Magic Christmas Cruise 2010 (Dec 18th - 29th) - PART II

[3princessMommy]

Thanks for the pictures. It looks like there is more room, which is good because at times this location gets quite busy.

I personally love my iPad! I am thinking about downloading the Harry Potter series to reread it in preparation for the new movie beginning released next month.

We are currently on the second round of HP with the girls. We read straight through all seven books - then they demanded to start over again!!!! I hope we can get through #7 again before we leave for the U.S. Also crossing fingers that it will still be in the theaters when we get there mid-December!

BigAWL, thanks! I'm definitely booking today. Already booked the flights. Because I'm keeping this a surprise until probably the night of the 16th -- unfortunately I can't get the girls talking before the cruise; but my DD is extremely outgoing and I know she will be AMAZED by the life you all are living. I got through a lot of the Part II thread last night and your house is wonderful. I wish my job would put me abroad for a few years. What a great experience for your family. Jealous, for sure!

For the last 5 years we've been skiing at this time, so this will be a real change. A welcome one. DH and I won't look at each other over hot cocoa and say, "we should have gone to the Beach". But then he won't know until the very last minute.

We surprised the kids with our cruise to the Baltics this summer. That was fun! Although, there was absolutely no way I could keep it a secret from DH. He's our DCL planner!

Oh - and you might not have been so thrilled with our visit to the doc yesterday. Turns out that DD9 has a worm in her foot!!!! Of course, I just keep telling her, "Next time you won't go running around the yard without shoes on, will you????" (No worries, it's not dangerous, just a weeks worth of meds and it will be history!)

We were on the Magic for Christmas last year. They had an official tree lighting ceremony early in the cruise. There was caroling on Christmas Eve by the crew. There was a Mass that we attended in the Walt Disney Theater on Christmas Eve. There may have also been a Mass on Christmas morning. Santa did visit the ship on Christmas morning. He took pictures with all the kids in the Atrium. There was also a huge offering of Christmas cookies, hot chocolate (I think?), hot cider (again, I think?). That's all I remember off the top of my head. I think BigAwl has a list on the first page of this thread.

Is the mass a Catholic mass, Protestant, or non-denominational?

How looooooooooooooong is that Santa line?????? Although cookies, cider and hot chocolate are tempting....

Christmas lights-- I hadn't thought about bring some lights. Another great idea! I am going to add it to my packing list. Does anyone know where you can buy battery opperated lights?

We'll be stopping at Walmart or Target on our way to the port to pick up those last minute items - like battery-operated lights - that are just not reasonable to pack in our suitcases from Uganda.

I should go to bed now. I have to get up at 4am to get all the news headlines for our VIP visitor who decided to intrude on my birthday.

 

[Almagetty]

FYI: Last year I found that those battery operated lights eat through batteries at a very quick pace. Bring lots! Also, I kind of have it in the back of my mind somewhere that some people were asked not to plug in their lights because it was a fire hazard. My memory might be a bit hazy on that, though, so bring those at your own risk.

I bought our battery operated lights at Michael's. They also had really neat tiny ornaments for little table top trees.

The Santa line was super, super, super long. It went from the Atrium, down the hall by Lumiere's, past the lounge and all the way back to Parrot Key. It took a good long time to get to the front of that line.

The Mass on Christmas Eve at 11:15 PM was a Catholic Mass. It was really special to attend that Mass with so many of the cast and crew there for worship as well. There was also a Catholic Mass on Christmas Day. I'm pretty sure they did something non-denominational, too.

 

[NaomiJayne]

Wow 18 pages later... that's what you get for living in a hotel where the free wifi was down for a week (I've missed House and Glee!)

Got really in the Disney Mood last night with my holiday companies Charity Cabaret, I dressed up as Snow White, it really got me Disney Happy.

I've got HP for my ebook but I honestly can't remember where I got them, that ebook is a life saver, especially in my job where I can only take 40kg to last me 6 months, if it weren't for the ebook, 20kg would be on books

Can't wait until i get home next month so I can help Pooh'sPals with planning (if there's anything left to do haha) also to do Magnets, (left my photoshop disk at home, otherwise It would give me something to do out here)

I've been converting all the Royal Caribbean guests staying in the hotel I work in, (they travel from Malaga) I keep saying cruise with Disney!!! Really bad considering I should be saying holiday with my company instead haha

Well ttfn from spain

 

[riggins]

How looooooooooooooong is that Santa line

The Santa line was super, super, super long. It went from the Atrium, down the hall by Lumiere's, past the lounge and all the way back to Parrot Key. It took a good long time to get to the front of that line.

