Magic Eastern 4/9-16/11...5th time and loving it!

[randomiam79]

Cruise Party—DW (Gaynel) and myself, DS (Noah) and DD (Kate), Our friends Donnie and Wendy, their DD’s Megan and Emma, more friends Dan and Stacy, and their DD’s Angelina and Chloe
Stateroom 6053

I wish I could post pictures for you but can't. Guess I haven't earned that right yet...so sorry I wrote this report with pictures so sorry those really help tell the story.

Day 1—Port Canaveral
After much debate, we decided to drive to the port the morning of our cruise. We live in Tampa Bay so it is not a far drive. We left home at 7:30am and arrived at PC at 9:45. Our assigned check-in time was 10:30-11 so I dropped everyone off to get in the already forming line and decided to drive over to the Park & Cruise lot. I had debated this as well but after talking to one of the porters he encouraged me to do it, it was half the price and soon the port is going up to $20/day. They hadn’t done that yet as of this sailing. So I drove over to the Park n Cruise lot, paid $53 for the week (had an online reservation) and hopped on the shuttle back to the terminal. This worked great for drop-off. From the time I left my family in line to go park to when I got back into the terminal was a total of 20 minutes.

When I got back, DW told me we had boarding #3 (yay!) and would be on the boat soon. The lady commented that we must have selected the proper boarding time during online check-in and that is why our boarding number was so low. Our first family of friends arrived about 30 minutes later and got #23 but they had selected the 1:00-1:30 time. They allowed our whole party to board together so no worries. The other family missed their exit and showed up a little later, but I think they were on the boat by around 2pm.
Anyways, after signing up for youth activities, meeting a few people from our FE group, and getting a picture with Captain Mickey, they started calling boarding numbers around 11:45 I believe. We were on board before noon if I’m not mistaken. If not by noon then only a few minutes after.
We went to Parrot Cay for lunch and ate til we were full (theme of the week?) then headed up to the Mickey Pool. It wasn’t too crowded when we got there, but it did fill up. The kids got to swim for a couple hours before mustering heading back to our room to decorate and get dressed.

After the lifeboat drill we went up to the Sailaway party for some fun and to see the characters. We went up to deck 10 to get a better view but DD was tired and cranky so I took her back to the room and we started to get ready for our show.

We had second seating, on purpose, as we have always felt rushed with the early dining. This worked pretty well for us. So we went to the All Aboard show. The kids loved it as the characters were a part of the show, although the entertainers while ok IMO were not as good as ones we’ve had on previous cruises. Marty Putz was funny, DS laughed out loud at his Chubby Bunny bit and the mega-toilet paper roller. Team Rootberry was just ok and we never made it to either one of their adult cabaret shows. Maybe they were better than what they showed on the main stage…

After the show our kids went to the clubs for a bit and the adults found a quiet spot in Diversions for the 6 of us to chat a bit…nice spot to talk before dinner. We weren't all at the same table so this let us catch up on everyone's first day experience

We had the APLAPLA rotation so our first dinner was the show dinner at Animator’s Palate. This is our 5th Disney cruise so we’d seen it before but it is still fun. Our servers were Giuseppe and Siri, and our head waiter was Wayne (who a friend of ours had a few weeks prior. He had some allergies and Wayne remembered him…must have been a little hard to deal with haha). He was very good, and we told him that we had the Character Breakfast the next morning but were also scheduled for Palo brunch an hour later. By the end of dinner he came back and had moved our brunch to Monday so we wouldn’t be too full before going to the brunch. He was the best, most personable Head Waiter we’ve had on DCL.
I will say that Animator’s menu is probably my least favorite of the week (the rest of our party agreed). I had the Pennette Pasta which I had ordered on previous cruises. The food was ok and it did get better as the week went on. The kids were happy this night for dinner so it seemed like the late seating didn’t bother them. I did get them some chicken fingers before the show so that helped. I don’t really remember what we did after dinner. We wanted to go to the Match your Mate game show, but I think the kids were a little hesitant to go in the kid’s clubs this night and our friends DD was a little seasick, which also improved as the week went on so I honestly think we ended up going to bed pretty soon after dinner. Went back and the kids were all excited because our FE was full of gifts. After going through those we Ended up in bed sometime around 11pm, probably our early night of the week! Lots of fun to come…

 

[randomiam79]

DAY TWO—DAY AT SEA

My favorite part of any Disney Cruise…Days at Sea! These are supposed to be relaxing, right? Well, as any previous DCL cruiser will tell you, if you aren’t careful, the days at sea can be as tiring if not more so than days in port. We knew this and decided we would just do what we could and not worry about it too much.

