October 13-20 Eastern Magical Cruise

[seagee]

Welcome All!
I write this report in hopes that it may help a family or two to answer questions and gather info. I know how helpful this board has been to me.
A little background information:
Family of three me (43), DH (45), and DD (9)
Second Disney cruise = but first 7 day
As a family on vacation we are sort of laid back. We don't get up at the crack of dawn with our feet running and crash past midnight.
We were (still am) part of a wonderful group of people from the Dis Boards called Cruise-a palooza!

Pre-Trip
Friday: DD went to school. After a breakfast out with DH and the rest of the morning packing I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure! With four bags packed and two day bags we were ready to rescue DD from school slightly early. She was so excited. She did not have to take her spelling test and she was going on a Disney cruise!!

Off to BWI Airport. Found the Express lot full (they were running a "special" rate promotion). So off to Long Term Parking for us. Found a space on the end of the isle close to the bus pick up. Secretly I was hoping that this was a good sign of things of things to come. My family made fun of me while I decided to take pictures of our luggage! I thought it might come in handy if one bag got lost. Laugh if you must. I'm used to it.

To Southwest with A boarding passes in hand. We make it to the security check point and proudly hand over our brand new - never been used before passports to the friendly TSA official. And he says, "These passports are nice but they are invalid!" Huh, What? "You have to sign them!" Oh gee thanks - we'll get on it right away. Three signatures later we were taking off our shoes and putting our carry on's on the belt! To be continued... have to go wake up DD for school.

 

[gossipgirl]

Welcome All!
I write this report in hopes that it may help a family or two to answer questions and gather info. I know how helpful this board has been to me.
A little background information:
Family of three me (43), DH (45), and DD (9)
Second Disney cruise = but first 7 day
As a family on vacation we are sort of laid back. We don't get up at the crack of dawn with our feet running and crash past midnight.
We were (still am) part of a wonderful group of people from the Dis Boards called Cruise-a palooza!

Pre-Trip
Friday: DD went to school. After a breakfast out with DH and the rest of the morning packing I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure! With four bags packed and two day bags we were ready to rescue DD from school slightly early. She was so excited. She did not have to take her spelling test and she was going on a Disney cruise!!

Off to BWI Airport. Found the Express lot full (they were running a "special" rate promotion). So off to Long Term Parking for us. Found a space on the end of the isle close to the bus pick up. Secretly I was hoping that this was a good sign of things of things to come. My family made fun of me while I decided to take pictures of our luggage! I thought it might come in handy if one bag got lost. Laugh if you must. I'm used to it.

To Southwest with A boarding passes in hand. We make it to the security check point and proudly hand over our brand new - never been used before passports to the friendly TSA official. And he says, "These passports are nice but they are invalid!" Huh, What? "You have to sign them!" Oh gee thanks - we'll get on it right away. Three signatures later we were taking off our shoes and putting our carry on's on the belt! To be continued... have to go wake up DD for school.

Just one question i may get to go on the disney cruise line magic next summer. Anyways did you happen to take any pictures of twice charmed.

 

[sasser05]

Hi there, we are going this Saturday on the Halloween Eastern cruise, can you tell me what are the movies and how was your weather in the islands?
Thanks
J

 

[seagee]

Sorry no pictures of Twice Charmed.

Movies:
Saturday Bridge to Terabithia
Sunday Underdog, Meet the Robinsons, Pirates of the Caribbeanead Man's Chest
Monday Wild Hogs, Bridge, Ratatouille, Deja Vu
Tuesday Pirates: At World's End, Wild Hogs,
Wednesday Meet the Robinsons, The Game Plan, The Prestige
Thursday The Game Plan, Underdog, Wild Hogs
Friday Pirates At World's End, Ratatoullie The Invisible
On the sateroom TV they also show Animated Classics ( Cinderella, Aladin, Jungle Book ets) and Animated Features ( Toy Story 2, Mulan, Lilo & Stich etc).

The weather was warm mid 80's cloudy for the begining of the week and sunny second half. Wear sun screen- lots of red people walking around.

 

[sasser05]

Thanks so much we are looking forward to some sun and good food! How were all the shows, is there a different one for everynight and did you go to High Tea or Brunch at Palo?
Any excursions?

 

[seagee]

Sorry for the interuption.
It was not long before we could board the on time flight! DD picked out three seats. She gave DH the window seat. We purposely did not bring our DVD player. The DVD can be such a hassel with security. It's a two hour flight but we told DD to "rough it"! So she read and played her DS. Now we were all a little nervous about this flight. When DD flies the last 15 minutes or so of the flight is shear torture for her. My normally well behaved DD goes out of control. She screams "Rub my ear!" and cries loudly. There is little I can do to comfort her. Usually people around us offer us gum and candy. Believe me we've tried those and they don't help. Once we land she is usually fine.
Over the summer we followed up on a routine hearing test that she failed at school. Me thinking it was wax! Well, after seeing the ENT she does have an ear canal deformity and a good reason to be in pain during descent! His only suggestion was to medicate her before descent with motrin or tylenol. He does not believe that an antidecongestent works. I had to buy chewables tablets -all we had at home was liquid. And liquid over 3 ounces is a TSA No No!
My DH and I could feel we were descending. DD did not say anything -she was trying to distract herself. My ears started to pop. She lets out a quick scream! She lays her head down on my lap. I get in cuddle rub mode to brave the storm! She sits up and says, "It doesn't hurt!" The three of us laugh at her "false alarm". We land without incident!!
We gather our bags and head on over to the Hyatt! I was very excited to stay here. Now I must say I paid $170 for one night through DU. I told myslef I was going to be brave and try to book it through hotwire.com. But I whimped out! I'm sure thing kind of person. But hey I could sleep at night.
Now I remember reading about the great views- runway or inside the airport. DH works at an airport so the excitement of watching planes take off does nothing for him. At the front desk the woman says, "I see you are on the Disney Cruise. I'll give you a nice quiet room on the third floor". Ok by me. Quiet is good. Well, we had a great view of the parking lot! A little dissapointed but hey for one night and besides we'll be on the Magic the next day!

