May 2, 2009~~~Magical MAYniacs!~~~ 7 day Western....Updated, April 3,2009!!

[AdventureLover67]

I hope it's okay for an outsider to step into the May 2 cruise family, but we are getting set for the May 16 Western on the Magic. Any observations or tips you would like to share? We are two sisters plus one 15 year-old girl and one 6 year-old girl.

You must be so excited!!
This was our family's first cruise and we all loved it. Disney again exceeded our expectations.
My daughter is 18 and our cruise didn't really have many young people 18-21 on board, but from what I understand "The Stack" is totally awesome for the 13-17 year olds. The counselors really encourage the kids to make friends, relax and enjoy. As far as the 6 year old, I heard from many adults and kids in the elevators and walking around that the programs they have are outstanding.
The best advice I can offer is to read through some of the pages on this thread and you will find fantastic tips from folks who have cruised in the past and are familiar with Disney.
Be prepared to have a fantastic time, meet great new people, relax and enjoy an awesome adventure!!
Happy cruising!

 

[my4bratz]

I hope that everyone had safe travels home. We are still driving. We stayed in Charlotte NC last night. Todays drive has been terribly long due to the numerous and every 5 mile potty stops. We should be home in about 2 hours. Need to make certain we hav milk in the house for the morning.

Many thanks to all of you! Each and everyone one of you made this trip extra special for my family. You are all incredible.

To anyone who is a future cruiser reading the thread.....my children loved the cruise and the clubs. They all cried on the last evening and the entire next next day. DD10 is still having random outbursts of tears. Drama Queen or hormones?! I strongly suggest making use of the childrens activities. They are incredible and the staff is outstanding. They have a new offering for the late seating; they will give the children their meals first and the staff will pick them up at 9:00 and take to the club. Parents are free to enjoy the rest of their meal in peace.

We did not go onto Nassau; we enjoyed the reduced crowds on the ship. It was enjoyable at the pool. Key West was OK; not certain that I would take the children back. I think it would be fun with just hubby. This trip we took the trolly tour. We continued to miss the pickups and chased the darn thing around Key West. Much tension, bickering and crying was done.....children and adults!

The FE's were wonderful. Thank you so much for all of the time you took in the preperation. I apologize for not having the labels made for the CD's. I had someone on the DisBoard design one and then the printer crashed. However, I hope that you enjoy the music. An interesting mix; I hope there is something that each of you will enjoy.

We did not make the meet on the first day.....the kids were so caught up in the pool and I lost track of the time. This was the theme for the trip because I never knew what time it was; I really was messed up with the time change. It made it more challenging that I figured out one day into the trip that the clock in the room did not work!

We did rebook while onboad. December 4,2010. I will need to check the kids school schedule. The ship will be decorated for Christmas; I am certain this will be amazing. I hate taking the kids out of school but the prices in the summer are more than double!

I could not stop laughing looking at the photos at Shutters. There was not one picture of our family that was not comical. Of course, this has alot to do with the material they had to work with...... each picture had someone making a funny face.

Tonight will be busy with laundry.... I am in the same boat as the rest of you. If there was more than one washer and dryer, I would have done it all at the hotel last night.

Pixie Dust to All!! If you are ever in Ohio, we live very close to CEDAR POINT! Let me know and we can plan a DisMeet at Cedar Point.

I will be busy doing laundry tonight.

 

[mjlewis23]

To anyone who is a future cruiser reading the thread.....my children loved the cruise and the clubs. They all cried on the last evening and the entire next next day. DD10 is still having random outbursts of tears. Drama Queen or hormones?!

Hey Lisa! I saw your daughter in the hallway the last day choking back tears...I just wanted to give her a BIG hug We had our share of tears too. I really hate leaving my Disney fantasy world.

Key West was OK; not certain that I would take the children back. I think it would be fun with just hubby. This trip we took the trolly tour. We continued to miss the pickups and chased the darn thing around Key West. Much tension, bickering and crying was done.....children and adults!

I agree about Key West. It was just ok for us. I think next time I'll just stay on the ship for that day.

