Hi to our friends both new and old who are expecting another trip report from this elderly woman. My name is Mary and my husband's name is Glenn. We took our first cruise last January - a 4 day on the Wonder. We quickly decided we needed to do a 7 day on the Magic. We used the excuse that it would be a great way to celebrate our 60th wedding anniversay. It just happens we chose the Eastern cruise that encountered those very big waves - sailed on the 8th and returned on the 15th. Fortunately, it was not a problem for us except for the claw marks we left on the walls when hand rails were not available. It was truly an adventure but didn't interfere with us having a wonderful time. And for those of you that didn't go to the All Aboard show the first night, we were told by performer John Charles that Disney ships are the safest in the industry. You might ask "How come?" That question could have been asked by our new friend Leah from Wisconsin. She believes that phrase is only used in Wisconsin but I heard it as a child in Oklahoma too. The answer is - Disney cruise ships are on tracks. They never leave Port Canavarel and operate on a giant lazy susan brilliantly designed by Imagineers for maximum effect as that lazy susan is turned from one exciting scene to the next exciting scene. They did an amazing job with that huge wave segment. But I knew we were only in 4 feet of water and could have walked to shore if necessary with a child on our shoulders. So no worries. I told Glenn and myself many times during that day and night - it's okay - we are on tracks.
I'm hoping Debbie has registered (she is a lurker) but promised she would register because I will likely talk about her and she needs to be able to defend herself. She and her 2 teen daughters were our dining mates along with George and Marsha from Pearland, Tx. which is next door to Alvin where our daughter Aprille and her husband Marty live. Small World huh. I'm sure we will be hearing from Aprille soon. George is going to be my spell checker so I'm really sure we will hear from him from time to time.
I have lots of pictures but it's unclear whether or not anyone will ever see them. I managed to unload them into a folder on My Pictures but have not been successful in uploading them to Photobucket. Aprille gave me some brief and confusing instructions when she was here for Thanksgiving. I will keep trying.
Okay I really am going to write a report. It started at the airport in Amarillo Tx. and I only mention that because we met a man nearly as old as Glenn who had also served in WWII. I make Glenn wear his WWII hat because we meet so many neat people when they see that hat. It also indicated he served in a submarine. The gentleman we met that morning came over to visit just a minute but left me laughing. He asked if we knew how many different kinds of ships there are in the Navy. I confessed to being ignorant of that fact. He smiled and held up 2 fingers. There are only 2 he said -"submarines and moving targets and I was on a moving target". Loved it.
Amarillo has a small airport and was almost a ghost town on Friday morning. We were soon in the air and on our way to Houston. Must confess that I always dread changing planes in Houston. But this time it was a breeze. We were met with a wheel chair and tag teamed to another terminal and right to our departure gate. A nice lady pushed us to a certain point then turned us over to Jacque (who was named for his Uncle Jack who was killed in France during WWII hence the French version of Jack). See what I mean about that hat? Jacque helped load Glenn into a waiting cart and we were soon let off at our gate. The cart driver quickly jumped down to help Glenn off the cart and even found seats for us in the waiting area. I quickly hurried to a shop where I found some Nutter Butter cookies for Glenn. His Aunt Jemima Pancake Breakfast Sandwich was a distant memory. We only had a short wait until time to board and were soon on our way to Orlando. We were met by a wheel chair and I asked if we could just take it as we were heading for the Hyatt hotel where we would spend the night. She was reluctant at first and started looking for her supervisor but decided it would be okay provided I was able to push it. Must say there was general concern for me all along the way. They all seemed to think I should have a wheel chair too. But I managed to smile and say "no". It really isn't a long walk to the hotel and we were soon checking in. I asked for valet service to pick up our bags and glady paid $10 for that to happen.
I'm only going to tell one more adventure and then get on to the cruise. We were really hungry by now and decided to eat at McCoys Bar and Grill in the hotel. It was actually pretty neat - quite elegant for "casual dining" or so I thought but then I'm a very small town type. And this is where I accidentally ate a scallop. Nothing against scallops but that is a food that I have avoided all my life - just a quirk I have. I ordered something called Travelers Trio and had to pick 3 items from a list of about 30 or so. I finally decided on giant onion rings, BBQ shrimp pizza and lemon hummus. We waited and gawked and saw a waiter carrying two 3 tiered thingees which I thought must be dessert trays. Imagine my surprise when I saw him sit them down in front of 2 people at a nearby table. I quickly figured out that I would be getting one of those thingees. When mine arrived I could quickly see there was an error. I decided to keep what I got - 2 were correct but my hummus looked more like fish wrapped in bacon resting on some delicious looking bread with capers sprinkled about. I had eaten about half of whatever it was when I realized I was most likely eating a scallop. I called our waiter over and he was horrified that a mistake had been made. I was indeed eating a scallop and he wanted to bring me the hummus but I decined. I was only able to eat about half of each offereing anyway and I was full. I felt bad that Dan was so upset. The food was delivered by a "stringer" (waiter in training) and he would speak to him about the difference between scallops and hummus.
We returned to our room and soon had a call from bellman Danny that he had our bags and would bring them right up - which he did. I also needed help with the ceiling fan and a list of TV channels available. Don't know why I needed that as we were much too tired to watch TV. I surely am running on and on but I did want to tell folks how much we enjoy spending the night at the airport and then putting our tagged luggage outside our door and reporting to the Disney folks in the lobby the next morning. They have moved to a larger area in the lobby. We didn't have long to wait and were soon in the executive elevator down to the parking garage. Now this is the really neat part. There was a DCL bus waiting for us just outside the parking area. This bus was for those staying at the Hyatt only. As we pulled away the driver was calling for another bus to take his place. It's a pleasant drive to the ship and goes by quickly.