We were on the Magic last Christmas too and didn't have any trouble seeing Santa. Maybe we just got lucky! On Christmas eve, there was a line, but it wasn't terribly long - no worse than any character line. We had late dining, so we were there while the early shift was eating, so maybe that helped. On Christmas morning, there was no line at all. In fact, we commented on how lonely Santa must be feeling, so DH stopped and got his picture taken with him!! It was an odd shot . . . Santa and a grown man.

 

[Meemous]

Thanks for the information all!

I went to Lowe's today to get some household items and found some very small trees that light up (about 6-8 inches), two disney globes that play songs, and some small stockings to put up in the room to make it festive. Oh and they had some gel clings too! I might just forget about the string of lights.

Anyone have a wreath graphic for the door perchance?

Lori, thanks for the offer to get the wine, I will look into it and let you know!

 

[Almagetty]

We were on the Magic last Christmas too and didn't have any trouble seeing Santa. Maybe we just got lucky! On Christmas eve, there was a line, but it wasn't terribly long - no worse than any character line. We had late dining, so we were there while the early shift was eating, so maybe that helped. On Christmas morning, there was no line at all. In fact, we commented on how lonely Santa must be feeling, so DH stopped and got his picture taken with him!! It was an odd shot . . . Santa and a grown man.

Wow! You were definitely there at a different time than we were! My husband and I had time to sit down to breakfast in Lumiere's and finish eating during the time my DD's were in line. And, even after we were done eating, there was a good long wait. (Before you wonder what my DD's were doing in line by themselves, please keep in mind that they were 19 and 16 years old at the time. )

Do you remember if you were there early or late on Christmas day? We were probably there mid-morning. After that, we went up top to watch the captain attempt to dock at CC.

I don't remember Santa being on the ship on Christmas Eve.

 

[momssurprise]

Booked and paid this afternoon; booked our flights as well. I have a good friend who lives in Cocoa who is going to pick us up from MCO. And she lives on the beach, very near the port. Will make for a fun first night before we embark! Last time we stayed at the MCO Hyatt and that was nice b/c it was so easy.

Question - will the system let me reserve Palo's dinner for two different nights? I reserved on for the St. Maarten night, but would like to do it again later in the cruise. Didn't want to just try it for fear I'd lose the first ressie.

Am I a scrooge if I don't bring Christmas decorations? That stresses me out a bit. Not sure why b/c we "go Griswold" on our house. Maybe b/c DH is the Griswold in the equation...

3princess, we can get worms and things in the states, too, and you are still exotic!

My DD is still American Girl crazy. Can't decide if I should get her a Just like Me doll for Christmas and pack it with some kind of matching Disney outfits. Of course the dolls are taking over her room and now she also wants Felicity and Elizabeth b/c they are being retired. She has 6 already. But she never really asks for anything else...

 

[Almagetty]

momssurprise: I think you're only allowed to book one dinner at Palo online. You can book more (if available) when you get to the ship.

I love your screen name!

Welcome to the thread and to the cruise!

 

[riggins]

Wow! You were definitely there at a different time than we were! My husband and I had time to sit down to breakfast in Lumiere's and finish eating during the time my DD's were in line. And, even after we were done eating, there was a good long wait. (Before you wonder what my DD's were doing in line by themselves, please keep in mind that they were 19 and 16 years old at the time. )

Do you remember if you were there early or late on Christmas day? We were probably there mid-morning. After that, we went up top to watch the captain attempt to dock at CC.

I don't remember Santa being on the ship on Christmas Eve.

It was probably pretty early . . . definitely before 9:00, and maybe before 8:00. We saw the line Christmas Eve but the kids didn't want to wait, so we just decided to skip it. Then Christmas morning after we opened gifts, DH headed down to Guest Services and found Santa sitting all alone. He came back and asked the kids if they wanted to get dressed and go see him, but they weren't interested. So, despite the fact that my girls were 6 and 8 and totally believe in Santa, the only picture we had with Santa was just DH!

 

[DVC4US]

LeiLani - great pix. How fun that your daughter met her boyfriend on a previous Disney Cruise. My 13 year old daughter already said she wants to get married on CC, so I told her she better meet someone who loves Disney as much as us.
Marguerite

I keep trying to tell Brittany that they should get married at CC or WDW(of course they aren't even engaged yet). She just keeps shaking her head and laughing at me. It's funny though, her boyfriend was the one who said it would be fun to get married at WDW. We'll see when the time comes.

