Our WDW adventures and Magical Happy Halloween Cruise: DAY 14 completed 01/10: pg 10
- Thread starter TotallyAngelic
- Start date
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Day 4: Hurray for Hollywood!
Today we were all up bright and early at 7am, and were enjoying breakfast in Dunkin Donuts by 8:15. My donut of the day was the Bavarian crème - very nice!
We arrived in Hollywood Studios and parked in the Stage parking lot. After posing for some photographs by the hat:
our immediate plan of action was to head straight for Toy Story Mania, and either ride it or get fast passes, depending on the wait time. Despite the early hour, the standby wait time was already 60 minutes, so fast passes it was. I love the theming in this area,
including the monkeys who had escaped from their barrel:
although a bit disappointed that the characters were all inside, and behind glass, which made it difficult to take photos. of them. However I imagine it is a lot more comfortable for the characters, as it must get really hot for Buzz and Woody standing outside in the Florida sun.
We headed off to Rock and Roller Coaster, and Tony, Louise and Stephen went off to visit with Aerosmith, while those of us with the wimp gene (Taryn and Dan) and the bladder issues (myself) had a look in the store and took some photographs outside the ride:
Taryn and Dan rockin out:
Taryn spent a lot of the time taking photographs of anything Aerosmith related to show her boyfriend who is a big fan of the band, including this signed photograph:
I was approached by a cast member who wanted to do a pin trade, I didn’t really want pins she had on offer, but I felt a bit mean, so I traded one of my duplicate pirates of the Caribbean pins for a pirate Minne dressed as Elizabeth Swann, with the intention of trading this for another Pirates pin at some point. However I never found anything else I wanted to trade it with and so I am stuck with the Minnie pin until next trip!
In all my visits to this ride I had never noticed this car at the entrance to the Rock and Roller Coaster area - I am even more convinced that I walk round with my eyes shut sometimes:
We then headed for Tower of Terror,
where Tony and Stephen entered the Twilight Zone, and we hung about the entrance, watching the cast members interrogating the guests and asking them if they had a reservation in really spooky voices. It's great when the cast members really get into the character at atmosphere of the rides they work on. We had a good laugh with one of the cast members when we were taking photographs of the entrance sign:
and she said we were sneakily trying to take one of her - so of course we had to then take one of her:
While waiting outside the Tower of Terror we saw the plane writing “god loves you” in the sky which Jackie (JNS) took a photo of when she was in Epcot - it’s strange to think we were both in different parks looking at the exact same thing at the exact same time - spooky!
On the way back to ride Toy Story Mania we stopped off to see One Man’s Dream - I loved this as I am really interested in Disney history and it was wonderful to hear the story of the man who was the inspiration behind everything which makes us so happy. On the way in to One Man's Dream, we encountered Dream cast members, who gave us all Year of a Million Dreams Mickey ears - which were really cute - although try as we might we couldn’t get Stephen to wear his! We saw lots of interesting exhibits in here, including a model of one of the DCL ships in Castaway Cay - where we were headed the very next week.
There was also a beautiful model of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle from Disneyland Paris, but I didn’t get a decent photo due to flashback on the glass. I did take a couple of photos in here of the man who started it all:
Needless to say I emerged from One Man’s Dream with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat - it is such a shame that such an inspirational and innovative man had his life so tragically cut short.
It was now time to ride Toy Story Mania and I must say this was amazing - we all absolutely loved it, and the 3D effects were awesome. I loved the ring toss where the green aliens fly out at you - I don’t really think we did well on the scoring, but I was too blown away by the experience of it all to really concentrate.
I would have loved to ride this again, but by the time we got off the fast passes were all ended and the wait time was 90 minutes, so we will have to wait until next time. Outside the ride we met this guy, but only Tony was brave enough to have a photo taken with him (love the ears Tony!)
We noticed that an Indiana Jones Stunt Show was due to start in half an hour, so we headed over in that direction, stopping off for a ride on the Great Movie Ride, as there was no line. This was good because we ended up in the Western scene, which I have never done before, and the girl playing the gunslinger was really authentic! We then had a welcome rest while watching the Indiana Jones show, where Indy was as heroic as ever, and once again saved the day, the girl and put the world to rights in the space of about fifteen minutes! When the show finished we headed for lunch in the Backlot Express - one of the nice touches here was that you could get chicken strips with carrot sticks instead of fries - this made a refreshingly healthy change, as after 3 days in Orlando I was already fed up with fries! Straight after lunch the Block Party Bash parade was starting, so I headed over to watch that and film it with the camcorder, while the rest of the group boarded the shuttle to Endor, and ended up battling with the Death Star. The Block Party bash parade was based around Pixar characters and was great fun, with cast members using trampolines along the way.
We then had a wander around the Streets of America, popped over to San Fransisco:
and took a few more photos on our way around the park:
We bumped into the army man again and this time I managed to persuade everyone (except Stephen) to join in the photograph:
We then decided to go and watch the Beauty and the Beast show - this is Tony’s favourite Disney film and he always gets a bit emotional - at the end of the show he actually had a tear in his eye, although unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to get photographic evidence. It was a lovely show and it is shows like this which capture the essence of Disney for me.
At this point we split up into 2 groups: Tony, Stephen and Louise went off to ride Tower of Terror and Rock and Roller Coaster again, while Taryn, Dan and I headed off for the Backlot Tour, with a plan to meet up in half an hour outside the Backlot Tour. When we got to the tour, it was already closed for the day, so we wandered about a bit and then went back to wait for the others. We waited, and waited and waited…….and after another half an hour we headed back towards the Tower of Terror area to see if we could find them. After about another 15 minutes we spotted them walking towards us, and it turned out they had been riding Rock and Roller coaster about 3 times as there was no wait. At this point I was a bit miffed as Taryn, Dan and I had wasted all that time just waiting and looking for the others, when if we had known they were going to be repeat riding we could have gone to see the Little Mermaid. By now we only had 45 minutes until Fantasmic, and so there was no real time for us to do anything else, so I was more than a little bit annoyed with Tony to say the very least and if there had been a divorce lawyer’s office in Hollywood Studios I may well have paid them a visit.
We wandered down to Fantasmic and managed to get some good seats towards the front. While waiting for the show , the audience were doing fast and slow versions of the mexican wave, which was quite amusing. Fantasmic was as amazing as ever, and I managed to capture the show on the camcorder, although I missed the ending as always, because Mickey is just too quick!
On the way home I ended up leaving the park on a different exit, and we ended up in the back of beyond. I managed to eventually find the way back to familiar areas, but by then it was late and we were not in the mood to eat out at a restaurant, so we just picked up some subs from Subway and headed back to the apartment for an evening meal of subs and Halloween cookies!
Tomorrow - we are off to my favourite park - Magic Kingdom!
Today we were all up bright and early at 7am, and were enjoying breakfast in Dunkin Donuts by 8:15. My donut of the day was the Bavarian crème - very nice!
We arrived in Hollywood Studios and parked in the Stage parking lot. After posing for some photographs by the hat:
our immediate plan of action was to head straight for Toy Story Mania, and either ride it or get fast passes, depending on the wait time. Despite the early hour, the standby wait time was already 60 minutes, so fast passes it was. I love the theming in this area,
including the monkeys who had escaped from their barrel:
although a bit disappointed that the characters were all inside, and behind glass, which made it difficult to take photos. of them. However I imagine it is a lot more comfortable for the characters, as it must get really hot for Buzz and Woody standing outside in the Florida sun.
We headed off to Rock and Roller Coaster, and Tony, Louise and Stephen went off to visit with Aerosmith, while those of us with the wimp gene (Taryn and Dan) and the bladder issues (myself) had a look in the store and took some photographs outside the ride:
Taryn and Dan rockin out:
Taryn spent a lot of the time taking photographs of anything Aerosmith related to show her boyfriend who is a big fan of the band, including this signed photograph:
I was approached by a cast member who wanted to do a pin trade, I didn’t really want pins she had on offer, but I felt a bit mean, so I traded one of my duplicate pirates of the Caribbean pins for a pirate Minne dressed as Elizabeth Swann, with the intention of trading this for another Pirates pin at some point. However I never found anything else I wanted to trade it with and so I am stuck with the Minnie pin until next trip!
In all my visits to this ride I had never noticed this car at the entrance to the Rock and Roller Coaster area - I am even more convinced that I walk round with my eyes shut sometimes:
We then headed for Tower of Terror,
where Tony and Stephen entered the Twilight Zone, and we hung about the entrance, watching the cast members interrogating the guests and asking them if they had a reservation in really spooky voices. It's great when the cast members really get into the character at atmosphere of the rides they work on. We had a good laugh with one of the cast members when we were taking photographs of the entrance sign:
and she said we were sneakily trying to take one of her - so of course we had to then take one of her:
While waiting outside the Tower of Terror we saw the plane writing “god loves you” in the sky which Jackie (JNS) took a photo of when she was in Epcot - it’s strange to think we were both in different parks looking at the exact same thing at the exact same time - spooky!
On the way back to ride Toy Story Mania we stopped off to see One Man’s Dream - I loved this as I am really interested in Disney history and it was wonderful to hear the story of the man who was the inspiration behind everything which makes us so happy. On the way in to One Man's Dream, we encountered Dream cast members, who gave us all Year of a Million Dreams Mickey ears - which were really cute - although try as we might we couldn’t get Stephen to wear his! We saw lots of interesting exhibits in here, including a model of one of the DCL ships in Castaway Cay - where we were headed the very next week.
There was also a beautiful model of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle from Disneyland Paris, but I didn’t get a decent photo due to flashback on the glass. I did take a couple of photos in here of the man who started it all:
Needless to say I emerged from One Man’s Dream with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat - it is such a shame that such an inspirational and innovative man had his life so tragically cut short.
It was now time to ride Toy Story Mania and I must say this was amazing - we all absolutely loved it, and the 3D effects were awesome. I loved the ring toss where the green aliens fly out at you - I don’t really think we did well on the scoring, but I was too blown away by the experience of it all to really concentrate.
I would have loved to ride this again, but by the time we got off the fast passes were all ended and the wait time was 90 minutes, so we will have to wait until next time. Outside the ride we met this guy, but only Tony was brave enough to have a photo taken with him (love the ears Tony!)
We noticed that an Indiana Jones Stunt Show was due to start in half an hour, so we headed over in that direction, stopping off for a ride on the Great Movie Ride, as there was no line. This was good because we ended up in the Western scene, which I have never done before, and the girl playing the gunslinger was really authentic! We then had a welcome rest while watching the Indiana Jones show, where Indy was as heroic as ever, and once again saved the day, the girl and put the world to rights in the space of about fifteen minutes! When the show finished we headed for lunch in the Backlot Express - one of the nice touches here was that you could get chicken strips with carrot sticks instead of fries - this made a refreshingly healthy change, as after 3 days in Orlando I was already fed up with fries! Straight after lunch the Block Party Bash parade was starting, so I headed over to watch that and film it with the camcorder, while the rest of the group boarded the shuttle to Endor, and ended up battling with the Death Star. The Block Party bash parade was based around Pixar characters and was great fun, with cast members using trampolines along the way.
We then had a wander around the Streets of America, popped over to San Fransisco:
and took a few more photos on our way around the park:
We bumped into the army man again and this time I managed to persuade everyone (except Stephen) to join in the photograph:
We then decided to go and watch the Beauty and the Beast show - this is Tony’s favourite Disney film and he always gets a bit emotional - at the end of the show he actually had a tear in his eye, although unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to get photographic evidence. It was a lovely show and it is shows like this which capture the essence of Disney for me.
At this point we split up into 2 groups: Tony, Stephen and Louise went off to ride Tower of Terror and Rock and Roller Coaster again, while Taryn, Dan and I headed off for the Backlot Tour, with a plan to meet up in half an hour outside the Backlot Tour. When we got to the tour, it was already closed for the day, so we wandered about a bit and then went back to wait for the others. We waited, and waited and waited…….and after another half an hour we headed back towards the Tower of Terror area to see if we could find them. After about another 15 minutes we spotted them walking towards us, and it turned out they had been riding Rock and Roller coaster about 3 times as there was no wait. At this point I was a bit miffed as Taryn, Dan and I had wasted all that time just waiting and looking for the others, when if we had known they were going to be repeat riding we could have gone to see the Little Mermaid. By now we only had 45 minutes until Fantasmic, and so there was no real time for us to do anything else, so I was more than a little bit annoyed with Tony to say the very least and if there had been a divorce lawyer’s office in Hollywood Studios I may well have paid them a visit.
