Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

The magical day has finally arrived! It’s Monday, September 1st and we are going cruising on the Disney Magic. I have watched the ship travel to California and after a few months of doing the Mexican itinerary, she has returned to Florida via the Panama Canal. My eyes were glued to the live web cams as the ship traveled through the canal last week.

To be more exact, it’s The Deb Wills (Owner of AllEars.Net and Steve Barrett - Mr. Hidden Mickey 5 Night Double Dip Cruise. Why is it called Double Dip? Two stops at Castaway Cay. It doesn’t get much better than that. Let’s go cruising!

The first surprise of the day, I was picked up at Saratoga Springs Resort in a stretch limo by Deb and Linda. Wow! I wished someone would have taken a picture of the look on my face as it pulled up to the check-in area and I realized I was getting into it. I was about to ask what the occasion was but all I needed to do was look at all the luggage they were taking on the ship. In all fairness, a good portion of the suitcases contained goodies to be given out during this special cruise.

Next surprise, our day at sea and our day at Nassau had to be flip flopped due to Hurricane Hanna. So now we will go to Nassau (maybe) on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Most of us had starting calling the cruise; The Deb and Steve Magical Mystery Cruise due to the hurricane because most likely the itinerary would change once or twice. I was hoping we would go to Key West. But that’s just me.

Normally, I head directly to Parrot Cay for the lunch buffet. But not today, the first stop I made was at the Rockin D Bar to try and get a reservation for the Palo Brunch. This amazing food event will only take place once during our cruise and I had been trying to book this reservation online for months. Success finally came today and it only took about 10 minutes. Yipppy! It’s time for lunch at Parrot Cay.

I had some free time so I enjoyed a quick walk around the ship. I was considering taking a 15 minute tour of the Vista Spa. As luck would have it, I ran into our good friends from Japan, Masayo and Nizomi. So into the spa we went. If you wondering what the gentleman in the picture below is posing for, I will tell you. Brian, who offers personal training services, was encouraging our group to go out to the Serenity Bay Beach (the adults’ only beach on Castaway Cay) and try the free yoga class. We joked about how close the class would be to the adult beverage station better known as the Castaway Air Bar and this is the yoga position he came up with regarding our question. I have an hour booked with Brian later this week.

I had to cut short the spa tour to get to the next official event, touring the one and two bedroom suites. The pictures below were taken in one of the two bedroom suites on the starboard side of deck 8.

After spending about 90 minutes shooting photos and hanging out in the suite, it was time to head to my little inside cabin and the real world. But a small cabin on a Disney Cruise is always better than a good day at work. Actually, the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder have larger standard cabins then other cruise lines and have split bathrooms with bathtubs.

At 4 pm it was time for the safety drill. So it won’t be long now before we set sail on the Magical Mystery Cruise. We will have to see what Hurricane Hanna has in store for us. Where ever she goes, the Captain will decide where to take us to keep us out of harm’s way.

Next up, the Adventures Sail Away Party…….

Welcome back to The Disney Magic.

Every Disney Cruise starts with the Sailaway Party that includes energetic dancers, singers and of the course our favorite characters. Goofy appears first from ship’s bridge via the jumbo video screen over the family pool. It’s a great place to watch a Disney film or an NFL game as we did during MouseFest. Following Goofy, the party really kicks into high gear when Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Chip and Dale arrive on stage.

The skies were clear so it made for a perfect party and what a way to start our 6-day adventure, dancing and singing with at least 2000 of our newest friends.

John and Cathy needed a rest after the Sailaway Party. But their nap wouldn’t last too long since they were lounging under the ship’s horn and it was about to blast the musical notes to “When You Wish Upon a Star” in celebration of the ship setting sail. When it happened we all laughed so hard because a member of ship's crew makes an announcement to warn people. But in a split second of the end of the warning message, the horn sounded and we jumped what seemed like 10 feet in the air.

Tonight, Deb, Linda Lou and I hosted a casual get together in the Promenade Lounge followed by dinner in Lumiere’s. Minnie Mouse was in the lobby so I stopped for a quick photo.