Pixie Dust to All!! If you are ever in Ohio, we live very close to CEDAR POINT! Let me know and we can plan a DisMeet at Cedar Point.

I'm in for the Cedar Point. If we end up going there sometime this summer, I'll let you know!

I will be busy doing laundry tonight.

Ugh...me too. We live in an area where there is very hard water, so every year when I get back from vacation, I forget we haven't used the softener in a week, so my first load of laundry turns orange This year, I was smart and did a test run...(yep, orange), and I had to run to the store to buy salt for the softener. So, yay...no orange clothes this year! However, this was very time consuming so needless to say we still have a LOT of laundry to do!

 

[my4bratz]

Ugh...me too. We live in an area where there is very hard water, so every year when I get back from vacation, I forget we haven't used the softener in a week, so my first load of laundry turns orange This year, I was smart and did a test run...(yep, orange), and I had to run to the store to buy salt for the softener. So, yay...no orange clothes this year! However, this was very time consuming so needless to say we still have a LOT of laundry to do![/QUOTE]

I know that you mean regarding the orange laundry. I grew up with well water; we did have a water softener. My mom used some Iron Out in the wash; it seemed to help with the rust problem. This may help until you get some soft water!!

Can't wait to see you again. We can always do the Toledo Zoo! It is a really nice time. I also want to take the kids to the Kelloggs Factory....have you been?

 

[AdventureLover67]

Lisa-
I have to ask...what had you laughing so hard at dinner that night? I was cracking up because you looked so comical!!
Amy

 

[my4bratz]

Lisa-
I have to ask...what had you laughing so hard at dinner that night? I was cracking up because you looked so comical!!
Amy

Our assistant server Ali kept playing tricks on me. He would bring me a coffee cup and pretend that he was dropping it on my lap. I decided to "over react" to get him back! It was hysterical!

I waved when we drove through Virginia!! I hope that your DD liked her things...I tried to find age appropriate things for her.

 

[AKcruiser]

We want to thank everyone for the gifts in our FEs. Our kids really enjoyed the gifts everyday and looked forward to finding the gifts. This made our cruise so special for them.

Also it was great to see so many faces to put with names at the meet up. It was really nice to have friendly faces around.

Brenda

 

[AdventureLover67]

Our assistant server Ali kept playing tricks on me. He would bring me a coffee cup and pretend that he was dropping it on my lap. I decided to "over react" to get him back! It was hysterical!

I waved when we drove through Virginia!! I hope that your DD liked her things...I tried to find age appropriate things for her.

You did a great job of "over reacting"!!! You had our table in stiches!

Alexandra loved all of her FE gifts...she even tried to claim some of mine!! Thanks for going out of your way to make her happy, it really made her feel good.

Any decision yet on your next cruise?

 

[AdventureLover67]

We want to thank everyone for the gifts in our FEs. Our kids really enjoyed the gifts everyday and looked forward to finding the gifts. This made our cruise so special for them.

Also it was great to see so many faces to put with names at the meet up. It was really nice to have friendly faces around.

Brenda

The same goes here! It really was special to meet so many people from our little group!

 

[my4bratz]

You did a great job of "over reacting"!!! You had our table in stiches!

Alexandra loved all of her FE gifts...she even tried to claim some of mine!! Thanks for going out of your way to make her happy, it really made her feel good.

Any decision yet on your next cruise?

We did rebook for December 4, 2010......The ship will be decorated for the holidays. Now I need to rob the bank!!

 

[laura001]

Hey All!!!!

We have still not left for home, we are at The Boardwalk this week so won't be home until Sunday, but thought I would quickly check in.

WE HAD THE BEST TIME ON OUR CRUISE!!!! It was truly amazing! I just sit here and smile when I think of it.

We just walked around in Key West and did the Butterfly Conservatory, Southernmost Point and Margaritaville! It was good, but nothing compared to the other stops. I will add some pictures later, haven't uploaded them to my computer yet. We did the Aquaboat and Snorkel Tour in Grand Cayman (you will have to read my trip report for that one)and the Segway in Nassau, parasailing in Castaway Cay! Not sure how we missed seeing Randy on any of those?

