GoofyontheHiSeas
Do you know the Nutmeg Man.. The king of whats le
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2005
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Our first Disney Cruise
Disney Magic July 17-23 (Special 6 day cruise)
DD, DW, DD10, and DD4
First off I would like to thank everyone on this board for the helpful hints and tips that allowed our family have the best time possible on our first Disney Cruise.
Sunday July 17th
We left home at 8:30am (could not believe that the girls were ready). Arrived at the port at 9:40am. Our cruise was the Special 6 day cruise since the Magic was in port Saturday night for the Make a Wish Celebration. (We learned later that they raised 1 million dollars and Disney donated another 1 million dollars that night) Thanks to Pppiglet dropping off our luggage and parking the car were a snap. Went inside the terminal and got boarding pass #2 prior to going up the escalator. We got to the terminal early since no one was on the ship the night before and anticipated getting on early. We were greeted upstairs by Disney representatives who checked our paper work. As we sat down we spotted our first Diser (PClaire) sitting across from us. At 10am the announced that we could check in. We walked up to the counter and checked in. From there we went to the Kids club check in and again no waiting. So by 10:30 we were ready to go. Next we ran into Cherta and her kids. Our kids played, got faces painted, took pictures with characters. Time went by quickly and around 11:45 they called for us to board. From this point it was a blur. Being announced in the Atrium. A quick stop at guest services to drop of pillow cases and off to Parrot Cay for lunch. Once we were done we went to our state room which was ready by 1pm. Kids changed into bathing suits and we met our room host Orlando. Off to deck 9 and the Mickey pool. Kids swam and slide until our 3pm Dis meet at Scoops. Only the people that we met in the terminal showed up including DisneyTart and we all had ice cream. From there it was back to the stateroom to unpack and get ready for the safety drill. To our surprise there was a message from guest services (Hilda) that we had been selected Magical Family of the Week. Ok I had read about this somewhere on the board but could not remember what it entailed. More on this later. Off to the safety drill. Then off to the sail away party. We viewed it from deck 10 since we were late. Still a great view. After sailing we visited the kids club. There was a balloon drop in the atrium in celebration of Disneylands Birthday. Off to the early Welcome aboard show which was ok. We explored the ship some more and then went to dinner at Animators Palate. Our servers were Orlan and Ana. They were great. There was too much going on that day for our DD4 who fell asleep by the middle of dinner. We all turned in early that night.
Monday July 18th (at Sea)
Well with time change the night before we all slept in a little bit, since we had our character breakfast at 8:45am. Ordered coffee, milk, and toast for the girls. Character breakfast was a bit rushed with the characters, but we are use to Goofeys Kitchen at Disneyland. Got a lot of cute shots of the girls. After that we went to explore the ship some more since the weather was overcast and cool. We found the secret deck 7 lounge area and spent some time there. We were the only ones there. When we got back to our room, Hilda from guest services had left both of the girls Arcade cards. Next DD10 and I went off to see Taylor Masons Ventriloquism workshop. DD10 has never laughed that hard in her life. We then went to pickup DW and DD4 and headed to the pool for the afternoon. Saw Timon, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. Everyone headed back to take a nap (DD4s second of the day). Then it was the Golden Mickeys. What a great show. Both kids were totally enthralled. After that we were off to dinner, which was at Parrot Cay. DW and the girls headed back to the room for the night. I had brought my tripod on this trip so off to deck 10 for some nighttime photos. Still had some cloud cover so no great moon shots.
