missusa82
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2011
Bio: We are a family of 5...I'm America (Erica), DH Jose, DD Alyzea (9yrs.), DD Layla (5yrs.), DS Jayon (3yrs.)...we live in Orlando, FL but orginally from New Jersey. Below is a detailed trip report.
To view photos from our cruise visit out personal family website at: http://www.josenerica.com/family/pictures/2011/Disney Dream Cruise/index.html
Disney Dream Cruise
Oct. 30-Nov. 3rd 2001
Oct 30th 2011
Arrival: We left the house around 10:00am. We needed to make a potty break for Jayson in Cocoa at a local publix killed two birds with one stone, I need a few things and cash back so it worked out fine. We arrived at the port at 11:30am. We parked in the parking deck at the port terminal and walked across the bridge into a security check point where they checked our passports and IDs. Had to go through a metal detector and get our carry-ons checked before we could enter the terminal. Check-in went smooth and quick. We didnt wait in line for more than 2 minutes. They gave us our Key To The World (KTTW) cards checked out passports again and took a quick family photo. Our boarding group number was 13. Then we were off to take photos with Minnie or Mickey. As we waited in line the first group was called, followed shortly by group 2 We waited in line for our first Disney Family photo for about 10 minutes. By the time our photo was taken group 9 had already been called. We had a few more groups to go so we went to get the kids checked into youth activities to get their bands. Waited in line for less than a minute, go the kids their bands, and as we were leaving the desk group 13 was called! We were so excited that we practically ran to the gangway entrances.
On the Dream: As we entered the gangway entrance Jose snapped a quick photo of the kids. We walked up to a kiosk and were asked for our KTTW cards and IDs. We were cleared to board. Before boarding there are 3 stations of backdrops and photographers. We snapped our family photo first and a quick one of the kids. I think this is for their face recognition program they use on the ship for all your photos. We stayed to the left (seemed quicker) and were greeted by a young lady asking for our family name and where we are from. An announcement was made, From Orlando, Welcome the Rodriguez Family! We were finally on the Disney Dream! The Atrium was beautiful! We were then directed by another young lady where to go if we were hungry, which was Cabanas on the 11th deck. We wanted to head straight to Palo to make reservations since we could not do so online. We headed to Palo but it was closed and someone said to come back at 1:00pm. So we decided to eat lunch. We went down one deck to find Cabanas, an all you can eat buffet. There is someone handing out antibacterial wipes as you enter. The Disney Staff quick told us how Cabanas works, no lines, just grab and go. We found a table next to the window, dropped our carry-ons off and we headed to the buffet stations. Lunch was good had all the basics, fruit, salads, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, fries, pizza, etc. We ate quickly so we could miss the rush of people wanted to hit the pool after lunch.
Pool Deck: The Pool Deck was buzzing with people. We grabbed some towels found a few chairs to leave our stuff and headed straight to the Mickey Pool. Jose (Husband) and Alyzea (daughter) headed to the Aquaduck. They came back and it was my turn! Alyzea and I waited about 15 minutes to get on and it was completely worth the wait. We got some great photos and videos of the kids in the pool and of us riding the Aquaduck. We hung around the pool until 1:30pm. We were excited to head to our Stateroom 7672.
Stateroom: Our stateroom was located on the 7th deck Aft. We had a Deluxe Family Stateroom Oceanview. Opening the stateroom door was a task. I could not figure it out for the life of me. Thank goodness our stateroom host, Cacila, was close by and she helped us get in. The room was small but comfortable. Very nicely decorated and clean. Lots of closet space and storage. Our luggage had yet to arrive so we left our room to explore the Oceaneers Lab and Oceaneers Club with the kids.
Kids Club: The club is located on the 5th Deck, between Aft and Midship. We asked a few questions we had about the clubs and they let us in to explore. A quick wash of the hand using their fancy hand washing machines and we were on our way. We first explored the Lab. The kids quickly ran to the nearest computer and started to play. I quickly ran to the nearest bathroom to make sure I knew where it was for Jayson, my 3 year old. We let them play for a few minutes while we shot some video. We then headed over to the Club. There is a long room with chairs and tables that connects the 2 clubs together so that children can come and go as they pleased from one cub to another. We headed over the Oceaneers Club where we found Pixie Hallow, Andys Room, more computers and a dance floor. We explored some more and were excited to see what else the ship had so we left and promised the kids we would come back soon.