We wandered down to Fantasmic and managed to get some good seats towards the front. While waiting for the show , the audience were doing fast and slow versions of the mexican wave, which was quite amusing. Fantasmic was as amazing as ever, and I managed to capture the show on the camcorder, although I missed the ending as always, because Mickey is just too quick!
On the way home I ended up leaving the park on a different exit, and we ended up in the back of beyond. I managed to eventually find the way back to familiar areas, but by then it was late and we were not in the mood to eat out at a restaurant, so we just picked up some subs from Subway and headed back to the apartment for an evening meal of subs and Halloween cookies!
Tomorrow - we are off to my favourite park - Magic Kingdom!
Verity Chambers
<font color=blue>He's delicious! Rather like <font
- Joined
- May 27, 2003
Ooooo, sorry I've only just seen this installment and it's a s fab as the rest. Sounds like another fantastic day. Egerly awaiting the next part! Love V. xxx
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Sorry for the delay but I have been suddenly been overwhelmed by Christmas sneaking up on me and I have been hit the realisation that I haven't done any gift shopping - so every spare moment is being spent either on-line shopping or venturing out into the real world to actually visit real live shops (shock horror) - I also have cards to make, write and post, and Christmas functions to attend this next week, but once all that is done I will return to the trip report writing!
borntoshop96
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2008
I'm very happy to wile away precious hours reading your "endless waffle"!! Your initial "waffle" is great and I look forward to reading much more of it!!
PS We leave the day you arrive having done 7 nights SSR, 4 nights Wonder, 2 nights SSR. Maybe we can give you a wave at the airport!!
PPS I love your pics!!
PS We leave the day you arrive having done 7 nights SSR, 4 nights Wonder, 2 nights SSR. Maybe we can give you a wave at the airport!!
PPS I love your pics!!
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Well hello and welcome back to my trip report - I am delighted to be able to inform you that we are now in a position to resume normal service. The kids now have laptops (christmas presents) which basically means I can now have this computer, poor old antique that it is, all to myself. It has taken me over a month to get the laptops online, but at last the deed is done and I am ready to continue with the trip report.
so here goes.........those of you with very good memories may recall that when I left you we were just about to start the 5th day of our holiday:
so without further ado -
Day 5: the Magic Kingdom:
I woke up at 7:30 and immediately was hit by the realisation that today was the day I had been looking forward to since we arrived in Orlando - the day we were visiting my all-time favourite WDW park - the Magic Kingdom. To me the Magic Kingdom IS Disney and I am sure I could quite happily spend every waking moment of every single day there, and would probably be equally as happy to spend every sleeping moment there too. I roused the troops, a task that was becoming increasingly difficult with each passing day, although how they could still be rotting in bed when we were going to the Magic Kingdom totally defeats me - did anyone hear me - THE MAGIC KINGDOM !!!! Fortunately the kids decided to get shifted before blood was spilled, and we made it to Dunkin Donuts for what was becoming a ritual breakfast by 8:15.
We arrived at the Ticket and Transportation Centre at 8:55, and jumped on the monorail. The excitement was building as we passed through the Contemporary Resort and saw the new Bay Lake construction site. Before too long we were pulling into the Magic Kingdom station, and we stopped for our first Magic Kingdom photopass picture outside the park entrance:
and once through the cursory bag check and the turnstiles we were there - walking down the most magical street in the world - Main Street USA. The Halloween décor was understated in comparison to what we were used to at Disneyland Paris, but good all the same:
We stopped on Main Street for one of many Photopass opportunities:
Our first port of call in the Magic Kingdom is always Pirates of the Caribbean - my favourite ride in my favourite park - what more could a girl ask for? (answers on a postcard please!)
This was our first visit to see our pirate friends since their territory was invaded by the notorious pirates, Captains Sparrow and Barbossa, and we were looking forward to the new experience. The Davy Jones illusion was very clever and the Capt Jack Sparrow character at the end of the ride was amazing - absolutely brilliantly done with the voice and everything. Even though I love this Pirates ride, it always pales in comparison to the Paris version - the scenes always seem to be in the wrong order and with only one drop it always seems to be missing something, and of course it is a lot shorter. That said - I wouldn’t miss it for the world. After our encounter with the pirates we decided to try our luck with Brer Rabbit and friends, but this was not running, so instead we jumped on board the wildest ride in the wilderness, and indeed wild it was - although not as extreme a ride as Paris, it feels much more rickety and you feel you are going to come off the tracks at any moment - which really adds to the experience.
We then went to see if Splash Mountain was running yet, and as it wasn’t we grabbed some fast passes and then jumped back on Big Thunder Mountain as there was only a 10 minute wait. Now on to another favourite: The Haunted Mansion. On the way we snapped these unsavoury characters - anyone got any rotten fruit....
Now The Haunted Mansion had also undergone a few enhancements since our last visit. I didn’t remember there being speakers in the Doom Buggy relaying messages from the Ghost Host. A lot of the spooky effects seemed new - I certainly didn’t recall the footsteps on the stairs, the library and the attic room with the photographs of the murderous bride from previous visits, but maybe they had been there all along and I was just spooked! Our ride was interrupted by playful spooks right next to the really creepy pop-up heads in the graveyard, which was a bit unnerving. I just love the theming around the Haunted Mansion, and took a few photos:
We then recovered from the spooky encounter by a repeat ride on Big Thunder to blow away any remaining cobwebs, and then we noticed Splash Mountain was operating, so everyone except Taryn and Daniel (remember the wimp gene) jumped into a log and set off for the laughing place ……. it always amuses me that just before you go over the big drop there are vultures perched above you with very hopeful expressions on their faces. Two seconds later I was a lot soggier than I had been previously and we jumped out of the log and grabbed fast passes for later.
By now it was time for a change of scenery, and we wandered into Fantasyland to see Philharmagic - another favourite of mine. This show never ceases to amaze me and I just love it! It is my favourite 3D show by a million miles, and in fact is the only one where I keep the glasses on the whole time, as there are no scary surprises! After the show we were planning to head for Tomorrowland via Toontown, and on the way into Toontown we passed this prize exhibit from Mickey’s garden:
We soon realised that we couldn’t get to Tomorrowland via Toontown, but while we were there we decided to ride the Barnstormer with Goofy, which was good fun, but I can honestly say that if you blinked you would have missed it! In the line there was a little girl with an amazing hairstyle, all spikey and orange with glitter and pumpkin confetti etc in her hair. Her mother said she had been to the Bibbiddy Bobbiddy Boutique and it had cost $60!
We then retraced our steps to find the correct direction to Tomorrowland, and once there we headed straight for Buzz Lightyear Laser Spin, which I have always loved, but I found a lot more dated after having ridden the Toy Story Mania ride at Hollywood Studios. I also get annoyed as the guns don’t detach from the vehicle like they do in Paris, although I don’t really know why I’m bothered by this as it doesn’t improve my aim to any degree. My score, as always, was embarrassingly low, and I think even Tony, who always thinks he is the hot shot of star command, was on this occasion, beaten into submission by Taryn!
I have never noticed these cute guys before either:
After facing the evil Emperor Zurg and his minions, we planned to visit the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor for some comic relief, but by now our fast passes were due on Splash Mountain, so instead we headed back to Frontierland, taking a few photos on the way:
It was time for another stomach churning descent into the Briar Patch, and Taryn and Dan took another wild ride on the Big Thunder Mountain railway. By now we all had rumbles in our tumblies, and decided to pop into Pecos Bill’s for some lunchtime refreshment. The food was really nice, as they had a great salad and toppings bar (fried onions and mushrooms) for the burgers etc. Taryn and I had a chicken wrap each which was enormous and the rest of the guys had the burgers.
After lunch we whizzed back to Tomorrowland to see Sully and Mike at the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor - this was really funny and well presented and I highly recommend it. One thing I have never ridden in Tomorrowland is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and so this was our next port of call. This was very relaxing and a good way to get a different outlook on the park and interesting to see inside Space Mountain, as it is highly unlikely I will ever see the inside of Space Mountain by any other means. Here is Dan relaxing on the TTA:
continued in next post due to too many photos - sorry
so here goes.........those of you with very good memories may recall that when I left you we were just about to start the 5th day of our holiday:
so without further ado -
Day 5: the Magic Kingdom:
I woke up at 7:30 and immediately was hit by the realisation that today was the day I had been looking forward to since we arrived in Orlando - the day we were visiting my all-time favourite WDW park - the Magic Kingdom. To me the Magic Kingdom IS Disney and I am sure I could quite happily spend every waking moment of every single day there, and would probably be equally as happy to spend every sleeping moment there too. I roused the troops, a task that was becoming increasingly difficult with each passing day, although how they could still be rotting in bed when we were going to the Magic Kingdom totally defeats me - did anyone hear me - THE MAGIC KINGDOM !!!! Fortunately the kids decided to get shifted before blood was spilled, and we made it to Dunkin Donuts for what was becoming a ritual breakfast by 8:15.
We arrived at the Ticket and Transportation Centre at 8:55, and jumped on the monorail. The excitement was building as we passed through the Contemporary Resort and saw the new Bay Lake construction site. Before too long we were pulling into the Magic Kingdom station, and we stopped for our first Magic Kingdom photopass picture outside the park entrance:
and once through the cursory bag check and the turnstiles we were there - walking down the most magical street in the world - Main Street USA. The Halloween décor was understated in comparison to what we were used to at Disneyland Paris, but good all the same:
We stopped on Main Street for one of many Photopass opportunities:
Our first port of call in the Magic Kingdom is always Pirates of the Caribbean - my favourite ride in my favourite park - what more could a girl ask for? (answers on a postcard please!)
This was our first visit to see our pirate friends since their territory was invaded by the notorious pirates, Captains Sparrow and Barbossa, and we were looking forward to the new experience. The Davy Jones illusion was very clever and the Capt Jack Sparrow character at the end of the ride was amazing - absolutely brilliantly done with the voice and everything. Even though I love this Pirates ride, it always pales in comparison to the Paris version - the scenes always seem to be in the wrong order and with only one drop it always seems to be missing something, and of course it is a lot shorter. That said - I wouldn’t miss it for the world. After our encounter with the pirates we decided to try our luck with Brer Rabbit and friends, but this was not running, so instead we jumped on board the wildest ride in the wilderness, and indeed wild it was - although not as extreme a ride as Paris, it feels much more rickety and you feel you are going to come off the tracks at any moment - which really adds to the experience.
We then went to see if Splash Mountain was running yet, and as it wasn’t we grabbed some fast passes and then jumped back on Big Thunder Mountain as there was only a 10 minute wait. Now on to another favourite: The Haunted Mansion. On the way we snapped these unsavoury characters - anyone got any rotten fruit....
Now The Haunted Mansion had also undergone a few enhancements since our last visit. I didn’t remember there being speakers in the Doom Buggy relaying messages from the Ghost Host. A lot of the spooky effects seemed new - I certainly didn’t recall the footsteps on the stairs, the library and the attic room with the photographs of the murderous bride from previous visits, but maybe they had been there all along and I was just spooked! Our ride was interrupted by playful spooks right next to the really creepy pop-up heads in the graveyard, which was a bit unnerving. I just love the theming around the Haunted Mansion, and took a few photos:
We then recovered from the spooky encounter by a repeat ride on Big Thunder to blow away any remaining cobwebs, and then we noticed Splash Mountain was operating, so everyone except Taryn and Daniel (remember the wimp gene) jumped into a log and set off for the laughing place ……. it always amuses me that just before you go over the big drop there are vultures perched above you with very hopeful expressions on their faces. Two seconds later I was a lot soggier than I had been previously and we jumped out of the log and grabbed fast passes for later.
By now it was time for a change of scenery, and we wandered into Fantasyland to see Philharmagic - another favourite of mine. This show never ceases to amaze me and I just love it! It is my favourite 3D show by a million miles, and in fact is the only one where I keep the glasses on the whole time, as there are no scary surprises! After the show we were planning to head for Tomorrowland via Toontown, and on the way into Toontown we passed this prize exhibit from Mickey’s garden:
We soon realised that we couldn’t get to Tomorrowland via Toontown, but while we were there we decided to ride the Barnstormer with Goofy, which was good fun, but I can honestly say that if you blinked you would have missed it! In the line there was a little girl with an amazing hairstyle, all spikey and orange with glitter and pumpkin confetti etc in her hair. Her mother said she had been to the Bibbiddy Bobbiddy Boutique and it had cost $60!