After some great conversation over cocktails and sodas in the Promenade Lounge, it’s off to Lumiere's for our first dinner and to meet our table mates. My fantastic table mates for the cruise will be Michelle, Jimmy, Debra, Rob, Linda Lou and Deb Wills. I always opt for the Second Seating, which in our case will begin at 8:15 each night. Our dining rotation will be Lumiere's, followed by two nights in Artist’s Palette and finally two nights in Parrot Cay. Disney Cruise Line does something unique when it comes to dining. Guests and their assigned servers travel to different restaurants during the course of the cruise. On this special 5-night cruise, a formal night has been added for our Day at Sea, which at this point is set for Wednesday evening. I most likely will not be attending formal night or Pirates depending on which one falls on Thursday evening. My plans as of today (Monday) are to have brunch at Palo’s, a relaxing afternoon, maybe a nap, a buffet dinner at Topsiders and finally, finding a comfy deck chair on Deck 9 to watch the NY Giants play the Washington Redskins on Jumbo LED Screen.

Time for dinner and I would to like to give you more details but the effects of the anti-seasick pills I took earlier in the day left me in a great big fog. I usually don’t take medication, but with Hanna lurking around the Atlantic Ocean, I thought better safe than sorry. The seas were a little rough but I think that was just from crossing the Gulf Stream.

Next Day 2, Castaway Cay and the Stingray Adventure………

I am doing a fast forward on my cruise blog so I can tell you about the latest turn of events on the Disney Magic.

It is Friday morning, September 5 and we woke up to rough seas with swells of 20 to 30 feet according to report from the bridge, with rain and wind gusting to 60 mph.

Up until today the weather has been just about perfect. We were scheduled to call on Castaway Cay again today. Everyone I spoke with yesterday doubted we would be able to get to Castaway Cay and we were right. The Captain just officially announced what everyone already knew. No Castaway Cay today.

Check out the photos from earlier this morning. I couldn’t capture the wind in the photos but you can see from the water in pools just how bad the weather is.

Enjoy the photos.

View from Deck 4
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The Mickey Pool

The Goofy Pool

And finally, the adult pool

That’s all for now from Disney Magic…….

It's time to get back on track after Friday's weather report blog from the Disney Magic. It's Tuesday and our first full day on the ship. Castaway Cay is on our schedule for today. I was out and about by 6 am and found the winds incredibly strong on Deck 10. Other then the highs winds, the seas were very calm as we headed into Castaway Cay.

Deb Wills hosted a coffee meet at the Cove Cafe at 8 am to get the day started. She also treated everyone to a coffee drink of their choice.

I was scheduled to do the Stingray excursion at 10 am. All the other excursions like parasailing were canceled due the high winds. As I made my way to Castaway Rays for my stingray adventure, I found it impossible not to stop and take photos since it was a gorgeous day.

I didn't realize what a hike it would be to get to Castaway Rays for the Stingray feeding. I had never been to that part of island before. There was plenty of signage to help me find the meeting location.

Next up the Stingray feeding adventure, Heads Up Bar, lunch at both Cooke's and the adult B.B.Q. spots and the search for Hidden Steve Barrett............

Welcome back to Day 2 of the Deb and Steve Cruise. You can click on this link to recap my journey thus far on the cruise!

This was the first of what was supposed to be two visits to Castaway Cay during our 5-night cruise. Even with Tropical Storm Hanna lurking about the Caribbean, the weather this day was picture perfect.

At 10 am, I was scheduled to participate in the Castaway Ray’s Stingray Adventure. As beautiful as the weather was all water excursions were cancelled due to expected high winds. Fortunately for me, the stingray adventure was still a go!

Here is Disney’s description of the excursion:

Castaway Ray's Stingray Adventure
Head for the Stingray Hut for the experience of a lifetime! After a 15-minute orientation including many educational fun facts, guests will be divided into groups and enter the shallow waters of the Stingray Lagoon. Your friendly guide will be on hand as you get up-close and personal during a feeding session using specially designed feeding trays. Feel the rush as the stingray takes the food right from the palm of your hand and even pet these amazing animals as they go up and down the feeding ramp.

Next, don some snorkel gear and head out further into the lagoon as you snorkel amongst the over 40 rays who call Castaway Cay home. After approximately 30 minutes of snorkel time, return to the beach with great memories and stories to tell of your Castaway Rays experience.

Our orientation class took place in the back of Castaway Ray's Stingray Hut.

I was thrilled to find out that my good friends, George and Ann, who I met last summer while on my Adventure by Disney trip to the Southwest were doing the stingray feeding, too. My new friend, Mary Lee also joined our adventure. Adventures are always more fun when doing them with friends.

