Grendel
Where ever you go, there you are.
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2003
- Messages
- 680
Well...finally Day 7. If you actually spent the time to read the previous 8 reports...good for you...i dont have gold stars but here you can have a gold sun 
If your looking for the previous days link...here it is..
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=573569
No sleeping in today. While we don't have to be up extra early we are supposed to be able to get off the ship at 9:30am and we want to get as full of a day as possible on Castaway Cay. ( plus we want to get our lounge chairs!! ). Another Cereal and Krispy Kreme breakfast delivered to our door while watching all of the crew disembark to get the island ready. Then its Bathing suits and Sunblock and were off to the gangway( I did buy SeaSafe..the anti-sealice sunblock..but totally forgot about it..). The family waited for the tram while I walked down to the beach to claim our spot. There really is plenty of seating. Hammocks are limited though and if your not there right away you wont get one. We missed out on a hammock but got a nice setup in the front so we could watch the girls. This has to be the best port disney goes to. The white sand with all of the sea shells mixed in beautiful plams...crystal clear blue water. I could stay here for a week. Into the water we go and brrrr.... its not that bad but not like the warm bath water of the Cayman's. DD7 settles into the fun of splashing while DD13 and I dash to the dock for our 10:30am Parasailing appointment. Sprinting down the dock were the last ones to board..whew...just made it. We had never done this before and while we were nervous we were also very excited. The boat drivers waste no time getting out to sea( that's to say they floored it...sea spray everywhere ). When your in your cabin and your looking at the sea condtions an they say there are 4ft swells and then you look down at the ocean you think to yourself..."hmm not really anything to write home about" but when your in one of these little boats and your being rocked by 4ft swells....wow you can feel them. I had heard some stories of people getting sick when parasailing because of motion sickness...no worries there....if you can handle the boat ride theres nothing the parasailing can do to you. DD13 didn't want to go by herself....so we did a tandem. It was so windy all they have to do is stop the boat..hook you in..and release the line...and zzzoooommmm your up in the air. They said they relase 900ft of rope, but you only gain about half that in altitude. What a great view! Floating above the magic...and being able to see all of Castaway Cay. I was so happy I was able to share this expericne with my DD. For all of you scaredy cats out there...suck it up and do it...lifes too short. All to soon its back to port and back to the rest of the family. We decided on an early lunch at Cookies. People have raved about the lobster burgers..and dont get me wrong they're good...but nothing to lust after....I however cannot get enough of the pineapple upside down cake and the banna bread...I wished I had brought a zip lock bag with me so I could have filled it up for the trip home. Oh well...next time for sure!
Now would have been a great time for a nap....but DD7 had other ideas. She was dying to try out the snorkel trail and find the hidden mickey statue. I asked one of the CM's how deep it was through out the trail as I didnt want to get to deep with DD7. He said it was only about 6 feet and we'd be fine....LIAR!!! The snorkeling was great. DD7 loved discovering all of the fish, especially the little "fish houses" they put at the bottom. Peering into these and having all of these fish look back at you is a trip. The trail is longer than it looks( especially if your a TAD on the out of shape side ). The water kept on getting deeper and deeper. I had inflated DD7's snorkel vest so it was ok...glad I didn't listen to the CM who told me I didn't need to inflate it they just needed to use it to spot us in the water
Eventually we were WAY out there and we made it to the spot where the Mickey Statue is submerged under water. I'd say it was about 10ft deep here( so much for the 6 feet I was told ). Did you know if you step on Mickey's Head it swivels? I know its fascinating...but hey you never know when you'll need a bit of useless disney triva..and now you'll have it. Well heres where I realized I had made a mistake. What you ask? Well we didnt feel we needed to bring flippers with us...so we just had our snorkels and masks. The wind was at our backs when we were going out to the statue( I never noticed 
) well now we were into the wind( I did notice 
). This is where being out of shape and then having DD7's snorkel vest start to deflate became a problem. I was so worried I was going to have to hail a life guard to bring me back in. Lucky for me I was able to get from bouy to "fish house" and take breaks. It took awhile to get back to shore but we made it. I was pooped. I needed some relaxtion time now...and some refreshment 