We then retraced our steps to find the correct direction to Tomorrowland, and once there we headed straight for Buzz Lightyear Laser Spin, which I have always loved, but I found a lot more dated after having ridden the Toy Story Mania ride at Hollywood Studios. I also get annoyed as the guns don’t detach from the vehicle like they do in Paris, although I don’t really know why I’m bothered by this as it doesn’t improve my aim to any degree. My score, as always, was embarrassingly low, and I think even Tony, who always thinks he is the hot shot of star command, was on this occasion, beaten into submission by Taryn!
I have never noticed these cute guys before either:
After facing the evil Emperor Zurg and his minions, we planned to visit the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor for some comic relief, but by now our fast passes were due on Splash Mountain, so instead we headed back to Frontierland, taking a few photos on the way:
It was time for another stomach churning descent into the Briar Patch, and Taryn and Dan took another wild ride on the Big Thunder Mountain railway. By now we all had rumbles in our tumblies, and decided to pop into Pecos Bill’s for some lunchtime refreshment. The food was really nice, as they had a great salad and toppings bar (fried onions and mushrooms) for the burgers etc. Taryn and I had a chicken wrap each which was enormous and the rest of the guys had the burgers.
After lunch we whizzed back to Tomorrowland to see Sully and Mike at the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor - this was really funny and well presented and I highly recommend it. One thing I have never ridden in Tomorrowland is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and so this was our next port of call. This was very relaxing and a good way to get a different outlook on the park and interesting to see inside Space Mountain, as it is highly unlikely I will ever see the inside of Space Mountain by any other means. Here is Dan relaxing on the TTA:
continued in next post due to too many photos - sorry
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Day 5 part 2 (too many photos for 1 installment- sorry)
We then wandered over the watch the Dreams Come True parade - a really excellent parade and I managed to video it while Taryn took some still photographs - as I have yet to work out now to do both simultaneously.
Here are some captured moments from the parade:
After the parade we all stopped for ice-cream, complete with chocolate Mickey ears:
except for Dan who wanted to try funnel cake, which comes highly recommended on the DIS. We stopped at Sleepy Hollow for this, and it was decorated with atmosheric halloween pumpkins:
The CM at Sleepy Hollow was very generous with the icing sugar and the cinnamon, most of which Dan ended up wearing by the time he finished the funnel cake.
Before.........
and after.......
Near Sleepy Hollow we found another Photopass opportunity, this time with a very good photographer who had us get into all sorts of poses with the side view of the Castle as the backdrop. She even asked DH and I to kiss each other, while the kids acted horrified - although this probably didn't involve too much in the way of acting. ( I think DH was even more horrified, but he must have thought what the heck, this is Disney, and he didn‘t put up too much of a fight!). Before you get too worried - the kissing photo will not be shown to avoid upsetting anyone with a delicate constitution! These are a couple of our best photos from this photo shoot:
After this we decided to ride Pirates again, and our visit to the Caribbean coincided with one of Captain Jack Sparrow’s pirate tutorials. This was really good fun - and Capt Jack was very true to his character, with good Capt Jack mannerisms and he looked very much like the real thing, which basically meant I was glued to the spot until he finished his routine. I was very disappointed when I put up my hand to join his pirate crew and I was sadly rejected because they were only recruiting mini-pirates on this occasion - us wenches were surplus to requirements. He was the best Capt Jack character I have yet encountered - far better than the rather camp version we saw in Paris, and far far better than the very unrealistic Capt Jack we were to meet on the Disney Magic.
We then decided to do a couple of attractions we have never managed to do in the Magic Kingdom, Jungle Cruise and The Tiki Room - as we felt it was important to give recognition to these “retro” attractions. We grabbed some fast passes to the Jungle Cruise and went first to the Tiki Room - this was very cute and all the young kids in there seemed to love it - my two lads were very worried when the CM asked them to stand up and dance at the end - the look on their faces was priceless, and the CM replied “ Oh stop being boys!”. I think they were very relieved to escape from the Tiki Room - I was less fortunate in being unable to escape from the song, which stuck in my head for the rest of the day. We then hit the Jungle Cruise which was amusing in a “retro” way, but our boat guide appeared really bored with the whole thing, and some of the jokes were so bad they should have been thrown overboard.
Once off the boat it was time to stake out a spot for the Spectromagic Parade, and on the way Taryn, Louise, Dan and I decided to visit the spooks in the Haunted Mansion, while the more daring Tony and Steve headed for Space Mountain. We arranged to meet at Casey’s Corner to warch the parade.
The view turned out to be ok, but we had one of those very officious CMs nearby who was insisted on coming in front of my camera view every five seconds to move people on, every time they stopped where he deemed they shouldn’t be. So there will be some serious editing required to remove the CM’s head from my Spectromagic video.
Some after dark photos of some Halloween characters:
We moved up to the Station end of Main Street to watch Wishes, my all-time favourite Disney firework show, and one which generally has me in tears throughout. It was truly beautiful and seemed to be longer than the Paris version, although there were no images projected onto the castle like they have in Paris. The fireworks were spectacular, and actually produced images in the sky like smiley faces and star shapes and of course hidden Mickey shapes. I didn’t video Wishes on this occasion, as I wanted to try out the firework feature on the camera, but unfortunately the results were disappointing and this one is the best of the bunch (which sort of indicates how bad they came out)
We managed to whiz out of the park immediately after Wishes finished, so as to avoid the crowds piling towards the exit, and the lengthy wait for the monorail, and it was a good plan, as we made it back to the apartment by 8:45pm. We decided to walk down to Chili’s for dinner, and we were really impressed. I don’t think I have ever seen such an extensive menu, and it was really difficult to make a decision on what to eat. The food was delicious and there was plenty of it, and everyone enjoyed their meal. There was a guy wandering round making balloon hats, and a very interesting “shot glass” dessert, where you were given shot glasses with samples of the desserts in them for only $1.99 per shot glass. We had an excellent server and I would really recommend Chilis for a relaxing yet fun atmosphere and great value food. After dinner we walked back to the apartment, winding Tony up on the way about spotting alligators in the lakes that we passed on the way home.
We then wandered over the watch the Dreams Come True parade - a really excellent parade and I managed to video it while Taryn took some still photographs - as I have yet to work out now to do both simultaneously.
Here are some captured moments from the parade:
After the parade we all stopped for ice-cream, complete with chocolate Mickey ears:
except for Dan who wanted to try funnel cake, which comes highly recommended on the DIS. We stopped at Sleepy Hollow for this, and it was decorated with atmosheric halloween pumpkins:
The CM at Sleepy Hollow was very generous with the icing sugar and the cinnamon, most of which Dan ended up wearing by the time he finished the funnel cake.
Before.........
and after.......
Near Sleepy Hollow we found another Photopass opportunity, this time with a very good photographer who had us get into all sorts of poses with the side view of the Castle as the backdrop. She even asked DH and I to kiss each other, while the kids acted horrified - although this probably didn't involve too much in the way of acting. ( I think DH was even more horrified, but he must have thought what the heck, this is Disney, and he didn‘t put up too much of a fight!). Before you get too worried - the kissing photo will not be shown to avoid upsetting anyone with a delicate constitution! These are a couple of our best photos from this photo shoot:
After this we decided to ride Pirates again, and our visit to the Caribbean coincided with one of Captain Jack Sparrow’s pirate tutorials. This was really good fun - and Capt Jack was very true to his character, with good Capt Jack mannerisms and he looked very much like the real thing, which basically meant I was glued to the spot until he finished his routine. I was very disappointed when I put up my hand to join his pirate crew and I was sadly rejected because they were only recruiting mini-pirates on this occasion - us wenches were surplus to requirements. He was the best Capt Jack character I have yet encountered - far better than the rather camp version we saw in Paris, and far far better than the very unrealistic Capt Jack we were to meet on the Disney Magic.
We then decided to do a couple of attractions we have never managed to do in the Magic Kingdom, Jungle Cruise and The Tiki Room - as we felt it was important to give recognition to these “retro” attractions. We grabbed some fast passes to the Jungle Cruise and went first to the Tiki Room - this was very cute and all the young kids in there seemed to love it - my two lads were very worried when the CM asked them to stand up and dance at the end - the look on their faces was priceless, and the CM replied “ Oh stop being boys!”. I think they were very relieved to escape from the Tiki Room - I was less fortunate in being unable to escape from the song, which stuck in my head for the rest of the day. We then hit the Jungle Cruise which was amusing in a “retro” way, but our boat guide appeared really bored with the whole thing, and some of the jokes were so bad they should have been thrown overboard.
Once off the boat it was time to stake out a spot for the Spectromagic Parade, and on the way Taryn, Louise, Dan and I decided to visit the spooks in the Haunted Mansion, while the more daring Tony and Steve headed for Space Mountain. We arranged to meet at Casey’s Corner to warch the parade.
The view turned out to be ok, but we had one of those very officious CMs nearby who was insisted on coming in front of my camera view every five seconds to move people on, every time they stopped where he deemed they shouldn’t be. So there will be some serious editing required to remove the CM’s head from my Spectromagic video.
Some after dark photos of some Halloween characters:
We moved up to the Station end of Main Street to watch Wishes, my all-time favourite Disney firework show, and one which generally has me in tears throughout. It was truly beautiful and seemed to be longer than the Paris version, although there were no images projected onto the castle like they have in Paris. The fireworks were spectacular, and actually produced images in the sky like smiley faces and star shapes and of course hidden Mickey shapes. I didn’t video Wishes on this occasion, as I wanted to try out the firework feature on the camera, but unfortunately the results were disappointing and this one is the best of the bunch (which sort of indicates how bad they came out)
We managed to whiz out of the park immediately after Wishes finished, so as to avoid the crowds piling towards the exit, and the lengthy wait for the monorail, and it was a good plan, as we made it back to the apartment by 8:45pm. We decided to walk down to Chili’s for dinner, and we were really impressed. I don’t think I have ever seen such an extensive menu, and it was really difficult to make a decision on what to eat. The food was delicious and there was plenty of it, and everyone enjoyed their meal. There was a guy wandering round making balloon hats, and a very interesting “shot glass” dessert, where you were given shot glasses with samples of the desserts in them for only $1.99 per shot glass. We had an excellent server and I would really recommend Chilis for a relaxing yet fun atmosphere and great value food. After dinner we walked back to the apartment, winding Tony up on the way about spotting alligators in the lakes that we passed on the way home.
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Day 6: Epcot again - part 1
Today I woke up at about 08:30, but because of the flagging stamina of my troops I decided to give them a lie in this morning. Today the plan was to hit Epcot before lunch, and then stay until late to watch Illuminations, with dinner at one of the Boardwalk restaurants. While everyone was still in the land of nod, I pottered around the apartment, packing away a few bits and pieces and popping a few things in the washing machine. Eventually the troops materialised and we managed to be on the road by 11am, and there are no prizes for guessing where we ended up for our late breakfast - Dunkin Donuts. Soon after that we arrived at Epcot:
We grabbed fast passes for Test Track and rode Mission Space and I spent some time taking random photos of my family from a distance.
We also came across a bunch of crazy chefs who put on a bit of a show for us - they were brilliant and really entertaining!
We then wandered over to the Living Seas where we rode Finding Nemo and spent a while engaged in some Turtle Talk with Crush, which was very cute. We then whiled away some time watching the fish in the aquarium while waiting for a suitable fast pass return time for a post-dinner ride on Soarin. We managed to grab fast passes for 7pm, which seemed about right.
By now it was time to ride Test Track, so this we did, and then grabbed a bite to eat for lunch. As it wasnt long since our breakfast donuts, we chose a snack lunch, which was hot dogs and crisps (chips to any US readers among us) for Tony, Stephen and Louise,
and Mickey Ice cream sandwiches for Taryn, Dan and myself - as you can see I feel its always important to stick to a healthy diet wherever possible.
A very happy Tony after having his lunch:
While we were eating I also tried to take some arty scenic photos:
We then went into Imageworks and spent some time sending silly emails to friends, as you do, and then Tony, Louise and Stephen went into Honey, I shrunk the Audience, while Taryn, Dan and I chilled out by the fountains, watching the world go by and taking photos.
We had this photo pass photo taken by the fountain:
We then wandered into the World Showcase, where the girls stopped for a chat with Alice in the UK,
Before we headed for the Boardwalk area to find somewhere to eat dinner.
(continued in next post due to excessive number of photos!)
Today I woke up at about 08:30, but because of the flagging stamina of my troops I decided to give them a lie in this morning. Today the plan was to hit Epcot before lunch, and then stay until late to watch Illuminations, with dinner at one of the Boardwalk restaurants. While everyone was still in the land of nod, I pottered around the apartment, packing away a few bits and pieces and popping a few things in the washing machine. Eventually the troops materialised and we managed to be on the road by 11am, and there are no prizes for guessing where we ended up for our late breakfast - Dunkin Donuts. Soon after that we arrived at Epcot:
We grabbed fast passes for Test Track and rode Mission Space and I spent some time taking random photos of my family from a distance.