Midship Detective: We headed towards Midship on the 5th deck and found the Midship Detective Kiosk. The kids wanted to sign up to be detectives so we went through the module and got our badge and map to visit the virtual art throughout the ship. Jose loved this so much! We started right away to find the missing puppies. The first piece of art we visited was on the 5th deck and I was so amazed to see the technology used to create a fun interactive game that all ages could enjoy. Our objective was to find out who stole the missing puppies but collecting clues given at each piece of virtual art. To make a long story short we finished on our day at sea and we were glad to see the person who stole the puppies was behind bars!
Sail Away Party: After visiting the first few pieces of art we decided to take showers before dinner and get ready for our first main dining room experience. We headed straight to our room to find all 3 pieces of luggage had arrived. We still had some time before dinner so I unpacked and hung up all of our clothes. We got ready in our dinner attire which was casual and headed to deck 11 for the Sail Away Party. We had just started to leave port around 5:15pm and wanted to wave bye to all the people watching from land. We took a few photos. It was a windy day so we went to the pool deck to find some chairs to sit in while we watch the land fade into the horizon. We didnt catch much of the Sail Away Party but that was ok. We had sometime before dinner so we went to the Atrium to wait in line for professional photos of the family. This is a must do if you are planning to buy a CD of all the images taken by the ships photographers, which we did!
Dinner: We got ready and headed to The Enchanted Garden on deck 2. We had the early dining at 5:45pm. We snapped some quick photos while we greeted by a long line of servers. The server at the end of the line escorted us to our table number 73. This is the table number you will have during your entire voyage at all main dining rooms. Enchanted Gardens was beautiful. You felt like you were in a large courtyard while tons of flowers and greenery. During your dinner the sky colors would change from day to night. Our head server was Constantine, from Romania, and our assistance server was Armania from Jamaica. The food was good. Jose and I each ordered 2main courses and the kids ordered the basics, chicken and fries. We also ordered 2 desserts each so that we could have a taste of everything. Had a nice cup of coffee and it was time to head to our 8:30pm show, The Golden Mickeys!
Show: We had sometime before the show so we headed to check out the shops just outside the theater. I quickly found an album for my scrapbooking and a kit of paper and embellishments for the album. I requested to have it delivered to our room so I didnt have to carry it with me all over the boat. It was time to find out seats. Get there early, doors open at 8pm but the theater fills up quickly. It was just about show time when we were greeting by the ships Creative Director. She mentioned a few things about whats going on after the show and what time we would get to port. Nice lady! Finally the show had begun. It was great, cute, funny, and for all ages! You have to see al 3 shows!
After Show/Party: After the show we dropped the kids off at the Lab for an hour or 2 while we went to go check out the Club Evolution where they were playing Meet Your Mate. We had to make a quick stop to our stateroom to grab our wave phones in case the kids need is. Meet Your Mate is a version of the newlywed game. All who attended were given raffle tickets to win a bottle of champagne. We found a seat and waited for the game to start. After the game was over they started to draw the first ticket for the free bottle of champagne and guess whos ticket number they called? OURS! I was so excited to win something It happened to be Country Night at Evolution we dance a line dance and left to pick up the kids. It was just in time too. We received a text on our wave phone saying the 2 little ones wanted OUT! There were a lot of kids there that night so Im sure that contributed to them feeling overwhelmed. We head back to our stateroom for the night.
Sleep Tight: When we arrive to our stateroom we found our room turned down for the night. All the beds were ready and there was even a cute towel animal and Sleepy chocolate to welcome us to bed. We turned on the TV, took a look at the navigator for the next day and tucked the kids in and they were out like lights. There was quite a bit of rocking back and forth on the boat because of the storm that had just past. I didnt get much sleep but the other 4 did. The bedding was amazing! I may have gotten 4 hours of sleep that night not much but Im used to it having 3 kids!
