Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Disney Magic

We had a truly magical vaction on board the Disney Magic. It was literally the best vacation ever! Everything was wonderful from the characters to the on board activities to the beaches and pools to the food. Between the two of them Mom and Tim even won nearly $1000 playing Bingo! We simply had a fantastic time together and made many family memories I will cherish forever!
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The highlight of our week came when we were invited to attend an "exclusive" event Friday evening. As you'll see from the pictures in the following posts Reagan and Kennedy thoroughly enjoyed the characters and several times throughout the week we were asked for our room number and/or the girl's names after a character event. I expected we might find a cute toy or something of that nature in our room as a special gift before we left. As it turned out when we returned to our room after our day at Castaway Cay Friday afternoon we had a special invitation waiting specifically addressed to Reagan and Kennedy.
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Because the invitation was for an event a bit late in the evening and I wasn't sure what "exclusive" meant we asked our waiter (Uncle Ivan) if he recommended going. He had never seen an invitation like it before so he brought someone who works with the characters to our table to give us more information. When she came to our table and saw the invitation she raised her eyebrows and said "Wow! You received one of these? About nine families on board receive an invitation like this and you don't want to miss it!"
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Given that there are between 2100-2500 people on board the cruise that did seem pretty exclusive. As it turned out most of the people who received invitations were family members of the crew and Reagan and Kennedy were 2 of about 5 children who were invited. The special event turned out to be nothing short of amazing! We were basically able to visit with all the characters in a completely unihibited and unguarded space. As you'll see below there were so many characters around the girls it was a bit of a challenge at times to get a good picture. lol :) It was as if the tables had been turned and the characters were now standing in line to see Reagan and Kennedy!
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As amazing as the characters were all week with the girls they were incredible Friday night! It was obvious they must have been enjoying Reagan and Kennedy every bit as much as our little girls had been enjoying them!
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I love, love, love this picture! It's probably my favorite of the trip!
Kennedy eating up all the attention from Snow White and Cinderella. At one point Dale was spelling Kennedy's name in the air to other characters that didn't know Kennedy as well. Too much fun! :)
This might be my second favorite picture. How much cooler can a baby get than having Dale and Snow White help you walk?
Snow White protecting Kennedy from Captain Hook (that's his hand)
It was so cool to be able to get pictures of both Mickey and Minnie at the same time because ordinarily you never get to see them together!
Mickey Mouse helping Kennedy walk while Minnie cheers her on. :) Okay, that might be as cool as Snow White and Dale helping her walk. lol :)
Cute kids with two of our most favorite characters
Kennedy had lots of love
and kisses for Minnie Mouse
Holding court...
Seriously, could life possibly get any better for a two year old????


Snow White showing Reagan around, these two were definitely friends by the end of the week :)
Having a chat with the princesses :)
Someone made a comment about Reagan getting a picture with all the princesses when this was taken but Reagan was quick to point out that Snow White was missing! Still a pretty lucky little girl to get a picture with three princesses all at once! :)
Dad later told me he doesn't know if he's ever seen Tim enjoy himself so much. It was a pretty special event and I don't know when the last time I enjoyed myself so much was so I can't blame Tim a bit for having a blast!
Stich stealing Grammy's shoe. Reagan wasn't familiar with Stich before the cruise and the first time she saw him walking somewhere she exclaimed "What is THAT???" Well she got to meet him Friday night and she's still talking about how naughty he was!
Reagan rescuing Grammy's shoe from Stich only to have her left shoe stolen!
Except for a show we saw one evening, this was the only time we saw Peter Pan. Peter Pan told Reagan to come and visit him in Neverland. :) I don't know what else they discussed but since we've gotten home she keeps asking us "Was Peter Pan so silly?" and then she just giggles.
Getting some big hugs from Goofy!
Mickey Mouse liked Grammy too!
Reagan having an important discussion with Mickey
Another picture with Minnie AND Mickey! :)

A couple of videos of our truly magical evening with all the Disney characters


In this video you can hear Tim ask me if he should get Kennedy. When he went up to ask if Mickey and Minnie were ready for us to take Kennedy back they shook their heads no and refused to let us have her. We sure love Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

There were also some dancers from the shows there that evening. One of the characters, I don't remember which one, even brought up a couple of the dancers to meet Kennedy. It was so cute because one said "Oh, here's who you've been talking about." :)

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All the characters were wonderful but I have to say our favorites and the ones who truly went out of their way to make the week special for us were Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Snow White. Both Mom and I sang their praises in our evaluations but I sure wish there was a way we could personally thank them for giving our girls (and all of us) such a magical experience!

