May 29th eastern Magic..day 2

[Mickeyhugger]

I just jotted down notes here and there for the duration of the cruise so some of this might be out of sequence. I want to include all of the tips which would be helpful if I was reading these boards..

After weeks of 'good stress' prepping for this trip, our family 'crashed' hard Saturday night and awoke in the wonderful comfort of our stateroom fully refreshed Sunday morning. It was the best sleep I'd had in months. The gentle rocking motion of the ship helped us to all sleep like babies. DH and I attended the 'Art of Entertaining' in Studio Sea at 10:30 and learned from the chefs how to prepare warm shrimp salad. It was scrumptious! We were just roaming around and at the last minute noticed the activity in the Navigator! Everyone is served a generous sample on a plate w/a glass of white wine, and given a copy of the recipe. Don't miss this one!

We then attended our 11:00 Palo brunch. This brunch alone is enough to get DH and I to rebook each year! DON'T MISS THIS IF YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO BOOK IT! I'm w/the crowd out there who thinks the brunch is even better than the Palo dinner! I had the cheese and tomato pizza, DH had the beef tenderloin. I can't remember the order in which we ate, but we also had the best lemon meringue pie we'd EVER eaten, proscioutto, omelettes, and the 'to-die-for' stollen! (You'll never eat whipped cream such as this anywhere else!) Oh, DH also had tons of shrimp and split crab (alaskan king) legs! Our server was Andrew from the Phillipines and he, as most Disney CM's, went beyond the call of duty!

Later in the day we attended the shopping presentation hosted by Clyde. Even though this is available on the TV in your stateroom, it's still fun to attend w/the other cruisers! He tosses a couple of freebies to 'lucky catchers' in the audience.

This was also formal night, and also the night of the Golden Mickeys! I'm not a spoiler. I'm just going to say this is something you'll want to see w/the whole family. We dressed in our formal wear (late dinner seating) and attended the 6:30 showing. It is done in the "E! network" style. The cast members literally roll out the red carpet as the cruisers venture to the Walt Disney theatre to watch the show! After that, we attended the 'family' ventriloquist show in Rockin Bar D. It was good, but I regret doing two shows before dinner as I would've liked to have had more time to have formal pictures made w/Mickey and the characters. I would suggest not missing the Golden Mickeys, but would not care to see the ventriloquist show again.

I did not take enough notes as to what we had for dinner this evening (it feels as if we're eating the whole time! ), just that the grand marnier souffle was out of this world! Since our family had the PLAP dining rotation, our formal night was in Lumiere's! After an overstuffed dinner, DH and I headed to Rockin Bar D for 60's night! I danced off and on (DH sat some) to the music of the Beatles.

Looking above, I've mentioned so much of what DH and I did, and not much about 9 year-old DD. She was enjoying her 'sign-in and out' privileges in the Oceaneer's lab, and spent the whole day roaming the ship, pool, arcade, etc. We finally saw her at dinner! We all had a great time today!

 

[jlawall]

Thx for the excellent tips....I remember Clyde from last year, he's good at his job! Your suggestions about Palo's Brunch, food seminars and the shows was helpful. How was 60s night? Last summer we saw the "debut" performance of it. Is it still fun? I think it depends on how good the band is with Beatles songs.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Yes, the 60's night was a LOT of fun.

I guess I'm showing my age when I say the band messed up some of the words in the Beatles songs.

I respect all of the effort that went into the night, and will remember it as one of my favorite nights of the cruise!

 

[Credit Man]

Enjoying your report! Thanks for posting.

 

[jlawall]

How were the evening shows? Lately, people are saying they have been sparsely attended. We had a great time last summer! Also, did you go to the Pub? I heard that is something new that is fun.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

No, we did not go to the Pub (good reason to rebook though, right, there's always some reason to come back to the Magic.



The evening shows seemed to have a pretty full attendance, but we attended only Disney Dreams and Golden Mickeys. (There weren't many empty seats though!)

 

[farrishq]

Can you tell me more about what your 9 year old daughter did. She was able to sign herself in and out of the kid's club? What did she do when she wasn't at the kid's club? I'm nervous about my 10 year old son signing himself in and out.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Farrishq, the only reason we permitted our DD sign in-out priviliges is because we were traveling w/neighbors who had a daughter our age. Our DD seldom went to the clubs/labs. I understand your apprehension. I think Disney is generous as far as sign out privileges, and there while I agree there are some kids out there who'd be okay w/them, I think many of them are not quite ready. Our DD did not even WANT the sign in-out until she learned that her buddy had them. They spent most of the time going back and forth to each other's staterooms or the arcade. In fact at lunch one day we dined w/another family who had a DD our DD's age. They had originally allowed her to sign in and out, and then revoked it two days later. If you're apprehensive, I'd give him a 'test-run'.

I know Disney does it because they probably need the space in the lab, yet I think a majority of kids are better prepared when they're 11?

 

[staylor]

another great report