 

[Babs417]

Im so glad your flight was good we are leaving soon cant wait to hear more

 

[Jaime]

I look forward to reading more! We leave on Nov 24...and are so excited! That's a great idea about taking luggage pictures...would have came in handy for my last trip! Really glad your dd didn't find the flight to bad...my mom always has so much trouble when we fly...I feel so bad for her...

Do you by chance have the navigators from your cruise?

 

[fairfax]

Great trip report! We were on the same cruise! I'm looking forward to reading more.

 

[seagee]

Our flight did not arrive till about 7PM. So after checking out the room we headed to The Macaroni Grill. My DD loves the bread and flavored oil. After dinner I picked up a 90 Minutes in Heaven at Borders. Only to find out that my magnetic strip on my Disney Visa has finally worn off. I just might need that! Luckily, I have a back up CC. We headed back to the Hyatt to check out the pool. It was just as gorgeous as everyone says. There were a few families there swimming. We had resist the temptation to go change into our suits. It was late and I wanted a good night's sleep.

The room was quite as promised. I must say we found the Hyatt clean, well kept and beautifully decorated. There was a travel size coffee pot and coffee in the large bathroom. There were birds (in cages) on one floor that my DD enjoyed. At night they covered the cages. We woke up and got dressed to meet up with Mickey. Our bags were placed outside our hotel door. We were amazed at how many bags we saw outside everyone's door. It seemed as though every dooor had bags with Disney tags!

We had breakfast in the hotel. I enjoyed the cinnamin bun french toast. Yum. Then ver to the conference area to board the Magial Express bus to the terminal. After waiting in line to check in we were told that we were the "Goofy" group. It was about a 25 minute wait before they called the Goofy group. Off we went to board that wonderful bus with the cute port hole windows. We passed piles of luggage to be placed on the bus. I said a silent prayer that we would see all of our luggage outside our stateroom that evening. I had not packed some of everyone's clothes in every suitcase. Like i learned from the Dis Boards.

It's late - i know I need to step this up. I have all but two of my navigators.

 

[Babs417]

I only have one day left to read your report!

 

[gossipgirl]

I only have one day left to read your report!

Do you have any pictures of your disney cruise that you can post on here.

 

[jenny2]

Hey fellow Cruise-a paloozan!! I'm loving your report... kinda like reliving the whole wonderful week again. Quick... get to the part where you're at the terminal and you meet with all those *MAGICal* DISsers!!!

 

[tidoublegger]

Hey there!! We're waiting to read the rest of your trip report!!!! Can't wait!

 

[kpflillirpf]

Keep it coming! I'm loving hearing what all my fellow Cruise-A-Paloozan's did on the Magic! Miss the ship terribly. Take care. Kristi

 

[Phelpsie70]

Great report. We leave for the Magic Eastern in two weeks. Keep the report coming!

 

[seagee]

The ride to the terminal was smooth sailing. Of course everyone goes a little crazy when we get that FIRST glimpse of the Magic! What a beautiful sight. We are here! We are here!

There was plenty of people in the terminal. I stand in line for Castaway Cay members (yeah -my first time). My family was too excited - they waited with me. When it's our turn, we get our KTW cards and boarding #8!

Our Dis-Cruise group named our group the "Cruise-a- palooza". We have a logo with pirate Mickey. The Cruise-a-palooza's were to wear Mardi-gras beads so we could identify each other. We put on our beads and start hunting for other beads.

The first person I spot is Jenny2. She was the wonderful person who created our Pirate Mickey. She created door magnets for whoever wanted them. All this during a move out of state! I was so glad that I could thank her in person. It was nice talking with her and her husband. We meet Robintn (a moderator on the boards). This was something like cruise 6 for her and her family! She was trying to "do" this cruise as cheap as possible and share her experience with the Dis board. I also found out that Robintn was the person who discovered the secret port hole room!! Wow that was fun hearing about that. Jen-n-greg was the next wonderful people we meet. They surprised their family with this cruise. So it was fun reading how hard it was to keep this a secret from the kids. Her two DDs and DS played cards with my DD until it was time for us to board. One by one our group got smaller as the called out the boarding numbers.

Our turn comes and we are greeted with our our first of very many smiling CM's holding hand wipes!! (Wish I had stock in that company!) Picture taken we board the Magic. My family has joked about giving a false funny family name to be called but we don't. My DD does however tell them that her birthday was the previous Tuesday. The give her a belated birthday shout out. For us we just love hearing our name and being welcomed aboard. It is truly a magical feeling. All the time, money and effort that you put into planning the cruise has finally arrived. We are here! We are here!

 

[tidoublegger]

More, more!!!

 

[frdeb1999]

Love reading this stuff! Makes me wish our next cruise was sooner! Thanks for sharing!