Okay that's it for now. Tomorrow I will get to the cruise part. We met the neatest group of Diser's in the terminal. Will tell you all about it tomorrow.
Aprille, Susie and Aaron - are your out there?
I'm hoping Debbie has registered (she is a lurker) but promised she would register because I will likely talk about her and she needs to be able to defend herself. She and her 2 teen daughters were our dining mates along with George and Marsha from Pearland, Tx. which is next door to Alvin where our daughter Aprille and her husband Marty live. Small World huh. I'm sure we will be hearing from Aprille soon. George is going to be my spell checker so I'm really sure we will hear from him from time to time.
I have lots of pictures but it's unclear whether or not anyone will ever see them. I managed to unload them into a folder on My Pictures but have not been successful in uploading them to Photobucket. Aprille gave me some brief and confusing instructions when she was here for Thanksgiving. I will keep trying.
Okay I really am going to write a report. It started at the airport in Amarillo Tx. and I only mention that because we met a man nearly as old as Glenn who had also served in WWII. I make Glenn wear his WWII hat because we meet so many neat people when they see that hat. It also indicated he served in a submarine. The gentleman we met that morning came over to visit just a minute but left me laughing. He asked if we knew how many different kinds of ships there are in the Navy. I confessed to being ignorant of that fact. He smiled and held up 2 fingers. There are only 2 he said -"submarines and moving targets and I was on a moving target". Loved it.
Amarillo has a small airport and was almost a ghost town on Friday morning. We were soon in the air and on our way to Houston. Must confess that I always dread changing planes in Houston. But this time it was a breeze. We were met with a wheel chair and tag teamed to another terminal and right to our departure gate. A nice lady pushed us to a certain point then turned us over to Jacque (who was named for his Uncle Jack who was killed in France during WWII hence the French version of Jack). See what I mean about that hat? Jacque helped load Glenn into a waiting cart and we were soon let off at our gate. The cart driver quickly jumped down to help Glenn off the cart and even found seats for us in the waiting area. I quickly hurried to a shop where I found some Nutter Butter cookies for Glenn. His Aunt Jemima Pancake Breakfast Sandwich was a distant memory. We only had a short wait until time to board and were soon on our way to Orlando. We were met by a wheel chair and I asked if we could just take it as we were heading for the Hyatt hotel where we would spend the night. She was reluctant at first and started looking for her supervisor but decided it would be okay provided I was able to push it. Must say there was general concern for me all along the way. They all seemed to think I should have a wheel chair too. But I managed to smile and say "no". It really isn't a long walk to the hotel and we were soon checking in. I asked for valet service to pick up our bags and glady paid $10 for that to happen.
I'm only going to tell one more adventure and then get on to the cruise. We were really hungry by now and decided to eat at McCoys Bar and Grill in the hotel. It was actually pretty neat - quite elegant for "casual dining" or so I thought but then I'm a very small town type. And this is where I accidentally ate a scallop. Nothing against scallops but that is a food that I have avoided all my life - just a quirk I have. I ordered something called Travelers Trio and had to pick 3 items from a list of about 30 or so. I finally decided on giant onion rings, BBQ shrimp pizza and lemon hummus. We waited and gawked and saw a waiter carrying two 3 tiered thingees which I thought must be dessert trays. Imagine my surprise when I saw him sit them down in front of 2 people at a nearby table. I quickly figured out that I would be getting one of those thingees. When mine arrived I could quickly see there was an error. I decided to keep what I got - 2 were correct but my hummus looked more like fish wrapped in bacon resting on some delicious looking bread with capers sprinkled about. I had eaten about half of whatever it was when I realized I was most likely eating a scallop. I called our waiter over and he was horrified that a mistake had been made. I was indeed eating a scallop and he wanted to bring me the hummus but I decined. I was only able to eat about half of each offereing anyway and I was full. I felt bad that Dan was so upset. The food was delivered by a "stringer" (waiter in training) and he would speak to him about the difference between scallops and hummus.
We returned to our room and soon had a call from bellman Danny that he had our bags and would bring them right up - which he did. I also needed help with the ceiling fan and a list of TV channels available. Don't know why I needed that as we were much too tired to watch TV. I surely am running on and on but I did want to tell folks how much we enjoy spending the night at the airport and then putting our tagged luggage outside our door and reporting to the Disney folks in the lobby the next morning. They have moved to a larger area in the lobby. We didn't have long to wait and were soon in the executive elevator down to the parking garage. Now this is the really neat part. There was a DCL bus waiting for us just outside the parking area. This bus was for those staying at the Hyatt only. As we pulled away the driver was calling for another bus to take his place. It's a pleasant drive to the ship and goes by quickly.
Okay that's it for now. Tomorrow I will get to the cruise part. We met the neatest group of Diser's in the terminal. Will tell you all about it tomorrow.
Aprille, Susie and Aaron - are your out there?
I can still remember reading it like it was yesterday. You two are such a beautiful couple I am so glad you were able to go again. Good for both of you. I will be checking in everyday to read about your adventure
I love your thread title! I'm sure you are going to write another great report--I am so excited to hear all about your adventures. You're doing great and I can't wait to read more and see some pictures. More, More, More!!! 
