LisaG
12-05-2003, 04:02 PM
Cast:
Lisa (36) – air quality tech
DH, Darrell (38) – archaeologist
Day 8 11/7/03 EPCOT, Downtown Disney then on to Cape Canaveral –
We got up and finished packing in preparation to head to Cape Canaveral. A call to Bell Services and we were on our way. A quick stop at Zawadi Marketplace to ship some gifs to family and we headed for EPCOT. We were planning to do a few things we had somehow missed in earlier days there.
First to the Living Seas. Then back for a 2nd try on Journey Into the Imagination to see if we would like it more this time. Nope still prefer the original. Next we were going to try the food & wine festival. We ate our way around the world and with one last ride on the Mexico boat ride we headed for Downtown Disney. First stop World of Disney to purchase another suitcase for the trip home. We were just under our 50 lb weight limit on both suitcases and didn’t want to worry about juggling the load. So with our new Winnie-the-Pooh tapestry pull behind carry-on (and a bunch of scrapbooking stuff that was marked down to half-price) we head to the toy store. Here we have all of our purchases shipped (in case anyone wonders about the time it takes – our box arrived in CA on 12/3 so almost a month). Now we are heading to the Port.
We check-in at the Radisson at the Port and go return our rental car to Avis, as well as book one for our return next Saturday. After a dinner at Subway we reorganize our suitcases so we have bathing suits and clothes for dinner Sat night in our carry-ons just in case.
Day 9 11/8/03 Set sail on the Magic, Western Caribbean –
We have breakfast at the Radisson then catch the 10:30 shuttle over to the port. We check-in in the Castaway Club line. (1 person ahead of us as compared to about 100 people in the regular line). Verify we have received our Disney Club onboard credit and go join the line to board the ship. We have about an hour until boarding so I go exploring and leave Darrell in line with our bags. I spot Figgy and her husband (she had a name tag on) so we chat for a bit and double check our KTTW cards to make sure we are dining together, along with Chris (from DIS boards) and her family. I go back to join Darrell in line. They let us board about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. After stopping for our embarkation picture (hopefully they burned that one….) we headed on to make reservations for Palo’s and the Spa. We got both the Palo’s reservations we wanted, brunch Sunday AM and tea on Thurs. Next got Darrell the soda package ($38 with mug) and headed for the spa. Here we booked the Surial Chamber for Monday AM. By now we were starving so we headed for Parrot Cay for the buffet lunch. Stopped at guests services and picked up a copy of the navigator on the way.
Lunch was good and it was nice to see what they are doing differently to help control illness. A CM hands out all plates so people aren’t touching them then changing their minds, also anti-bac hand wipes were in a large bowl at the beginning of each serving line. Guess I didn’t need to stock-up before coming on board.
After lunch we were able to get into our staterooms so we unpacked and took a short nap before the lifeboat drill. Only a few people showed up late in our drill section this time (our last cruise there were no-shows and lots of late people). From here we headed out the Deck Party. We hung out on Deck 10 and watched the festivities and saw the CM on land waving good-bye with their Mickey gloves. After we were totally away from the land we headed back to our stateroom and ordered some cheese and crackers to tide us over until dinner. WE got ready and went to the show. Tonight was a variety show with a Comedic Magician and a Singing Comic. Both were very entertaining. Dinner that night we were in Lumiere’s. Second seating for the entire cruise never seemed very full and towards the end the number of guests in the dining room was actually kind of sparse.
Our Dining room head was Nadege from France. We saw her every night and she even knew our names quickly. Our head Server was Clive from Jamaica, very personable and knowledgeable about everything. Our assistant server, was Gabor from Hungary, also a great server. All 3 were willing to spend time with us answering questions about everything from what the crew eats (not what guests do but still a very nice selection and variety and soda is available to them unlike on other cruise ships where crew has to pay for it) , to what cruise lines are the best to work for (all agree Disney was best, though I think only Gabor had worked on another line). For us dinner took almost 2 hours every night.
