A Little Trans-Atlantic Magic - The (somewhat) LIVE TR! -updated 07/03/13 - Page 32 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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How cool that the skies were so clear that you could see all the way to Africa. We weren't so lucky when we were in Gibraltar during our Disney cruise in 2010.
Having to wait for a hour for the cable car is plain ridiculous! I know the taxi drivers may seem unfriendly but if you're doing a tour with them, they are great. We did just that and for 15 pounds per person, we got a great tour of the Rock! We saw pretty much everything you saw but didn't have to wait anywhere. The van drove us right up to the top (they are the only vehicules allowed there).
We were lucky enough to see a plane land while we were there:
I can't believe your time aboard the Magic is coming to an end already!
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How cool that the skies were so clear that you could see all the way to Africa. We weren't so lucky when we were in Gibraltar during our Disney cruise in 2010.
Having to wait for a hour for the cable car is plain ridiculous! I know the taxi drivers may seem unfriendly but if you're doing a tour with them, they are great. We did just that and for 15 pounds per person, we got a great tour of the Rock! We saw pretty much everything you saw but didn't have to wait anywhere. The van drove us right up to the top (they are the only vehicules allowed there).
We were lucky enough to see a plane land while we were there:
I can't believe your time aboard the Magic is coming to an end already!
The airplane photo is awesome! How neat to get to see one land! Thanks!
I agree, the taxi drivers probably would have been the way to go for a tour, and next time I definitely won't be making that mistake. I'd rather have taken the taxi up and the cable car down and skipped the Disney tour - but I won't dwell on that, lol! Lesson learned for another day - and I'll make sure to share my experience with others so if they ever have the opportunity, they can make an informed decision!!!
This was it. Our very last day on the Magic. You know, it makes me a little sad to even write about! I'm sitting here in the living room watching NCIS and typing this up (because Gibraltar is as far as I got on the trip report before it fell completely by the wayside - so everything from here is from memory, a few notes jotted down, receipts and my passpockets) and I'm just sighing.
We really had to make today count, as it was our last day. Let me tell you... we sure did that!
We had to be at Palo at 10am, and we had ordered room service for Meri’s breakfast for between 8:30am-9:00am. At 9:15am no room service showed up, and I was really irritated, and about to call when I realized… I had never put the order card out on the door! It was still hanging on the inside of the door handle! OOPS!!! Meri and I quickly headed up to Topsiders to fill her up, and we ran into Suzanne and the kids. The kids all ate, and then we dropped them all at the Club, just in time to pop up to Palo at 10:00am.
Mom and Ken were already up there, and they sat us right away – with Evandro yet again! Dale and Katrina joined us right after we sat, and then we were ready to go! Ken and Suzanne had never been to brunch, so Evandro gave them the tour, while the rest of us grabbed plates and filled up!
Thirsty anyone?
The famous strawberry soup
Evandro brought us three pizzas to share. He was very opinionated (in a great way) and just brought them for us, saying we absolutely had to try all of the pizzas, lol.
We also ordered more food to share – some frittatas, some chicken parm and some veal.
Holy cow we ate and ate and ate and ate!
Guess we were hungry! Good heavens, I'm starving just LOOKING at these photos now!
Then we got coffee and had dessert and ate some MORE!
Those white-chocolate covered strawberries… holy cow! I’m still dreaming of them! They were to DIE for! Brunch took almost exactly 2 hours. We probably could have stayed longer, but we wanted to pick up the kids for the character dance party in the atrium at 12:15pm.
Evandro, our server (not the best shot but it's all I have)
I waddled down to Deck 5 (via the elevator, of course, lol) and grabbed Meri, and then we went straight down to the atrium, where we were ready to jam out with the characters. It started out with a small handful of people, and then grew and grew! Still, though, it was cute, and fun. First the entertainment staff came out and danced with the kids...
And then the characters joined us, all piling out of Studio Sea!
A few people refused to listen when the entertainment staff announced that this wasn’t a time for posed photos / autographs, and tried to get their child to pose with the characters, which kind of made me roll my eyes, but most people just danced with their kids.
You can see Meri dancing with all of the characters (pink tank dress)
I tried to get a crowd shot or two so you could see how many people were there, and whatnot...
Lilo was sweet with the littlest kids
Towards the end of the party, CM's used confetti cannons and shot off confetti from the upper levels to rain down on us! It was really cute.
All of the kids were on the floor, before long, getting confetti...
Finally the characters all said goodbye and headed back up the stairs!
Crowded, but at the same time, not too bad!
We really enjoyed the dance party. It was well executed and a lot of fun! The characters were great about making sure to give as many kids personal attention as possible. With so many characters, it was really easy for the kids to "divide and conquer", and not all get stuck around a couple of characters.
It was funny because all of us adults were trying to dance around while we were taking photos - trying to both participate AND record it, lol! I was sorry I didn't have mom's camera with me to get some video, but I think the photos show how much fun Meri had. Looking back, I do wish I'd taken a LOT more video in general than I did, but it's ok. I'll just remember this for next time.
