Post Trip Report Magic Eastern Dec 6-13, 2008

[POR0907]

We’re nearly ready to go. Cruising together are DH (47), DS (40), DM (70+-), DN1(12), DN2(7) and me (45)

DS leaves tomorrow to fly out of Spokane on Thursday (6 hour drive to flight) with her kids. DH and I leave Friday morning from Moncton,New Brunswick and connect with DM in Montreal and on to Orlando. I have spent the last several months pretty much obsessed with this site picking up tips. Rarely post, but visit often! Thanks to everyone who answers the same questions over and over and over and over……and to everyone who posts a trip report. I will do my best to complete one when we get back.

Avis rental van booked both ways, 1 night prior in Cocoa Beach booked, 1 night after booked near airport, private excursion booked for St. Marten, Disney excursion booked for St. Thomas. Now just some questions that will only be answered on our return….

Q1)Are we cruise people? First time cruisers but we’ve done many All Inclusives. Can we handle having to pay for our drinks (except of course for those we are bringing in our little roll on suitcase). Can we handle not going for long walks on the beach in the morning to watch the sunrise? Can we handle pools instead of the beach, we are beach people normally , and from the look of the pictures those pools are TINY on the Magic.

Q2) Can we get DM out of the dining room in less than 2.5 hours? This is a something all the family is wondering about, except of course Mom. I did read somewhere that the menus are posted maybe at lunch for that evening, I’m counting on sending her down to check them out during the afternoon, I know that will save at least .5 hour from dining every night.

Q3) Will my DH stay off the internet for a week? He’s decided no computer will be coming, but will he break down and use the computers there?

Q4)Are upgrades at the port affordable? We are booked cat11, which is fine, but if there is a good deal we will try to upgrade at port, we’ll let you know how that goes.

Q5) Do kids on crutches get special treatment. I’m hoping waiters will help us out at buffets with carrying trays etc, we’ll see…. There is always Duncle there to help out, with lots of waiter experience so he can manage multiple plates (DN1 broke his heel 3 weeks ago)

Q6)Speaking of crutches, will the waterproof cast hold up. Dr. has given DS another cast in case this one causes problems, I think it is more like that boot cast that someone spoke about on the main board. So, if waterproof cast causes problems DS will have to get someone to cut it off and he can put on this boot cast.

Q7)Will we be the first cruise on the Magic to see Bolt in 3D? If so will DN2 put the glasses on, last year Bugs Life was NOT good…..

Q8)How many people will be able to get to our disboard meet for pictures, and will we find Joy at the port to get our bracelets. Thanks again Joy for all your hard work!

Q9) Did our travel agent put in our request for the earliest of the late dining? And will we get our cruise documents before we leave? TA just sent out our documents late last week, some paperwork wasn’t completed. We’re thrilled with the price she got us on the cruise, but besides that…..

Q10)will we be able to get Palo Brunch? We have dinner reservations so no big deal if we can’t get dinner, but we’d love to try Brunch.

Q11)What is all the hype about the cruise directors, hope I can answer how silly that sounds on my return.

Q12) Are 4 pairs of shoes plenty, wow I’m reading 8 pairs on our cruise thread….

Q13) How lost will DM get on the ship. We’re already telling her that when she hits the rail turn around and not go any further. We’ve seen her lost in those huge buffet dining rooms at resorts and had to send one of the DN's to rescue her. She has no medical problems, just severely directionally challenged.

Q14) Will the DNs like the kids clubs, or will they be happy just hanging out with us. Will DN2 (7) get over wanting all the boys to sleep in one room and the girls in another. Maybe one night we’ll do a sleepover switcharoo.

Q15) Nothing planned for Saturday that we return, and we don’t leave MCO until Sunday. Will be too tired to do anything? Thinking of maybe just doing the Monorail and looking at some Christmas decorations in the Disney Resorts, but we’re not even sure on the resorts on the line, or how we should start that. Maybe take the boat from Downtown Disney to Port Orleans, we stayed there last year but couldn’t take the boat back as planned because of thunder and lightning.