Tuesday July 19th (at Sea)
We woke up and the sun was shining. Off to topsiders for breakfast. DW and I went to Palo for brunch with the kids in the Kids club. I most definitely agree with people on the board that brunch is a better experience than dinner. We had a wonderful time. Picked up the kids and headed back to our room. On our way we noticed people running out to deck 4. We too ran out to see a huge pod of dolphins jumping and swimming all around the boat. It was like being at Sea World. To our surprise Hilda had again left more arcade cards and a plate of pastries for us. Just what we needed after dining at Palos. Then we went to Tea with Wendy. This was primarily for DD4; DD10 really did not enjoy it but was a good sport. It lasted about 15 mins. After that it was back to the pool for an afternoon of swimming and sliding. About 5pm we could see Cabo San Lucas off in the distance. DW made an appointment for the girls to come back and get their hair braded. Only had to wait about a half and hour. At this point we noticed that the seas were getting a little ruff. Just before we went to the show the captain made an announcement that there was a tropical storm south of us and he was going to try to go around it but it was going to get ruff. Twice Charmed was the show tonight and it was wonderful. Both kids loved it. We went the Mike Super Magician show while waiting for dinner. It was fantastic. We were in Rocking Bar D so everyone was pretty close to the action. DD10 a magic buff could not believe what she was seeing. Wonderful show if you can see it. Then we were off to Lumineres for dinner. DD4 did not join us this evening since Snow White was dancing with the kids in the club. The rest of us got to the restaurant and by this time the ship was really rocking. DW made it through the appetizer and salad before feeling the effects and had to leave. She got really sick that night until she went to bed. I stayed to finish dinner but the place cleared out half way through the main course. Even our assistant server was about to loose her cookies. Had a great chat with our server Orlan about the rumors that I have heard and the ones he has heard. He was quite surprised that no one has heard about the 3rd ship. Most CM on the boat would calm up if you mention this, but he was pretty open about it.
Wednesday July 20th
We all woke up to rain as we pulled to port in Mazatlan. The rain quickly stopped. We had arranged to go to El Cid hotel with another Dis family on the boat. Had breakfast at Lumineres and then off the ship. Since there were 9 of us we rented a van. He took us to hotel and came back at 2pm to pick us up. I had received a letter from the hotel that as long as we purchased food and beverage from the hotel we could use their facilities. We were immediately stopped at the door and asked if we would like to do there timeshare presentation. They would pay for our transportation and free food and beverages. Against our better judgment we agreed, but stipulated that only one adult could go at a time since we have small children. We were lead to another desk where they gave us name tags. But they then told us that both parents must be present for the presentation. We quickly said no thank you and proceeded to the pool. The pool is huge stretching around the hotel. There were two water slides and a waterfall that you could jump off. Most of the pool was about 3ft deep and 7ft under the water fall. The pool was great fun for the day, but we did feel that we needed to take showers when we got back to the boat. We all took a rest in anticipation of pirate night. DD4 went to a character dance party later in the afternoon. Pirate dinner was great. We all wore costumes and had a blast. Our servers were great in speeding up dinner so we could make it to the show. We were able to get right up next to the stage for a great view of the dancing. A bit too much dancing leading up to the pirate show for me. The fireworks were awesome and could be seen well from decks 9 or 10. We only partook in the dessert portion of the buffet since we had just eaten dinner. Everything was great.
Thursday July 21st (Cabo San Lucas)
The boat rocked some last night but not nearly as much as the previous night. We awoke to the dropping anchors in Cabo San Lucas. We got up leisurely in the morning since our boat trip was at 12:15. We had to go up to the Cinema to get our tender tickets about 11am. Since the waves were still pretty high, the captain moved ship as close as he could to lessen the tender ride in the rough seas. They said that it was as close as the Magic had ever been to shore. The tenders were not as bad as we had heard and did have lifejackets on the inside. We walked around the waterfront for about a half an hour until it was time for the boat trip. We went on the Lands End Coastal Cruise which was a fairly large catamaran. The trip took about 45 mins and took you out to the arch and around the ship. We sat out on the front of the boat which gave us a great view. The front deck is quite large and a 4 foot railing around the front of the boat. We sat up against the windows since there were no seats. It was a bit hard but tolerable for 45 mins. As long as you do not get up and try to walk around it is the best spot on the boat. Once we passed the arch we went out into the Pacific where the waves were quite large. DD 4 thought that we were on a ride at Disneyland. Nobody had any problems with sea sickness. I attribute this to the fresh air and always looking at the horizon. After our trip we went back to Magic to grab some grub. DD4 joined in with Genie for a dance party around the Goofy pool. We saw Disney Dreams that night which was spectacular. We took the kids to the club so that DW and I could enjoy Lobster and Filet at Palos. After dinner we went to get the kids and DD10 and I went to Studio Sea to try get chosen for Mickey Mania Trivia Game. Well I screamed and yelled until my eyes were coming out, but we were chosen to be a contestant. Needless to say DD and I smoked the field and took home the coveted plastic winners medallion. DD was floating on air. I think this was her greatest moment of the whole trip.
