[tammysbowman]

We just returned from our first cruise! Disney Magic was everywhere and all in our party had a great time!

Day 1: First, let me congratulate Disney on all the magic. The captain was kind enough to delay departure due to several guests being delayed at the airports due to weather conditions.

We arrived at the terminal about 11 a.m. and went through the check-in process smoothly and efficiently. My DD's (4 and 6) enjoyed looking at the model of the ship and standing outside on the balcony just viewing the "really big boat". The girls (with DH or DMIL) chatted away with other children, made friends and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience that was beginning to unfold. At 12:00 noon they started letting us on the ship. By this time, FOOD was on everyone's mind. We went up to deck 9, Beach Blanket, for the buffet since we were scheduled to eat dinner that evening and the last night at Parrot Cay. The food was enjoyable and service was great. After lunch, the girls and I headed to the Mickey Pool while my DH and DMIL headed to the Vista Spa for a tour and reservations. This was a GREAT time to utilize the pool because the crowds are low. My DH and MIL toured and made reservations in about 1 hours time. A little while later, I headed down to our rooms to see if our luggage had arrived. We were very pleasantly surprised at the space of our room (standard, inside 1067 & 1069) and the huge amount of storage space. I know that some people do not like the 1st floor rooms because the only accessable elevators/stairs are midship, but we decided that we will request 1st floor again on future cruises. The traffic is low, and the only noise we ever heard was the ship's stabilizers. I then headed to the Oceaneer's Club to register the girls. At 3:45 p.m. everyone in our party was in the room putting on the lifejackets for the mandatory boat drill. It was a very smooth, efficient and quick drill. This was a good thing because it can get VERY hot in those lifejackets! After the drill, we unpacked and headed up to the Hercules show. We only got to see the first 10 minutes of the show (which was very entertaining) because the girls were tired and bored. They are not Hercules fan and the show actually seems targeted for older teens and adults. The girls decided to try the Oceaneer Club, my MIL and myself headed to the spa for a manicure and my DH walked around and checked out the ship. Later the adults headed to dinner at Parrot Cay. Alas, I got a page that the girls wanted picked up just as I was about to order dinner. They were sooo tired that they ended up sitting in their dinner chairs about to fall asleep. The food was excellent and we had very pleasant, friendly waiters. Needless to say, after dinner everyone headed to bed.

Day 2: We let the girls sleep until they woke on their own (8:30 am) and then headed to Parrot Cay for breakfast. The buffet style food was very good and the assortment was the best we found on the entire trip. After breakfast, the girls and I headed to the Mickey pool (where we spent the majority of our time!) and my DH and MIL headed into Nassau. The girls opted for pizza, hotdogs, fries and ice cream from deck 9 for lunch. Upon their return, my MIL watched the girls swim while I did some laundry (I thought I was on vacation!!). My youngest daughter had an accident the night before and her cherished teddy bear needed to be cleaned. The girls got their pictures taken with Minnie and Chip & Dale on our was back to the room after swimming. They then headed off to the Oceaneer Club while I shopped a little. It was a holiday for Nassau and the ship's stores had special permission to be open. (They are usually not allowed to be open when the ship is in port.) We picked up the girls and headed for the pools again and my MIL headed to the spa for a treatment. Dinner that evening was at Triton's. The food was good but not as good as Parrot Cay the previous evening. After dinner, the girls and MIL headed for bed and my DH and myself headed to see "The Village".