Chip And Dale

The girls had a wonderful time with all the characters! This was especially true of Mickey, Minnie and Snow White but I think the favorite for both of them were Chip and Dale. And it's no wonder as wonderful as they were with the girls! :)
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If you had asked me before the cruise if Reagan knew who Chip and Dale were, I would have said no. Much to my surprise, however, after Reagan saw Mickey and Minnie the first night she started asking where Chip and Dale were. Reagan would walk up to any random person inquiring if they had seen the infamous chipmunks. Once as we walked through the door of a restroom Reagan asked everyone "Are Chip and Dale in here?!?!?" Poor Reagan had to wait until Monday morning at our character breakfast to first meet them and I think until Tuesday to see them out and about. She and Kennedy surely did love them and Chip and Dale were absolutely amazing playing with both girls!


Rolling and giggling on the floor together! lol :)
As you can see from her face Reagan was every bit as excited to see her favorite chipmunks later in the week! :) Dale and Reagan had a great time dancing and spinning together! Look at that smile! lol :)

Chip and Kennedy decided it was time to leave the scene and headed off through the crowd...
This is probably my favorite video from the cruise. It's of Chip and Dale following Reagan's lead in jumping/dancing in excitement over seeing each other. It's so funny! lol :) It brings a smile to my face everytime I think of it. :) Chip and Dale rock! :)

On second thought, this may be my favorite video. :) This was the first time we let Kennedy get down on the floor and crawl up to the characters. As soon as Chip and Dale saw her coming they got down on the floor and started crawling too which prompted Reagan to do the same. I didn't catch it all on this video, but as you can see in the pictures above the chipmunks were not only crawling but literally rolling around on the floor playing with the girls. What a hoot and so much fun! :)
Once Chip and Dale were spending so much time with the girls I was starting to get truly concerned that we needed to scoop the girls up and let some other people have a turn. When I tried though the character people actually stopped me and kept directing the chipmunks and the girls to keep playing. I believe someone took our room number and/or the girl's names down nearly every time we ran into Chip and Dale because the four of them were so funny and had so much fun together. lol :)

Mickey Mouse

A family picture with Captain Mickey our first night on board the ship before dinner. The lines to see the characters on the ship were super short. All the characters are so accessible and so much fun! So even though we didn't know Mickey was going to be outside our dining room and hadn't planned time to see him, it was easy to hop into the quick line for our first Mickey visit and not be late for dinner.
And I'm glad the lines were short and easy because Reagan obviously couldn't wait to meet Mickey Mouse!
Reagan's first mouse hug!!! Could you ask for a more perfect Mickey Mouse picture?
The girls running/crawling to see Captain Pirate Mickey
Kennedy had hugs for Mickey too!
Mickey Mouse you're so funny! lol :)
This was the only time I saw Mickey Mouse get down on the floor and crawl (in his tux no less) but Kennedy obviously loved it and I'm sure he did it because she was so determined to get to him all on her own! :) This is one of my favorite pictures from the cruise. I love the interaction/play it shows between the girls and Mickey! :)
Come on people, why would I want to look at the camera when I can play and look at Mickey Mouse??? Reagan on the other hand is cracking me up with her posing which is completely out of character for her. :)
Reagan sharing a good joke and giggle with Mickey Mouse
Grammy needed a family picture with Sorcerer Mickey for when she teaches using the Sorcer's Apprentice in school this year
Reagan was so excited to see Mickey Mouse for the first time. It was so cute because she went running up and then came right back like she didn't realize she could actually go sit and see him! lol :) She was certainly not shy! :)

Minnie Mouse

The first time Reagan saw Minnie Mouse she went wild! It was adorable as she danced and spun and squealed in delight with Minnie!!! Even the people around us were making comments about how cute she was and how she couldn't contain herself she was so excited. It was absolutely priceless!
Simply Ecstatic!!!
Too excited for words!!!
Happy girls with Wizard Minnie
Love this picture of Mom and the girls with Pirate Minnie
Kennedy giving Pirate Minnie a well deserved kiss (wish I could get some kisses once in a while but I guess Mom isn't as fun as Minnie Mouse! :)
Cute beach girls giving each other a hug after a fun day at the beach
High 5's for Minnie Mouse!

This is one of my favorite memories and videos from our trip. Reagan was so extremely excited to see Minnie Mouse for the first time. I wish I had gotten more of this on tape and especially of them spinning together but this video is still so cute! :)

Somehow I never had the camera rolling at the times Missy K got most excited about the characters. I always barely missed her squealing and laughing in delight. This video is still pretty cute though as it does show both girls enjoying their time with a wonderfully patient Minnie Mouse! :)

Kennedy had a great time with the characters too. As soon as she would see one she would struggle to get down on the floor to get to them. Here is a video of her doing her level best to get back to Wizard Minnie before someone spoils her plans again...