I/we were so spoiled on the cruise that it is hard to just accept the plain jane "disney" at WDW. Last night we ate at Brown Derby and there was no one to put our napkins in our lap, remember what we wanted to drink, and the worst was that we had to pay for our meal! There is no one turning down our bed at night either.....or getting us drinks by the pool for that matter...

It was great to meet all of you, it just made the whole trip that much more special! Wish it wasn't over....

I know that a few other people aren't home yet, Ashlotte is here at The Boardwalk and Disney4ever (Audrey) just left the Boardwalk yesterday so they should get home today I would think (unless they are slooooow drivers, sorry Audrey, just had to add that)

Hope everyone has a great day today!

 

[zerog]

We did the Segway in Nassau, parasailing in Castaway Cay! Not sure how we missed seeing Randy on any of those?

Laura
It was a pleasure meeting you and your DH. The green wrist bands were a great idea - I was able to identify so many Magical Mayniacs (at least on May 2).

Did you know that I sent a couple of Corona's to your table at Rockin' Bar-D during the Alfred and Seymour adult show? That's why you had 4 beers in front of you. Your bottles were empty when I first walked by, so I added a couple to my order. Unfortunately (for some), your server took an order from you before the drinks I ordered arrived.

We did the Segway tour around 2:45pm - at least, that's when we met for the excursion at the Promenade Lounge. Did you get Deanna as your tour guide? She was awesome and really made the excursion fun. Nobody crashed in our group, but Deanna said that one 'older' man went down 3x just before us.

We met for parasailing at 2:30pm. That gave us time to eat and get the kids to Scuttles. We did not know that Scuttles closed at 3pm, so the CMs had to take DS and DD back to the ship without us.

 

[FLUFFYCAT]

Hi everyone!!!! My family had the BEST time ever. We have been on other cruise lines but no one does it like disney. We stayed at disneyworld until Sunday and unfortunately had an awful flight back to New York. Our flight was about to land 15 minutes early and it was a wonderful smooth flight when all of a sudden we hit the worst turbulence and could not land because of the wind. We were circling in the air for almost 45 minutes. During that time kids and adults were vomiting. Thank God we landed safely and we are all okay. We loved the cruise so much that we booked on the wonder for April 25, 2010 and got a secret porthole. I want to thank everyone again who organized and participated in the fish extenders. I was shocked to see how generous and creative everyone was. My boys said that was one of their favorite parts of the trip. I highly suggest anyone who has never done the fish extenders to do it your next trip. Our excursions for this trip were wonderful!!! We did the trolley train tour with the kids in Key West and of course ate some regular and frozen key lime pie, at the Grand Cayman we did the seven mile beach,in the Bahamas we used the Sheridan and Wyndham hotels private beach and pools and at the Castaway Cay my family did the stingray excursion(my husband's favorite). My favorite was brunch and dinner at Palo. I hope to download all my photos soon. I enjoyed meeting everyone. It was so nice to see all your faces and make so many great friends. We did several games with Brenda and Mark. I never laughed so hard!!! Nice to see Randy and his family at chocolate/dessert night. YUMMO!! Had many great opportunities to see Beth and Dave(their pirate costumes were awesome!!!) So many other great people I have met and I am so happy I joined this group. Here are some photos of our first day on the cruise.
~Darlene~

 

[my4bratz]

[e met and I am so happy I joined this group. Here are some photos of our first day on the cruise.
~Darlene~

[/QUOTE]


Darlene!!

So sorry to hear about the flight home! I hope that the boys are doing well...Mom and Dad too!!

Thanks for sharing your photos! I can see my DH,DD, and two little DS to the left of Christian!!!

You children are adorable! I love the outfits they had on....Great job Mom!!

 

[laura001]

Laura
It was a pleasure meeting you and your DH. The green wrist bands were a great idea - I was able to identify so many Magical Mayniacs (at least on May 2).

Did you know that I sent a couple of Corona's to your table at Rockin' Bar-D during the Alfred and Seymour adult show? That's why you had 4 beers in front of you. Your bottles were empty when I first walked by, so I added a couple to my order. Unfortunately (for some), your server took an order from you before the drinks I ordered arrived.

