Magic of Disney

Were safe and sound on board!  We left Port Canaveral with smooth sailing, but by the next morning, we were in some fairly rough seas.

The whole ship is creaking and is really rocking.  Yesterday the bridge report said 8 - 13 foot seas with the wind being “Moderate Gale Force”.  This morning the seas are 20 - 30 feet and the winds are stronger.  We’re sailing into the high seas, and the gale force winds are blowing ACROSS the ship - so, we’re getting it from every side!

I felt pretty crummy most of the day yesterday, and PJ (hubby) was in bed all day.  He got dressed for formal pics and then went back to the room.  The boys also got dressed for the pics, but really wanted to go enjoy activities at the Stack. I ate alone, but the rocking in the aft of the ship is worse (we were in Animator’s Palate last night).

I overheard an officer telling someone we should have calmer seas when we get closer to St. Maarten (at least that’s what I thought I heard!).  One can always hope :)  Last night I took some chewable sea sickness pills and bought a pair of sea bands. Within 2 hours I felt GREAT!  I was able to get up and eat this morning with no problem.  The creaking is definitely keeping people up at night - it sounds like the ship will break apart any minute.  Of course, I’m really not worried - I’m sure she’s been through worse.  The funny thing is, we had seas like this during part of our last 7 Day Disney Cruise in 2004.  That was because of a hurricane.  We purposely chose NOT to do another cruise during hurricane season - yet, here we go again.  Someone said there was a tropical storm by Puerto Rico - I wonder if that’s where these seas are coming from.  Go figure - a tropical storm in December.

We really haven’t taken very many pics - DH is our family shutterbug and he’s been in bed.  This morning I got him the same magic pills I took and sea bands - so hopefully, he’ll be feeling better soon.

Now for some of the good news !   The sail away party was great, and we really had fun getting our pics done the first night.  They call the setting “Lifestyles”.  It is just a white background, and the position your family in lots of neat poses.  I’ve been wanting to do pics like that for a long time, so I was sure we color coordinated.  The grandparents have been begging for a good family photo, so this was a great opportunity to grant their wish

We got there for our photo shoot a bit before the 7pm start time.  Since we were the only ones their the photographer took TONS of pics.  They turned out GREAT!  More money, more money, more money!

At 7:45pm on Saturday night they had a special tree lighting ceremony in the atrium.  There were carols, characters and, of course, snow.  The tree and lighted garland are simple, but elegant.

Our boys are enjoying their time in the Stack immensely - we haven’t seen much of them.

Yesterday and today are sea days.  The pools are open, but not as crowded as I would expect.  Probably due to the rough seas.  The sun has been shining most of the time :thumbsup2  Eating breakfast and lunch ouside at Topsider’s is interesting.  Yesterday, DH and I had salt and pepper races - we set the shakers side by side and waited to see which one moved the fastest.

I was able to snag Palo Brunch reservations when we got on board, so we enjoyed a relaxing, albeit rocky, brunch yesterday. Palo’s is beautful and the selection was decadent.  We’re not drinkers, so we passed on the champagne or Mimosa (one glass is included with your Brunch).  It costs $20 to go to Palo and if you like fancy restaurant style food and atmosphere, that is the place for you!

We managed to go to a shopping tour seminar given by Pippa.  She had lots to tell us about Disney approved/guaranteed places to shop in St. Thomas and St. Maarten.  Since we’re not

We went to a show the first night - but left early for pics.  Due to the rough seas, I didn’t feel like sitting in the forward theater yesterday, so passed on Golden Mickeys.  I am looking forward to seeing Twice Charmed today, though.  That is new since we cruise 3 years ago.

If we get some pics taken and uploaded, I’ll post them either here later today or tomorrow evening after our day in St. Maarten. 

We got out of town in time to spend a couple hours at MGM last night.  The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights is AMAZING!  Even though we saw it last year, there were new things we didn’t notice before.  The “snow” was falling and when the lights dance (every 15 minutes) to the music, it was truly magical.   We took some pictures - but they hardly do it justice - there are so many lights and cool fixtures!

 This year the Harlem Gospel Choir is performing each evening in December.  We had never seen them, so didn’t want to miss the opportunity.  Thankfully we were able to make the last show.  Happily, the crowds were pretty low and we had great seats.  The concert was great - even had my two teenagers clapping their hands and tapping their feet!

Since we live in FL and have annual passes, we’re headed to Disney this afternoon. I’m hoping to catch the lights at MGM (soon to be known as Disney Hollywood Studios). If we don’t get up there in time, we’ll probably just go to Downtown Disney to do some pin trading.

We’re determined to get to the port early - my youngest wants to be one of the first on the ship, and who am I to stop him !

With the delay of yesterday’s launch, we’re hoping to see the shuttle go up on Saturday afternoon. We’ll have perfect viewing from the deck of the Magic! If we get to see it, I’ll try to post some pics.

I’ve really got to know some of my fellow cruisers through our DISmeet thread - I can’t wait to meet everyone in person. They are a most interesting group - almost obsessed with pirates By the way, one of the best places to go to get first hand accounts and those pressing questions answered from those who have “been there, done that” are the Disboards! They have message boards for just about any Disney destination.

That’s it for today - my next entry will be from the ship! Please feel free to ask questions - I’ll do my best to answer

We, along with many others, have been anxiously awaiting the details of the 2009 sailings. Those sail dates were released today!

Looks like the Magic will sail the Caribbean during the summer of 2009 - no Panama Canal, repositioning cruise. There are new ports for select cruises - St. Croix and Tortola. I’m trying to get my hubby to let me book another cruise while we’re onboard next week When you book on board, there are usually on board credits and a 10% discount.

To celebrate the release of the new itineraries, Disney Cruise Line is offering on board credit for Castaway Club members booking certain dates in 2009. This is a limited time offer. Wondering how you become a Castaway Club member? Easy, after you sail on your first cruise, you are automatically enrolled in this free program!

I can’t believe it is almost here!  We only booked this cruise a few weeks ago - kind of spur of the moment.  Some great Florida Resident rates came out that we couldn’t resist :-)  We’ll be traveling for 7 nights on the Disney Magic with stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas and, of course, Castaway Cay.  We really splurged this time - we’ll have a verandah!

There are different categories of staterooms, ours is a Cat 6.  Since we booked so late, we were given a guarantee, which means you can’t choose your location or deck.  Some of the Cat 6 rooms have a clear plexiglass verandah, others have a metal one. I checked the Disney Cruise website daily, anxiously hoping and praying for the clear verandah.  We finally got our room assignment and it is just what I wanted!  Of course, I was secretly hoping for an upgrade to a Cat 4, but you can’t have everything

Pin trading has added a special touch to our trips to WDW - we highly recommend it!

This is a picture of our son with Mickey at this year’s Pin Trading Event at EPCOT. Imagine 1400 pin traders all gathered together, trading with each other, getting a glimpse of all the new pins from all of Disney’s theme parks, AND having a chance to trade for pins via some fun Disney games!

There’s also an auction - both silent and live. Pins featured in the live auction are often one of kind, concept or artist proof sets.