To view photos from our cruise visit out personal family website at: http://www.josenerica.com/family/pictures/2011/Disney Dream Cruise/index.html
Disney Dream Cruise
Oct. 30-Nov. 3rd 2001
Oct 30th 2011
Arrival: We left the house around 10:00am. We needed to make a potty break for Jayson in Cocoa at a local publix killed two birds with one stone, I need a few things and cash back so it worked out fine. We arrived at the port at 11:30am. We parked in the parking deck at the port terminal and walked across the bridge into a security check point where they checked our passports and IDs. Had to go through a metal detector and get our carry-ons checked before we could enter the terminal. Check-in went smooth and quick. We didnt wait in line for more than 2 minutes. They gave us our Key To The World (KTTW) cards checked out passports again and took a quick family photo. Our boarding group number was 13. Then we were off to take photos with Minnie or Mickey. As we waited in line the first group was called, followed shortly by group 2 We waited in line for our first Disney Family photo for about 10 minutes. By the time our photo was taken group 9 had already been called. We had a few more groups to go so we went to get the kids checked into youth activities to get their bands. Waited in line for less than a minute, go the kids their bands, and as we were leaving the desk group 13 was called! We were so excited that we practically ran to the gangway entrances.
On the Dream: As we entered the gangway entrance Jose snapped a quick photo of the kids. We walked up to a kiosk and were asked for our KTTW cards and IDs. We were cleared to board. Before boarding there are 3 stations of backdrops and photographers. We snapped our family photo first and a quick one of the kids. I think this is for their face recognition program they use on the ship for all your photos. We stayed to the left (seemed quicker) and were greeted by a young lady asking for our family name and where we are from. An announcement was made, From Orlando, Welcome the Rodriguez Family! We were finally on the Disney Dream! The Atrium was beautiful! We were then directed by another young lady where to go if we were hungry, which was Cabanas on the 11th deck. We wanted to head straight to Palo to make reservations since we could not do so online. We headed to Palo but it was closed and someone said to come back at 1:00pm. So we decided to eat lunch. We went down one deck to find Cabanas, an all you can eat buffet. There is someone handing out antibacterial wipes as you enter. The Disney Staff quick told us how Cabanas works, no lines, just grab and go. We found a table next to the window, dropped our carry-ons off and we headed to the buffet stations. Lunch was good had all the basics, fruit, salads, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, fries, pizza, etc. We ate quickly so we could miss the rush of people wanted to hit the pool after lunch.
Pool Deck: The Pool Deck was buzzing with people. We grabbed some towels found a few chairs to leave our stuff and headed straight to the Mickey Pool. Jose (Husband) and Alyzea (daughter) headed to the Aquaduck. They came back and it was my turn! Alyzea and I waited about 15 minutes to get on and it was completely worth the wait. We got some great photos and videos of the kids in the pool and of us riding the Aquaduck. We hung around the pool until 1:30pm. We were excited to head to our Stateroom 7672.
Stateroom: Our stateroom was located on the 7th deck Aft. We had a Deluxe Family Stateroom Oceanview. Opening the stateroom door was a task. I could not figure it out for the life of me. Thank goodness our stateroom host, Cacila, was close by and she helped us get in. The room was small but comfortable. Very nicely decorated and clean. Lots of closet space and storage. Our luggage had yet to arrive so we left our room to explore the Oceaneers Lab and Oceaneers Club with the kids.
Kids Club: The club is located on the 5th Deck, between Aft and Midship. We asked a few questions we had about the clubs and they let us in to explore. A quick wash of the hand using their fancy hand washing machines and we were on our way. We first explored the Lab. The kids quickly ran to the nearest computer and started to play. I quickly ran to the nearest bathroom to make sure I knew where it was for Jayson, my 3 year old. We let them play for a few minutes while we shot some video. We then headed over to the Club. There is a long room with chairs and tables that connects the 2 clubs together so that children can come and go as they pleased from one cub to another. We headed over the Oceaneers Club where we found Pixie Hallow, Andys Room, more computers and a dance floor. We explored some more and were excited to see what else the ship had so we left and promised the kids we would come back soon.