Q16) Can non Disney fanatics still love the cruise. I know we will NOT be attending any of the trivia games about Disney, wow we would be bad if we were ever picked to answer a question. Should we attend for some reason there would be lots of help out there, right!

Q17) Will we need to restock the liquor supply on one of our stops?

Q18) Who will win the TV wars. DM addicted to CNN, or DN2 on cartoons, I'm glad I'm not sharing a room with those 2!! Doubt the TV will even be turned on in our room, maybe we'll just exchange keys.

Q19) Have I read too much on this site. I’m afraid I’ve found out about too much of the “Magic” that may or may not happen. But I wouldn’t even know about this “Magic” if I hadn’t come across this site. Time will tell….

Q20)Do Canadians get to go through either line, or just the one for non-residents at check in?

Q21)Will the boys and DS all be separated on the plane?!! (Long story dealing with call centres in other countries....requesting seats due to son's broken heel) Right now none of them are together, unless my sister will pay an extre $500 per person to move up front, OUCH. Can't wait to hear the outcome of this one

Q22) Will I get sea sick. I can't believe I didn't think of this one originally. This was the main reason I worried about this trip. Got the meds, now I hope they work, because if we are cruise people this will open up a whole new travel experience for us.

Q23) Please DS go to the singles meet. I am dying to know what happens on a Disney lunch singles meet.


I KNOW we are going to have a fantastic time, we always do when we get together, which unfortunately is only once, or sometimes twice, a year because of distance. Family time is what we are all looking forward to the most, I can’t wait until Friday to see everyone at MCO!!

If someone gives me the easiest site to post pictures from I will try to put some up when we get back, we use Webshots but I don’t think you can link from there. I’ll let you know my own answers when we get back. Can’t believe it’s only 4 more days till we’re sailing away!

 

[joeymac]

Hi Sis:

Exchange student is with new family for the next 12 days, one is in bed and the other not far behind.
Most of the packing is done. I will finish in Spokane after we pick up last minute things there.
Weather report is looking good, they have called off the flurries here, roads were slippery tonight.
I didn't make the PAC meeting tonight, but called in instead to say I wouldn't make it...just have to mail one chq before we leave tomorrow.
Jill phoned to wish us a great trip...wish she were coming.
Great start to the trip report....can't believe we will have all the answers soon.
One other question...Do Canadians get to go through either line, or just the one for non-residents at check in?
OH and the other... Will the boys and I all be separated on the plane?!! (Long story dealing with call centres in other countries....requesting seats due to son's broken heel)
Can't wait to see you all...know that this trip will be full of great moments with lots of laughter and then wonderful memories to share for years to come.
See you soon!
(Thanks for writing my age by the way!!)

 

[POR0907]

Hi Sis:

Exchange student is with new family for the next 12 days, one is in bed and the other not far behind.
Most of the packing is done. I will finish in Spokane after we pick up last minute things there.
Weather report is looking good, they have called off the flurries here, roads were slippery tonight.
I didn't make the PAC meeting tonight, but called in instead to say I wouldn't make it...just have to mail one chq before we leave tomorrow.
Jill phoned to wish us a great trip...wish she were coming.
Great start to the trip report....can't believe we will have all the answers soon.
One other question...Do Canadians get to go through either line, or just the one for non-residents at check in?
OH and the other... Will the boys and I all be separated on the plane?!! (Long story dealing with call centres in other countries....requesting seats due to son's broken heel)
Can't wait to see you all...know that this trip will be full of great moments with lots of laughter and then wonderful memories to share for years to come.
See you soon!
(Thanks for writing my age by the way!!)

Ok, I added a couple more to the list.

Safe travels, see you on Friday. Mom called and woke me up last night to tell me she was leaving for Mtl today instead of Thursday, who am I going to call to talk to tonight??

You are 40, get over it....

 

[Forever42]

(Thanks for writing my age by the way!!)

I don't know what you're talking about, on my screen it says that you're 25?



And yes please tell us how the singles meet goes!!