I did get up with full intentions of going to Deck 9 and grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting around, but as I left the room our friend next door was headed up to the gym, so I put on my running gear and ran a couple miles around the Deck 4 jogging track. This was nice and relaxing and I wish it wasn’t the only morning I made time to exercise. Something about running around the deck looking out at the ocean really made it a nice experience.

We found out that our DVC Member Celebration was at 10am today during our Character breakfast so we called and they told us to come by the desk and get our freebies.

Character Breakfast—the character breakfasts on the cruises are a nice touch, but tend to be very fast paced and a little chaotic. They are definitely not the same as doing a Character Breakfast at WDW. Basically, you eat a forgettable breakfast and the characters come around with their ‘handler’ and pose for one quick picture before whisking off to the next table. Not a complaint because at least you get to see them and there are PLENTY of other opportunities for pictures with the characters on the ship, but just wanted to let you know what to expect.

One thing I noticed today was that it seemed like there were WAY more kids on this ship than any of our previous sailings. Again, not a complaint because it doesn’t bother me at all, just an observation.

After breakfast, we stopped by the DVCMC and got our hats, bag, etc. and heard about the onboard incentives. We had no intention of adding on points but stayed for the $200 OBC drawing. Didn’t win, but that’s ok. We took the kids to the club for a little bit and went up to the pool. They didn’t stay in the club long today, because they wanted to swim so we went up and spent most of the afternoon at the pool.

Tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter—when we got onboard we booked the 4pm Tea with Alice for Sunday. We had tried to do this on our other cruises but never been able to. I would recommend it for families with girls at least 7 or 8 years old. DS slept through it, worn out from the pool, and DD was half-asleep, and barely interested. The older girls and moms probably found it more interesting than the kids to be honest. Don’t know that we would rush onboard to get these tickets again. Another hour at the pool probably would have been better, but oh well, plenty of time for that, plus it was the perfect place for DS to take a needed nap.

So now it was time for Formal night. We went back to the room and got dressed up and went to see Twice Charmed. This is probably my favorite of the Disney Broadway-style shows. Third time we’ve seen it and it is always just as good as the first time.

After the show we decided to take a group picture with the 12 of us. This was maybe the only negative experience we had on the trip. Nothing major, but normally there is DCL crew willing to take pictures for you after they get their professional shots, but Eduardo was short and quite rude to us when we asked him to do that. He also was kind of rude to us later in the week when our friend didn’t have her room key for the picture he was taking. Then he rushed us through the picture without even trying to get DD to look up or everyone to look at the same camera at the same time, etc. Only time we’ve been treated that way on a Disney Cruise. Can’t get us down though. A fellow cruiser was nice enough to get a shot for us.
We took some more pictures, then ran into Belle on the way to dinner. The 3 dads got a good picture with her!

We were in Parrot Cay for dinner. Odd setting for Formal Night but no big deal. Contentment was my word of the week! Dinner was much better tonight. Definitely a better menu than last night in AP. I think I got a steak and some fish. Ordered 2 entrees because everything looked so good.

After dinner, the kids went to the club for Boys Chill/Girls Chill. Girls were painting fingernails, makeup, etc. Boys had Ninja training. All the kids loved it and from then on DS and DD were happy to go into the club whenever we asked, in fact they were usually asking to go! When I went to pick DS up, he told me he wasn’t done yet to leave and come back later to get him.

Moms ended up going in with the girls for the Girls Chill, so Donnie and I ended up walking around the ship, got some ice cream, went to Diversions to watch a ballgame, walked through the Disco and found some nice comfy chairs on Deck 5 to sit in and wait. Nice relaxing night. After everyone was done we went back got some more great FE gifts at our door and then settled down for bed.

