Saturday, April 19th, 2008
Our First Night of Magic

Our most-wonderful TA was able to get us switched to main-dining, so our dinner time was at 6pm. After wandering around deck 10 for a bit, we went back to the stateroom to enjoy our verandah and freshen up before dinner. Since had cabin 6138, and Parrot Cay wasn't far from where we were, I believe we actually left the stateroom at 6pm. - This is the biggest difference between WDW and the Cruise that I absolutely adore. You are never from where you need to be.

As we made our way across the center floor, we could really feel the boat rockin- and rollin'. So much so, that our assistant server, Eniko, spread her arms out, like an airplane, and veered from side to side on the way across. We followed suit and it was really fun. We were the first to arrive at our table. Our tablemates were a couple in their early 40's who left their triplet girls home. They were big Disney fans, this was their second cruise, they went to Disney often, but weren't sure if DVC was right for them. We and our other tablemates - a family of three from NJ that included a state senator, his wife, and their 10-year old son, who were also DVC members- spent the next few nights explaining how great DVC would be for their family. From what I understand, they eventually met with the DVC reps on board and even made an appointment to see the models when they got off the ship.

Our server, Rolly, was difficult to understand, had trouble getting our food orders straight, and was pretty dull. The one thing I had been looking forward to from all the hype on the boards was how great the dining staff was and how they got to know you and knew your preferences and were entertaining and took care of the kids. He did nothing of that sort. Eniko was the shining light, and was more attentive than he was. (We wound up tipping her more than we tipped him.) I truly do not remember what I had for dinner. It was tasty, but I wouldn't write to Tom Colicchio about it. After dinner, Rolly told us about that evening's show and how we would be at Key West tomorrow and dining at Lumiere's that night.

We went back to the stateroom to relax on the verandah before the show. I was looking at the navigator when Jordan said she wanted to check out the kids club that night. Since the show said it was a "variety show", I figured she wouldn't be missing much. This would be a great opportunity for her to practice navigating around the ship. We told her where the kids club was and had her lead us there. We taught her how to look at the signs, follow the arrows, and look for "landmarks." We taught her about "aft", "forward", "mid ship", "port" and "starboard" and how our stateroom was "level 6 aft, port side" and the kids' club was "level 5 midship". She led us to the aft elevators; but since it was taking so long, we decided to take the stairs. Once we got up the stairs, we helped her figure out which direction to walk to get to the kids' club. She was so excited to get to use her "big kid" privileges." We got there and watched and waited while she checked herself in. Good Girl! Off to the show.

I must say, it felt really strange not having her there beside us. That feeling would wear off around day 3. The show was really cute. I certainly wasn't expecting it have the whole song and dance and characters. I was disappointed that Jordan missed it. I must say; we are morning people. We are up at 5:30am and in bed by 9pm every day. We were really tired by the end of the show and, although we had no child in tow, we really weren't interested in "clubbing it". We stopped by the kids club on the way back from the show to check on Jordan. The kids' club staff was really great and let us right in to see her. She was having a ton of fun and wasn't interested in leaving with us, so we told her to check herself out and have them page us when she was on her way back to the stateroom.

Our stateroom hostess, had been in and Jordan's webkin and manatee were on her made bed and a cool Mickey head towel arrangement with chocolates was on ours. I wasn't in the mood for any sweets, so I tucked them away - so DH wouldn't gobble them down  We sat on the verandah for a while. The moon was full (well almost it was full the next night) and bright and lit up the ocean as we went by. I think it was in those moments in the ocean air, watching the light from the moon dance across the ripples on the water, that DH decided that we would most-definitely be doing this again. We went inside after a while and DH explored the TV and I perused Sunday's navigator while waiting for the pager to alert us that DD was on her way. We fell asleep waiting. At 12:01, the pager finally buzzed. We decided to see how she did making it back and using her key card. By 12:03 we heard the card in the slot and the clicking of the lock. "Back so soon? Were you getting tired?" "No. They made me come back. They said they were closing." I smiled as she changed into the jammies I had laid out for her and climbed into her bed hugging her fuzzy friends. She was snoring before her head hit the pillow - and I wasn't far behind.

up next: Key West or It's five o'clock somewhere...