Vacation Day 2 - Magic

The accompanying photos to our trip are here

Wow. There’s a reason why they call this ship the Magic. But lets back up a bit before we get to that.

The remainder of our journey yesterday went relatively smoothly. We boarded the next plane to Orlando (5 hours late - see yesterday’s entry) and arrived around 11:30 p.m. local time. We were directed to Disney’s check-in counter in the airport (they have their own section of the Orlando airport) where The Disney Magical Express was to whisk us away to our vacation wonderland.

The Disney Magical Express turned out to be a bus, and it wasn’t exactly express-like as we waited 45 minutes in the bus for other passengers to arrive, but all-in all things went smoothly. One cool thing was that they took care of our luggage, which arrived at our hotel a few hours after we did (the hotel brought it up to us the next day).

The hotel. We stayed right in Disney World at the All-Star Movies resort, which is one of Disney’s value (cheap) resorts. Our room was unexceptional, but we didn’t require much for the short overnight stay. There was still plenty of cool stuff to look at, though. We were beginning to comprehend the grand scale with which Disney does stuff.

Even though it was well after 2 a.m. when we finally got to bed, Roman was a real trooper through all of this. He was a little overtired (and excited), so getting him to bed was a bit of a chore, but at the end of the day (night) he did better than we could have hoped for him.

That brings us to today. As I write this, it’s 11:15 p.m. and we’ve had quite a day. We had to travel from the hotel we stayed in last night to a different Disney resort (on our dime), so we could get a shuttle to the port. This one was called the Swan Resort and was certainly not one of Disney’s value (cheap) resorts. It was probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever been in.

After an hour or so wait at that hotel (traveling on this vacation involved a LOT of hurry up and wait) we were finally on our way. The driver of this Disney Magical Express (bus) was lively and informative as he kept us entertained with what I imagine bus drivers like to call humor (it’s about what you’d expect), but he managed to give us a few chuckles. He also told us where to look at exactly the right time to get the first glimpse of our ship. We were still miles away from it, but as we crested the hill and got our first look at the Magic, there was palpable excitement in the bus as we all took in the awesome sight of the Magic in port.

When we got to the port itself, there was (of course) more waiting. And once we got our “key to the world card” (combination room key and “key to your credit card” card) we had to show that no fewer than 5 times before we were able to board. Security was airport tight.

Upon boarding, we were greeted by a crew member (Canadian!) who welcomed and chatted with us, and once he asked our family name, announced (very) enthusiastically over a microphone “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the Fehr family!” This was met with thunderous applause from the gathered crew. It felt a little cheesy, but was still pretty neat. Disney sure knows 

So, we were finally on the ship. It was somewhere around 3:00 or so. We had some time to wander around and take in the spectacle that is a cruise liner. The ship is incredible. She’s 964 feet long, weighs 83,000 tons and has 877 staterooms. Everything here looks fantastic. Everyone here is friendly. We can’t quite get over it. I’ve never experienced any vacation where there are hoards of people who’s only goal is, ostensibly, to make your experience better. It’s quite something.

To kick everything off, everybody gathered on the upper deck for a big party. There was dancing, music, singing, and such an incredible energy. It was an amazing feeling. And where was Roman for all of this? Passed out on Christine’s shoulder. Considering that this was still a day of mostly traveling, which is hard on everybody, and that Roman missed his nap again, it was to be expected. He did, however, wake up just in time to see all the Disney characters come out to perform. He was pretty excited about that. And that’s how we left port Canaveral; dancing and shouting and laughing in the sunshine with the rest of our fellow travelers. What a beginning.

Oh, and you know that big horn that big ships sometimes sound? Sort of a BWAAAAAAAAAAAP! Well, on the Magic, it a huge horn that plays the tune of “when you wish upon a star”. Awesome. I’m not a huge Disney fan or anything, but this ship has a way of turning everyone into a kid again.

Roman was in awe of the kid’s deck. We took him for an introductory tour and we had a hard time getting him to leave. There are huge pirate ship play structures, movies, games, activities, and so much more for him to do. The area has an entire of staff who facilitate everything and make it fun for the kids. Heck, if we wanted to, we could drop Roman off every morning at 9 and pick him up at midnight (not exaggerating). If the kids are there over a meal time, they’ll feed them. And if anything ever goes wrong, we carry a pager so we’re notified. Roman will be with us for most of the trip, but it’s nice to know there’s a place he can go if we want some grown-up time.

Well, it’s getting late and I’m awfully tired. It’s been an amazing day, and we’re looking forward to what tomorrow will bring. We make our first stop at Key West tomorrow. We have nothing specific planned, but I’m sure we’ll find something to do. Good night, everybody.