Newsies
Headlines don't sell papes.
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2013
- Messages
- 5,308
Hello! May we have your attention, please? On behalf of the Newsies family, please join us in welcoming you, the reader of this TR -- our DISboards member of the day! They'll help us begin the Trip Report!
Welcome aboard to Newsies Cruises (or, How We Braved Hurricane Erin on the Magic) -- the tale of our very first adventure with Disney Cruise Line!
Did everything go according to plan? Well, no, not exactly. To quote OutKast, "you can plan a pretty picnic, but you can't predict the weather." What a drama queen miss Erin was! She did her best to rain on our parade, but you can always count on Disney to turn things around for their guests. Through rocky seas and changing plans, we still had the absolute best time ever. I seriously don't think we could have asked for a better first cruise with Disney!
We sailed with the Disney Magic out of Port Canaveral on a 5-Night Bahamas cruise from August 17-22, 2025. We were originally headed to Nassau, Castaway Cay, and Lookout Cay, even if the 2025 hurricane season had other plans for our itinerary! We didn't waste a single second of our vacation, exploring everything our ship had to offer and enjoying a very different type of Disney vacation than we're used to.
... And, as an added bonus, we also tacked on a night at Disney's Boardwalk Inn once we disembarked so we could enjoy Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party before we headed back up to New Jersey.
Speaking of "the dirty jerz"... we are the Newsies family from New Jersey! Hello to DIS friends new and old!
We're 4 adults from New Jersey and we are crazy about the Mouse! We've been traveling to Walt Disney World once or twice a year for the past decade. My mom caught the Disney bug while she was growing up and passed it on to me while I was a teenager, which kind of sparked a chain reaction with the rest of the family. Since I've started writing TRs for DISboards in 2014, our love for Disney has grown and grown. We were Annual Passholders before COVID, and we've been Disney Vacation Club members since 2017. Our first home resort was the Polynesian, and actually, surprise! Earlier this year, we bought another contract and made the Riviera our second home.
Lately, for us, it's been all about slowing down at the Parks and just seeking to enjoy our time and prioritize new experiences. We'd been interested in doing a Disney cruise for a few years now, and 2025 ended up being the right time for us to set sail! This was actually our first cruise in a long time. I think the last time we were on a cruise was a Carnival Cruise back in 2006, and my sister and I had only been on one other cruise before that (Norwegian Cruise Line, possibly 2004?), so this really was uncharted waters for our family!
I'll quickly introduce us all from left to right:
On the far left is Grace, my younger sister! Grace is 24 years old and just graduated with her Masters Degree in College Student Affairs. She had a very smooth transition to a full-time job within the same program at her university afterwards and now she's a student counselor! She's the only member of our party who doesn't live at home with us and moved into a new apartment with her boyfriend a few months ago. Grace is the most go-with-the-flow member of our party and will normally do whatever mom and dad are doing. Like our mom, she loves sleeping in, having a pool day, and hitting up the Parks in the afternoon. She also loves buying silly Disney hats and calling every Disney character "her shayla." On this cruise, she really loved all of the activities that the cruise director had planned for us, from trivia to crafts!
Next to her is Susie, our mom! Mom has put in 40+ years at her job as a real estate manager for a propane company, and she's not too far away from retirement! Mom grew up driving to Florida with her parents and siblings, where they'd stay somewhere along the beach in Daytona and do a day or two at Magic Kingdom. She always dreamed of staying at the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian and now she gets to live that dream with her own family! I like to think that she and I are partners-in-crime, especially when it comes to all things Disney... once one of us has an idea to book a vacation, it doesn't take much convincing for the other person to get on board
Mom is the queen of the pool day -- no rope dropping for her unless we're rope dropping her favorite breakfast spot before securing our spot on the pool deck! But she also just loves to be at the Parks. Haunted Mansion is her favorite ride and Pooh Bear is her favorite character, but she's content to just be drinking in the sights & sounds of the Magic Kingdom.