 

[joeymac]

25 eh? That sounds good! Only problem is, when I do things like I did when I was 25, it takes a few more days to recover!!
Singles meet....don't get me started. Sis and I have had several amusing conversations about that one!! You're not trying to stir up trouble are you Forever 42?!!
Aren't you celebrating your honeymoon on this cruise? CONGRATULATIONS, and all the best at the wedding.
See you on the ship!

 

[joeymac]

Oops, Just read your pre-trip Forever42, you are all ready married! And I was wishing you good luck at your wedding!!
I should be packing up right now, as we leave in about an hour for Spokane, just had to check the boards "one last time!"
One child is awake, watching Bugs Bunny and the other still sleeping. It is going to be a long drive.
Safe travels everyone.

 

[Forever42]

25 eh? That sounds good! Only problem is, when I do things like I did when I was 25, it takes a few more days to recover!!
Singles meet....don't get me started. Sis and I have had several amusing conversations about that one!! You're not trying to stir up trouble are you Forever 42?!!
Aren't you celebrating your honeymoon on this cruise? CONGRATULATIONS, and all the best at the wedding.
See you on the ship!

We ARE saying that we're celebrating our honeymoon, since we didn't have a wedding (justice of the peace two years ago!) and we never had a honeymoon, as we couldn't afford it then - I was just out of college and needed health insurance, neither families nor we could afford a wedding and didn't want to go into debt, so we've saved up since then to go on this cruise!

So we've only been married two years, but like I said over on the meet thread, we're celebrating our honeymoon darn it but thanks!!

Looking forward to meeting you guys on the ship!

 

[joeymac]

Happy, Happy Honeymoon! It's never too late to celebrate your wedding...or to have a honeymoon...
We'll see you in a few days...

 

[joeymac]

Hey Sis, can't remember your email at home,so have to update here. We are in Spokane, roads OK, made it in just under 5 hours. Another long day of travel tomorrow and we are in Florida!
Went to the airport re the broken heel. I guess it doesn't matter whether you are at a call centre in another country or at the airport, they won't help you until check in. Sooo, I was planning on being at the airport for 5 am, but now it looks like it will be 4am as they open the kiosks then. It is a FULL flight...Have to take a taxi as the shuttle doesn't start until 5am. Oh well, we are quite close.
I have broken it to the boys that we may all be separated. Liam thought that meant he would have extra seats beside him and could spread out...ummmm, reality check...."strangers are beside you!" So he got his own pack of gum, a new workbook, a new story book....Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Gotta run, try to get some sleep, 3 am comes very quickly!
See you really soon. Sorry to hijack this pretrip report on you!

 

[POR0907]

Hey Sis, can't remember your email at home,so have to update here. We are in Spokane, roads OK, made it in just under 5 hours. Another long day of travel tomorrow and we are in Florida!
Went to the airport re the broken heel. I guess it doesn't matter whether you are at a call centre in another country or at the airport, they won't help you until check in. Sooo, I was planning on being at the airport for 5 am, but now it looks like it will be 4am as they open the kiosks then. It is a FULL flight...Have to take a taxi as the shuttle doesn't start until 5am. Oh well, we are quite close.
I have broken it to the boys that we may all be separated. Liam thought that meant he would have extra seats beside him and could spread out...ummmm, reality check...."strangers are beside you!" So he got his own pack of gum, a new workbook, a new story book....Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Gotta run, try to get some sleep, 3 am comes very quickly!
See you really soon. Sorry to hijack this pretrip report on you!

First leg of the trip done, one more to go... I can't wait to hear about your flight tomorrow, at least you'll have a day before we see you, all will be wonderful by then Make sure you give the "strangers" those nice little bags the airlines provide for the boys, someone "may" decide to switch with you, don't you have those wonderful seats at the back of the plane, they will be in high demand.

One good thing about the early morning is you'll get on EST right away!!(Isn't that wonderful)

See you tomorrow

 

[POR0907]

We are back, had a fantistic time, except most of us are now fighting colds! Not so fun arriving home to bad weather, and not great travel conditions but everyone is home safe and sound. Comments on my questions follow, thanks again to everyone that has done trip reports, found out lots of great info here that we would have never known had we not found disboards.