We did the Segway tour around 2:45pm - at least, that's when we met for the excursion at the Promenade Lounge. Did you get Deanna as your tour guide? She was awesome and really made the excursion fun. Nobody crashed in our group, but Deanna said that one 'older' man went down 3x just before us.

We met for parasailing at 2:30pm. That gave us time to eat and get the kids to Scuttles. We did not know that Scuttles closed at 3pm, so the CMs had to take DS and DD back to the ship without us.

Oh my......we didn't know that you sent us the beer, we sent it back saying that we hadn't ordered them.... Imagine that Sorry, but we had no idea that you had sent them to us....but THANK-YOU for thinking of us

We did the 2:15 Segway, but only one person crashed ( a little) and it was a lady (a very nice lady), so that is kind of strange. Oh well........it was fun, I almost chickened out and didn't go but am glad now that I did. As soon as I started to get used to it, it was over.

It was great meeting you and your family also, glad you all had a great cruise!

 

[spencer4hire]

Thanks again to everyone for posting info and tips on the disboard, and for the meetup on the first day, and for the FEs!

I had such a great time on this trip that for the last few nights I have been dreaming that I am going on cruises! The first night I had a dream that I was going on a Disney cruise with my mom & sister. The second night I had a dream that I was taking a cruise to the Arctic Circle! Go figure that one out!

The best to you all!

 

[mjlewis23]

Since everyone is sharing pics, I figured I'd include a couple of us.

The first day:

The last night:

Randy, my husband agrees with you on the hypnotist thing. He has a hard time believing that it was real, especially how some people were *really* overdoing it.

Lisa, no, we haven't been to Kellogg's yet. I am going to send you an email soon with all of our info on it, so you have it. That was a fabulous idea bringing cards on the ship!

Talk to you all later!

 

[zerog]

Since everyone is sharing pics, I figured I'd include a couple of us.

Randy, my husband agrees with you on the hypnotist thing. He has a hard time believing that it was real, especially how some people were *really* overdoing it.

Very nice photo's - unfortunately, I don't recall seeing you on the ship. It's funny how you run into the same people over and over, and others you don't see at all. I seemed to run into Laura, Lisa, AdventureLover, and Fluffycat everywhere. But we saw Myth-USA once, and never again after that.

DW did not believe the hypnotist either. However, the ventriloquist had us all in tears. We saw both the family and adults show.

 

[jfahome]

Ok, not really sure whether I want to post this or not but here goes...

My MIL was one of the people who volunteered to be hypnotized (Marcia if you were there). She had a ball doing it, but I still don't believe it's real. She was trying to convence me that it was, but I don't buy it. Either way..it was funny to watch

I had a great time on this cruise. We booked the 14 night Transatlantic Sept 2010 cruise while on board. We are trying to pick another one to do before then, maybe a shorter one...maybe not. I can't wait.

The sad news....I lost my wedding ring in the Grand Cayman's while shorkeling. It was very sad. several people offered to help us look and we did for more than an hour, but couldn't find it. Someone will be happy one day when they find it. Thankfully it was insured...still waiting for more info on that.

Had a great time, I couldn't say that enough!!!

 

[zerog]

My MIL was one of the people who volunteered to be hypnotized (Marcia if you were there). She had a ball doing it, but I still don't believe it's real. She was trying to convince me that it was, but I don't buy it. Either way..it was funny to watch

The sad news....I lost my wedding ring in the Grand Cayman's while snorkeling. It was very sad. several people offered to help us look and we did for more than an hour, but couldn't find it. Someone will be happy one day when they find it. Thankfully it was insured...still waiting for more info on that.

Had a great time, I couldn't say that enough!!!

JFA

I am so sorry you lost your ring.

Your cabin doors would have won 1st prize for the best decorated, if there were some type of contest. It was nice being 2 doors down from you, as we passed by your rooms at least 15x per day.

As far as the hypnotist, on the last nite I remember the lady sitting on the end that grabbed the stack of $100 dollar bills (errrr, napkins) off the table. Was that Marcia?