Woke up at 7:00 for our character Breakfast in Parrot Cay.  There were plenty of characters making their rounds and even though we have older kids, they made sure they stopped by to visit.

The girls had to leave for a while, to go make their reservations for hair braiding.  You would think they could have picked a better time to do this, since there was only an hour window to register and it was during one of the character breakfasts. At 10:00 we went to Beat Street for the DVC member reception.  There were so many DVC members on board (500), they had to have to separate meetings, one at 10:00 and another one immediately following it at 11:00.  They gave out raffles tickets and if your number was called, you were asked a question and upon answering correctly, you won of a number of DVC prizes.  Don't worry about not knowing the answer.  The DVC member guides gave us plenty of hints.  We won one of the coveted DVC bags. I also learned that after finishing Saratoga Springs, there might be another DVC resort built on or next to Eagle Pines.

After the DVC get-together, we went back to the room and sat on the veranda waiting for thr Magic to dock in Key West.  When the call came to go ashore, I went to put in my contacts, but couldn't find them.  I had removed the right before dinner the night before and left them next to the sink.  We searched all over and couldn't find them anywhere.  I let Austin know and he said he would have the laundry and garbage checked.  The only thing I can think is that in his haste cleaning the room, Austin picked up the contacts with  the towels or garbage.  Later on in the week, Judy couldn't find her razor either, which she had been keeping on the soap dish in the shower.  It's a good warning that you make sure you put things away where they can't be thrown out by mistake.

We walked off of the ship in Key West and had lunch at the Hog's Breath Saloon.  Nice place to eat.  They had veggie burgers and fish and chips and fish sandwiches that we could eat.  I even tried their own beer.  Then we all shared two pieces of key lime pie.

The Magic docked in Key West 

We then went to look for the Old Town Trolley.  I chose this over the Conch Train, since you are allowed to get off and back on at any one of its nine stops.  We had trouble finding the ticket counter, because the maps of Key West aren't that detailed once you're in Mallory Square.  We found it eventually, but missed the 2:30 trolley.  So we browsed around one of the gift shops and hopped on the 3:00 trolley.  If you're going to do the trolley, get an earlier start than we did, because the last trolley back is 4:30 and it's a ninety minute trip.  

Both trolley guides were great and added local color as they shouted to passersby that they knew and gave a lot of detail on all the passing sites.  We got out at stop three to go to the top of the Crown Plaza Hotel, which had a great view of the island.  We then walked the block to Margaritaville to check it out.  We got back on the next trolley and wouldn't you know it, the driver's name was Margarita! The gentleman below on the left came out of the Key Lime Shop to offer his wares as we passed by.  We finished the tour and headed back to the ship after buying some soda and water and Millie's Convenience Store.

Dinner tonight was in Parrot Cay.  Everyone had the Potato-crusted Grouper, while I tried the Mixed Grill without the sausage.  For our next cruise, this is the one menu I would give up and go to Palo instead.  Better yet, had I realized I was going to APLAPLA instead of the LPALPAL rotation I expected, I would have scheduled the Western Schooner Sunset Cruise. We didn't do it, since in expecting to be in Animator's Palete, the kids did not want to miss the show. Don't get me wrong, dinner was good, but the choices are more limited for us than on other nights.  After dinner, we went back off the ship to Mallory Square for the sunset.  The only problem was that we didn't go early enough, getting to the square just as the sun was setting.  However, there were a lot of sail boats in the water to check out and the street performers and the nighttime activity was an experience, to say the least.

We went to the 10:00 cabaret show and sat with John, Jeanne and Amy.  Bruce Block, who performed the night before at the Welcome Aboard Variety Show, did a hilarious performance.  Using some guy Eddie from the audience, he did a bit taking a $r100 bill from Eddie and making it disappear.  Mind you, Eddie was a big guy, which made it all the more funny.  We saw Eddie a couple of times more during the week at other shows and Judy and I were convinced he was a shill or something, since everyone seemed to know him.  We then stayed for Match Your Mate, which is always a fun show, especially if you get three good couples who play along.  As a matter of fact, when the guys came back after their wives were asked the questions, each one of them sat with another's wife!  We went back to our stateroom by midnight and I read out on the verandad until it was time for bed.