Q1)Are we cruise people? First time cruisers but we’ve done many All Inclusives. Can we handle having to pay for our drinks (except of course for those we are bringing in our little roll on suitcase). Can we handle not going for long walks on the beach in the morning to watch the sunrise? Can we handle pools instead of the beach, we are beach people normally , and from the look of the pictures those pools are TINY on the Magic.

Hate to say it on this board but we are not "cruise" people. We all had a fantastic time, but it is back to beach and all inclusives for us. I HATE having to watch my money and much prefer to pay the all inclusive price up front rather than worry about the price of drinks, wine, table service dinners etc. Our TA sent us a list of tips before we left, one was to bring twice as much money as you budget, she was right!! No regrets, but we did not rebook. Maybe Alaska, or a Med cruise, but the Caribbean islands for us are to spend more than a few hours at port in.

Q2) Can we get DM out of the dining room in less than 2.5 hours? This is a something all the family is wondering about, except of course Mom. I did read somewhere that the menus are posted maybe at lunch for that evening, I’m counting on sending her down to check them out during the afternoon, I know that will save at least .5 hour from dining every night.

Our meal timing was actually really good. We did 8:15 seating which worked out fantastic for us. Dinners usually took about 2 hours, but it really went surprisingly fast. Never sent Mom to "Preview" the menus, lots of choices, but only a few for each course.

Q3) Will my DH stay off the internet for a week? He’s decided no computer will be coming, but will he break down and use the computers there?

No computer, saw the prices and stayed away, plus he never would have had time anyway

Q4)Are upgrades at the port affordable? We are booked cat11, which is fine, but if there is a good deal we will try to upgrade at port, we’ll let you know how that goes.

Upgrades were available, but not affordable for us. To get a porthole was $150 approx per room, and >300 for a veranda. Our rooms worked out fantastic, loved the location on deck 6, and our steward was fantastic so it worked out great staying where we picked at first.

 

[POR0907]

Q5) Do kids on crutches get special treatment. I’m hoping waiters will help us out at buffets with carrying trays etc, we’ll see…. There is always Duncle there to help out, with lots of waiter experience so he can manage multiple plates (DN1 broke his heel 3 weeks ago)

I saw 2 other people on crutches the week we were there, one poor guy had broken arm and leg from what my husband heard was a motorcycle accident. The special treatment he received was during the lifeboat drill exercise we were there a total of 3 minutes max, we showed up, went to our spot, then they came and got us and told us to leave so we could get a head start on the elevators. Another time a waiter helped him carry his tray at the buffet line in Topsiders.

Q6)Speaking of crutches, will the waterproof cast hold up. Dr. has given DS another cast in case this one causes problems, I think it is more like that boot cast that someone spoke about on the main board. So, if waterproof cast causes problems DS will have to get someone to cut it off and he can put on this boot cast.

Waterproof cast worked out fine, he swam in the pools, and at all ports with no problem

Q7)Will we be the first cruise on the Magic to see Bolt in 3D? If so will DN2 put the glasses on, last year Bugs Life was NOT good…..

We saw it in 3d, they finished the alterations to both theatres while we were there. I never did get to the movie theatre, it was closed a couple of days for renovations, but we saw Bolt in the Walt Disney Theatre.

Q8)How many people will be able to get to our disboard meet for pictures, and will we find Joy at the port to get our bracelets. Thanks again Joy for all your hard work!

THis I am very sad to say that I have no ideat how many showed up for the meet. We totally lost track of time unpacking and missed it. We did pick up our bracelets and it was fun to see people around the ship with them on, but it would have been nice to meet others at the picture. So sorry Joy, I really didn't think we would be one of the no shows!

Q9) Did our travel agent put in our request for the earliest of the late dining? And will we get our cruise documents before we leave? TA just sent out our documents late last week, some paperwork wasn’t completed. We’re thrilled with the price she got us on the cruise, but besides that…..

No documents before we left, but no problems at the port getting on. The documents were waiting once we got home, didn't contain much info anyway, except the luggage tags which they just put on at the port for us. I also don't think our TA requested early late dining, we were middle which was fine, I actually inquired about changing it to 8PM, but was told 15 minutes was hardly worth it.