 

[randomiam79]

I wish I could post pictures...they tell the story so much better! Any suggestions?

 

[randomiam79]

Monday—Day at Sea

I love days at sea! Today we had scheduled brunch at PALO. We’d never done the brunch before so I was excited. The kids all went to the club and 4 of us headed to Palo for brunch. Our server was Andrea. She is very nice and gave us a tour of the buffet. LOTS of seafood, it is worth it if you like seafood. I do, DW does not so you would probably get two answers on whether the brunch is worth it from the two of us. I ate lots of ahi tuna, caviar, crab legs, and more from the buffet. Then you order off of the ‘hot appetizers’. We got pizza and Oysters, and I got the Tilapia as a main course. Then we got lots of stuff off of the desert table. We spent about 2 hours there and had a nice leisurely brunch.

Once we left the 4 of us went to the Quiet Cove pool for about 30 minutes before the wave phones went off and it was time to pick up the kids. Rest of the afternoon was spent at the kids and family pools. Fun times.

The kids did go back to the Club for Story Time with Belle. This is one of their favorites as Belle comes to the club to tell her story and the kids follow her all around the club, up the stairs, down the slide, etc.

We saw Villains Tonight! This evening, it was a fun show and the kids enjoyed it. They’ve never seen Hercules but that didn’t seem to matter too much. After the show we went to Lumiere’s for dinner. Kids did Dine n Play so they ate fast and went up to the club and we enjoyed the rest of our dinner.

After dinner, kids went to the Lab for the Piston Cup then came back to bed as we got ready for a big day in St. Maarten tomorrow.

Day Four—St Maarten

DW got up early to snap some pictures as we pulled in to St Maarten. Then we all went up to Topsiders to eat and get a look at the island.

We decided to rent a car in St Maarten. We used Coastal Car Rental based on good reviews from previous cruisers. It ended up costing $190 for a van big enough for all of us plus a couple bags, including every possible insurance you could buy. We split it between two families so it ended up costing $100 per family. Considering most excursions were at least $40-50 each we figured it was a good deal.

We got into the van around 10am and headed to Maho Beach. Everything we researched said to drive clockwise around the island to avoid afternoon traffic. So we drove for about 20 minutes and got to Maho Beach next to the airport. We parked at the resort nearby for free and walked to the beach. There is a bar with a schedule of incoming/outgoing flights. The planes fly right over your head it is definitely a unique experience. Unfortunately DD (3) was playing in the water and the tide started coming in quickly. I saw bad things coming and headed down to grab her out of the water when a wave went back out and pulled her under. I sprinted to her and picked her up but only after she had been tossed around a little bit. She was ok but scared and she was done with the beach at that point. More on that later.
After about 30 minutes at Maho we loaded up and drove up to Marigot. Traffic was very bad in town but almost nonexistent everywhere else. The girls all got out and shopped at the open-air market. We found a parking spot after a while just in time for them to have finished shopping. We then went toward the French beaches. We skipped Orient Bay, with 4 kids and all, because of the nudity and went right to the Butterfly Garden. We had done one of these before in ST. Thomas and knew the kids would love it. It was nice, the butterflies will land right on you and the kids can carry them around on their finger, etc. The lady gave us a tour and we spent about an hour there playing.
From there we went to Le Galion Beach. We’d heard that this beach was great for kids and it was true. Very shallow and calm. Unfortunately DD had been traumatized at our previous beach stop so I had to drag her out of the van. As we walked to the family we walked right past a topless sunbather but we didn’t make a big deal out of it so the kids didn’t even notice.
We played in the water, even snorkeled a bit. There are some platforms in the water you can swim out to and jump off. It was a lot of fun. We swam out to a sandbar and found some sea urchins. At this point the weather started to turn and we decided to head in. Unfortunately our swim noodle had floated away. I had fins on so I swam after it and got it, then swam back to DW and kids to help them get back. Not dangerous, but tiring. As soon as we got back to the beach it started POURING! We loaded up in the van and decided to head back.
It was around 3 and we didn’t want to chance getting stuck in traffic or anything. Of course it only took us about 15 minutes to get back to the port. There was NO traffic on the way back so this is the way to drive the island if you ever do it. The rental car guy said most of the island works over by the airport/Maho side and is driving back to Philipsburg area where they live at 3-4pm so traffic gets really bad coming from that way.
We had a little bit of a problem returning our van. It was supposed to be ¼ full when we returned it. It was just below ¼ tank and we had to go back and put another 2 dollars in before they would take the car back. Good thing we came back early! After that they took the van back, we paid cash so we didn’t give them a copy of our credit card and got back on the boat.
I’d recommend renting a car on St Maarten. There is lots to do and you can decide to do what you’d like for as long as you like, and it’s cheaper than the excursions.