Friday July 22nd (Day at Sea)
We gained an hour of sleep (which you just dont get enough of during a Disney Cruise) so we slept in. Breakfast at topsiders. Mr. Toad Race for the kids. The rest of the day was spent sending DW back to room to pack and running around to get photos of DD4 with all of the princesses. We had our last ice cream a Scoops that afternoon. The final show was a real tear jerker. I think they save all of this magic for the end so your kids make come back again. We went to dinner which was one of our better ones on the trip. We enjoyed the Baked Alaska presentation along with the flag ceremony by the servers. We then took off running to see the final character get together. Almost all of the characters seen thorough out the week plus the cast from the show are gathered for a free for all for about 30 mins. At the end they all line up on the staircase for a final wave goodbye. DD4 cried all the way back to the room, not wanting to end this magical cruise. I guess this is the definition of the greatest family vacation that this family has ever had.
Saturday July 23rd (Port of San Pedro)
It was sad waking up in the morning knowing that it was your turn to disembark the ship so someone else could share the Magic. We definitely found out that we could go a much longer cruise (10-14 day). There are not enough hours in the day to partake in all of the wonderful activities aboard. We were lucky enough to have the final seating for breakfast this morning. It was nice to get up leisurely and spend our last few hours aboard. After breakfast our color was called and we slowly made our way to the gangway. All of us had passports, so we passed about 100 people in the Birth Certificate line. In all it took us about 30mins for exiting the ship to loading our luggage in the car.
All and all this has to be the best family vacation that we have ever taken. Both kids had their moments but overall they both had the times of their lives. Thank you to all of the Dis Board members for preparing us for our Magical Journey.
P.S. DW wanted me to mention that even though I told her to take half of what she packed out (she wanted choices) we returned with 2 suitcases of clean cloths.
Roger
Disney Magic July 17-23 (Special 6 day cruise)
DD, DW, DD10, and DD4
First off I would like to thank everyone on this board for the helpful hints and tips that allowed our family have the best time possible on our first Disney Cruise.
Sunday July 17th
We left home at 8:30am (could not believe that the girls were ready). Arrived at the port at 9:40am. Our cruise was the Special 6 day cruise since the Magic was in port Saturday night for the Make a Wish Celebration. (We learned later that they raised 1 million dollars and Disney donated another 1 million dollars that night) Thanks to Pppiglet dropping off our luggage and parking the car were a snap. Went inside the terminal and got boarding pass #2 prior to going up the escalator. We got to the terminal early since no one was on the ship the night before and anticipated getting on early. We were greeted upstairs by Disney representatives who checked our paper work. As we sat down we spotted our first Diser (PClaire) sitting across from us. At 10am the announced that we could check in. We walked up to the counter and checked in. From there we went to the Kids club check in and again no waiting. So by 10:30 we were ready to go. Next we ran into Cherta and her kids. Our kids played, got faces painted, took pictures with characters. Time went by quickly and around 11:45 they called for us to board. From this point it was a blur. Being announced in the Atrium. A quick stop at guest services to drop of pillow cases and off to Parrot Cay for lunch. Once we were done we went to our state room which was ready by 1pm. Kids changed into bathing suits and we met our room host Orlando. Off to deck 9 and the Mickey pool. Kids swam and slide until our 3pm Dis meet at Scoops. Only the people that we met in the terminal showed up including DisneyTart and we all had ice cream. From there it was back to the stateroom to unpack and get ready for the safety drill. To our surprise there was a message from guest services (Hilda) that we had been selected Magical Family of the Week. Ok I had read about this somewhere on the board but could not remember what it entailed. More on this later. Off to the safety drill. Then off to the sail away party. We viewed it from deck 10 since we were late. Still a great view. After sailing we visited the kids club. There was a balloon drop in the atrium in celebration of Disneylands Birthday. Off to the early Welcome aboard show which was ok. We explored the ship some more and then went to dinner at Animators Palate. Our servers were Orlan and Ana. They were great. There was too much going on that day for our DD4 who fell asleep by the middle of dinner. We all turned in early that night.
