Disney Cruise - Topside

This is part 3 of a continuing series about cruising on the Disney Magic (here's part 2).

The words "getting there is half the fun" could hardly be more true than when you are on a Disney Cruise. Although the ports of call beckon, the moment we stepped on board the Magic we knew we were in a special place.

Although you board at Deck 3 midships, let's go for a quick look topside (don't worry, we'll come back below decks in a future installment).

The ships of the Disney Cruise line are designed to evoke an era of cruising in grand style. Natural wood finishes and elegant design touches are ubiquitous:

As one might expect, the decorative Mickeys are present in abundance. The most frequent use of Mickey may be in the Disney Cruise Line logo, which is present in large and small scales:

Decorative Mickeys also appear in their "classic" form. Here's an example from the Wide World of Sports deck:

Some of my personal favorites are visible at the ship's bow:

This pool may be the largest decorative Mickey:

Notice that Mickey's hand is supporting the water slide. If you examine the large version of the image carefully, you might also spot Sorcerer Mickey's hat in the background!

As one would expect, the cruise provides ample opportunity to encounter Disney characters in a more direct fashion:

Next time, we'll go below decks to check out more of the Disney Geek goodness.

Disney Cruise : Pre-Boarding

Welcome back. This is part 2 of a series about Cruising on the Disney Magic:

In our last installment, we were taking a look at the details to be found on the exterior of the Cruise Terminal:

The details continue inside the terminal building itself, so let's go in and take a look. Here's the main room of the terminal building:

After a brief pause to take it all in, we start by looking up. Notice all the "wave" motifs present in the ceiling? Let's also take a look at the base of each of the columns, where the "rope" at the bottom of each column evokes images of pilings at a pier:

Oh, and did I mention it was the holiday season?

Now that we've finished "looking up", let's not forget to LOOK DOWN also. In this case the floor is an amazing scale map of Florida and the Bahamas:

In the middle of the room is a model of the Disney Magic -- and it's a cutaway!

(If we're lucky, perhaps Captain Mickey will come ashore and greet us in person...)

If we step out onto the back deck, we can see the Magic herself:

But what we're all waiting for is for these doors to open ...

... and for our boarding group to be called:

Next time - Setting Sail!