Back on the boat, we decided to skip the show. It was movie night and Mars needs Moms didn’t really appeal to anyone in our group. We went to the pool and let DD get here swimming in since she wouldn’t even look at the beautiful water at the beach. We stayed there until it was time to get ready for Pirate Night!

We got pictures with Capt. Jack Sparrow and Pirate Mickey, Captain Hook and Smee, then the kids went to the club for Who wants to be a Pirate? We went to dinner and ordered for them. When it was time for the entrée we went up to pick them up. This way they got to play until their food was ready and they got to be there for the ‘show’. After dinner, went straight up to Deck 9 for the Pirate party. This is always so much fun, but usually is exhausting as I have DD on my shoulders and trying to make sure DS can see. It’s always worth it when Mickey comes to be the hero and give us our fireworks!
After the fireworks, the buffet line was ginormous! You’d think people hadn’t just eaten (some like us, just 30 minutes ago!) as the lines were extremely long. We skipped the buffet, got drinks and went to the room. Another early morning tomorrow….

 

[DiSnEyFrEaK22]

Following along... can't wait to read more! We are scheduled for a 7 night Eastern on the Magic in September. How many posts do you need to upload pictures?

 

[randomiam79]

I don't know...I did create a photo gallery on facebook the story is so much better with pictures!

 

[HappyPeach]

Have you tried linking the photos from photobucket? I've had luck with doing it that way.

 

[randomiam79]

still no pictures but if you really want them PM me with your email address and I can send you the word document with pictures.

Wednesday—St. Thomas

We booked the Doubloon Sail & Snorkel for St. Thomas. This is our 3rd visit to this beautiful island and DW has always wanted to snorkel with the turtles so we booked this. There were 10 of us on this excursion. The 2 youngest stayed in the club.

We met in Rockin Bar D at 8:00 and headed out. We boarded Bones, the pirate ship that would take us to Turtle Cove. The Captain and Crew were a lot of fun explaining what we would do and we got to listen to island music for about 45 minutes as we sailed to Buck Island. They showed everyone how to use the snorkel equipment and got everyone everything they needed. When we got there, they explained that we would follow the guide and he would make sure we saw turtles and more. Not 5 minutes into the water we saw our first turtle. DS and I hung around long enough to see the turtle come up to the surface and swim around a bit. It was really neat to see. We also saw some stingray and several other turtles before heading over to the reef. This is a nature preserve so you can’t go on the island or take anything with you but the view underwater was priceless. What a beautiful place. It seemed like we were only in the water a few minutes and our hour was up. I could have spent half a day there easily. Oh well, there’s always next time! We saw all kinds of fish, sea urchins, crabs, turtles, etc. in our time there. The crew on Bones was lots of fun on the way back, slapping tattoos on everyone and of course hawking their merchandise at the end of the tour. We had a great time on this tour and would highly recommend it.


Once we got back the girls did a little shopping, DS spent time studying the iguanas that were all over the rocks, then we went back on the ship. We spent the afternoon at the pool. Kids ended up taking a nap at the pool so we got a couple quiet hours. The pools were pretty much empty while in port and during the first show/dinner seating. We stayed up there for the sailaway and decided to skip tonight’s show “Circurious” which turned out to be a good move.