We worked up an appetite at the dance party, and had to grab something to eat afterwards. This will really shock you, I know, to hear that we got pizza. *sigh* Then we brought the pizza back to the cabin and Meri watched cartoons while I packed. We had to put our bags outside our cabin between 8-10pm tonight, so we had to get them prepared now... I tried really hard to not be sad, and to remember that we still had another week and a half for our vacation... including a few great days with PassPorters in Paris, so I kept my chin up (even if occasionally I was sad).
While I packed, mom ran up to guest services and adjusted our tips for Taner (Server), Kadek (Assistant Server), George (Head Server) and Tina (stateroom attendant). We just really felt like they all went above and beyond every single day, every single encounter. The servers sought us out when we were in other restaurants for breakfast and lunch. Tina always had assistance at the ready for us whenever we needed it! Everyone was just wonderful.
Here's what I left for Meri and myself for final tips (the original suggested amts are in parentheses): $150 ($112) for Taner, $120 ($84) for Kadek, $40 ($28) for George and $130 ($112) for Tina. Just in case any of you wonder what the standard amts are. You can, of course, also lower these amounts if you have substandard service, but fortunately we didn't have that issue!
I'm laughing at the picture of Meri collecting confetti. You do NOT want to know how many baggies of Mickey shaped confetti we have. From the Golden Mickeys, we have gold foil confetti, we have pink & purple paper Mickeys from another show....you get the idea!
I'm laughing at the picture of Meri collecting confetti. You do NOT want to know how many baggies of Mickey shaped confetti we have. From the Golden Mickeys, we have gold foil confetti, we have pink & purple paper Mickeys from another show....you get the idea!
It's awful isn't it? LOL! But you CAN'T throw it away!!!
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When I was finished packing everything up, Meri and I headed up to the pool deck to watch the AquaDucky Derby and root for the duck that Meri purchased and decorated! This had been postponed from Wednesday, when the seas were too rocky for it to happen.
Meri secured a spot right at the finish line
This is the contraption they rigged up to narrow the ducks down to the first three winners! Clever, right??
There was a CM in the pool who was responsible for getting all of the duckies from one end of the pool to the other. You'd think this would be an easy task, lol, but it wasn't...
Of course what's a "duck" derby of any sort without our main two ducks??
At this point I moved to a table and watched on the screen, because it was getting really crowded and I couldn't see well.
All the duckies are in the water!
He kept trying to shove the duckies toward the finish line but they really wanted to go back to him, apparently. It was a struggle for him to get them away! Of course I was cracking up teh entire time!
Git along little duckies!
Winners!
There's Meri in the bottom left of the screen, on the ladder, pointing, lol. No surprise she inserted herself right in there.
Prizes for the winners!
I can't remember if I explained this very well, but basically they sold the rubber duckies for $5 each, and then had a decorating party where you could decorate yours (and you had to put your cabin number on it, of course, for identification). Then they had this race, and the top three got prizes. All proceeds went directly to a charity (I want to say St. Jude - I'll look it up).
After the derby, Meri swam in the Mickey pool for a bit, and then it was time for our very last dinner on board the Disney Magic. *sigh*
Clearly our servers know how to do the Peter Pan boot far better than I do!
This was the "Til We Meet Again" menu. *sigh* Lots of sighing tonight.
At the beginning of dinner, Meri went to the bathroom, and when she came back, she was all aflutter talking about Mickey being outside in the atrium. Kiki volunteered to walk out with her, and I followed with my camera.
Mom's Dungeness Crab Meat Stuffed Tomato
My Potato and Leek Soup
George came by to check on us, and Meri wanted a photo with her buddy. We just loved him.
Mom's Roasted Red Snapper
My Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington
Taner also brought a Seafood Linguini to the table for us all to try, since none of us had ordered it. It was delicious!
There was another parade tonight - this one of the chefs! They were carrying the Baked Alaska, which I got such a kick out of, because they did this on so many cruises that I went on in the past, and I always associate Baked Alaska with cruises! I know it's not "standard" anymore, which is why I loved it even more that they did it.
This is Stilyan, who was our brunch server in Lumiere's and had "Jamie the jumping mouse"
We all twirled napkins (made me think of Chef Mickeys, lol)
Before long, the kids headed up for their last time at the Oceaneers Club... Meanwhile for us adults, it was dessert time - our last Disney Magic dessert.
Mom and I both got the dessert trio
And the Baked Alaska
Mickey was still outside after dinner, so I paused to say hello
There were a lot of the higher-up cruise-staff on hand to greet people, so mom made her way down and said hi to everyone. The guy she's talking to right now is a total hottie, I have to say...
Yum!
Well he was!!!
Back in the cabin, I dropped some stuff off before heading up to get Meri (the usual routine), and found this... uh... guy? What IS this?
We thought maybe a shark?
At the kids club, we said goodbye to two of Meri's favorite counselors
I believe this is Debi
And this is Craig
On the way to the theatre, we paused to look at the pretty sky
We sat in our usual seats for Remember The Magic - towards the back on the right. Wow, what a wonderful show! We just loved it, and were so glad we went! Then we hung out in the atrium until it was time for the "Til We Meet Again" character event at 10pm. *sigh*
Continued with a TON of photos in the next post...