Standing next to her is Tom, our dad! Two years ago, he retired from 35 years of service in our town's volunteer fire company. He still has a few years to go as a zoning official before he retires for real, but he's already talking about how excited he is to move to Florida with mom! It really is all about Florida with him. He just loves being somewhere warm and sunny where he doesn't have to shovel any snow! I call him the chief logistics officer, since he's the one who does most of the driving and travel planning for us when we head down south. Disney really is his favorite place on earth, and Buc-ee's is a close second. When he's on vacation, you never know how he's going to feel on any given day! Sometimes, he's ready to rope drop Magic Kingdom and run to 7DMT. Other days, he's ready to spend a day sitting under an umbrella at the pool bar. No matter where he goes, he makes a friend. Be very careful if you see him in public! If you catch his eye, there's no stopping him from striking up a conversation.
And lastly, on the very far right is me, Kait! I'm your host! I am a 28-year-old customer experience professional who manages social media inboxes, product reviews, and assists my manager with our loyalty & VIP services. I love my job and I have a passion for customer experience that I picked up while I was working at Walt Disney World during two different DCPs between 2016-2020. I am also very, very passionate about writing and cherish all of my Trip Reports! This is my I am all about Disney! I'm the "rogue" of the group and always trying to pack as much action as possible into our vacation. You can count on me to be sneaking out the door at 6 AM to get on the first bus to Epcot! I do all the planning, which can be tough when we have different touring styles, but I don't mind hitting the parks alone before the family wakes up so I can get my priorities done and still spend time with them in the afternoon. Actually, I love touring solo and did my first solo vacation last September! I'm definitely an "extroverted introvert" and love talking to Cast Members & meeting characters.
This vacation ended up being really special to all of us and I can't wait for you guys to see just how much fun we had as we navigated our first Disney Cruise as four adults!
...And I think that's quite enough yapping for this introduction post! I am so excited to share the epic story of our first Disney cruise with you all and I hope you all love reading it as much as I'll love writing it. At this time, we'd like to invite guests in all boarding groups to start the Trip Report!
Welcome aboard to Newsies Cruises (or, How We Braved Hurricane Erin on the Magic) -- the tale of our very first adventure with Disney Cruise Line!
Did everything go according to plan? Well, no, not exactly. To quote OutKast, "you can plan a pretty picnic, but you can't predict the weather." What a drama queen miss Erin was! She did her best to rain on our parade, but you can always count on Disney to turn things around for their guests. Through rocky seas and changing plans, we still had the absolute best time ever. I seriously don't think we could have asked for a better first cruise with Disney!
We sailed with the Disney Magic out of Port Canaveral on a 5-Night Bahamas cruise from August 17-22, 2025. We were originally headed to Nassau, Castaway Cay, and Lookout Cay, even if the 2025 hurricane season had other plans for our itinerary! We didn't waste a single second of our vacation, exploring everything our ship had to offer and enjoying a very different type of Disney vacation than we're used to.
... And, as an added bonus, we also tacked on a night at Disney's Boardwalk Inn once we disembarked so we could enjoy Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party before we headed back up to New Jersey.
Speaking of "the dirty jerz"... we are the Newsies family from New Jersey! Hello to DIS friends new and old!
We're 4 adults from New Jersey and we are crazy about the Mouse! We've been traveling to Walt Disney World once or twice a year for the past decade. My mom caught the Disney bug while she was growing up and passed it on to me while I was a teenager, which kind of sparked a chain reaction with the rest of the family. Since I've started writing TRs for DISboards in 2014, our love for Disney has grown and grown. We were Annual Passholders before COVID, and we've been Disney Vacation Club members since 2017. Our first home resort was the Polynesian, and actually, surprise! Earlier this year, we bought another contract and made the Riviera our second home.