. I wanted to try one of the Conch Coolers I had heard alot about. It was ok but not my favorite. Luckily my old stand by the "Pina Colada" was available. I had rented some floats earlier in the day and was able to get a few relaxing moments with DW just lounging in the sun floating on the water. It would have been so easy to just drift out to sea without a care in the world. I had purchased banna boat ride tickets...but everyone was having so much fun and relaxing where we were that we just blew it off. Time operates differently on this island...if I could just figure out the secret I could bottle it up and bring it to work...because the day just FLEW by. We had to leave a little earlier than we wanted. There was a kids program going on where your child would get to go on stage with Mickey and they would give each child a t-shirt. So back to the boat we go. But before boarding we found Mickey and Minnie at the gangway doing pictures and even more importantly AUTOGRAPHS!!!! woo hoo!!! It had taken all week. We had pictures of Mickey and Minnie in every conceivable location but no Mickey autograph ...finally we had it
Back up to the room to get something not sandy or salty on and its off to the kids club. DW sent me back down to the gangway to see if I could mail some postcards from the Castaway Cay postoffice. I had just enough time to address three of them before he closed it down. Someone accidentally left a shopping bag with t-shirts and toys behind. Since he was closing I grabbed it and gave it to the security guy on the gangway...I hope the family got there stuff back..All I could picutre was some poor kid crying because he didnt have is mickey pirate ship toys. Back up to the room to collect the family. One nice surprise on our bed waiting for us was a packet of pictures of the ship and captain as well as an autographed picture of Mickey Mouse!!( figures I try all week to get his autograph..and then find one on my own bed...murphy is alive and well ). There was a note saying that we were the family of the week from Shutters. I don't know how many other "family of the weeks" there were on board but it was a nice touch. Before leaving for the kids program we took every towel in our room and made a bunch of towel monkeys. You take hangers from your closet and hang them off of this. We made this nice dangling tree structure of monkeys and since it was the night you were supposed to give tips we clipped our tip for Eric our room steward to a monkey so that it would be the first thing he would see when coming in. It made us laugh and I hope it made Eric laugh as well. Up to the main theatre to see the kids show. It was cute. It makes for a nice moment to be able to say they were on stage with Mickey Mouse( and they have the t-shirt to proove it ). Then were off to Animators Pallette for our last dinner on the Magic. It was a nice dinner but a sad one as well. We got to say our goodbyes to Deepak and Cristi as we werent getting up early for the morning sitdown breakfast. DW headed back up to the cabin to do some final packing( thank you honey!!! what a trooper...okay all you readers out there give it up for my wonderful understanding wife) while the rest of us went to the farewell variety show. The juggler was so so..while the comedian/magican was great. He was really good on his feet..great improv. And of course farwell dance numbers from Mickey and the gang. DD7 was still just as enthralled with seeing them as she had been on the first night. All to soon our last show was over. We went back to get DW so that we could all goto the Farwell show in the atrium. Eric had delivered a couple of pins and certificates for each of the girls documenting thier "Magic Moment" from the night before along with some more pictures that Eric's boss had taken.( More great scrapbooking stuff for DW ) Off to the atrium. Now, we had asked some CM's what was the best way to view this. They said from any deck in the atrium was great. Note: they were wrong. If you have kids you want to be in the atrium. If you just want to watch then the other decks are fine. But this is really a character interaction so it does you no good if your just watching from above while your kids look longingly down on them. This was great! I couldn't imagine how they could pull this off. I thought for sure it would be over crowded and you wouldnt be able to see many of the characters. We saw everyone we wanted..got some great pictures and autographs and it was very festive...a great way to end the cruise. My favorite picture was DD7 with Hades, Pain and Panic from Hercules the Musecal. The "pixie dust" at the end was a nice touch....we brought tons back with us. Whew.. what day....defintely a great way to end the cruise. DD7 was pooped so its up to bed for her. Once the girls are settled I realized that there was a dessert buffett going on in Lumieres( now thats the way to end a vacation ) So 2 plates full of sweets later DW and I have our own private buffett. One more evening gaze from our verandah and one more night of falling asleep to the gentle swaying of the Magic.
I'll end the trip report here since thats really where the trip ended for us. If anyone wants more info on the disembarking etc. then ask and I'll reply to this thread.
Thanks for sharing our vacation.