Q10)will we be able to get Palo Brunch? We have dinner reservations so no big deal if we can’t get dinner, but we’d love to try Brunch.

Got brunch, no problem. We had Sasha for Brunch as our waiter, FANTASTIC, and told him we were going to Palo for dinner on Thursday. We actually had reservations for Wednesday, oops, but I think he found us anyway and served us again. He was fantastic, I told him he was famous in the internet and he asked if it was disboards, how funny. ANyway if you want to request a waiter I would highly recommend him.

Q11)What is all the hype about the cruise directors, hope I can answer how silly that sounds on my return.

OK, being our first cruise I wasn't sure what this was all about, and I'm still not sure. We saw Christiaan (SP??) around the ship a few times but we never had any interaction. His introductions to the shows were always entertaining, but whatever...

Q12) Are 4 pairs of shoes plenty, wow I’m reading 8 pairs on our cruise thread….

4 was plenty, but there were lots of people that I'm sure had a different pair for every outfit.

 

[POR0907]

Q13) How lost will DM get on the ship. We’re already telling her that when she hits the rail turn around and not go any further. We’ve seen her lost in those huge buffet dining rooms at resorts and had to send one of the DN's to rescue her. She has no medical problems, just severely directionally challenged.

Yep, she got really twisted. Basically the 7 year old was in charge when he was with him GM.

Q14) Will the DNs like the kids clubs, or will they be happy just hanging out with us. Will DN2 (7) get over wanting all the boys to sleep in one room and the girls in another. Maybe one night we’ll do a sleepover switcharoo.

DN1 12yr always wanted to be in the club, he loved it. He was always last out at night, and last to bed. DN2 7yr could take it or leave it. He was just as happy spending time with all of us which was fun. When we did adult stuff he went and sometimes didn't really want to go, but then my DS would go to pick him up and he'd want to stay longer

Q15) Nothing planned for Saturday that we return, and we don’t leave MCO until Sunday. Will be too tired to do anything? Thinking of maybe just doing the Monorail and looking at some Christmas decorations in the Disney Resorts, but we’re not even sure on the resorts on the line, or how we should start that. Maybe take the boat from Downtown Disney to Port Orleans, we stayed there last year but couldn’t take the boat back as planned because of thunder and lightning.

Went to downtown Disney and the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. The stores were crazy busy. DN1 saw 3 people from the cruise there. We then want and checked out the Contemporary Resort, rode the monorail back and forth, and explored Animal Kingdom Lodge. AKL was beautiful with all the Christmas decorations up, and there were lots of animals out because it was feeding time. A cheap way to experience AKL, it is not in our budget!

Q16) Can non Disney fanatics still love the cruise. I know we will NOT be attending any of the trivia games about Disney, wow we would be bad if we were ever picked to answer a question. Should we attend for some reason there would be lots of help out there, right!

You do not need to be a big fan, we were a little disneyed out (is that a word?) at the end of it, but I don't think anyone can not like Disney somewhat when you see how excited the kids were with everything.

Q17) Will we need to restock the liquor supply on one of our stops?

1 roll on suitcase full of coolers, wine, and rum was fine Thanks disboards with this tip, saved us a lot of $$$

Q18) Who will win the TV wars. DM addicted to CNN, or DN2 on cartoons, I'm glad I'm not sharing a room with those 2!! Doubt the TV will even be turned on in our room, maybe we'll just exchange keys.

The winner was....whoever got the remote first. Or, if DS made DM change the channel because there was inappropriate stuff on CNN for kids. We only had the bridge channel on in our room, left it on all night so we had a little light in the morning, another great tip from these boards that we used.

 

[POR0907]

Q19) Have I read too much on this site. I’m afraid I’ve found out about too much of the “Magic” that may or may not happen. But I wouldn’t even know about this “Magic” if I hadn’t come across this site. Time will tell….

A little mixed on this one. I did maybe know a little too much going in, but I would have never known about the pillowcase signing, the kitchen tour, or the gingerbread house making (which I forgot about!) if I hadn't been on here, none of these things are posted in the navigators. Plus we brought all that liquor on board, a case of water that the porters brought on for us, and all the other odds and ends.

