We Made It!

Well, we made it! We left Islip MacArthur Airport on Southwest flight 2261 this evening, after all of our Easter festivities. The flight departed 10 minutes early and arrived 20 minutes early. I guess the pilot was in a rush to get home. It was a terrific flight-- Magoo sat with Daddy and Pumpkin sat with me. She fell asleep as soon as the sun went down, and woke up five minutes before we landed. Magoo, on the other hand, was ver excited to be on the plane. He and Daddy played games, colored, talked, bonded... It was heartwarming to look across the aisle and see the two of them chumming around. I gotta tell you, my husband is a great dad. I really lucked out in that department-- And so did my kids. (On a side note, I haven't spoken with my own father since New Year's Eve 2002. He has never met the kids. Incidentally, he works at Disney. Every time we come here, I always get nervous that I might run into him. I have no idea what I would say. But, I digress...)  It was a very, very pleasant flight. I'm proud to say that my kids were extremely well-behaved. 

Since we didn't have a very full flight, we picked up our luggage right away. Since we came in after 10pm, Disney's Magical Express Luggage Service was closed for the evening. Nonetheless, we grabbed our bags and headed to Disney's Magical Express.  We got right onto our bus, headed to the Caribbean Beach Resort, checked in, and made it to our room. We are staying in a Pirate Room: Standard View in the Trinidad section of the resort.

My reaction to the room as soon as we walked in:  Okay, this is pretty cool.

Magoo, on the other hand, had an entirely different reaction. He ran around the room, trying to form words that just wouldn't come out coherently: Momarite! Dadachoo! Yargh! MOM! Pirate! Finally, he turned around and shouted, "I LOVE YOU!!!!! Yeah, score one for mommy here.

The room really is cool. The first thing you notice are the pirate beds, which are cool without anything else in the room. But there is just so much more. First, the carpeting looks like wooden planks. The furniture looks like wooden crated and barrels, but they have secret drawers and doors.  There is even an etching of the Flying Dutchman on the wall of the shower. A very, very cool room, indeed. Even my princess-oriented daughter got caught up in Magoo's excitement. While I'm sure Pumpkin would much prefer the Royal Guestroom we stayed in at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort a year or so ago, she totally got into the pirate beds. She even wanted to sleep with the gold dubloon bed runner (or whatever it is called) wrapped around her. The kids are super, super excited. You can't help but get caught up in their excitement. It's just so much fun.

Speaking of fun, I received an email from Disney Guest Services while we were at the airport. This email invited me and my family to go to the Be Our Guest Restaurant this week for lunch! They are testing some sort of new program, and they need people to eat there. Considering this restaurant is completely booked up this week for lunch, I jumped at the chance.  My friend Christine is bringing her daughter this week, and could only get dinner reservations there on Saturday night. All they asked us to do was order our meals before we got there online. I guess this is some sort of test program for the Magic Bands.

OH! Speaking of the Magic Bands, they are working fabulously so far. We were able to check in for our Magical Express, the hotel and even use it as a key to open the door to our room. Very, very cool. 

My 10 year wedding anniversary is next year. I keep thinking about coming back to Disney, but staying in one of the deluxe resorts. Hubby and I know that we want to go away, but our anniversary happens to fall during the kids' Easter break next year. We really should take them with us... So, why not live it up at Disney? I guess I need to make this an amazing trip for Hubby so that he goes along with my idea.  Shouldn't be too difficult!