Monday July 18th (at Sea)
Well with time change the night before we all slept in a little bit, since we had our character breakfast at 8:45am. Ordered coffee, milk, and toast for the girls. Character breakfast was a bit rushed with the characters, but we are use to Goofeys Kitchen at Disneyland. Got a lot of cute shots of the girls. After that we went to explore the ship some more since the weather was overcast and cool. We found the secret deck 7 lounge area and spent some time there. We were the only ones there. When we got back to our room, Hilda from guest services had left both of the girls Arcade cards. Next DD10 and I went off to see Taylor Masons Ventriloquism workshop. DD10 has never laughed that hard in her life. We then went to pickup DW and DD4 and headed to the pool for the afternoon. Saw Timon, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. Everyone headed back to take a nap (DD4s second of the day). Then it was the Golden Mickeys. What a great show. Both kids were totally enthralled. After that we were off to dinner, which was at Parrot Cay. DW and the girls headed back to the room for the night. I had brought my tripod on this trip so off to deck 10 for some nighttime photos. Still had some cloud cover so no great moon shots.
Tuesday July 19th (at Sea)
We woke up and the sun was shining. Off to topsiders for breakfast. DW and I went to Palo for brunch with the kids in the Kids club. I most definitely agree with people on the board that brunch is a better experience than dinner. We had a wonderful time. Picked up the kids and headed back to our room. On our way we noticed people running out to deck 4. We too ran out to see a huge pod of dolphins jumping and swimming all around the boat. It was like being at Sea World. To our surprise Hilda had again left more arcade cards and a plate of pastries for us. Just what we needed after dining at Palos. Then we went to Tea with Wendy. This was primarily for DD4; DD10 really did not enjoy it but was a good sport. It lasted about 15 mins. After that it was back to the pool for an afternoon of swimming and sliding. About 5pm we could see Cabo San Lucas off in the distance. DW made an appointment for the girls to come back and get their hair braded. Only had to wait about a half and hour. At this point we noticed that the seas were getting a little ruff. Just before we went to the show the captain made an announcement that there was a tropical storm south of us and he was going to try to go around it but it was going to get ruff. Twice Charmed was the show tonight and it was wonderful. Both kids loved it. We went the Mike Super Magician show while waiting for dinner. It was fantastic. We were in Rocking Bar D so everyone was pretty close to the action. DD10 a magic buff could not believe what she was seeing. Wonderful show if you can see it. Then we were off to Lumineres for dinner. DD4 did not join us this evening since Snow White was dancing with the kids in the club. The rest of us got to the restaurant and by this time the ship was really rocking. DW made it through the appetizer and salad before feeling the effects and had to leave. She got really sick that night until she went to bed. I stayed to finish dinner but the place cleared out half way through the main course. Even our assistant server was about to loose her cookies. Had a great chat with our server Orlan about the rumors that I have heard and the ones he has heard. He was quite surprised that no one has heard about the 3rd ship. Most CM on the boat would calm up if you mention this, but he was pretty open about it.
Wednesday July 20th
We all woke up to rain as we pulled to port in Mazatlan. The rain quickly stopped. We had arranged to go to El Cid hotel with another Dis family on the boat. Had breakfast at Lumineres and then off the ship. Since there were 9 of us we rented a van. He took us to hotel and came back at 2pm to pick us up. I had received a letter from the hotel that as long as we purchased food and beverage from the hotel we could use their facilities. We were immediately stopped at the door and asked if we would like to do there timeshare presentation. They would pay for our transportation and free food and beverages. Against our better judgment we agreed, but stipulated that only one adult could go at a time since we have small children. We were lead to another desk where they gave us name tags. But they then told us that both parents must be present for the presentation. We quickly said no thank you and proceeded to the pool. The pool is huge stretching around the hotel. There were two water slides and a waterfall that you could jump off. Most of the pool was about 3ft deep and 7ft under the water fall. The pool was great fun for the day, but we did feel that we needed to take showers when we got back to the boat. We all took a rest in anticipation of pirate night. DD4 went to a character dance party later in the afternoon. Pirate dinner was great. We all wore costumes and had a blast. Our servers were great in speeding up dinner so we could make it to the show. We were able to get right up next to the stage for a great view of the dancing. A bit too much dancing leading up to the pirate show for me. The fireworks were awesome and could be seen well from decks 9 or 10. We only partook in the dessert portion of the buffet since we had just eaten dinner. Everything was great.