We also came across a bunch of crazy chefs who put on a bit of a show for us - they were brilliant and really entertaining!
We then wandered over to the Living Seas where we rode Finding Nemo and spent a while engaged in some Turtle Talk with Crush, which was very cute. We then whiled away some time watching the fish in the aquarium while waiting for a suitable fast pass return time for a post-dinner ride on Soarin. We managed to grab fast passes for 7pm, which seemed about right.
By now it was time to ride Test Track, so this we did, and then grabbed a bite to eat for lunch. As it wasnt long since our breakfast donuts, we chose a snack lunch, which was hot dogs and crisps (chips to any US readers among us) for Tony, Stephen and Louise,
and Mickey Ice cream sandwiches for Taryn, Dan and myself - as you can see I feel its always important to stick to a healthy diet wherever possible.
A very happy Tony after having his lunch:
While we were eating I also tried to take some arty scenic photos:
We then went into Imageworks and spent some time sending silly emails to friends, as you do, and then Tony, Louise and Stephen went into Honey, I shrunk the Audience, while Taryn, Dan and I chilled out by the fountains, watching the world go by and taking photos.
We had this photo pass photo taken by the fountain:
We then wandered into the World Showcase, where the girls stopped for a chat with Alice in the UK,
Before we headed for the Boardwalk area to find somewhere to eat dinner.
(continued in next post due to excessive number of photos!)
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Epcot again - part 2
This was our first time to see the Boardwalk and it really seemed a lovely place to stay, well themed and very relaxing. We wandered along, just enjoying being there, and perused the menus in the various restaurants along the way. I quite fancied the Big River Grille, but as we have the pleasure of having the four fussiest eaters in the entire world in our family, we opted for the E.S.P.N Club for dinner, as the menu choices seemed to suit everyone.
The meal was excellent and the service faultless, although to be honest I could have done without all that sport (although apparently E.S.P.N. is something to do with sport, so if I had known that maybe I would have expected it).
The place is filled with TV screens, and even in the restroom, well the ladies restroom I can vouch for, but the guys tell me the men’s room was the same. It felt a bit strange answering natures call while watching baseball but each to their own! The beer pitcher came with a funny jug thing which held ice and kept the beer cool, which was a great idea.
The other highlight of this meal was the Rocky Road dessert - highly recommended!
After dinner we wandered about the Boardwalk and took yet more photos of everyone just chilling.
It was just such a lovely evening and I really felt happy and relaxed as we wandered back towards Epcot, just enjoying being there. I love moments like that.
It was now 7pm and we headed straight for Soarin as our fast passes obtained at 1pm had now become active. We sat next to a lady who said Soarin was her favourite ride ever - she told us to watch out for the hidden Mickey on the golf ball, and we managed to just about see it. We then had time for some shopping in MouseGear, and I deliberated over buying lots of things but talked myself out of them - I later regretted not buying them as I always do. I should learn to just buy things if I see things I like!
We then decided to wander over to the World Showcase to find a good place to watch Illuminations. As we entered the UK area a most amazing thing happened - it began to pour with rain! It amazes me how Disney manages to get every feature of the country to be totally authentic! I never cease to be amazed by Disney Imagineering!
Tony decided to do what comes natural in the UK, and grabbed himself a pint while we took shelter in the UK shop.
The rain eventually settled, we found a Photopass opportunity in France and had this photo taken, one of my favourites from the trip as it looks really natural ......and no, you are not mistaken, that is actually a smile on Stephen's face (or is it yet more imagineering magic!)
And then we found a spot on the side of the lake to watch Illuminations. This was as wonderful and inspirational as ever, and left me with tears in my eyes. After the show we slowly drifted back to the car, and it had been such a lovely afternoon and evening, slow-paced for once, that I really didn’t want to leave the park. I took my last attempt at an arty photo of Spaceship Earth on the way out:
And then we stopped for one final photo pass photo before heading our to the car park.
We found the car, and headed back to the apartment, where I tidied up and packed a few more things away before finally going to bed.
Tomorrow: shopping, Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party and reunion with our special friends!
This was our first time to see the Boardwalk and it really seemed a lovely place to stay, well themed and very relaxing. We wandered along, just enjoying being there, and perused the menus in the various restaurants along the way. I quite fancied the Big River Grille, but as we have the pleasure of having the four fussiest eaters in the entire world in our family, we opted for the E.S.P.N Club for dinner, as the menu choices seemed to suit everyone.
The meal was excellent and the service faultless, although to be honest I could have done without all that sport (although apparently E.S.P.N. is something to do with sport, so if I had known that maybe I would have expected it).
The place is filled with TV screens, and even in the restroom, well the ladies restroom I can vouch for, but the guys tell me the men’s room was the same. It felt a bit strange answering natures call while watching baseball but each to their own! The beer pitcher came with a funny jug thing which held ice and kept the beer cool, which was a great idea.
The other highlight of this meal was the Rocky Road dessert - highly recommended!
After dinner we wandered about the Boardwalk and took yet more photos of everyone just chilling.
It was just such a lovely evening and I really felt happy and relaxed as we wandered back towards Epcot, just enjoying being there. I love moments like that.
It was now 7pm and we headed straight for Soarin as our fast passes obtained at 1pm had now become active. We sat next to a lady who said Soarin was her favourite ride ever - she told us to watch out for the hidden Mickey on the golf ball, and we managed to just about see it. We then had time for some shopping in MouseGear, and I deliberated over buying lots of things but talked myself out of them - I later regretted not buying them as I always do. I should learn to just buy things if I see things I like!
We then decided to wander over to the World Showcase to find a good place to watch Illuminations. As we entered the UK area a most amazing thing happened - it began to pour with rain! It amazes me how Disney manages to get every feature of the country to be totally authentic! I never cease to be amazed by Disney Imagineering!
Tony decided to do what comes natural in the UK, and grabbed himself a pint while we took shelter in the UK shop.
The rain eventually settled, we found a Photopass opportunity in France and had this photo taken, one of my favourites from the trip as it looks really natural ......and no, you are not mistaken, that is actually a smile on Stephen's face (or is it yet more imagineering magic!)
And then we found a spot on the side of the lake to watch Illuminations. This was as wonderful and inspirational as ever, and left me with tears in my eyes. After the show we slowly drifted back to the car, and it had been such a lovely afternoon and evening, slow-paced for once, that I really didn’t want to leave the park. I took my last attempt at an arty photo of Spaceship Earth on the way out:
And then we stopped for one final photo pass photo before heading our to the car park.
We found the car, and headed back to the apartment, where I tidied up and packed a few more things away before finally going to bed.
Tomorrow: shopping, Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party and reunion with our special friends!
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Day 7: Shopping, eating and MNSSHP with friends 
I awoke at about 8am and all was quiet in the apartment. I could hear the rain falling outside so I got up, and sat outside on the lanai, where I caught up with some trip report notes. It was so peaceful to sit there when all was quiet, just listening to the rain falling onto the palm trees. Before too long my peace was shattered by Tony appearing on the lanai with a coffee. We were heading for some retail therapy today, before meeting our friends the Balster family at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that evening.
Eventually the rest of the troops dragged themselves out of bed and after the usual ablutions we were all ready to head off for the Premium Outlets, which turned out to be just about 10 minutes away from the apartment. Regular readers will have noticed that we have broken the habit of the holiday and made no visit to Dunkin Donuts today - instead we decided to have breakfast at the Premium Outlets food court. Ever health conscious, Taryn, Louise and Daniel opted for fruit this morning - apples to be precise, but before you fall over with the shock - the attraction with these apples was the cinnamon and toffee, and white and milk chocolate coatings they were covered with! Still fruit is fruit and as it was the first healthy option to pass their lips in a week I was pleased. Here is the proof:
I’m afraid to say that the healthy trend was not continued by Tony and Stephen, who had hot-dogs for breakfast - shame on them! In anticipation of the up-coming cruise and a need to get into a formal gown, I chose to bypass breakfast and just had a latte from Starbucks - it’s amazing how cheap a Starbucks coffee is in the USA, about half the price of the UK equivalent!
It was then time to hit the shops - and my first target was the Character Premiere shop, where I bought a few discounted pins and a few other bits and pieces. We then bought some trainers and shoes in the trainer and shoe shop (funnily enough) and when we were waiting in line to pay, we overheard some people speaking in a very strange language - yes, they were speaking Welsh! So of course we had to introduce ourselves as fellow natives! We then browsed around the rest of the shops, but disappointingly nothing else took our fancy - and by now I was getting desperate as I still had no shoes to go with my formal gown for the cruise. By now it was approaching lunch time, and we decided to go to one of Tony’s all time American favourites - Denny’s.
We had a lovely lunch - the portions were enormous, and our server, who appeared to be well past retirement age, was amazing and really funny - she spent a lot of time winding up the kids!
Some of the small portions:
After lunch we headed back to the apartment, where the kids headed off to the pool for a last dip, and Tony and I headed to Walmart, in a desperate last minute search for some black sandals for me. Now those of you who have shopped in Walmart will know how enormous it is, and also how ridiculously disorganised and disorientating it is - although that may just be the effect it has on me! I feel like I am in a maze and keep going around in circles, and for some reason they don’t keep all of the same items in the same area of the shop. I could have really done with Jack Sparrow’s compass to help me find my heart’s desire - the shoe department. What makes it even more ridiculous is that I had been there a few days earlier and still couldn’t find it. Eventually, after what seemed like hours we found the shoe department and I managed to locate a pair of black sandals which would suffice. We hurriedly picked up everything else we thought we might need, and probably a few things we didn’t, and very conscious of the fact that time was ticking on, and we needed to get transformed into pirates for the Halloween Party, we headed back home.
The kids were getting ready for the party, so we quickly changed and became the crazy pirate crew we are deep down inside! It was already about 6:30, and we were supposed to be meeting our friends outside Pirates of the Caribbean at 7pm. This wasn’t looking good at all! We jumped in the van, and I drove as fast as the speed limits would allow to arrive at the parking lot at about 7pm. There didn’t seem to be many people in costume in the parking lot and Stephen began to panic - it had taken a lot of persuasion to get him to dress up in a costume in the first place and a lot of reassurance that absolutely EVERYONE at the party would be in costume! You can see by his face on this photo that he was far from impressed when he realised that we might have just been slightly economical with the truth:
In fact no one looks impressed on these photos - miserable lot my family.
We boarded the monorail and when we arrived at the Magic Kingdom station there were quite a few people dressed in costumes milling about the park entrance, which fortunately seemed to chill Stephen out a bit. On the way in we were given wrist bands, Halloween party guides and treat bags for trick or treating. There were cast members holding up Halloween party signs to direct the party guests in the right direction, as there were crowds of other non-party guests leaving the park. We then had a mad dash through the crowds to meet up with our friends outside Pirates of the Caribbean - but when we got there they were nowhere to be seen. We immediately began to worry because we were almost half an hour late and they may have got fed up waiting for us or thought we had been held up. We hovered there looking lost and suddenly were commandeered by 4 crazy pirates who had been hiding in the shadows of the building opposite. It was so great to see them again, and we couldn’t stop talking - I don’t think we paused for breath once in that first hour of meeting up! They regaled us with spooky stories of their night at the Universal Halloween Horror event - which was definitely not for the faint of heart - and Helen had the bruises on her arms to proof it! Here is our pirate crew outside Pirates of the Caribbean:
We hit the first Trick or Treat stop outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean, where cast members put a handful of candy into each of our bags, and then we headed to ride Pirates of the Caribbean - it was great to ride our favourite ride dressed as pirates! Unfortunately the cast members were far from piratey and not very interactive at all. After raiding the Spanish Main we raided the shop for weaponry and commandeered some swords - well to be totally honest, in reality we lined up in the store and paid for them like everyone else but that doesn’t sound very piratey either so for the sake of authenticity I‘d go with the first version!
Next stop, the Haunted Mansion - the cast members here were much more interactive and into the Halloween spirit - they had really good atmospheric make-up, and the spooky effects such as fog and eerie music around the Haunted Mansion were really effective. There was even a spooky ghost lady sitting in the graveyard! Unfortunately two of our pirate crew dropped their swords in the Haunted Mansion, and they may still be there to this very day. We hit another Trick or Treat stop outside the Haunted Mansion, and then we headed off to ride the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - always a crazy experience in the dark! A we entered the mine station it began to rain, and by the time we boarded the train it was actually tipping it down. This made the ride even wilder and crazier than ever and we ended up soaked through to the skin and very bedraggled.