Q20)Do Canadians get to go through either line, or just the one for non-residents at check in?

Had to check in through the regular line, but in St Thomas and at the end of the trip went through non us customs.

Q21)Will the boys and DS all be separated on the plane?!! (Long story dealing with call centres in other countries....requesting seats due to son's broken heel) Right now none of them are together, unless my sister will pay an extre $500 per person to move up front, OUCH. Can't wait to hear the outcome of this one

THey all got seated together, yeah and no extra charge

Q22) Will I get sea sick. I can't believe I didn't think of this one originally. This was the main reason I worried about this trip. Got the meds, now I hope they work, because if we are cruise people this will open up a whole new travel experience for us.

I started taking the meds the night before and never felt sea sick, and I can get sick standing on the wharf watching a boat out on rough water!!! If this is your first cruise and people tell you that you wont' even feel the boat moving they are NOT telling you the truth!! We are rocking and rolling a few times this cruise. They closed the Goofy pool at least twice, it was a major wave pool. You especially felt it in the theatre and Palos, it was fun, but I am so relieved that I didn't get sick!

Q23) Please DS go to the singles meet. I am dying to know what happens on a Disney lunch singles meet.

She didn't go , does anyone have an answer to this one?

 

[POR0907]

That's it, another family vacation over for this year, I hope we can do something again next year. A lot of the fun is the planning, and this board was a fantastic resource. If I can think of any more tips that we came across I will add them.

Just thought of one, after DN7 pajama party he got a pillow case, he wanted to get this signed at the character meet but the CM told him it would be better to take it to guest services and have everyone sign it. So, they still sign pillowcases, but guest services told DS that the night of the pajama party is the last night they were accepting them for that cruise.

I will post a link to our webex pictures when they are up, I'll make sure there is one of the wave pool from the cruise ship that did not feel like it was moving

 

[POR0907]

Couple more;

Gift shop items with'08 on them were 50% off.

They were giving us eggnog or hot chocolate while we were waiting in the long line to get back on the ship in Castaway Cay. We were a little frustrated with the line until we saw the medi heli take off, then had no problem with the line.

The sail away party with no sail away... yep we were in port until 6PM in florida. My husband heard an officer say someone had car trouble and we would wait until 6PM for them, at exactly 6 they dropped the ropes and we were off we were on deck 9 watching and no one arrived, can you imagine the tension in that car No one was there to wave us off like in many pics I've seen with the Mickey hands, but we were on board and not having a major "discussion" in any broken down car, or whatever...

 

[POR0907]

Disney Excursion St Thomas- We did the Captain Nautica tour at St. Thomas, lots of fun. It is a very fun fast boat ride out to the first snorkel spot, if you don't like bumpy rides sit in the back, it was fine, if you like a roller coaster ride sit up front. The first stop is where you get to see turtles and sting rays. We probably saw 5 or 6 different turtles and a few sting rays, as well as a few fish, but the thrill for us was the turtles, to me nothing beats swimming with the turtles out in the open ocean. They take you to a protected area, and with the speed of the boat we were the only ones out there, fantastic.
Next we sped away by boat again to the second stop where there were MANY boats by the time we got there, but it was not all that busy when we snorkeled. Many people stay very close to their boats when they snorkel, so if you like to explore you'll have lots of room to swim around. I large variety of beautiful tropical, but really not much in the way of coral. Overall a very fun excursion that we all enjoyed.

Link to excursion pics follows
http://family.webshots.com/album/569281271FHSXwN

 

[crsfulk]

Just wanted to drop you a little compliment. I am Max's dad and I wanted to let you know how polite Kyle was whenever he was around us with Max.

Thanks and have a happy holiday!

 

[Angie_Ohio]

The pictures from your St. Thomas excursion are cool. We have been to St. Thomas for the Doubloon Sail and Snorkel trip. Next time we're concidering St. John but my boys would love to swim with turtles!
Angie

 

[Weedy]

This March will be our 6th Disney Cruise. We love them but I am ready for a change. You said you have done many All Inclusives. Where have you gone? What was your favorite.
Thanks