Day 3 Aboard the Disney Magic - part 2

Sadly I am reaching the end of my vacation documentation. If you need a refresher, you can see all the posts here.

So when I came home I spent the first few days meticulously going through and editing my pictures. Once I narrowed down the 800 (yes, seriously, over 800!) pictures to the ones I wanted to post, I dove in to write about my first vacation.

I cranked out the first few posts and saved the drafts, and then life got a little hectic. I wasn't able to write up my final post and that was a HUGE mistake.

Because now here I am 2 weeks later having to write about the saddest part of my cruise! The end! So I am a wee bit sad.

Not to mention that now it's been long enough that my memory is fading a little...

REGARDLESS, let's dive right in to where we left off.

We got back on the ship in Castaway Cay and expected to enjoy some time in the pool.

This here is the Aquadunk. When the ship went into dry dock they completely changed the water slide they had on board. To be honest I was really looking forward to doing the Aquaduck (what used to be there) which was a tube slide that went out over the edge. But they replaced it with this thrill ride that also goes out over the edge of the ship.

You step into the capsule that you can see at the top. You stand there and lean back and then the floor drops out from under you. As you can see it's a pretty quick slide from there, but apparently scary!
I wasn't able to do this slide #fatgirlprobz but my boyfriend rode it and came back absolutely terrified.

After that we made a stop at the little coffee cafe and grabbed some snacks. My bf was amazed that the snacks there were free. We chilled out a little bit there and I had myself a strawberry daquiri.

Next we were finally going to go in the pool! ...until we actually walked over to the pool and discovered it was crowded to the brim! We were bummed out that we couldn't use the pool at all during the trip but then again, we live in Florida. There are pools everywhere! In our backyard, even. So the pool was not the top priority.

After that we soaked up the view a little because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to it!

It's just so beautiful! Like something out of a dream.

After that we rushed to get ready because we wanted to watch the sun set (can't believe we missed it the first few nights!) but that was cutting it short with our show.

I have to say that making sure we watched the sun set was one of our best choices. It was so beautiful and romantic and breathtaking to stand there and watch the sun slip below the sea.

I live on the west coast of Florida so I see a lot of ocean-view sunsets but there's nothing like being IN the ocean with nothing around for miles.

This is one of my favorite pictures, I just love the lighting of the sunset behind us.

After it set completely we rushed to the theater to see the last show. We had heard lots of great things about this show, in fact it apparently won an Emerald award, which is awarded to the best show in a cruiseline in the world. So that must mean something, right?!

As we were about to find a seat (right in the front! Showing up early pays!) the usher said to me "So how was snorkeling?!" I must have gave her a weird look while I was trying to remember if I had mentioned snorkeling to this cast member. That's when she told me she was the one that rented me the snorkels! I was amazed that she remembered me & that I had said it was my first time. This is just one of many examples of how the customer service at Disney (in the parks, hotels, or cruise) is out of this world. They remember every face and make it their duty to make sure you know that you're special.

The last night's show was great. No spoilers but it was kind of narrarated by my one and only Peter Pan, so I was delighted at that. It had a lot of different characters from stories, as you can see above Timon & Pumbaa, Cinderella, Prince Charming and the fairy godmother.

The show was definitely inspiring and beautifully done and just so great all around! It brought me to tears at the end.

After the show we found ourselves in the hallway where a bunch of Officers of the ship and the cruise director herself were standing around with their lanyards trading pins with people. It was a little bit of a frenzy! We are total assholes so we quickly went into the shop and bought a few "mystery pins" because they are only a few bucks- we only wanted them to trade.
So we went around and looked at some of the pins...and that's when it happened. I laid eyes on the pin I knew I had to have.
Guess what it was...

a That's So Raven pin!!!! Whaaaat? I know! I have NEVER seen a pin for a TV show, much less alone a show that has been off the air for 10 years. I about flipped and was so excited.

Here's what it looks like. This is not my picture, this is one I found on ebay...there are actually a few listings of it for very cheap! What the heck! Who knew! Do these people not know the treasure they hold on to????

Anyyyyway, after the trading event it was time for dinner. Our last night's dinner was at Lumiere's, the Beauty and the Beast-styled French restaurant. Out of all the included restaurants, this one is the fanciest.

So...in the spirit of 'when in rome'...or in this case 'france'.....

I TRIED ESCARGOT!!!!!!

If you know me, you know that this is a very huge deal. I never would have guessed that I would willingly try ...snails. But here I was, being adventurous and shit. It wasn't bad!! I was surprised. I didn't exactly love it but it didn't have much of a taste. Just a chewy consistency that I wasn't too fond of. I didn't finish them but I am really proud of myself for stepping waaayy outside of my comfort zone and trying them.