We then headed over to Tomorrowland as some of the group wanted to ride Space Mountain, but it wasn’t running, so instead we had a whirl with Buzz Lightyear. By now it was time for the parade, so we headed for the central plaza to find a good viewpoint. On the way we encountered Davy Jones and there was a bit of a stand-off:
We sat down on the kerb side and waited for the parade, and I took a bit of video footage while waiting, and a photo of the girls waiting patiently.
We also had a photo pass moment in front of the castle, and the photographer took so long to try and get us all in the picture and to get it focused correctly, and this was the end result.
The parade was absolutely amazing - my favourite parade ever. I loved the pirates, the grave-diggers, and the Capt. Jack Sparrow and the Haunted Mansion floats in particular. We were thrilled when Captain Barbossa gestured over to us as his pirate crew! After the parade we stayed in the same place and waited for the Hallowishes fireworks. This was the best fireworks show I have ever seen - absolutely breathtaking - and all presented to a Halloween soundtrack!
After the fireworks we bid farewell to Andy, Helen, Rachel and Bethany, who had to get back to the Hard Rock Hotel via taxi and didn’t want to be caught in the crowds as we all had an early start tomorrow. I couldn’t resist a final ride on Pirates of the Caribbean,
and then Stephen and Tony went to ride Splash Mountain. By now it was time to leave, so we made our way to the exit via the Main Street shops, and then jumped on the monorail to the parking lot.
I had really enjoyed the Halloween Party - the atmosphere was amazing, and the parade and fireworks alone were worth the extra ticket price. The trick and treating was fun, particularly for the younger children, and riding the attractions in the dark and spooky atmosphere added an extra dimension. The only criticism was the lack of interaction from some of the cast members - such as those in Pirates of the Caribbean, and apart from during the parade we didn’t see any characters wandering around, but we may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. That said, I would definitely do MNSSHP again as it was an amazing experience, and all the better for sharing it with such special and like-minded friends.
Back at the apartment I did my last batch of laundry ready for the cruise and threw it in the tumble dryer, and then sorted out as much as I could before tiredness took over, and I fell into bed to dream of tomorrow and our long awaited first ever cruise on the Disney Magic. I was so excited I could hardly contain myself, as to be on the Disney Magic was such a dream of mine, and tomorrow it was really going to happen! Our plan was to be up really early, and away in the car by 7:30am, so we could have breakfast in Port Canaveral before entering the terminal at 10am or as soon as we could, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men and my family …….
I awoke at about 8am and all was quiet in the apartment. I could hear the rain falling outside so I got up, and sat outside on the lanai, where I caught up with some trip report notes. It was so peaceful to sit there when all was quiet, just listening to the rain falling onto the palm trees. Before too long my peace was shattered by Tony appearing on the lanai with a coffee. We were heading for some retail therapy today, before meeting our friends the Balster family at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that evening.
Eventually the rest of the troops dragged themselves out of bed and after the usual ablutions we were all ready to head off for the Premium Outlets, which turned out to be just about 10 minutes away from the apartment. Regular readers will have noticed that we have broken the habit of the holiday and made no visit to Dunkin Donuts today - instead we decided to have breakfast at the Premium Outlets food court. Ever health conscious, Taryn, Louise and Daniel opted for fruit this morning - apples to be precise, but before you fall over with the shock - the attraction with these apples was the cinnamon and toffee, and white and milk chocolate coatings they were covered with! Still fruit is fruit and as it was the first healthy option to pass their lips in a week I was pleased. Here is the proof:
I’m afraid to say that the healthy trend was not continued by Tony and Stephen, who had hot-dogs for breakfast - shame on them! In anticipation of the up-coming cruise and a need to get into a formal gown, I chose to bypass breakfast and just had a latte from Starbucks - it’s amazing how cheap a Starbucks coffee is in the USA, about half the price of the UK equivalent!
It was then time to hit the shops - and my first target was the Character Premiere shop, where I bought a few discounted pins and a few other bits and pieces. We then bought some trainers and shoes in the trainer and shoe shop (funnily enough) and when we were waiting in line to pay, we overheard some people speaking in a very strange language - yes, they were speaking Welsh! So of course we had to introduce ourselves as fellow natives! We then browsed around the rest of the shops, but disappointingly nothing else took our fancy - and by now I was getting desperate as I still had no shoes to go with my formal gown for the cruise. By now it was approaching lunch time, and we decided to go to one of Tony’s all time American favourites - Denny’s.
We had a lovely lunch - the portions were enormous, and our server, who appeared to be well past retirement age, was amazing and really funny - she spent a lot of time winding up the kids!
Some of the small portions:
After lunch we headed back to the apartment, where the kids headed off to the pool for a last dip, and Tony and I headed to Walmart, in a desperate last minute search for some black sandals for me. Now those of you who have shopped in Walmart will know how enormous it is, and also how ridiculously disorganised and disorientating it is - although that may just be the effect it has on me! I feel like I am in a maze and keep going around in circles, and for some reason they don’t keep all of the same items in the same area of the shop. I could have really done with Jack Sparrow’s compass to help me find my heart’s desire - the shoe department. What makes it even more ridiculous is that I had been there a few days earlier and still couldn’t find it. Eventually, after what seemed like hours we found the shoe department and I managed to locate a pair of black sandals which would suffice. We hurriedly picked up everything else we thought we might need, and probably a few things we didn’t, and very conscious of the fact that time was ticking on, and we needed to get transformed into pirates for the Halloween Party, we headed back home.
The kids were getting ready for the party, so we quickly changed and became the crazy pirate crew we are deep down inside! It was already about 6:30, and we were supposed to be meeting our friends outside Pirates of the Caribbean at 7pm. This wasn’t looking good at all! We jumped in the van, and I drove as fast as the speed limits would allow to arrive at the parking lot at about 7pm. There didn’t seem to be many people in costume in the parking lot and Stephen began to panic - it had taken a lot of persuasion to get him to dress up in a costume in the first place and a lot of reassurance that absolutely EVERYONE at the party would be in costume! You can see by his face on this photo that he was far from impressed when he realised that we might have just been slightly economical with the truth:
In fact no one looks impressed on these photos - miserable lot my family.
We boarded the monorail and when we arrived at the Magic Kingdom station there were quite a few people dressed in costumes milling about the park entrance, which fortunately seemed to chill Stephen out a bit. On the way in we were given wrist bands, Halloween party guides and treat bags for trick or treating. There were cast members holding up Halloween party signs to direct the party guests in the right direction, as there were crowds of other non-party guests leaving the park. We then had a mad dash through the crowds to meet up with our friends outside Pirates of the Caribbean - but when we got there they were nowhere to be seen. We immediately began to worry because we were almost half an hour late and they may have got fed up waiting for us or thought we had been held up. We hovered there looking lost and suddenly were commandeered by 4 crazy pirates who had been hiding in the shadows of the building opposite. It was so great to see them again, and we couldn’t stop talking - I don’t think we paused for breath once in that first hour of meeting up! They regaled us with spooky stories of their night at the Universal Halloween Horror event - which was definitely not for the faint of heart - and Helen had the bruises on her arms to proof it! Here is our pirate crew outside Pirates of the Caribbean:
We hit the first Trick or Treat stop outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean, where cast members put a handful of candy into each of our bags, and then we headed to ride Pirates of the Caribbean - it was great to ride our favourite ride dressed as pirates! Unfortunately the cast members were far from piratey and not very interactive at all. After raiding the Spanish Main we raided the shop for weaponry and commandeered some swords - well to be totally honest, in reality we lined up in the store and paid for them like everyone else but that doesn’t sound very piratey either so for the sake of authenticity I‘d go with the first version!
Next stop, the Haunted Mansion - the cast members here were much more interactive and into the Halloween spirit - they had really good atmospheric make-up, and the spooky effects such as fog and eerie music around the Haunted Mansion were really effective. There was even a spooky ghost lady sitting in the graveyard! Unfortunately two of our pirate crew dropped their swords in the Haunted Mansion, and they may still be there to this very day. We hit another Trick or Treat stop outside the Haunted Mansion, and then we headed off to ride the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - always a crazy experience in the dark! A we entered the mine station it began to rain, and by the time we boarded the train it was actually tipping it down. This made the ride even wilder and crazier than ever and we ended up soaked through to the skin and very bedraggled.
We then headed over to Tomorrowland as some of the group wanted to ride Space Mountain, but it wasn’t running, so instead we had a whirl with Buzz Lightyear. By now it was time for the parade, so we headed for the central plaza to find a good viewpoint. On the way we encountered Davy Jones and there was a bit of a stand-off:
We sat down on the kerb side and waited for the parade, and I took a bit of video footage while waiting, and a photo of the girls waiting patiently.
We also had a photo pass moment in front of the castle, and the photographer took so long to try and get us all in the picture and to get it focused correctly, and this was the end result.
The parade was absolutely amazing - my favourite parade ever. I loved the pirates, the grave-diggers, and the Capt. Jack Sparrow and the Haunted Mansion floats in particular. We were thrilled when Captain Barbossa gestured over to us as his pirate crew! After the parade we stayed in the same place and waited for the Hallowishes fireworks. This was the best fireworks show I have ever seen - absolutely breathtaking - and all presented to a Halloween soundtrack!
After the fireworks we bid farewell to Andy, Helen, Rachel and Bethany, who had to get back to the Hard Rock Hotel via taxi and didn’t want to be caught in the crowds as we all had an early start tomorrow. I couldn’t resist a final ride on Pirates of the Caribbean,
and then Stephen and Tony went to ride Splash Mountain. By now it was time to leave, so we made our way to the exit via the Main Street shops, and then jumped on the monorail to the parking lot.
I had really enjoyed the Halloween Party - the atmosphere was amazing, and the parade and fireworks alone were worth the extra ticket price. The trick and treating was fun, particularly for the younger children, and riding the attractions in the dark and spooky atmosphere added an extra dimension. The only criticism was the lack of interaction from some of the cast members - such as those in Pirates of the Caribbean, and apart from during the parade we didn’t see any characters wandering around, but we may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. That said, I would definitely do MNSSHP again as it was an amazing experience, and all the better for sharing it with such special and like-minded friends.
Back at the apartment I did my last batch of laundry ready for the cruise and threw it in the tumble dryer, and then sorted out as much as I could before tiredness took over, and I fell into bed to dream of tomorrow and our long awaited first ever cruise on the Disney Magic. I was so excited I could hardly contain myself, as to be on the Disney Magic was such a dream of mine, and tomorrow it was really going to happen! Our plan was to be up really early, and away in the car by 7:30am, so we could have breakfast in Port Canaveral before entering the terminal at 10am or as soon as we could, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men and my family …….
mark&sue
<font color=teal>I keep trying to convert everybod
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
have finally caught up your trip report after reading the first bit about a year ago!!!
Really enjoyed reading all about your first week and looking forward to the next bits. We loved our cruise so will be great to hear how you all found it.
susan
Really enjoyed reading all about your first week and looking forward to the next bits. We loved our cruise so will be great to hear how you all found it.
susan
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
OMG was it a year ago when I started
My cruise was the best experience ever - I'll try and post the first day later as I am just trying to sort out the photos and remember what we did - I stopped writing notes on the cruise for some reason - too busy I suppose!
wicket2005
<font color=deeppink><marquee behavior=alternate>H
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2005
Thanks Sarah, your report kept me from my work and I very much enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the rest.
I think my youngest son was about 16 and he didn't smile on photos at all. I think he shocked himself when he looked through the photos after the holidays and since then I just point a camera at him and he smiles beautifully, even holds the smile if I have tricked him and am actually doing a video.
I think my youngest son was about 16 and he didn't smile on photos at all. I think he shocked himself when he looked through the photos after the holidays and since then I just point a camera at him and he smiles beautifully, even holds the smile if I have tricked him and am actually doing a video.
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Our Magical Happy Halloween Cruise day 1: Embarkation Day!
I really don’t know how I managed to sleep I was so excited, but sleep I did, and suddenly the alarm clock was bleeping frantically. I picked it up and looked at the time, it was 7:30am.….WHAT! It couldn’t be. It was about then that I realised with shock, horror and disbelief that I had been so tired the night before that I had failed to set it for the earlier time I wanted and it was still set on 7:30am from the previous day.
