Boarding the Disney Magic
10/07/2012
Saturday was a gorgeous day set sail on the Disney Magic in Galveston. We flew in on Southwest to Houston Hobby and took the Disney Shuttle to the pier. About a 45 minute ride but Disney had a video to watch so it made the time go faster. After unloading the luggage from the bus, we made our way in the terminal. This terminal in Galveston has not been updated as much as the one Carnival uses, but it was easy to get through the check in and boarding did not take long. When you first step on the ship there is an employee there who greets you and asks your name. Then they announce over the PA that Disney welcomes (your name) on board! Very personal service! The cabins were not going to be ready until 1:30pm but by the time we went to talk to the dining staff about changing from late to early seating it was time to go to the cabin. Our oceanview cabin is very nice with a huge round window. The dressing area and couch is a nice space with room for at least 3 on the couch. It would also make into a bed for a 3rd person. The mirror and counter had 8 drawers and below the flat screen TV there is a beverage cooler (mini fridge). It is not stocked but you can put items in it. There is a curtain that separates the living area from the sleeping area. The beds are true twins and when you put them together they are more like a double bed. The space between the bed and the end of the wall was very small and with the beds apart we could hardly walk between the dressing unit and the bed. (we ended up moving the one bed against the wall and then moved the one over to have a bigger space to walk thru.) The bathroom is a split arrangement. One has a small bathtub and a sink in it and the other has a toilet and sink. Not a bad plan but the rooms are VERY SMALL. It is hard to turn around in there and when standing in front of the sink in one it is pretty cramped unless you have the door closed. There is a lot of storage in the closet for hanging items. At the end of the bed in a cubby hole there is a large trunk standing up on it’s side and there are 3 shelves in it. At the end of the closet was a storage area with 3 drawers in it! With 2 ladies in the cabin we had plenty of storage space!!
Lunch in the buffet was very good. They had huge peel and eat shrimp and salmon. Variety was good with mini corn dogs and mac and cheese for the kids. On Disney you get fountain drinks included. They have Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Lemonade, Pink Lemonade, Tea and couple other things. The fountains are in the buffet and also out by the pool where you can get the drinks in a paper cup with a lid and straw.
After the Safety Drill we went to the Sail Away party on the Lido. Of course Mickey and friends made an appearance there!! The kids were having a great time!!
Being we have late dining we went to the early show. It was a Welcome Aboard show with skits and songs including the dancers and some characters.
Dinner on Disney is a rotating schedule. There are 3 restaurants that you are assigned to and they give you a card in your cabin that tells you where you go. The neat thing about this is…everyone on your table and the waiters move between venues with you! So we had table #9, so at each place we go to that table. So your schedule has 3 nights at one and 2 nights at each of the other 2 places. Our first night was at Animators Palate. Everything is black and white on the walls then as the evening goes on the pictures start changing and getting color. They had a show with video pictures and then Mickey comes in! Dinner was very good with several appetizers, soups and entrees to choose from plus your standard everyday items. Our waiters are fantastic!!! One told us that there were 2400 people onboard and over 800 of them are kids! Will have to comment more on that at the end…see how things go during the week!!