-Jason
Oh and just so we come full circle here is the link to Day 0 the begining of the trip. Just think now you can just keep clicking on all of the links and read this over and over and over...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=563631
If your looking for the previous days link...here it is..
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=573569
No sleeping in today. While we don't have to be up extra early we are supposed to be able to get off the ship at 9:30am and we want to get as full of a day as possible on Castaway Cay. ( plus we want to get our lounge chairs!! ). Another Cereal and Krispy Kreme breakfast delivered to our door while watching all of the crew disembark to get the island ready. Then its Bathing suits and Sunblock and were off to the gangway( I did buy SeaSafe..the anti-sealice sunblock..but totally forgot about it..). The family waited for the tram while I walked down to the beach to claim our spot. There really is plenty of seating. Hammocks are limited though and if your not there right away you wont get one. We missed out on a hammock but got a nice setup in the front so we could watch the girls. This has to be the best port disney goes to. The white sand with all of the sea shells mixed in beautiful plams...crystal clear blue water. I could stay here for a week. Into the water we go and brrrr.... its not that bad but not like the warm bath water of the Cayman's. DD7 settles into the fun of splashing while DD13 and I dash to the dock for our 10:30am Parasailing appointment. Sprinting down the dock were the last ones to board..whew...just made it. We had never done this before and while we were nervous we were also very excited. The boat drivers waste no time getting out to sea( that's to say they floored it...sea spray everywhere ). When your in your cabin and your looking at the sea condtions an they say there are 4ft swells and then you look down at the ocean you think to yourself..."hmm not really anything to write home about" but when your in one of these little boats and your being rocked by 4ft swells....wow you can feel them. I had heard some stories of people getting sick when parasailing because of motion sickness...no worries there....if you can handle the boat ride theres nothing the parasailing can do to you. DD13 didn't want to go by herself....so we did a tandem. It was so windy all they have to do is stop the boat..hook you in..and release the line...and zzzoooommmm your up in the air. They said they relase 900ft of rope, but you only gain about half that in altitude. What a great view! Floating above the magic...and being able to see all of Castaway Cay. I was so happy I was able to share this expericne with my DD. For all of you scaredy cats out there...suck it up and do it...lifes too short. All to soon its back to port and back to the rest of the family. We decided on an early lunch at Cookies. People have raved about the lobster burgers..and dont get me wrong they're good...but nothing to lust after....I however cannot get enough of the pineapple upside down cake and the banna bread...I wished I had brought a zip lock bag with me so I could have filled it up for the trip home. Oh well...next time for sure!
Now would have been a great time for a nap....but DD7 had other ideas. She was dying to try out the snorkel trail and find the hidden mickey statue. I asked one of the CM's how deep it was through out the trail as I didnt want to get to deep with DD7. He said it was only about 6 feet and we'd be fine....LIAR!!! The snorkeling was great. DD7 loved discovering all of the fish, especially the little "fish houses" they put at the bottom. Peering into these and having all of these fish look back at you is a trip. The trail is longer than it looks( especially if your a TAD on the out of shape side ). The water kept on getting deeper and deeper. I had inflated DD7's snorkel vest so it was ok...glad I didn't listen to the CM who told me I didn't need to inflate it they just needed to use it to spot us in the water Eventually we were WAY out there and we made it to the spot where the Mickey Statue is submerged under water. I'd say it was about 10ft deep here( so much for the 6 feet I was told ). Did you know if you step on Mickey's Head it swivels? I know its fascinating...but hey you never know when you'll need a bit of useless disney triva..and now you'll have it. Well heres where I realized I had made a mistake. What you ask? Well we didnt feel we needed to bring flippers with us...so we just had our snorkels and masks. The wind was at our backs when we were going out to the statue( I never noticed ) well now we were into the wind( I did notice ). This is where being out of shape and then having DD7's snorkel vest start to deflate became a problem. I was so worried I was going to have to hail a life guard to bring me back in. Lucky for me I was able to get from bouy to "fish house" and take breaks. It took awhile to get back to shore but we made it. I was pooped. I needed some relaxtion time now...and some refreshment . I wanted to try one of the Conch Coolers I had heard alot about. It was ok but not my favorite. Luckily my old stand by the "Pina Colada" was available. I had rented some floats earlier in the day and was able to get a few relaxing moments with DW