natsmom125
Performed live, on stage aboard The Magic. Lucky
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2000
We cruised on the Magic 1-5-02 for dd's 9th birthday. We are
me(Phyllis aka Natsmom), dh Jim and dd, the birthday girl, Natalie.
We left Hilton Head on Friday evening and drove to our condo in
ORL. Got up bright and early Saturday morning and began our
trip to the Port. As we traveled toward the Port..we began to
see the DCL buses going in the opposite direction. We were
saying, "Oh there they go...poor things...we are so lucky we are
going and their cruise is over". Little did we realize that a week
later...people were saying the same thing about us..as we left
the ship and they were going!!!!
Anyway...we left ORL around 9 and sailed right on through on the
Beeline..except for slowing down occassionally to throw money in
the toll thingies...dd loves to throw the money...so she was in
heaven. Thanks DAVE for telling us the proper amount of change to take!!!!! Arriving at the Port around 10ish...as we topped the bridge...there she was....The Magic..we had waited a whole year..and there she was in all her splendor..waiting for us!! We drove looking for a place to eat besides the Golden Arches...we found a lovely Perkins and had a great breakfast. On the way to the ship, we drove past THE PERFECT GIFT...and waved hello to Shirley and Norm as we passed by(I'm sure Shirley was at the ship...delivering her beautiful creations..including one to our cabin).
As we drove over the draw bridge..it of course had to go up..so
we had to sit for about 15 mintues while a barge went through. I thought all 3 of us were going to burst before that was over.
We drove down the road and stopped at our first security point..
a gentleman asked if we were cruising that day...we said yes. He
directed us to another gentleman...who asked if all 3 of us were
cruising and asked to see Jim's ID...which we had both mine and
his ready. We were cleared through that and approached 2 ladies who once again, asked the same question and our names,
checked our ID's and checked our names off the passenger manifest. Jim dropped Natalie and I and the 300 lbs. of luggage with the cute luggage guys...and drove to the far parking lot to
park. He had to show his ID again..to get into the terminal where
Natalie and I were waiting.(Parking for the 7 day is now $56).
Check in at the CC window went very smoothly, except the lady
gave me somebody elses KTTW cards!!!! That quickly remedied,
I was ready to sit down for a minute or two!!! After a quick trip
to freshen up...I discovered Jim and Natalie were already lined up
in the que. At around 12:15 the doors opened and we were on
our way. As we rounded the que to enter through the Mickey ears..Art, the resident Cast Member I remember from all 3 cruises..was telling everyone not to "pet the dog". The sniffer
dog was there and I was sure we were going to have to tie
Natalie's hands behind her back..but with a member of the National Guard standing there...she was a good girl and didn't
"pet the dog". There were at least 6 NG's inside the terminal,
sheriff's cars and state patrol cars parked outside. I felt very, very safe!! Our KTTW cards were scanned and we showed our
ID's again, then we went through metal detection security and I did notice a few people being wanded. I didn't get to see if it was random or there was a problem..but I did see at least 3 people. Gathering our stuff...and making that walk...then we
were FINALLY on THE MAGIC. Our names were announced and
we were off to Parrot Cay for lunch. We still had not seen any
DIS Board friends as yet.
At lunch we met a lovely young couple from Arizona..who we got
to be friends with and saw constantly on the ship. We also met
a lady who took care of all the wigs for the shows on both ships.
She was very interesting and was just having lunch, before she
finished her work.
After lunch we ran up to Palo's, got the night we wanted for dinner, but High Tea was already booked. Then we went to our
cabin, a Navigators Verandah. The cabin was in great shape
and we loved the verandah. We met Lillia, our cabin hostess, who took the best care of us all week. She called Natalie her
"little princess". I was then off to the Spa and Jim to register
Natalie in the Club. I unpacked while they walked around the
ship and then with all that done, we all got ready for the early
show since we had late seating. The show was excellent and
we saw the preformers several times in the clubs during the
week. At dinner, we met our servers, Vlado from Croatia and
Mark from the UK...who were the best. I now feel like I have
two brothers on the ship. Mark took our drink orders the first
night and remembered every night what we wanted to drink.
We usually tried Vlado's recommendations...and then tried
some things that we remembered were great from last year.
Even though we had the table all to ourselves...we would
liked to have had table mates...we had more attention from
Vlado and Mark!!! Poor guys...they only had one other table
for 4 and a table for 8 that only had like 4 people at it each
night. They were great and catered to Natalie like she was
the only kid in the room. Our head server, Maclean, was great
also. He came to our table at least once or twice a night and
was also a really nice guy.
That does it for the first day. I'm going to try not to do each
day separate..but right now it's very late here and I'm very
tired...so I will continue with Day 2 tomorrow.