 

[DVC4US]

Where are you finding Harry Potter to download? That's one series I definitely wanted since I have them all in hardcover(very difficult to travel with!) but neither Amazon or B&N have them for download! (That alone would swing me from one to another!)

Lori - I just looked on my nook and the HP series is available to download. I can't comment on the kindle.

 

[DVC4US]

Booked and paid this afternoon; booked our flights as well. I have a good friend who lives in Cocoa who is going to pick us up from MCO. And she lives on the beach, very near the port. Will make for a fun first night before we embark! Last time we stayed at the MCO Hyatt and that was nice b/c it was so easy.

Question - will the system let me reserve Palo's dinner for two different nights? I reserved on for the St. Maarten night, but would like to do it again later in the cruise. Didn't want to just try it for fear I'd lose the first ressie.

Congrats on being official!

The system will only let you book one Palo reservation for each of the following - brunch, dinner, high tea. If you would like a second one then just check once you get on the ship. Especially with us having 4 days at sea I am pretty sure you will be able to get a second dinner reservation.

 

[mickey squared]

As far as electric lights go, we bought some at Michaels and some at Big Lots. We have 2 cabins so we needed a lot. Yes, we went through a lot of batteries, but interestingly, the Big Lots lasted longer. We had security come a few times to check to see if they were battery operated and not plug-ins. We hid the battery pack behind the door because our first set was stolen!

As far as the Santa line, when he takes breaks, they have Santa Goofy come out and sit in his chair for photo ops. I guess we got lucky because we got pix with both of them with minimal waits.

 

[DVC4US]

According to the DCL website: Seasonal and celebratory lighting strings are prohibited due to safety concerns. I think DCL is not only concerned about fire hazard but also the electrical draw. This was talked about recently on the main board but I can't find it now. If you are going to do lights, I would suggest battery operated ones. I don't know if I am going to mess with lights or not. I think I am just going to do a few decorations and then enjoy the ones on the ship.

 

[TheBeadPirate]

Lori - I just looked on my nook and the HP series is available to download. I can't comment on the kindle.

LeiLani- I hate to be a pest, but can you make sure it's the books and not the "sparksnotes" (cliffnotes) version? On the Barnes and Noble site all they have for ebooks is the sparksnotes.

I did do a google search and there are unlocked epub and pdf versions out there. I just hate to download from sites I don't know.

And I was just about to submit my order for a Kindle! I was trying to decide what case I wanted!

 

[disneycruising]

According to the DCL website: Seasonal and celebratory lighting strings are prohibited due to safety concerns. I think DCL is not only concerned about fire hazard but also the electrical draw. This was talked about recently on the main board but I can't find it now. If you are going to do lights, I would suggest battery operated ones. I don't know if I am going to mess with lights or not. I think I am just going to do a few decorations and then enjoy the ones on the ship.

Thanks for the info, I didn't know this.

 

[DVC4US]

LeiLani- I hate to be a pest, but can you make sure it's the books and not the "sparksnotes" (cliffnotes) version? On the Barnes and Noble site all they have for ebooks is the sparksnotes.

I did do a google search and there are unlocked epub and pdf versions out there. I just hate to download from sites I don't know.

And I was just about to submit my order for a Kindle! I was trying to decide what case I wanted!

Lori - it's a good thing you had me check because you are correct. I saw them listed and didn't even check to see if they were the original books. Sorry about that.

 

[DVC4US]

Our DD watches it on youtube...

I have to introduce you to my 4 yo DD.. Vika air guitars

Mike - she is too cute! I watched this video and the other ones where you met her and they were so much fun to watch. Can't wait to meet all of you.

 

[TheBeadPirate]

Lori - it's a good thing you had me check because you are correct. I saw them listed and didn't even check to see if they were the original books. Sorry about that.

Thanks for looking.

Like I said, I'd pick in a heartbeat if I knew they were out there for one of them! I did find an article from earlier this year (May & June) that she was "considering her options" with eBooks. Really?!? C'mon lady! These books are heavy....I'm dying to give you my money!

For what it's worth, I can't get them on Audible for my ipod either.

 

[DVC4US]

Thanks for looking.

Like I said, I'd pick in a heartbeat if I knew they were out there for one of them! I did find an article from earlier this year (May & June) that she was "considering her options" with eBooks. Really?!? C'mon lady! These books are heavy....I'm dying to give you my money!

For what it's worth, I can't get them on Audible for my ipod either.

I agree - just make them available already. I have them on CD(listened to them while traveling) and I just loaded those onto my itunes so I could listen to them on my iphone. Did the same thing with the Twilight series.