just lounging in the sun floating on the water. It would have been so easy to just drift out to sea without a care in the world. I had purchased banna boat ride tickets...but everyone was having so much fun and relaxing where we were that we just blew it off. Time operates differently on this island...if I could just figure out the secret I could bottle it up and bring it to work...because the day just FLEW by. We had to leave a little earlier than we wanted. There was a kids program going on where your child would get to go on stage with Mickey and they would give each child a t-shirt. So back to the boat we go. But before boarding we found Mickey and Minnie at the gangway doing pictures and even more importantly AUTOGRAPHS!!!! woo hoo!!! It had taken all week. We had pictures of Mickey and Minnie in every conceivable location but no Mickey autograph ...finally we had it Back up to the room to get something not sandy or salty on and its off to the kids club. DW sent me back down to the gangway to see if I could mail some postcards from the Castaway Cay postoffice. I had just enough time to address three of them before he closed it down. Someone accidentally left a shopping bag with t-shirts and toys behind. Since he was closing I grabbed it and gave it to the security guy on the gangway...I hope the family got there stuff back..All I could picutre was some poor kid crying because he didnt have is mickey pirate ship toys. Back up to the room to collect the family. One nice surprise on our bed waiting for us was a packet of pictures of the ship and captain as well as an autographed picture of Mickey Mouse!!( figures I try all week to get his autograph..and then find one on my own bed...murphy is alive and well ). There was a note saying that we were the family of the week from Shutters. I don't know how many other "family of the weeks" there were on board but it was a nice touch. Before leaving for the kids program we took every towel in our room and made a bunch of towel monkeys. You take hangers from your closet and hang them off of this. We made this nice dangling tree structure of monkeys and since it was the night you were supposed to give tips we clipped our tip for Eric our room steward to a monkey so that it would be the first thing he would see when coming in. It made us laugh and I hope it made Eric laugh as well. Up to the main theatre to see the kids show. It was cute. It makes for a nice moment to be able to say they were on stage with Mickey Mouse( and they have the t-shirt to proove it ). Then were off to Animators Pallette for our last dinner on the Magic. It was a nice dinner but a sad one as well. We got to say our goodbyes to Deepak and Cristi as we werent getting up early for the morning sitdown breakfast. DW headed back up to the cabin to do some final packing( thank you honey!!! what a trooper...okay all you readers out there give it up for my wonderful understanding wife) while the rest of us went to the farewell variety show. The juggler was so so..while the comedian/magican was great. He was really good on his feet..great improv. And of course farwell dance numbers from Mickey and the gang. DD7 was still just as enthralled with seeing them as she had been on the first night. All to soon our last show was over. We went back to get DW so that we could all goto the Farwell show in the atrium. Eric had delivered a couple of pins and certificates for each of the girls documenting thier "Magic Moment" from the night before along with some more pictures that Eric's boss had taken.( More great scrapbooking stuff for DW ) Off to the atrium. Now, we had asked some CM's what was the best way to view this. They said from any deck in the atrium was great. Note: they were wrong. If you have kids you want to be in the atrium. If you just want to watch then the other decks are fine. But this is really a character interaction so it does you no good if your just watching from above while your kids look longingly down on them. This was great! I couldn't imagine how they could pull this off. I thought for sure it would be over crowded and you wouldnt be able to see many of the characters. We saw everyone we wanted..got some great pictures and autographs and it was very festive...a great way to end the cruise. My favorite picture was DD7 with Hades, Pain and Panic from Hercules the Musecal. The "pixie dust" at the end was a nice touch....we brought tons back with us. Whew.. what day....defintely a great way to end the cruise. DD7 was pooped so its up to bed for her. Once the girls are settled I realized that there was a dessert buffett going on in Lumieres( now thats the way to end a vacation ) So 2 plates full of sweets later DW and I have our own private buffett. One more evening gaze from our verandah and one more night of falling asleep to the gentle swaying of the Magic.I'll end the trip report here since thats really where the trip ended for us. If anyone wants more info on the disembarking etc. then ask and I'll reply to this thread.
Thanks for sharing our vacation.
-Jason
Oh and just so we come full circle here is the link to Day 0 the begining of the trip. Just think now you can just keep clicking on all of the links and read this over and over and over...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=563631