Lately, for us, it's been all about slowing down at the Parks and just seeking to enjoy our time and prioritize new experiences. We'd been interested in doing a Disney cruise for a few years now, and 2025 ended up being the right time for us to set sail! This was actually our first cruise in a long time. I think the last time we were on a cruise was a Carnival Cruise back in 2006, and my sister and I had only been on one other cruise before that (Norwegian Cruise Line, possibly 2004?), so this really was uncharted waters for our family!
I'll quickly introduce us all from left to right:
On the far left is Grace, my younger sister! Grace is 24 years old and just graduated with her Masters Degree in College Student Affairs. She had a very smooth transition to a full-time job within the same program at her university afterwards and now she's a student counselor! She's the only member of our party who doesn't live at home with us and moved into a new apartment with her boyfriend a few months ago. Grace is the most go-with-the-flow member of our party and will normally do whatever mom and dad are doing. Like our mom, she loves sleeping in, having a pool day, and hitting up the Parks in the afternoon. She also loves buying silly Disney hats and calling every Disney character "her shayla." On this cruise, she really loved all of the activities that the cruise director had planned for us, from trivia to crafts!
Next to her is Susie, our mom! Mom has put in 40+ years at her job as a real estate manager for a propane company, and she's not too far away from retirement! Mom grew up driving to Florida with her parents and siblings, where they'd stay somewhere along the beach in Daytona and do a day or two at Magic Kingdom. She always dreamed of staying at the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian and now she gets to live that dream with her own family! I like to think that she and I are partners-in-crime, especially when it comes to all things Disney... once one of us has an idea to book a vacation, it doesn't take much convincing for the other person to get on board
Mom is the queen of the pool day -- no rope dropping for her unless we're rope dropping her favorite breakfast spot before securing our spot on the pool deck! But she also just loves to be at the Parks. Haunted Mansion is her favorite ride and Pooh Bear is her favorite character, but she's content to just be drinking in the sights & sounds of the Magic Kingdom.Standing next to her is Tom, our dad! Two years ago, he retired from 35 years of service in our town's volunteer fire company. He still has a few years to go as a zoning official before he retires for real, but he's already talking about how excited he is to move to Florida with mom! It really is all about Florida with him. He just loves being somewhere warm and sunny where he doesn't have to shovel any snow! I call him the chief logistics officer, since he's the one who does most of the driving and travel planning for us when we head down south. Disney really is his favorite place on earth, and Buc-ee's is a close second. When he's on vacation, you never know how he's going to feel on any given day! Sometimes, he's ready to rope drop Magic Kingdom and run to 7DMT. Other days, he's ready to spend a day sitting under an umbrella at the pool bar. No matter where he goes, he makes a friend. Be very careful if you see him in public! If you catch his eye, there's no stopping him from striking up a conversation.
And lastly, on the very far right is me, Kait! I'm your host! I am a 28-year-old customer experience professional who manages social media inboxes, product reviews, and assists my manager with our loyalty & VIP services. I love my job and I have a passion for customer experience that I picked up while I was working at Walt Disney World during two different DCPs between 2016-2020. I am also very, very passionate about writing and cherish all of my Trip Reports! This is my I am all about Disney! I'm the "rogue" of the group and always trying to pack as much action as possible into our vacation. You can count on me to be sneaking out the door at 6 AM to get on the first bus to Epcot! I do all the planning, which can be tough when we have different touring styles, but I don't mind hitting the parks alone before the family wakes up so I can get my priorities done and still spend time with them in the afternoon. Actually, I love touring solo and did my first solo vacation last September! I'm definitely an "extroverted introvert" and love talking to Cast Members & meeting characters.
This vacation ended up being really special to all of us and I can't wait for you guys to see just how much fun we had as we navigated our first Disney Cruise as four adults!
...And I think that's quite enough yapping for this introduction post! I am so excited to share the epic story of our first Disney cruise with you all and I hope you all love reading it as much as I'll love writing it. At this time, we'd like to invite guests in all boarding groups to start the Trip Report!