Midship Detective: We headed towards Midship on the 5th deck and found the Midship Detective Kiosk. The kids wanted to sign up to be detectives so we went through the module and got our badge and map to visit the virtual art throughout the ship. Jose loved this so much! We started right away to find the missing puppies. The first piece of art we visited was on the 5th deck and I was so amazed to see the technology used to create a fun interactive game that all ages could enjoy. Our objective was to find out who stole the missing puppies but collecting clues given at each piece of virtual art. To make a long story short we finished on our day at sea and we were glad to see the person who stole the puppies was behind bars!
Sail Away Party: After visiting the first few pieces of art we decided to take showers before dinner and get ready for our first main dining room experience. We headed straight to our room to find all 3 pieces of luggage had arrived. We still had some time before dinner so I unpacked and hung up all of our clothes. We got ready in our dinner attire which was casual and headed to deck 11 for the Sail Away Party. We had just started to leave port around 5:15pm and wanted to wave bye to all the people watching from land. We took a few photos. It was a windy day so we went to the pool deck to find some chairs to sit in while we watch the land fade into the horizon. We didnt catch much of the Sail Away Party but that was ok. We had sometime before dinner so we went to the Atrium to wait in line for professional photos of the family. This is a must do if you are planning to buy a CD of all the images taken by the ships photographers, which we did!
Dinner: We got ready and headed to The Enchanted Garden on deck 2. We had the early dining at 5:45pm. We snapped some quick photos while we greeted by a long line of servers. The server at the end of the line escorted us to our table number 73. This is the table number you will have during your entire voyage at all main dining rooms. Enchanted Gardens was beautiful. You felt like you were in a large courtyard while tons of flowers and greenery. During your dinner the sky colors would change from day to night. Our head server was Constantine, from Romania, and our assistance server was Armania from Jamaica. The food was good. Jose and I each ordered 2main courses and the kids ordered the basics, chicken and fries. We also ordered 2 desserts each so that we could have a taste of everything. Had a nice cup of coffee and it was time to head to our 8:30pm show, The Golden Mickeys!
Show: We had sometime before the show so we headed to check out the shops just outside the theater. I quickly found an album for my scrapbooking and a kit of paper and embellishments for the album. I requested to have it delivered to our room so I didnt have to carry it with me all over the boat. It was time to find out seats. Get there early, doors open at 8pm but the theater fills up quickly. It was just about show time when we were greeting by the ships Creative Director. She mentioned a few things about whats going on after the show and what time we would get to port. Nice lady! Finally the show had begun. It was great, cute, funny, and for all ages! You have to see al 3 shows!
After Show/Party: After the show we dropped the kids off at the Lab for an hour or 2 while we went to go check out the Club Evolution where they were playing Meet Your Mate. We had to make a quick stop to our stateroom to grab our wave phones in case the kids need is. Meet Your Mate is a version of the newlywed game. All who attended were given raffle tickets to win a bottle of champagne. We found a seat and waited for the game to start. After the game was over they started to draw the first ticket for the free bottle of champagne and guess whos ticket number they called? OURS! I was so excited to win something It happened to be Country Night at Evolution we dance a line dance and left to pick up the kids. It was just in time too. We received a text on our wave phone saying the 2 little ones wanted OUT! There were a lot of kids there that night so Im sure that contributed to them feeling overwhelmed. We head back to our stateroom for the night.
Sleep Tight: When we arrive to our stateroom we found our room turned down for the night. All the beds were ready and there was even a cute towel animal and Sleepy chocolate to welcome us to bed. We turned on the TV, took a look at the navigator for the next day and tucked the kids in and they were out like lights. There was quite a bit of rocking back and forth on the boat because of the storm that had just past. I didnt get much sleep but the other 4 did. The bedding was amazing! I may have gotten 4 hours of sleep that night not much but Im used to it having 3 kids!