Tonight was PALO dinner night. Once again we had Andrea and the food and service was fabulous. I ate the Calamari appetizer, we shared some pizza, and had the beef tenderloin for dinner. Worth the price!

After dinner was some shopping and then we promised to take the kids to a movie. We saw Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D. It was pretty much forgettable, but was a nice low-key end to the night. After that we were all off to bed and ready for our final day at sea tomorrow.



Thursday—Day at Sea

Our final day at sea…and I was determined we would relax on this one! After breakfast I went to the Quiet Cove and DW dropped off the kids at the club. I was surprised to find open loungers at 9:30 but found 3 together. I laid down and saved an extra one for her (I know, I know, that’s not allowed…sorry) until she made it back a few minutes later. On a side note, it seemed like this was the latest that loungers were available. Other mornings I saw people up there reserving chairs at 7:30 on the other sea days…oh well, contentment.

So we spent a couple hours at the QC pool, then DW went down to get the Royal invitations for the Princess Gathering, which we had missed earlier in the week. This was kind of nice, similar to a Fastpass at WDW. They had us come back between 12:15-12:35. We got to spend a little while longer at the adult pool, then I came down to watch DD with the princesses and there was basically no wait.


After the Princess Gathering, kids went back to the club and I went to Topsiders and picked up some sushi before meeting our party at the DVC presentation. We were all hoping for that onboard credit but no luck. Oh well.

Today they had a matinee showing of Disney Dreams. We wish they’d have had more of these 2:00 shows. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t because they are in rehearsal or have something else going on. Anyway, we went to the 2:00 show of this great production. Don’t miss it especially if you haven’t seen it before.

After Dreams, the kids went back to the club. We decided to leave them there until after the Friendship Rocks show. We went BACK to the Quiet Cove and this time got in the pool for an hour or so until right before 5pm. We went to the Walt Disney Theater for the Friendship Rocks! Show then got our kids and as promised, went to the Mickey pool.

We really enjoyed being able to do the early show, then that evening instead of rushing to dinner or a show, we went to the pool and the kids had it to themselves! This was one of the great memories of the trip. It was almost like we were by ourselves on the ship. Definitely a fun time, plust we got a great view of the sunset.


After the pool, we went to dinner for the Captain’s Gala Dinner. Just another great DCL dinner. One thing that was ‘interesting’, our friend ordered the lobster and when he took a bite it tasted like bleach. He told our server who profusely apologized. We know sometimes lobster is stored in bleach and this had happened before at a local restaurant but it kind of ruined his appetite. They offered to bring him something else but he politely declined as his appetite was gone. We did not cause a scene but it was a little disappointing. Wayne, our head waiter, came over and apologized and said that now that we mentioned it, he could smell the ammonia. We got to talking and he thanked us for being understanding. He told us about a family coming in a few weeks with severe allergies and how Disney orders $1600 in special food for them and how they follow them around and make sure they don’t get anything they can’t eat. They have to deal with some serious allergy issues sometimes. He told us one time a girl in the second seating had an allergic reaction from sitting in a chair where someone had shellfish at the first seating. They really work hard to make sure nobody has any problems on their cruise. The chef then came out and talked to us. This has never happened before on any of our previous cruises. He told us this can happen about 1 out of 100 lobsters and tonight he had 2 guys cleaning the lobsters and they served 1,000 lobster tails…he apologized and said he would make sure he got great lobster at dinner the next night.



Anyway, after all that excitement, we ended up going back to our room until the Gala Buffet. We got some deserts, the only problem was that they were swabbing the deck near the drink station on deck 9 during the buffet. So we had deserts, but nothing to drink until after midnight. I have to have milk or something to offset all that sweet stuff. But again, contentment, nothing to ruin the trip or anything.

Tomorrow…Castaway Cay!

 

[LadyOfNawlins]

I have never heard of Royal invitations for the princess gatherings. Where did your wife get them?

 

[Mindyjoy]

If your Facebook is set to public you can link to your photos. Otherwise you can upload your photos to photobucket or Flickr and link from there.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Looking forward to hearing more!!

 

[randomiam79]

I have never heard of Royal invitations for the princess gatherings. Where did your wife get them?

