed back to finish up. I never did see the pictures that Shutter's took of us, but luckily there was a diser wife that didn't want to be in the picture so she snapped some of us too.

Are you guys going on the Eastern too? It was so much fun! I am jealous that you are going. Several people from our cruise re-booked for the same time this December. Unfortunately I wasn't one of them....... :(
 


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