We were reminded that all the barbs on the stingray’s tails have been trimmed. So we had no worries about being stung. Rays like to hide under the sand and defend themselves with their tails. If you step on one in the wild, there is good chance it's tail will whip up and hit you in the foot or leg. The results are a very, very painful sting. It is always a good idea to do the "stingray shuffle" which simply means shuffling your feet along the sand once you enter the water. It lets the rays know you are coming and they will move.

Mary Lee, George and Ann are ready for the adventure to begin.

We were separated into groups of 10 or so. A floating feeding tray is placed in the water for each group.

All the rays are southern stingrays and all but one or two are female. Disney has trained the stingrays to come into the feeding tray. Here comes the first one for her breakfast. Food choices for today were shrimp, calamari and stingray jello. All the food items were cleaned and looked like they were ready to be cooked for our lunch.

Our instructor showed us the Mickey Mouse cutout we would be using as part of the feeding.

For those not familiar with feeding southern stingrays, here's a little info. Their mouths are on the under side or bottom of their bodies. They swim over your hand as you hold the food and the rays suck the food into their mouths.

When I first booked this excursion, I made a quick trip to SeaWorld to practice feeding these creatures. At SeaWorld's Stingray Lagoon, the rays are much smaller and you are given little fish about 4 or 5 inches long. Not really "given the fish", you have to buy trays of fish for approx. $7. You hold the stinky fish between your fingers with the palm of your hand down and the rays glide over your hand. It took me a while to get used to the odd feeling.

Here's at Castaway Cay, the rays are much larger and I think I was supposed to hold my palms up instead of down. Rays don't have teeth but they have gums that are strong enough to break open clams, mussels and other mollusks. The reason I'm sharing this info with you is as I began feeding one of the rays, I think it mistakenly thought my new acrylic finger nails were part of its meal plan, maybe a clam, and it chomped on two of my finger tips. No big deal but it was a surprise!

As it turns out, later in the week I spent the day at Discovery Cove in Orlando and had a chance to feed another type of stingray, Cownose rays and their feeding style was completely different, too. Fellow cruisers Masayo and Nozomi joined me for a great day at Discovery Cove but I’ll have to save that story for another blog.

After the feeding, which lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, we were given the opportunity to snorkel. However once the feed trays were removed from the water most of the stingrays disappeared. I don't remember them talking about how to snorkel during the introduction session. I had snorkeled once and it was a long time ago so a few tips would have been helpful.

Here's some additional information about the stingray adventure provided by Disney:
Port of Call: Castaway Cay Activity Type: Beach & Water Activity Level: Moderate Duration: 1 hour Price: Adult: $35 (ages 10 and up)
Child: $29 (ages 5-9) Ages: 5 And Up Additional Information Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult 18 or older.

Castaway Rays is located by Teen Beach, at the end of Family Beach. It is recommended to leave 10-15 minutes to walk to the Stingray Hut before your ticket time.
Snorkel equipment is for use in the Stingray lagoon only.

After the stingray adventure, we walked over to the Head's Up Bar. Most of us tried the Island Specialty drink, a Konk Kooler made with light and dark rum, cream of coconut, passion fruit, orange and pineapple juices. Yummy.......

George, Ann, Carolyn, Jill and Mary Lee

Jill and Carolyn who are affectionately known as "The Screamers" because they get so excited about everything. These ladies made the cruise a ton of extra fun for me and my fellow cruisers.

It was here at the Head's Up Bar, we ran into a wedding party with a somewhat unusual theme. Go Gators!

Next we decided to have a lunch at Cookie's BBQ. This was my first time trying Cookie's because on my past visits I have always gone out to the adult's only beach, Serenity Bay. There is a small BBQ and picnic area just before you reach the adult beach.

The two places are like day and night. Cookie's is just off the family beach and it was busy, busy, busy. But on a positive note, it was a ton of fun when Lilo and Stitch came dancing by.

As I worked my way through the line, I was disappointed that they were not serving the great steak sandwiches that I enjoyed at the adult BBQ area on every past visit. I worked my way through the line and realized that I had nothing on my plate because I was waiting to find the steak sandwiches. So back in line I go again, this time I sampled the BBQ Chicken and mini Mahi-Mahi Sandwiches both were very good. After lunch I planned to go back to the ship to get ready for my spa appointment at 3 pm. In my world, plans have a way of changing quickly and at a moment's notice.........

Next up, 2 unplanned hours on Castaway Cay looking for the hiding Steve Barrett, a second lunch, the spa treatment (my first) and dinner with Masayo and Nozomi at Palo.