This was the first cruise we've been on that they had invitations. They are basically fastpasses. They handed them out at 1115 and it gave you a time to come back. Ours was 1215 and there was no wait. This was much nicer than waiting in line for an hour or more, or getting there at 11 to be at the front of the line!

 

[randomiam79]

I have never heard of Royal invitations for the princess gatherings. Where did your wife get them?

This was the first cruise we've been on that they had invitations. They are basically fastpasses. They handed them out at 1115 and it gave you a time to come back. Ours was 1215 and there was no wait. This was much nicer than waiting in line for an hour or more, or getting there at 11 to be at the front of the line!

Btw, you line up in the atrium near lumiere's but instead of just waiting in line they hand you tickets with a return time

 

[randomiam79]

Ok here are some of our pictures if you're interested...will be adding more soon.



http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150219921872354.347398.558252353&l=9883ffe395

 

[randomiam79]

Friday—Castaway Cay!
Our favorite stop of the week is always Castaway Cay! DW was up early to take pictures as we sailed in to CC. We went to Topsiders for breakfast and sat on the deck out back to watch us finish sailing in and tying up. If anyone was there, you probably were blessed by DD screaming through breakfast because she didn’t want to go to the beach (after her scare in St. Maarten). I ended up taking her back to the room and putting her in a bathing suit. She wanted to stay on the ship and go to the club but I told her the club was moving to Scuttles Cove for the day. Finally we went ashore and as soon as we got to Scuttles Cove she turned around, smiled, and said “This is where they squirt me with the hose!” Her fear was gone and I reassured her she wouldn’t be visiting the beach, only the sand play area she was already at.

After dropping the kids off, we put our stuff at our favorite sitting spot on the island and decided to go check out Serenity Bay. In our previous visits to CC, we had never been to the adults only beach and were determined to see it this time. (on a side note, I was also determined to do the 5k, but that didn’t happen—it was too late in the day for me, I like to do my runs early in the morning, not in the middle of my beach day!) It was quite windy early in the morning, so we thought it might be better on the other side of the island. We got there and immediately wondered why we had not been there before. It was so beautiful and peaceful, and not as windy. They were preparing for a storm, but it never came, thankfully. We decided to head out with our snorkel gear and almost immediately saw some huge starfish, we kept snorkeling, saw some fish, sand dollars, sea urchins, etc. There is a nice sandbar a ways out you can relax on and get some great pictures. We found some sea cucumbers (I think) there. After that we went back in, enjoying the warm, beautiful water there.

When we got out of the water, we had a page that our DS would like to be picked up from Scuttle’s Cove. We’d had experience throughout the week that when one of our friends DD was picked up, Noah would ask for them to page us. Then by the time we got there, he always wanted to stay in the club. We took our chances (shame on us) and stayed at Serenity Bay to eat lunch. The BBQ there was nice. I liked it a lot better than Cookies. They had a few other options like Cajun mahi-mahi, and steak, that they don’t offer at Cookies. No lines! The other nice thing was when you order something they throw it right on the grill so it is good and hot when you eat it. I think we will eat at the Castaway Air BBQ on future trips as well.

After lunch we went back to check on the kids at Scuttles Cove. DS was fine, but he did want to come out and try snorkeling. So we went to the snorkel lagoon and got out to the sunken Minnie when he freaked out and wanted to get out of the water. He wanted to go back to Scuttle’s Cove for the Beach Party. Fine with us! (I know, I know, shame on us again)

We enjoyed the next hour or so of peace and quiet at our (almost) secret hiding spot on the family beach. It’s no secret, but it seems like every time we go there we are the only ones around at this particular spot. After an hour or so, we went and picked up the kids to go back to the ship. I had promised DD that we would go to the Mickey Pool if she went onto the island and played in Scuttle’s Cove, so we went back a little early and swam pretty much by ourselves at the Mickey Pool and Goofy Pool through the sailaway. We went back to the room in time to get changed for the farewell show.