Well now I was in full panic mode - I needed to be leaving the apartment at 7:30, not struggling out of bed to face lots of packing, a load of damp washing still in the tumble dryer, and not to mention 4 grumpy teenagers still wallowing in their pits! This was NOT the chilled out pre-cruise morning I had planned at all, and it totally took the shine off my long awaited embarkation day experience that I had looked forward to for so long.
And the worst thing was - it was my fault, and the only person I could rant and rave at was myself - and believe me there was an excessive amount of internal ranting and raving going on that morning.
So I got up, switched on the tumble dryer, threw myself in the shower while shouting at the kids to get shifting, and once dressed I started packing what was left to pack and tidying up, still shouting at the kids to get shifting. Eventually they shifted, and began to pack up their last minute stuff, and finally we were ready to leave Cypresse Point. I snapped a couple of photos of the apartment on the way out.
Overall I was really pleased with the apartment complex - the rooms were clean and there was plenty of space, even with 4 teenagers. The kitchen was well equipped, although the only thing we used was the enormous fridge and the kettle. My only complaint was the open plan toilet in our bedroom, as this wasn’t exactly ideal at times, as you can imagine. The pools were great too. Location wise it couldn’t be faulted - walking distance from lots of restaurants - Chilis, Orlando Ale House, Dennys, Dunkin Donuts and all the restaurants at the Crossroads. It was about 5 minutes drive from Downtown Disney, and about 10 minutes drive from most of the Disney parks. It was also handy for the I - 4, Premium Outlets, Lake Buena Vista Outlets, Walmart (about 10-15 minutes drive). Yet it was actually a very quiet area.
It was, I regret to say, 9am by the time we left Cypresse Pointe, so that scuppered our plans of a leisurely breakfast in Port Canaveral, in fact it scuppered our plans of any breakfast at all because all I wanted to do was get to Port Canaveral and get on the Magic, with no further delay. We popped into the Walgreens at the end of the road for some extra cash from the machine in case we needed it in the ports we were visiting, and a few toiletries which I thought we might need, such as industrial size deoderant for the lads, and after sun gel in case we needed it on Castaway Cay.
And then we were on our way, and I was becoming more and more excited by the minute - how I managed to drive and get us there in one piece remains a mystery to this very day! We hit the I-4 and it was very busy, and suddenly the car immediately in front of us, pulled out into the middle lane and started trying to overtake the vehicle in front of it, but the driver completely misjudged the manoeuvre and bumped into the back of the vehicle in front , which then caused the car coming up fast from the rear to bump into the back of the first car. It was all very scary and somehow I managed to break and pull back to avoid any of the flack from the incident while cars in the middle and inside lanes were skidding all over the place trying to avoid it. The cars managed to avoid any further damage and I was amazed because all of the vehicles involved, two of which had been
bumped and damaged, actually carried on driving and no one stopped at all. My heart was in my mouth through all of this - who needs the Tower of Terror for a white knuckle experience you can get it for free on the I-4!
On the way to Port Canaveral we passed through 3 sets of tolls, two of which were 75 cents and one which was 1 dollar and 25 cents. My excitement began to build as I knew the Magic couldn’t be far away, and suddenly the moment I had anticipated for months happened - we climbed the bridge and there she was, away in the distance, and the funnels were unmistakable - how I kept the car on the road I don’t know, but I do know that my eyes were filled with tears, fortunately hidden behind my sunglasses. As we drove closer to our destination we came up over another even bigger bridge and saw the ship even closer - just like we dreamed it!
So our next challenge was to find the Budget car rental depot, and I had no idea where I was going, so I turned off the main road following a sign to the cruise ships, when suddenly I was driving straight into a transfer bus heading right for us - with instant realisation that I had turned onto the wrong side of the road, I had to stop and do a “U” turn while all the oncoming traffic waited and watched - all rather embarrassing to say the least. By now I was very frustrated and highly stressed out, and I just wanted to find the car rental depot and avoid any more car-related incidents by getting rid of the damn thing and handing the driving over to someone else. We managed to chance upon a Hertz car rental depot and in desperation I just drove in and Tony popped out of the car to ask directions to Budget, which turned out to be only a couple of blocks further along. Once the car was dropped off, we loaded all of our baggage onto a waiting shuttle and I was able to finally relax as the shuttle took us to our ship of dreams - there are no words in the English or I am sure any other language to describe my excitement at this point - the anticipation was incredible.
We arrived at the drop zone and off loaded our bags, after thanking our really friendly driver.
We then passed through the security and into the terminal building. As we approached the upper level via the escalator we could hear excited shouts from above, and we saw Andy, Helen, Rachel and Bethany waiting to greet us ( and reprimand us for being late!) We were all beside ourselves with excitement, and as Andy and Helen had already checked in they pointed us in the right direction and the formalities were dealt with very quickly and efficiently. We were so excited to get our KTTW cards, but noticed that we had been allocated 8:30pm dining, when ideally we would have liked 8:00pm, but we aimed to try and change it once on board. We also had boarding pass no 16, which shows how late we were getting to the terminal. Andy and Helen had a CAT 2 stateroom, so they had priority boarding, but they were so sweet and decided to wait for us so we could all board together. Thanks guys xxxx Captain Mickey was holding court in the terminal building and looked very smart in his uniform:
While waiting for us Helen had spotted a group of DISers gathering, so we decided to go over and introduce ourselves. We chatted to some lovely people who we had met and chatted to on our cruise meet thread on the DIS - Suzie, Amy, Dana, Valerie and their families while we waited for boarding to commence. We received our amazing “Halloween on the High Seas” orange lanyards, which we wore for most of the cruise and which several non- DISers questioned us about, asking where they could buy them!
Suddenly the long-awaited moment was upon us - and they called for Group 16, so we all walked into the magical Mickey ears and posed for the embarkation photos. All of this seemed to pass by in such a blur as I was so excited and to be honest more than a little bit tearful and overwhelmed by the whole experience. The Balster family entered ahead of us and we all clapped and cheered, and then it was our turn, although the English cast member who announced our name got it completely wrong - I can’t remember what she said, but I didn’t really care - I WAS ON BOARD THE MAGIC! This was the first of many “pinch me - I must be dreaming” moments!
Our original plan had been to go to Parrot Cay for lunch once we embarked, but the cast members were directing everyone to Topsiders as there was a long line for Parrot Cay. So we carried on up to Topsiders and it was a wonderful first meal - lots of salad, butterfly chicken breasts, salmon etc which we enjoyed sitting out on the deck in the sun.
This is what I had for lunch…..
There really was an amazing selection of food. While we were eating a CM came around with some very attractive orange coloured drinks on a tray and really it was very rude to refuse so we grabbed a couple of those and they turned out to be rum punch and very nice indeed, if a little bit strong!
The desserts were also amazing - I decided on a mango mousse cake and a chocolate brownie which were really delicious!
Louise’s dessert choice: Before
and after .......
After lunch the kids all took off for a wander around the ship, while we sat and enjoyed our drinks, and then wandered briefly around the open deck, where I tried to take a photo of the NASA building:
We all then headed off on a search for our staterooms. We found them quite easily and were very pleased with the location: 6089 and 6099. They were set out really nicely and were very clean - and I was really impressed.
They also seemed a lot more spacious than the staterooms I used to clean when I was a Stateroom steward on Princess Cruises back in 1988. We also had a gift on our bed from the DIS cruisers who had occupied our cabin on the previous cruise, which was really lovely. We noticed that the tickets we had in the room stated that our dining time was in fact 8:15pm, which those of you who are paying attention will realise was different from the allocated time on our KTTW cards - so this necessitated a trip to guest services to find out which was the correct time. We were very pleased to find out that our dining time would be 8:15pm. While at Guest Services I turned around and spotted a familiar face from our DIS board thread, who was instantly recognisable from the photos we had seen on line - it was Jenn and her husband Nelson, and we introduced ourselves and had a little chat.
We then headed off to have a look at Helen and Andy’s category 2 cabin, and all I can say at this point is WOW! We felt like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in “Titanic” sneaking up from steerage to visit Kate Winslet in her first class suite! It was very impressive!
Soon it was time for our DIS meet in the Promenade Lounge. We met up with lots of DIS friends from our DIS meet thread and chatted away for a while. It was so lovely to meet our virtual friends in reality, but unfortunately the time passed very quickly. For some reason I didn’t take a photos during this get-together, probably because meeting all these people for the first time made me a wee bit self conscious and I didn’t want to go about waving a camera in people’s faces.
By now it was time for the 4pm lifeboat drill, so we returned to our cabins to pick up our lifejackets and make sure the kids had theirs. The obligatory photos were taken
and then we headed up to our muster point which was outside on Deck 4, and directly next to the lifeboats which was very reassuring. There seemed to be plenty of them and they also looked very roomy so there will be no more reference to the Titanic! Our lifeboat leader was Dave and he was very entertaining - which turned out to be very appropriate as he was actually one of the entertainment staff! The drill didn’t take too long and we returned back to the rooms to drop off the life jackets, where we met up with Erwin, our kids stateroom host, who was really friendly and we apologised in advance for the poor chap having to service a cabin containing 4 teenagers - any stateroom host’s worst nightmare I’m sure, although Erwin didn’t seemed to be phased by it at all.
Just you wait Erwin…….
It was finally time for the sail away party - Adventures Away, and we met up with Helen, Andy, Rachel and Bethany on Deck 10, just above the action. We picked up some more fruity pink drinks, which were delicious but also fairly expensive at $44 for 6 drinks, but we later discovered that included the souvenir “plastic” glasses which were $2 each. So at this point we were dancing around, waving streamers, taking video and generally having a ball, and it all seemed very surreal.
After months of planning and talking about this moment, it finally arrived, and we counted down from 10 to 1 and then the magically horn sounded and I realised I was standing there with tears streaming down my cheeks! It was absolutely fantastic and once again I was lost for words! The ship began to pull away and we waved over the side - there were people with Mickey hands waving from the terminal, and from some of the quayside restaurants, and we stood there waving at everyone and anyone until the ship was heading out to sea. Once out on the open ocean, Tony and I stood on the aft deck and watched the land disappearing into the distance - it was truly the right moment to say “bring me that horizon….”
We wandered around the decks for a while and met up with fellow DISer Amy and her family, and her children were fascinated by our “English” accents and particularly our words for the toilet, which was really cute. We then decided to go down to the cabin to see if our bags had arrived, which would be a good thing as we were now quite a way out to sea. We were reassured to find all our bags present and correct, and all our kids happily chilling out in their cabin, so we all did some unpacking, before showering and getting dressed for our first dinner on board. We also hung up our Fish Extender and decorated our doors with the magnets we had made.
Our first dinner was in Lumieres, which was an absolutely beautiful restaurant, and so we headed up there where we met our fantastic tablemates - Andy, Helen, Rachel and Bethany, and our equally fantastic serving team - Dennis from the Phillipines and Laura from Trinidad and Tobago. Dennis and Laura were absolutely wonderful throughout the cruise and could not be faulted, they certainly made every meal such a special experience.
It was during dinner that we first began to realise we were on a ship, as we began to feel the movement and at one point poor Bethany felt quite ill and had to return to her room. This was the menu I had looked forward to the least as I am not a big fan of French cuisine, but I had a really enjoyable meal: mixed garden salad to start, grilled salmon and jacket potato from the lighter fare menu, and a wonderful crème brulee for dessert.
The divine Crème Brulee
Tony chose the shrimp medley, the beef tenderloin and the crepes suzettes, and really enjoyed his meal too. The kids, who are all extremely fussy eaters of varying degrees, all managed to all choose something they could eat and always enjoyed the desserts. We were very grateful for the lighter fare menu most evenings, as even the fussiest of them could be safe with plain chicken. As a side note I have taken lots of food photos during this cruise, but for some reason about 90% of the photos are of the desserts, so I do apologise in advance for those readers who don’t have a sweet tooth or who want to see something more than desserts. It is an obvious reflection of where my loyalties lie when it comes to food, and explains why I am still holding on to that extra 10lbs in weight I found on that cruise!
After dinner we had a wander around the ship and the kids headed off to check out the teens club. We picked up some of the magic pink pills from Guest Services as by now I was feeling a bit wobbly. The lads were back from the Teens Club within minutes and it turned out Dan had told the counsellors that he wouldn’t be staying as “no offence, but he had better things to do” - I don’t know what those “better things” were, as he came back to his room and watched TV with Stephen after having a good look around the ship, but our lads are not one for “organised activities” and they felt it was too much like a “kid’s club”. The girls, however, hung out there the first evening and met a few people, but even they were not inclined to rush back.
