Dining Magic

It all starts with black & white

As previously mentioned, our first night on the ship called for us to eat in Animator’s Palette.  For those of you who haven’t sailed with Disney Cruise Line before, or if you have but have only sailed on the more recent ships (Disney Dream or Disney Fantasy), the three dining rooms onboard the Disney Magic are Animator’s Palette (A), Parrot Cay (P) and Lumiere’s (L).  Disney Cruise Line revolutionized the industry back when the Disney Magic was first introduced by offering “rotational dining”, whereby each night you eat in a different restaurant/dining room.  You either have the main (early) or second (late) seating, and each night you and your wait staff, move to another location.  How neat is that?!  That’s pretty neat.  We were on the second seating, and our rotation was A, P, L, A, P, L, A.  And with the information about Animator’s Palette only undergoing the beautiful transformation from “black & white” to “color” on your first time dining in that location, we absolutely had to eat there the first night.  Plus we wanted to be able to meet our table mates as well.  

Animator's Palette soon after we arrived

The transformation has begun

Traveling without children meant that we would be eating with other guests, for certain.  We would either be with 2, 4 or 6 other guests.  We ended up at a table for 8, so 6 other guests.  None of them had children.  There was one couple - also traveling without their children, and then two pairs of women, each traveling separately but with a friend.  As it turned out, too, our table was filled with travel professionals!  You can imagine then what a good amount of our table conversation throughout the week consisted off – especially on that first night.  But throughout the course of the week we had such a good time getting to know each other better, sharing life stories and just laughing and laughing.  That definitely was something we would not have experienced had we brought the children along on the voyage.  Instead of mixing and mingling with 6 other adults, we would have most likely been situated at a table for 6, with an empty chair throughout the week. 

Derrick & Dennis

Dennis, our server, and Derrick, our assistant server took fantastic care of all of us throughout the voyage.  They sure made each meal fun, interesting and quite enjoyable.  We learned that Dennis had been with Disney Cruise Line since its’ inception, and in fact was on the inaugural crew for the Magic – and despite offers, has never transferred to another ship.  He really enjoys the smaller, more intimate feel of the Magic, vs. the grander scale of the Dream and the Fantasy.  He has considered the Wonder, but really loves the Magic.  Derrick, on the other hand, had only been with the line for about 7 months and does want to sample other ships when he is able to at some point in the future, but until then really enjoys working onboard the Magic.

My lovely bride's appetizer:
Sesame-flavored Rock Shrimp &
Caramelized Onion Cheesecake

Confetti Tomato Salad

The rotational concept really does add a lot to the overall cruise vacation experience, in my opinion.  First, you get to sample the various designs and stylings of each dining room that the imagineers went to great lengths to include when crafting the ship; and then you also get the fun and vibe that each location brings, through different costumes for the servers, music and overall ambiance.  Plus the menu selections vary somewhat based on the individual dining rooms as well.  Having cruised before (just me, not my lovely bride), I enjoyed that my server in the dining room kind of knew by the end of the cruise what I wanted to drink – but onboard the Disney ship – WOW – by the second day Derrick, was bringing us the correct beverages, and by the third night Dennis was intuiting what each guest at the table would enjoy best from the menu selection.  He had a pretty darn good accuracy rate too after just a couple of meals – well over 60%.  By the last couple of nights he was 100% correct, from appetizer selection, to entrees and dessert.  It was almost fun to “test” him and see how he would do. 

The artwork over our table
by the end of the meal

The artwork over our table
when we sat down

Dessert Trio Sampler (I didn't get a
dessert menu picture, so I can't
tell you exactly what these are)

I have more to share on the dining aspect, but am going to save those things for another entry.  So for now, I bid you adieu, or as Mickey likes to say, see ya real soon!

Until next time,