First the entertainment staff got everyone sorted out a bit. She needed to make sure there was a clear aisle from the stairs through to between the elevators, since the characters would be dispersing all over the atrium as well as up on the level above!
Then it was time for our friends to come down... and boy were there a lot of them!
I had already warned Meri that she would be lucky to meet three characters, so she had to be ready with her list of her top three to meet, and if we met anyone else, we'd just consider ourselves extra lucky! I figured it would be a madhouse and it kind of was - but not in a bad way.
First and foremost, Meri had to meet Stitch to say goodbye. So he was number one! He was in extra-rare form tonight, and first they both picked their noses for me...
Then he picked in her ear...
And then he wiped it on her, which made her laugh
Daisy was nearby, so she was two.
And then Donald (three)
No idea what was so funny!
One last hello for Cindy (four)
Then Meri wanted to meet Peter Pan and AnneMarie
That was five and six under our belt!
Aurora gave Meri a quick twirl (seven)
Then it was off to say goodbye to Goofy (eight)
We saw the beautiful singing lady, as well as Scar (from the Villains show - nine and ten)
And then the big cheese himself for our eleventh and final goodbye!
Eleven goodbyes (even if three of them were "lesser" characters, if you will) is pretty impressive for a thirty minute window! Before we knew it, our friends had lined up along the stairway for a final wave goodbye...
As they all ascended the stairs, Meri's poor little face just crumpled up, and she was bawling a moment later. She sniffled her way down to our cabin where we finalized the packing of our carry-off bags and then it was off to sleep in cabin 2626 for the final time. *big sigh*
Up next: Stepping off of the Magic and stepping into Spain!
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The last day is so sad, but I think they do all the final celebrations so well. The last show, last dinner, and the 'Til We Meet Again party at the end. It's all so much more meaningful, too, on the long cruises. It's like saying goodbye to family by that time. The Duck Derby looks adorable! And the Palo brunch. Those pizzas do look delicious. Just perfect to do this on your last day with your tablemates. I've always adjusted tip amounts upwards by quite a bit, too. They're all so fantastic and so hard-working. I often feel I'd like to tip some of the other staff as well--like the crew members who work the buffets and around the pool. Do you tip the kids' club staff? This was certainly an amazing voyage. Thank you for letting us come along!
OMG, I'm crying too. What a send off, loving every single pic from this last update, but truly my fav is you and Meri at the rails of the boat with that beautiful sky
The last day is so sad, but I think they do all the final celebrations so well. The last show, last dinner, and the 'Til We Meet Again party at the end. It's all so much more meaningful, too, on the long cruises. It's like saying goodbye to family by that time. The Duck Derby looks adorable! And the Palo brunch. Those pizzas do look delicious. Just perfect to do this on your last day with your tablemates. I've always adjusted tip amounts upwards by quite a bit, too. They're all so fantastic and so hard-working. I often feel I'd like to tip some of the other staff as well--like the crew members who work the buffets and around the pool. Do you tip the kids' club staff? This was certainly an amazing voyage. Thank you for letting us come along!
I did not tip the kids club staff. I am not sure if we could (probably we can tip anyone we want, with cash). There were so many different CM's working there, and Meri loved so many of them, that I'd go broke tipping them all, lol! I agree with you about wanting to tip everyone I ran across. They were all just so awesome!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Linnynad
OMG, I'm crying too. What a send off, loving every single pic from this last update, but truly my fav is you and Meri at the rails of the boat with that beautiful sky
Mom and I were discussing the TA for next year, lol... obviously if I get a "real" job you won't be seeing us on there (and the odds of that are decent) BUT... hypothetically if I find a part-time job and then work at the bbq place... it might work out, that's all I'm sayin... and yes, lol, I AM trying to figure a way to make that work! LOL! Don't even get a LITTLE excited about it, though. There's really no way I can make it happen. But, lol, I'm gonna wish on a star anyway!!! I think mom really wants to do it again, lol!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Towel animals gone bad, next on the cruise channel....
Agree, mom was talking to a hottie! Did she get his number for you?! Isn't that what she was supposed to do?!
Still makes me tear up thinking of Meri's crumbling face at the end of TWMA. Been there, done that - EVERY cruise for Kelsey!!
Glad we still have Barcelona & Paris before this is all the way over!
Gosh I wish she got his number. I admit I actually encouraged her to go down the line and talk to them so that I could get pictures of her talking to them (and therefore get a picture of him). LOL!
And I LOL'ed at the Towel animals gone bad line, lol. Thanks for the giggle!
Loved these last updates. Sad to see the cruise end, but you sure packed in a lot during the last day. I hate to see little girls cry (we have the same with our granddaughters), but it does tell you just how much they loved their time onboard.
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We weren't so lucky when we were in Gibraltar during our Disney cruise in 2010. 
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We had to put our bags outside our cabin between 8-10pm tonight, so we had to get them prepared now... I tried really hard to not be sad, and to remember that we still had another week and a half for our vacation... including a few great days with PassPorters in Paris, so I kept my chin up (even if occasionally I was sad). 
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