By now the motion of the ship was getting to me quite a bit, so we decided to head back to the cabin, where we found our first gift in our Fish Extender, our first towel friend and our next day’s navigator. We finished our unpacking and after popping my pink pill it was time for bed and our first swaying night on the Magic…..once in bed the swaying motion was actually quite relaxing and I didn’t have a problem with it at all. It was yet another “pinch myself” moment when I realised that I would be waking up in Castaway Cay!
I really don’t know how I managed to sleep I was so excited, but sleep I did, and suddenly the alarm clock was bleeping frantically. I picked it up and looked at the time, it was 7:30am.….WHAT! It couldn’t be. It was about then that I realised with shock, horror and disbelief that I had been so tired the night before that I had failed to set it for the earlier time I wanted and it was still set on 7:30am from the previous day.
Well now I was in full panic mode - I needed to be leaving the apartment at 7:30, not struggling out of bed to face lots of packing, a load of damp washing still in the tumble dryer, and not to mention 4 grumpy teenagers still wallowing in their pits! This was NOT the chilled out pre-cruise morning I had planned at all, and it totally took the shine off my long awaited embarkation day experience that I had looked forward to for so long.
And the worst thing was - it was my fault, and the only person I could rant and rave at was myself - and believe me there was an excessive amount of internal ranting and raving going on that morning.
So I got up, switched on the tumble dryer, threw myself in the shower while shouting at the kids to get shifting, and once dressed I started packing what was left to pack and tidying up, still shouting at the kids to get shifting. Eventually they shifted, and began to pack up their last minute stuff, and finally we were ready to leave Cypresse Point. I snapped a couple of photos of the apartment on the way out.
Overall I was really pleased with the apartment complex - the rooms were clean and there was plenty of space, even with 4 teenagers. The kitchen was well equipped, although the only thing we used was the enormous fridge and the kettle. My only complaint was the open plan toilet in our bedroom, as this wasn’t exactly ideal at times, as you can imagine. The pools were great too. Location wise it couldn’t be faulted - walking distance from lots of restaurants - Chilis, Orlando Ale House, Dennys, Dunkin Donuts and all the restaurants at the Crossroads. It was about 5 minutes drive from Downtown Disney, and about 10 minutes drive from most of the Disney parks. It was also handy for the I - 4, Premium Outlets, Lake Buena Vista Outlets, Walmart (about 10-15 minutes drive). Yet it was actually a very quiet area.
It was, I regret to say, 9am by the time we left Cypresse Pointe, so that scuppered our plans of a leisurely breakfast in Port Canaveral, in fact it scuppered our plans of any breakfast at all because all I wanted to do was get to Port Canaveral and get on the Magic, with no further delay. We popped into the Walgreens at the end of the road for some extra cash from the machine in case we needed it in the ports we were visiting, and a few toiletries which I thought we might need, such as industrial size deoderant for the lads, and after sun gel in case we needed it on Castaway Cay.
And then we were on our way, and I was becoming more and more excited by the minute - how I managed to drive and get us there in one piece remains a mystery to this very day! We hit the I-4 and it was very busy, and suddenly the car immediately in front of us, pulled out into the middle lane and started trying to overtake the vehicle in front of it, but the driver completely misjudged the manoeuvre and bumped into the back of the vehicle in front , which then caused the car coming up fast from the rear to bump into the back of the first car. It was all very scary and somehow I managed to break and pull back to avoid any of the flack from the incident while cars in the middle and inside lanes were skidding all over the place trying to avoid it. The cars managed to avoid any further damage and I was amazed because all of the vehicles involved, two of which had been
bumped and damaged, actually carried on driving and no one stopped at all. My heart was in my mouth through all of this - who needs the Tower of Terror for a white knuckle experience you can get it for free on the I-4!
On the way to Port Canaveral we passed through 3 sets of tolls, two of which were 75 cents and one which was 1 dollar and 25 cents. My excitement began to build as I knew the Magic couldn’t be far away, and suddenly the moment I had anticipated for months happened - we climbed the bridge and there she was, away in the distance, and the funnels were unmistakable - how I kept the car on the road I don’t know, but I do know that my eyes were filled with tears, fortunately hidden behind my sunglasses. As we drove closer to our destination we came up over another even bigger bridge and saw the ship even closer - just like we dreamed it!
So our next challenge was to find the Budget car rental depot, and I had no idea where I was going, so I turned off the main road following a sign to the cruise ships, when suddenly I was driving straight into a transfer bus heading right for us - with instant realisation that I had turned onto the wrong side of the road, I had to stop and do a “U” turn while all the oncoming traffic waited and watched - all rather embarrassing to say the least. By now I was very frustrated and highly stressed out, and I just wanted to find the car rental depot and avoid any more car-related incidents by getting rid of the damn thing and handing the driving over to someone else. We managed to chance upon a Hertz car rental depot and in desperation I just drove in and Tony popped out of the car to ask directions to Budget, which turned out to be only a couple of blocks further along. Once the car was dropped off, we loaded all of our baggage onto a waiting shuttle and I was able to finally relax as the shuttle took us to our ship of dreams - there are no words in the English or I am sure any other language to describe my excitement at this point - the anticipation was incredible.
We arrived at the drop zone and off loaded our bags, after thanking our really friendly driver.
We then passed through the security and into the terminal building. As we approached the upper level via the escalator we could hear excited shouts from above, and we saw Andy, Helen, Rachel and Bethany waiting to greet us ( and reprimand us for being late!) We were all beside ourselves with excitement, and as Andy and Helen had already checked in they pointed us in the right direction and the formalities were dealt with very quickly and efficiently. We were so excited to get our KTTW cards, but noticed that we had been allocated 8:30pm dining, when ideally we would have liked 8:00pm, but we aimed to try and change it once on board. We also had boarding pass no 16, which shows how late we were getting to the terminal. Andy and Helen had a CAT 2 stateroom, so they had priority boarding, but they were so sweet and decided to wait for us so we could all board together. Thanks guys xxxx Captain Mickey was holding court in the terminal building and looked very smart in his uniform:
While waiting for us Helen had spotted a group of DISers gathering, so we decided to go over and introduce ourselves. We chatted to some lovely people who we had met and chatted to on our cruise meet thread on the DIS - Suzie, Amy, Dana, Valerie and their families while we waited for boarding to commence. We received our amazing “Halloween on the High Seas” orange lanyards, which we wore for most of the cruise and which several non- DISers questioned us about, asking where they could buy them!
Suddenly the long-awaited moment was upon us - and they called for Group 16, so we all walked into the magical Mickey ears and posed for the embarkation photos. All of this seemed to pass by in such a blur as I was so excited and to be honest more than a little bit tearful and overwhelmed by the whole experience. The Balster family entered ahead of us and we all clapped and cheered, and then it was our turn, although the English cast member who announced our name got it completely wrong - I can’t remember what she said, but I didn’t really care - I WAS ON BOARD THE MAGIC! This was the first of many “pinch me - I must be dreaming” moments!
Our original plan had been to go to Parrot Cay for lunch once we embarked, but the cast members were directing everyone to Topsiders as there was a long line for Parrot Cay. So we carried on up to Topsiders and it was a wonderful first meal - lots of salad, butterfly chicken breasts, salmon etc which we enjoyed sitting out on the deck in the sun.
This is what I had for lunch…..
There really was an amazing selection of food. While we were eating a CM came around with some very attractive orange coloured drinks on a tray and really it was very rude to refuse so we grabbed a couple of those and they turned out to be rum punch and very nice indeed, if a little bit strong!
The desserts were also amazing - I decided on a mango mousse cake and a chocolate brownie which were really delicious!
Louise’s dessert choice: Before
and after .......
After lunch the kids all took off for a wander around the ship, while we sat and enjoyed our drinks, and then wandered briefly around the open deck, where I tried to take a photo of the NASA building:
We all then headed off on a search for our staterooms. We found them quite easily and were very pleased with the location: 6089 and 6099. They were set out really nicely and were very clean - and I was really impressed.
They also seemed a lot more spacious than the staterooms I used to clean when I was a Stateroom steward on Princess Cruises back in 1988. We also had a gift on our bed from the DIS cruisers who had occupied our cabin on the previous cruise, which was really lovely. We noticed that the tickets we had in the room stated that our dining time was in fact 8:15pm, which those of you who are paying attention will realise was different from the allocated time on our KTTW cards - so this necessitated a trip to guest services to find out which was the correct time. We were very pleased to find out that our dining time would be 8:15pm. While at Guest Services I turned around and spotted a familiar face from our DIS board thread, who was instantly recognisable from the photos we had seen on line - it was Jenn and her husband Nelson, and we introduced ourselves and had a little chat.
We then headed off to have a look at Helen and Andy’s category 2 cabin, and all I can say at this point is WOW! We felt like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in “Titanic” sneaking up from steerage to visit Kate Winslet in her first class suite! It was very impressive!
Soon it was time for our DIS meet in the Promenade Lounge. We met up with lots of DIS friends from our DIS meet thread and chatted away for a while. It was so lovely to meet our virtual friends in reality, but unfortunately the time passed very quickly. For some reason I didn’t take a photos during this get-together, probably because meeting all these people for the first time made me a wee bit self conscious and I didn’t want to go about waving a camera in people’s faces.
By now it was time for the 4pm lifeboat drill, so we returned to our cabins to pick up our lifejackets and make sure the kids had theirs. The obligatory photos were taken
and then we headed up to our muster point which was outside on Deck 4, and directly next to the lifeboats which was very reassuring. There seemed to be plenty of them and they also looked very roomy so there will be no more reference to the Titanic! Our lifeboat leader was Dave and he was very entertaining - which turned out to be very appropriate as he was actually one of the entertainment staff! The drill didn’t take too long and we returned back to the rooms to drop off the life jackets, where we met up with Erwin, our kids stateroom host, who was really friendly and we apologised in advance for the poor chap having to service a cabin containing 4 teenagers - any stateroom host’s worst nightmare I’m sure, although Erwin didn’t seemed to be phased by it at all.
Just you wait Erwin…….
It was finally time for the sail away party - Adventures Away, and we met up with Helen, Andy, Rachel and Bethany on Deck 10, just above the action. We picked up some more fruity pink drinks, which were delicious but also fairly expensive at $44 for 6 drinks, but we later discovered that included the souvenir “plastic” glasses which were $2 each. So at this point we were dancing around, waving streamers, taking video and generally having a ball, and it all seemed very surreal.
After months of planning and talking about this moment, it finally arrived, and we counted down from 10 to 1 and then the magically horn sounded and I realised I was standing there with tears streaming down my cheeks! It was absolutely fantastic and once again I was lost for words! The ship began to pull away and we waved over the side - there were people with Mickey hands waving from the terminal, and from some of the quayside restaurants, and we stood there waving at everyone and anyone until the ship was heading out to sea. Once out on the open ocean, Tony and I stood on the aft deck and watched the land disappearing into the distance - it was truly the right moment to say “bring me that horizon….”
We wandered around the decks for a while and met up with fellow DISer Amy and her family, and her children were fascinated by our “English” accents and particularly our words for the toilet, which was really cute. We then decided to go down to the cabin to see if our bags had arrived, which would be a good thing as we were now quite a way out to sea. We were reassured to find all our bags present and correct, and all our kids happily chilling out in their cabin, so we all did some unpacking, before showering and getting dressed for our first dinner on board. We also hung up our Fish Extender and decorated our doors with the magnets we had made.
Our first dinner was in Lumieres, which was an absolutely beautiful restaurant, and so we headed up there where we met our fantastic tablemates - Andy, Helen, Rachel and Bethany, and our equally fantastic serving team - Dennis from the Phillipines and Laura from Trinidad and Tobago. Dennis and Laura were absolutely wonderful throughout the cruise and could not be faulted, they certainly made every meal such a special experience.
It was during dinner that we first began to realise we were on a ship, as we began to feel the movement and at one point poor Bethany felt quite ill and had to return to her room. This was the menu I had looked forward to the least as I am not a big fan of French cuisine, but I had a really enjoyable meal: mixed garden salad to start, grilled salmon and jacket potato from the lighter fare menu, and a wonderful crème brulee for dessert.
The divine Crème Brulee
Tony chose the shrimp medley, the beef tenderloin and the crepes suzettes, and really enjoyed his meal too. The kids, who are all extremely fussy eaters of varying degrees, all managed to all choose something they could eat and always enjoyed the desserts. We were very grateful for the lighter fare menu most evenings, as even the fussiest of them could be safe with plain chicken. As a side note I have taken lots of food photos during this cruise, but for some reason about 90% of the photos are of the desserts, so I do apologise in advance for those readers who don’t have a sweet tooth or who want to see something more than desserts. It is an obvious reflection of where my loyalties lie when it comes to food, and explains why I am still holding on to that extra 10lbs in weight I found on that cruise!