Have you ever tried Escargot? What was your opinion on it? Or, what is the craziest thing you've ever eaten? That was a discussion we got into at dinner. They also served Duck but I just couldn't bring myself to try that! Ducks are cute!

For dinner I ate oven baked salmon royale crowned with a king smoked salmon horseradish crust with sauteed swiss charg, truffled cauliflower puree, and a chive buerre blanc....I don't know what most of that means but I CAN tell you that I was unimpressed. I didn't like it very much. The waitress offered to bring something else out and I honestly should have taken her up on it. But we were already behind in being served so I didn't want to make a big deal.

We ended up being one of the last tables to eat dessert and while we were waiting for it to come out, our waiter gave us some brain teasers that stumped us all. I really loved our waiter he was so nice and funny. It was also a nice last dinner to have with our table-mates. I really liked all of them and I was so glad we all got along.

This dessert was my favorite. I got the trio which includes 3 minis of the popular desserts. Boy, am I glad I did that!
From left to right it is mango cheesecake, tahitian vanilla creme brulee, and dark chocolate infused peanut butter mousse. It was all sooo delicious! Honestly if we hadn't been given an additional dessert (see below) I would have ordered a full size of the creme brulee. It was so fricken delicious!!

So then after we are nice and full they come over with a special dessert for us. Since we were celebrating our 3 year anniversary, we made a note of it during our reservations. We were so delighted when they brought us out this special dessert and cruise-exclusive pins!

I loved the pins- see how they say DCL and look like the port window? So sweet! Even though people kept asking us if we were married after we put them on. You're allowed to have a happy ending without marriage, people!

The dessert was very special and delicious. It was such a nice touch for them to end the cruise on. It made us feel really special.

One of my favorite things about Lumiere's is the light fixtures...as you can see they are modeled after the famous rose from the Beauty and the Beast story.

After dinner we were positioned in exactly the right spot for all the action. The atrium! We waited in a horrific line at guest services to try and settle our bill (which, we ended up not even having to do because it wasn't as much as we thought) and wait for the Final Farewell party.

The final farewell was so special! Most of the characters came out for a last chance meet and greet and it was so great to see so many people all at once. In addition to the characters like Mickey, Minnie, the princesses, etc. there were also a lot of actors from the shows!

I immediately saw my favorite girl (evil stepsister/ Yzma/ dancer) and watched her while we were in line at guest services. I wanted to go say hi to her so bad and tell her how much I loved her performances. While I was watching her I didn't see a single person go up to her and I felt so bad, I wanted to run up and give her a big hug. FINALLY we were able to leave the line and I ran up to her and caught her RIGHT as they were saying the meet and greet time was over.
I quickly told her how much I enjoyed her performances and she was so tickled. I think I made her day. She was so happy to be recognized, because she wasn't in her Yzma or Stepsister costume, so no one knew it was her! But I got to see her and get a picture so that made me happy.

I also met the guy who played Scar in Villains Tonight!

Finally, all the characters lined up the stairs and did the famous song...

Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company...M-I-C See you real soon! K-E-Y Why? Because we like you! M-O-U-S-E 

I would be lying if I told you I didn't tear up during this part. It was so sad!!

After the party it was 10:30 and I really wanted to do the pop culture trivia game. I am so glad it wasn't a game where you get picked because I chickened out of playing at the last moment. It was kind of a free for all. I'm also glad I didn't play because a lot of the so called pop culture trivia was DATED! Update your trivia, Disney!

So we finished with that around 11 and at this point remembered that we were supposed to have our bags in the hallway for pick up....by 10:30! Whoops!!! We weren't even packed yet so clearly there was no way for us to do that. We were so busy after dinner I don't know how we would have even had the time, even if we were all packed up! I don't know how they expect you to do that.

So we ended up having to lug our luggage ourselves but it wasn't that bad since we didn't have that much.

We spent the rest of our last night exploring the deck a little bit and wishing with all our might it didn't have to end.

We went back to the room, packed, and then passed out. The next morning we had breakfast at Lumiere's. Breakfast had most of the same things that the buffet did, just in menu form. Unfortunately immediately after eating, we had to disembark.

So that wraps up our short but memorable trip aboard the Disney Magic!
It was unbelievable and I absolutely think it was worth the money. Of course, we got a huge discount for booking last minute with a florida resident discount.
The food was not mind-blowingly amazing. But the rest of the trip more than made up for it. And in fact I didn't eat that much! Which is a shame in hind sight.

So, any questions about my cruise of Disney cruises in general? Come at me! Thanks for reading about me reminiscing my best weekend!