The farewell show has a couple of the variety acts, for this cruise Freddy Fusion and Circurious (more on them later) and of course the Disney Characters. This show always gets me choked up a little bit as we think about the great week we had and I get a little teary-eyed just cherishing the time spent with our family on this voyage.
The kids went back to the club to make Flubber before dinner, then we got them out to come to our Til we meet Again dinner. This was a very good dinner. I ate the beef tenderloin and enjoyed it thoroughly! The lobster we were promised also arrived and was very tasty this time. Wayne, our head server, said he had to bring several small ones because he cooked the big one and checked it out himself and it was the same (bleach smell) from the night before. He really went out of his way to make sure our friend got to enjoy some lobster. The only problem was we didn’t get butter for it probably because our server was already past the dinner service part of his routine and getting ready for the show.

After dinner we went to Til We Meet Again. DD was throwing a fit because I told her we had to go say goodbye to the characters. She cried through most of it, and so did I as a result. The kids had been searching for Peter Pan all week and we finally found him and Ann Marie (from Dreams) at this goodbye party. They got pictures and got to tell him how they had found Tinkerbell and the pixie dust they had been searching for earlier in the week at the club. One of my favorite things about the 7-night cruise is how the characters interact with the kids. By the end of the week they always seem to know our kids names and share stories and memories with them of the week they had. Just a little extra magic . We then saw Sleeping Beauty who greeted us with a “Hello, Princess Kate!” We finally got a good picture with her, as all week DD had been shy and would barely look at her favorite princess. Not sure if she was intimidated or what. We also got pictures with Goofy, Stitch, and Cinderella at this party.

Then they all loaded the staircase and started to sing “Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company…” I don’t know why but I started tearing up at this point, DD was also pouting because she knew our ‘friends’ were getting ready to say farewell. One by one they said goodbye, last of all Minnie who we don’t say goodbye to, only “Hugs and Kisses” and Mickey who of course gets a “See you real soon!” Then Pixie Dust showers the atrium and the kids snap out of it to go collect the confetti off of the floor.

So at this point it was about 10:40 so the kids went back to the club for a final farewell (they love it and will miss it—so will we!). We went to Pub Night in Diversions. This is a fun ‘skit night’ with the cruise staff and is lots of fun. If you are already packed up and up for a laugh, make sure to attend this. The “If I were not upon the sea” skit is hilarious! After Pub night we stopped by to see Midtown do a few last songs, then picked up the kids and went to bed.
One thing we did that turned out to be smart was pack most of our stuff before Castaway Cay. That way when we got back from the Island we only had a few things to stuff in a bag and could put them out in the hallway. On other cruises the last night has been spent frantically packing and trying to squeeze in some of the activities. Packing most of our stuff Thursday night helped us really be able to enjoy the last night of our cruise. It was such a great vacation, and we will remember it for a long time.

Saturday morning we woke up for breakfast. The other great thing about having second seating is you don’t have to wake up super-early for breakfast on the final morning. We didn’t have to be to AP until 8:00. We had to be there at 6:45 on our last cruise, which really put more of a damper on an already-sad morning. 8:00 was perfect. We had a leisurely breakfast, knowing that our cars were waiting for us just a few yards and a customs-stop away. We said goodbye to our servers and made the long slow walk to get off of this beautiful ship. We can’t wait to sail again and will be watching and waiting for the right cruise fare or special to pop up so we can re-live the Magic all over again!


I caught a ride back to the Park n Cruise lot. This would have been tough if the whole family had to get on a shuttle with all our luggage. I just rode over, came back and picked everyone up. Took about 15 minutes that way. I think it would have taken much longer if we had to all wait to fit on a shuttle. It was stopping at Carnival first, then coming to Disney so it was already full the first couple time DW saw it. I don’t think I would park there again, especially on a shorter cruise, it is much more convenient to park at the port and may even be worth the premium price, especially with the nice new parking garage.

We loaded up and drove away, our son asking if we were going back home to make more money so we could go on Mickey’s boat again. As we left we kept reminding the kids to look back and see Mickey’s boat one last time…until next time!

2 ½ hours later we were home, back to all the stuff we’d missed (haha) for a week…laundry, unpacking, cleaning, cooking. We miss you already Disney Magic!

 

[randomiam79]

Just added some more pics to the album

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