Lisa (36) – air quality tech
DH, Darrell (38) – archaeologist
Day 8 11/7/03 EPCOT, Downtown Disney then on to Cape Canaveral –
We got up and finished packing in preparation to head to Cape Canaveral. A call to Bell Services and we were on our way. A quick stop at Zawadi Marketplace to ship some gifs to family and we headed for EPCOT. We were planning to do a few things we had somehow missed in earlier days there.
First to the Living Seas. Then back for a 2nd try on Journey Into the Imagination to see if we would like it more this time. Nope still prefer the original. Next we were going to try the food & wine festival. We ate our way around the world and with one last ride on the Mexico boat ride we headed for Downtown Disney. First stop World of Disney to purchase another suitcase for the trip home. We were just under our 50 lb weight limit on both suitcases and didn’t want to worry about juggling the load. So with our new Winnie-the-Pooh tapestry pull behind carry-on (and a bunch of scrapbooking stuff that was marked down to half-price) we head to the toy store. Here we have all of our purchases shipped (in case anyone wonders about the time it takes – our box arrived in CA on 12/3 so almost a month). Now we are heading to the Port.
We check-in at the Radisson at the Port and go return our rental car to Avis, as well as book one for our return next Saturday. After a dinner at Subway we reorganize our suitcases so we have bathing suits and clothes for dinner Sat night in our carry-ons just in case.
Day 9 11/8/03 Set sail on the Magic, Western Caribbean –
We have breakfast at the Radisson then catch the 10:30 shuttle over to the port. We check-in in the Castaway Club line. (1 person ahead of us as compared to about 100 people in the regular line). Verify we have received our Disney Club onboard credit and go join the line to board the ship. We have about an hour until boarding so I go exploring and leave Darrell in line with our bags. I spot Figgy and her husband (she had a name tag on) so we chat for a bit and double check our KTTW cards to make sure we are dining together, along with Chris (from DIS boards) and her family. I go back to join Darrell in line. They let us board about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. After stopping for our embarkation picture (hopefully they burned that one….) we headed on to make reservations for Palo’s and the Spa. We got both the Palo’s reservations we wanted, brunch Sunday AM and tea on Thurs. Next got Darrell the soda package ($38 with mug) and headed for the spa. Here we booked the Surial Chamber for Monday AM. By now we were starving so we headed for Parrot Cay for the buffet lunch. Stopped at guests services and picked up a copy of the navigator on the way.
Lunch was good and it was nice to see what they are doing differently to help control illness. A CM hands out all plates so people aren’t touching them then changing their minds, also anti-bac hand wipes were in a large bowl at the beginning of each serving line. Guess I didn’t need to stock-up before coming on board.
After lunch we were able to get into our staterooms so we unpacked and took a short nap before the lifeboat drill. Only a few people showed up late in our drill section this time (our last cruise there were no-shows and lots of late people). From here we headed out the Deck Party. We hung out on Deck 10 and watched the festivities and saw the CM on land waving good-bye with their Mickey gloves. After we were totally away from the land we headed back to our stateroom and ordered some cheese and crackers to tide us over until dinner. WE got ready and went to the show. Tonight was a variety show with a Comedic Magician and a Singing Comic. Both were very entertaining. Dinner that night we were in Lumiere’s. Second seating for the entire cruise never seemed very full and towards the end the number of guests in the dining room was actually kind of sparse.
Our Dining room head was Nadege from France. We saw her every night and she even knew our names quickly. Our head Server was Clive from Jamaica, very personable and knowledgeable about everything. Our assistant server, was Gabor from Hungary, also a great server. All 3 were willing to spend time with us answering questions about everything from what the crew eats (not what guests do but still a very nice selection and variety and soda is available to them unlike on other cruise ships where crew has to pay for it) , to what cruise lines are the best to work for (all agree Disney was best, though I think only Gabor had worked on another line). For us dinner took almost 2 hours every night.