Thursday July 21st (Cabo San Lucas)
The boat rocked some last night but not nearly as much as the previous night. We awoke to the dropping anchors in Cabo San Lucas. We got up leisurely in the morning since our boat trip was at 12:15. We had to go up to the Cinema to get our tender tickets about 11am. Since the waves were still pretty high, the captain moved ship as close as he could to lessen the tender ride in the rough seas. They said that it was as close as the Magic had ever been to shore. The tenders were not as bad as we had heard and did have lifejackets on the inside. We walked around the waterfront for about a half an hour until it was time for the boat trip. We went on the Lands End Coastal Cruise which was a fairly large catamaran. The trip took about 45 mins and took you out to the arch and around the ship. We sat out on the front of the boat which gave us a great view. The front deck is quite large and a 4 foot railing around the front of the boat. We sat up against the windows since there were no seats. It was a bit hard but tolerable for 45 mins. As long as you do not get up and try to walk around it is the best spot on the boat. Once we passed the arch we went out into the Pacific where the waves were quite large. DD 4 thought that we were on a ride at Disneyland. Nobody had any problems with sea sickness. I attribute this to the fresh air and always looking at the horizon. After our trip we went back to Magic to grab some grub. DD4 joined in with Genie for a dance party around the Goofy pool. We saw Disney Dreams that night which was spectacular. We took the kids to the club so that DW and I could enjoy Lobster and Filet at Palos. After dinner we went to get the kids and DD10 and I went to Studio Sea to try get chosen for Mickey Mania Trivia Game. Well I screamed and yelled until my eyes were coming out, but we were chosen to be a contestant. Needless to say DD and I smoked the field and took home the coveted plastic winners medallion. DD was floating on air. I think this was her greatest moment of the whole trip.
Friday July 22nd (Day at Sea)
We gained an hour of sleep (which you just dont get enough of during a Disney Cruise) so we slept in. Breakfast at topsiders. Mr. Toad Race for the kids. The rest of the day was spent sending DW back to room to pack and running around to get photos of DD4 with all of the princesses. We had our last ice cream a Scoops that afternoon. The final show was a real tear jerker. I think they save all of this magic for the end so your kids make come back again. We went to dinner which was one of our better ones on the trip. We enjoyed the Baked Alaska presentation along with the flag ceremony by the servers. We then took off running to see the final character get together. Almost all of the characters seen thorough out the week plus the cast from the show are gathered for a free for all for about 30 mins. At the end they all line up on the staircase for a final wave goodbye. DD4 cried all the way back to the room, not wanting to end this magical cruise. I guess this is the definition of the greatest family vacation that this family has ever had.
Saturday July 23rd (Port of San Pedro)
It was sad waking up in the morning knowing that it was your turn to disembark the ship so someone else could share the Magic. We definitely found out that we could go a much longer cruise (10-14 day). There are not enough hours in the day to partake in all of the wonderful activities aboard. We were lucky enough to have the final seating for breakfast this morning. It was nice to get up leisurely and spend our last few hours aboard. After breakfast our color was called and we slowly made our way to the gangway. All of us had passports, so we passed about 100 people in the Birth Certificate line. In all it took us about 30mins for exiting the ship to loading our luggage in the car.
All and all this has to be the best family vacation that we have ever taken. Both kids had their moments but overall they both had the times of their lives. Thank you to all of the Dis Board members for preparing us for our Magical Journey.
P.S. DW wanted me to mention that even though I told her to take half of what she packed out (she wanted choices) we returned with 2 suitcases of clean cloths.
Roger
Thanks for the report. I, too, want to know if your server elaborated on the 3rd ship. Can you provide any details?