After dinner we had a wander around the ship and the kids headed off to check out the teens club. We picked up some of the magic pink pills from Guest Services as by now I was feeling a bit wobbly. The lads were back from the Teens Club within minutes and it turned out Dan had told the counsellors that he wouldn’t be staying as “no offence, but he had better things to do” - I don’t know what those “better things” were, as he came back to his room and watched TV with Stephen after having a good look around the ship, but our lads are not one for “organised activities” and they felt it was too much like a “kid’s club”. The girls, however, hung out there the first evening and met a few people, but even they were not inclined to rush back.
By now the motion of the ship was getting to me quite a bit, so we decided to head back to the cabin, where we found our first gift in our Fish Extender, our first towel friend and our next day’s navigator. We finished our unpacking and after popping my pink pill it was time for bed and our first swaying night on the Magic…..once in bed the swaying motion was actually quite relaxing and I didn’t have a problem with it at all. It was yet another “pinch myself” moment when I realised that I would be waking up in Castaway Cay!
cannp123165
<font color=green>Very Quizzical<font color=teal>
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2005
Sarah - the cruise ship sounds incredible and the food looks lovely! 
Verity Chambers
<font color=blue>He's delicious! Rather like <font
- Joined
- May 27, 2003
Just caught up Sarah, another fantastic report, you write them so well, I can almost imagine being there - well almost! I can just imagine Dan saying that, LOL!!! I really can't wait to read more aboyt your adventures. xxxx
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Our Magical Happy Halloween Cruise Day 2: Castaway Cay!
The first thing I thought when I opened my eyes was “where am I?” but it wasn’t long before the wonderful realisation hit me that I was in an exceptionally comfortable bed on the amazing Disney Magic and we were probably already docked in Castaway Cay. I had omitted to make an alarm call the previous evening and so had slept as nature intended, which meant later than planned, to the point that we didn’t make it up to the deck to watch us approaching Castaway Cay, but I had had such a good night’s sleep that I was fine about it. Tony and I quickly showered and after ringing the kids’ cabin to try and motivate them into action, we headed up to the deck to grab a coffee from the self serve machines and had a wander around the decks. It was about 8:30 am and fairly quiet on the upper decks, so we headed back down to the cabin to rouse the troops for breakfast. Dan was the only one ready to go so we decided to head on up and told the other 3 to meet us up there. Topsiders was calling…….
Our first breakfast was delicious, I had a selection of fresh fruit, a Mickey waffle and a cinnamon bun, with an orange juice and a coffee, and this tended to be my standard breakfast every morning. Tony had the same thing minus the fruit and adding in the eggs, bacon, sausage etc and Dan opted for the healthy option yet again - donuts and cinnamon buns!
We stuck our heads over the back of the ship and found Andy on his balcony, surveying the world from his penthouse suite - and he said that he had been up to watch us pulling in to the island. Before too long the girls and Stephen and Andy, Helen and the girls all arrived at Topsiders for breakfast. It was totally unreal to be sitting out there in the sun, eating such delicious food in such a stunning location. The island looked perfect and very welcoming, and as a massive Pirates of the Caribbean fan it was amazing to see the Flying Dutchman floating there in the bay.
Breakfast over we headed down to the cabins to get ready for our day on Castaway Cay, and before too long we were zapping our KTTW cards on the gangway and heading ashore. We decided to walk down to the family beach. It was a really pleasant walk and I snapped some photos along the way, mostly of the Flying Dutchman, I‘m afraid - not like I‘m obsessed or anything.
We had arranged to meet the Balster family at the far end of the family beach so we headed in that direction, and on the way we bumped into Sean and Christine (PADisneycouple) relaxing in a hammock! We said hi and had a brief chat and then headed off to secure some loungers in our designated spot. Before long Andy, Helen, Rachel and Bethany arrived and we settled down for some serious relaxation on the loungers.
Dan tried out a hammock for size and it fitted him perfectly, but I wish he would lose the hat - we’re in the Caribbean for goodness sake!
Tony, Andy and Daniel went for a swim while the rest of us just chilled and enjoyed the scenery.
We had reserved the bikes, floats and snorkel package for the 2 days we were on Castaway Cay, so Tony and I went to the float rental hut to pick up the floats. While we were there we bumped into Jackie (JNS), Michael and their son Michael who were renting bikes. We had a chat and it was really nice bumping into our DIS friends randomly thoughout the day - it really made the whole experience that bit more special. We grabbed the floats and then I spent a very relaxing half an hour drifting out in the bay listening to the Caribbean music coming from the Heads Up bar. Taryn had meanwhile been off to the Heads Up bar with Rachel and Bethany and had enjoyed a pink fruity concoction - you might consider this to be an unimportant feature of the morning but it was to play a significant reappearance later on.
About an hour later Taryn began to suffer from severe abdominal cramps and felt the need to go back to the ship for a lie down - so I decided to accompany her back and we caught the tram from the family beach. This might be a good time for those of you with delicate constitutions to jump to the next chapter as there will be an unfortunate reference to body fluids very soon. All along the tram ride she was complaining that she felt really nauseous and was going to throw up - I kept reassuring her that she would be fine and just to take deep breaths etc etc and she seemed ok, but just as we got off the tram and started to walk towards the ship she said that she was definitely going to vomit and started retching. Very conscious of the need not to make a public exhibition of any gastro-intestinal activity for fear of cabin confinement, I quickly manoeuvred Taryn behind some strategically positioned bushes, before the aforementioned pink cocktail made its second appearance of the day! Before I get strung up for non-reported vomiting, I must stress that this is something poor Taryn does when she has “that sort” of abdo pain and it is definitely not contagious. However, she did feel really grotty and just wanted to rest in her cabin, so we both checked in though security, and she headed to her cabin, promising to return to the beach once her painkillers kicked in and she was feeling better after a sleep.
In the meantime, I headed back to the others to join them for lunch at Cookie’s BBQ! Again, a lovely meal which far exceeded expectations for a beach-side BBQ! I had some grilled fish in a roll, some chicken and delicious salads. For dessert I had an incredible soft serve Snickers ice-cream and a wonderful chocolate chip cookie. We then headed back to our spot on the beach, where I had a definite need to attach my backside to that lounger and not move for love nor money! After letting their lunch settle,
Tony, Andy, Dan and Stephen went to hire the snorkelling gear and went for a snorkel down in the snorkelling area. Rachel decided to head back to the ship after a while to check up on Taryn, which was very sweet of her.
Back at the beach some dark clouds were looming and before we knew it the heavens opened and down came the rain - we managed to seek shelter in the overhang from the changing room roof and stood there not really quite believing it!
The rain was so heavy and great rivers of water were running down the beach and the Magic became almost invisible in the distance.
After about 15 minutes the rain began to ease off, and then it stopped, and Andy, Helen and Beth decided to return to the ship. We decided to head back to our loungers, on a now virtually deserted beach, as with the inclement weather most people had decided to call it a day and head back to the ship.
To be continued (too many photos) ……….
The first thing I thought when I opened my eyes was “where am I?” but it wasn’t long before the wonderful realisation hit me that I was in an exceptionally comfortable bed on the amazing Disney Magic and we were probably already docked in Castaway Cay. I had omitted to make an alarm call the previous evening and so had slept as nature intended, which meant later than planned, to the point that we didn’t make it up to the deck to watch us approaching Castaway Cay, but I had had such a good night’s sleep that I was fine about it. Tony and I quickly showered and after ringing the kids’ cabin to try and motivate them into action, we headed up to the deck to grab a coffee from the self serve machines and had a wander around the decks. It was about 8:30 am and fairly quiet on the upper decks, so we headed back down to the cabin to rouse the troops for breakfast. Dan was the only one ready to go so we decided to head on up and told the other 3 to meet us up there. Topsiders was calling…….
Our first breakfast was delicious, I had a selection of fresh fruit, a Mickey waffle and a cinnamon bun, with an orange juice and a coffee, and this tended to be my standard breakfast every morning. Tony had the same thing minus the fruit and adding in the eggs, bacon, sausage etc and Dan opted for the healthy option yet again - donuts and cinnamon buns!
We stuck our heads over the back of the ship and found Andy on his balcony, surveying the world from his penthouse suite - and he said that he had been up to watch us pulling in to the island. Before too long the girls and Stephen and Andy, Helen and the girls all arrived at Topsiders for breakfast. It was totally unreal to be sitting out there in the sun, eating such delicious food in such a stunning location. The island looked perfect and very welcoming, and as a massive Pirates of the Caribbean fan it was amazing to see the Flying Dutchman floating there in the bay.
Breakfast over we headed down to the cabins to get ready for our day on Castaway Cay, and before too long we were zapping our KTTW cards on the gangway and heading ashore. We decided to walk down to the family beach. It was a really pleasant walk and I snapped some photos along the way, mostly of the Flying Dutchman, I‘m afraid - not like I‘m obsessed or anything.
We had arranged to meet the Balster family at the far end of the family beach so we headed in that direction, and on the way we bumped into Sean and Christine (PADisneycouple) relaxing in a hammock! We said hi and had a brief chat and then headed off to secure some loungers in our designated spot. Before long Andy, Helen, Rachel and Bethany arrived and we settled down for some serious relaxation on the loungers.
Dan tried out a hammock for size and it fitted him perfectly, but I wish he would lose the hat - we’re in the Caribbean for goodness sake!
Tony, Andy and Daniel went for a swim while the rest of us just chilled and enjoyed the scenery.
We had reserved the bikes, floats and snorkel package for the 2 days we were on Castaway Cay, so Tony and I went to the float rental hut to pick up the floats. While we were there we bumped into Jackie (JNS), Michael and their son Michael who were renting bikes. We had a chat and it was really nice bumping into our DIS friends randomly thoughout the day - it really made the whole experience that bit more special. We grabbed the floats and then I spent a very relaxing half an hour drifting out in the bay listening to the Caribbean music coming from the Heads Up bar. Taryn had meanwhile been off to the Heads Up bar with Rachel and Bethany and had enjoyed a pink fruity concoction - you might consider this to be an unimportant feature of the morning but it was to play a significant reappearance later on.
About an hour later Taryn began to suffer from severe abdominal cramps and felt the need to go back to the ship for a lie down - so I decided to accompany her back and we caught the tram from the family beach. This might be a good time for those of you with delicate constitutions to jump to the next chapter as there will be an unfortunate reference to body fluids very soon. All along the tram ride she was complaining that she felt really nauseous and was going to throw up - I kept reassuring her that she would be fine and just to take deep breaths etc etc and she seemed ok, but just as we got off the tram and started to walk towards the ship she said that she was definitely going to vomit and started retching. Very conscious of the need not to make a public exhibition of any gastro-intestinal activity for fear of cabin confinement, I quickly manoeuvred Taryn behind some strategically positioned bushes, before the aforementioned pink cocktail made its second appearance of the day! Before I get strung up for non-reported vomiting, I must stress that this is something poor Taryn does when she has “that sort” of abdo pain and it is definitely not contagious. However, she did feel really grotty and just wanted to rest in her cabin, so we both checked in though security, and she headed to her cabin, promising to return to the beach once her painkillers kicked in and she was feeling better after a sleep.
In the meantime, I headed back to the others to join them for lunch at Cookie’s BBQ! Again, a lovely meal which far exceeded expectations for a beach-side BBQ! I had some grilled fish in a roll, some chicken and delicious salads. For dessert I had an incredible soft serve Snickers ice-cream and a wonderful chocolate chip cookie. We then headed back to our spot on the beach, where I had a definite need to attach my backside to that lounger and not move for love nor money! After letting their lunch settle,
Tony, Andy, Dan and Stephen went to hire the snorkelling gear and went for a snorkel down in the snorkelling area. Rachel decided to head back to the ship after a while to check up on Taryn, which was very sweet of her.
Back at the beach some dark clouds were looming and before we knew it the heavens opened and down came the rain - we managed to seek shelter in the overhang from the changing room roof and stood there not really quite believing it!
The rain was so heavy and great rivers of water were running down the beach and the Magic became almost invisible in the distance.
After about 15 minutes the rain began to ease off, and then it stopped, and Andy, Helen and Beth decided to return to the ship. We decided to head back to our loungers, on a now virtually deserted beach, as with the inclement weather most people had decided to call it a day and head back to the ship.
To be continued (too many photos) ……….
darthtatty
Been There, Done That, Going Back!
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2008
brilliant trip report and fab pics, cant wait to see more
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