Day 3: I started the day out with a Ladies Day Spa Treatment with which my DH had surprised me. The day started out rainy and the captain had delayed departure from the ship onto Castaway Cay for an hour which allowed us time to eat breakfast at Parrot Cay again. We then headed to the island and found a spot on the beach. Each area of the beach is sectioned off for various activities and we opted for the area close to the fort that is out in the water. The day became very sunny and hot within a short time. The girls enjoyed swimming and building a sand castle on the beach during the morning hours. About 1 p.m., we headed to eat lunch. The food was EXCELLENT. After eating, the girls decided that they would rather swim in the pool because they had swallowed enough salt water. A word of warning, our entire party sat under an umbrella the whole time with the girls, MIL and myself utilizing the suntan lotion. My husband didn't and got a very painful sunburn around is ankles and knees. One does NOT have to be in the sun to get sunburned here!!! My husband and I headed for the Tropical Rain Forest at the spa once back on the ship. After a little more swimming in the pools, we all headed down to get ready for the Golden Mickey show and dinner. The GOLDEN MICKEY was everyone's favorite show. It is a must-see!! The girls went to the Prince and Princess dance party while I looked for our pictures - at Shutters. The girls really enjoyed watching the walls change colors during our meal at Animator's Palate. The food was okay but the atmosphere was the best of all the restaurants. We headed to bed after dinner.

[mickaholic4077]

It sounds like you had a wonderful time!!! I guess your girls got over the chicken pox.

[disneyguy]

Sounds awesome!!!

[inluvwithdisney]

I am so glad your girls were better and you had a good time!!! Were you able to use the Autograph book idea???

[ilvminnie]

We felt the same way about Animator's Palate!! Wonderful restaurant. The one we didn't visit on our cruise was Parrot Cay. We did Palo's the night we were scheduled for that one. What did you think? It seemed much more laid back to me just from looking in.

Glad you had a wonderful time. We loved the cruise. We liked Golden Mickey's, but the dream show (with Peter Pan & Wendy narrating) was our favorite. And Castaway Cay...isn't it beautiful? I truly think I could live there...

[llama]

It was great reading your report and reliving a cruise on the "Wonder". So glad that you all had a good time, and the warning about sunburn was great. I didn't listen to my husband and suffered with a horrible burn and was sick for a whole day. We loved the Animator's Palate, too. Our one regret was that we didn't see the Golden Mickeys because we were dining at Palo's that night. Guess I'll have to go back again. Hopefully for 7 days. Thanks for sharing your report!

[lisalovesmickey]

Thanks for the TR. It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

Lisa

[tammysbowman]

Yes, the girls were chicken pox free!!! YEAH! They didn't even have any scabs and were feeling great.

llama, next time you are on the cruise be sure to check out the channels. My MIL missed the Dreams show but we found that is was playing periodically throughout the day and was able to see it that way. It wasn't the exact show that we had seen (different actors/actresses) but even my DD's enjoyed watching it again. I would assume that this was happening with each show too.

ilvminnie, the Parrot Cay is a very loud restaurant. At times it was difficult to hear the person sitting across from you. The food is good, though.

inluvwithdisney, No, we didn't get to make our own books -- we ran out of time. However, I did get a Disney T-shirt and have the characters sign that for the girls. It was something different that we had never tried before.

[geeman]

Thanks for the trip report. Lookign forward to hearing more. It looks like I was in the mirror room on the Magic - your number seems familiar. I liked that level - it WAS quiet. The only time it became annoying was when we'd just returned from being on deck or at dinner and then suddenly want to go for a dip at the pool. Since we both decided to avoid the elevators (for many reasons other than the fact that some kids were pushing all the buttons!), it would be a tremendous hike up and down those stairs. Great exercise, but a long way to go.

Reading your report makes me long for those days I spent just wandering about the ship. Especially walking about Deck 4.

[tammysbowman]

Geeman, I am with you that it can be quite a hike up/down the stairs. I also opted for the stairs most of the time, too. Partly because the elevators are so busy and partly because it helped me feel better about eating as much as I did. It must have worked, because I didn't gain any weight.

[Dana]

Your report was awesome! You all sounded like you had an excellent time. I am thrilled that the girls were over their chicken pox before the trip. Thansk for sharing it with us.

[sandanv1]

Sounds like an exciting trip. Glad you are sharing it with us.