Goodnight all......
me(Phyllis aka Natsmom), dh Jim and dd, the birthday girl, Natalie.
We left Hilton Head on Friday evening and drove to our condo in
ORL. Got up bright and early Saturday morning and began our
trip to the Port. As we traveled toward the Port..we began to
see the DCL buses going in the opposite direction. We were
saying, "Oh there they go...poor things...we are so lucky we are
going and their cruise is over". Little did we realize that a week
later...people were saying the same thing about us..as we left
the ship and they were going!!!!
Anyway...we left ORL around 9 and sailed right on through on the
Beeline..except for slowing down occassionally to throw money in
the toll thingies...dd loves to throw the money...so she was in
heaven. Thanks DAVE for telling us the proper amount of change to take!!!!! Arriving at the Port around 10ish...as we topped the bridge...there she was....The Magic..we had waited a whole year..and there she was in all her splendor..waiting for us!! We drove looking for a place to eat besides the Golden Arches...we found a lovely Perkins and had a great breakfast. On the way to the ship, we drove past THE PERFECT GIFT...and waved hello to Shirley and Norm as we passed by(I'm sure Shirley was at the ship...delivering her beautiful creations..including one to our cabin).
As we drove over the draw bridge..it of course had to go up..so
we had to sit for about 15 mintues while a barge went through. I thought all 3 of us were going to burst before that was over.
We drove down the road and stopped at our first security point..
a gentleman asked if we were cruising that day...we said yes. He
directed us to another gentleman...who asked if all 3 of us were
cruising and asked to see Jim's ID...which we had both mine and
his ready. We were cleared through that and approached 2 ladies who once again, asked the same question and our names,
checked our ID's and checked our names off the passenger manifest. Jim dropped Natalie and I and the 300 lbs. of luggage with the cute luggage guys...and drove to the far parking lot to
park. He had to show his ID again..to get into the terminal where
Natalie and I were waiting.(Parking for the 7 day is now $56).
Check in at the CC window went very smoothly, except the lady
gave me somebody elses KTTW cards!!!! That quickly remedied,
I was ready to sit down for a minute or two!!! After a quick trip
to freshen up...I discovered Jim and Natalie were already lined up
in the que. At around 12:15 the doors opened and we were on
our way. As we rounded the que to enter through the Mickey ears..Art, the resident Cast Member I remember from all 3 cruises..was telling everyone not to "pet the dog". The sniffer
dog was there and I was sure we were going to have to tie
Natalie's hands behind her back..but with a member of the National Guard standing there...she was a good girl and didn't
"pet the dog". There were at least 6 NG's inside the terminal,
sheriff's cars and state patrol cars parked outside. I felt very, very safe!! Our KTTW cards were scanned and we showed our
ID's again, then we went through metal detection security and I did notice a few people being wanded. I didn't get to see if it was random or there was a problem..but I did see at least 3 people. Gathering our stuff...and making that walk...then we
were FINALLY on THE MAGIC. Our names were announced and
we were off to Parrot Cay for lunch. We still had not seen any
DIS Board friends as yet.
At lunch we met a lovely young couple from Arizona..who we got
to be friends with and saw constantly on the ship. We also met
a lady who took care of all the wigs for the shows on both ships.
She was very interesting and was just having lunch, before she
finished her work.
After lunch we ran up to Palo's, got the night we wanted for dinner, but High Tea was already booked. Then we went to our
cabin, a Navigators Verandah. The cabin was in great shape
and we loved the verandah. We met Lillia, our cabin hostess, who took the best care of us all week. She called Natalie her
"little princess". I was then off to the Spa and Jim to register
Natalie in the Club. I unpacked while they walked around the
ship and then with all that done, we all got ready for the early
show since we had late seating. The show was excellent and
we saw the preformers several times in the clubs during the
week. At dinner, we met our servers, Vlado from Croatia and
Mark from the UK...who were the best. I now feel like I have
two brothers on the ship. Mark took our drink orders the first
night and remembered every night what we wanted to drink.
We usually tried Vlado's recommendations...and then tried
some things that we remembered were great from last year.
Even though we had the table all to ourselves...we would
liked to have had table mates...we had more attention from
Vlado and Mark!!! Poor guys...they only had one other table
for 4 and a table for 8 that only had like 4 people at it each
night. They were great and catered to Natalie like she was
the only kid in the room. Our head server, Maclean, was great
also. He came to our table at least once or twice a night and
was also a really nice guy.
That does it for the first day. I'm going to try not to do each
day separate..but right now it's very late here and I'm very
tired...so I will continue with Day 2 tomorrow.
Goodnight all......
inkbounc 
I'm so glad to hear you liked the Navigator's Verandah -- we'll be in one in 2 weeks. It's our first cruise, and I'm soaking up every bit of info I can. 
