Once Upon a Dream, We Took Our First Cruise - Goodbye Dream Vacation

The show for the evening was Disney’s Believe. It was a really good show and Crap even thought it was the best of the three. For me, it was second best, although a close second. Since Crap felt bringing the camera to Villains Tonight was a waste of time, he chose not to bring it to the show tonight. Luckily, we did not really need it this time, because there was no audience participation. I tried to get pictures of the show off the Disboards but it proved a little difficult. Therefore, I pulled these pictures from multiple places on the Internet.

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Just like the previous two shows, the musical has a main, original story that ties other Disney stories into it. Dr. Cornelius Greenaway, a botanist, is too concerned with his work to worry about anything, including his daughter, Sophia. His daughter wants nothing more then to spend time with her father on her birthday. When he ignores her birthday for his work, her birthday wish to spend more time with her Dad comes to life in form of the Genie from Aladdin. The Genie embarks on a path to teach the brilliant Dr. what is important in life while entertaining the audience at the same time.

The Disney characters advance the Genie’s point that the great Doctor should focus more on his daughter, because she is the most important thing in his life. We enjoy classic scenes and songs until he gets the point. In the end, he pays attention to his daughter, who is utterly grateful that her wish came true. It really is a beautiful story, and has a happy ending as Disney shows do.

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After the show, I headed over to the nursery. Ariel was exiting just as I was entering. This was the first time I realized that the characters visit the nursery too. Some of the kids in the nursery are up to three or even over three if not potty trained. It made perfect sense to send the characters in there as well. The ladies were excited to see the goodies we got them. I love to eat, so I completely understood the excitement. They gave me an envelope and Connor’s things. A different lady brought Connor to me, and we headed up to the room.

This is the first thing I saw when we I walked back into the room. I guess our steward enjoyed the cash we added to the suggested pre-paid trip amount or he liked us. It was pretty neat. We left his tip in the room when we went down for the evening, since he was not lingering around the rooms at that time as he often is. He was frequently around when he was needed. We were very pleased with him.

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I opened the envelope as soon as I got back to the room. There was a lovely note from the nursery staff along with two pictures. One was from his first time in the nursery with Chip. The second one was from the show time that same evening. This was a very nice touch, so I can always remember the names of the nursery staff we loved so much. It was also nice to see pictures of the time Connor had without us. As usual, he was just staring at Chip trying to figure him out. Based on what the staff told me, I know he never cried long. Therefore, the evening picture with tears in his eyes must have been a rare moment.

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Unlike the previous night, Connor was wide awake when I picked him up this evening. After we looked at the package from the nursery, we decided to pack the majority of the room up. Since Connor was wide awake, it was better than packing in the morning. Our navigator said that we were to be at breakfast at 6:15am. We were given character tags to place on the bags we wanted picked up. There were not enough (we had a week at WDW before this cruise), so I made a quick trip down to guest services to get more. The bags had to be placed outside the room rather early, but I cannot remember the exact time. As with the rest of the trip, we went to bed somewhat early, because we were tired. According to the navigator, people on the first dining rotation needed to be on time to breakfast and completely out of their room before heading down to breakfast. In order to do that, we would have to get up very early.
 
Awww. Those pics of Conner are so cute. It must be nice to have characters visiting.
 
All caught up finally (sorry!). Great updates!

Thanks for all the info on your DCA lunch & birthday trip - it's so close! I can't wait to hear all about it! :goodvibes

I can't believe how much the 4 photos cost. That's crazy!!!

The nursery and kids clubs sound absolutely fantastic- I loved your description of what you overheard while nursing. So wonderful that they relayed all the instructions and didn't seem annoyed or whatnot. I'm glad to hear Connor took the bottle, too. So wonderful!

Sorry about Xander and his nervousness with the slide & the sting rays, but they will be things he always remembers at least. It's always good to give kids new experiences IMO, whether they liked them or not! :lmao:

Pirate night looked like so much fun - I know which night my DH would enjoy the most! pirate:

And YAY to booking your spring break cruise! That's going to be so wonderful. A couple extra nights to enjoy the ship will be nice - is there an at-sea day? What ports do you visit?
 
The show looks really cute!

That is so sweet of the nursery staff! I love that they got pictures of Connor's adventures, and I'm sure that it set your mind at ease to see him well cared for.

I'm sad that it's ending, but ....

YOU'RE LEAVING FOR DLR TODAY!!!! Yay!!!! Have a great time, and give the birthday boy lots of squeezes for me! Can't wait to hear all about it!!!!
 


Awww. Those pics of Conner are so cute. It must be nice to have characters visiting.

Thanks. I thought it was cool they visited too. Connor looks so happy to see him.

All caught up finally (sorry!). Great updates!

Thanks for all the info on your DCA lunch & birthday trip - it's so close! I can't wait to hear all about it! :goodvibes

I can't believe how much the 4 photos cost. That's crazy!!!

The nursery and kids clubs sound absolutely fantastic- I loved your description of what you overheard while nursing. So wonderful that they relayed all the instructions and didn't seem annoyed or whatnot. I'm glad to hear Connor took the bottle, too. So wonderful!

Sorry about Xander and his nervousness with the slide & the sting rays, but they will be things he always remembers at least. It's always good to give kids new experiences IMO, whether they liked them or not! :lmao:

Pirate night looked like so much fun - I know which night my DH would enjoy the most! pirate:

And YAY to booking your spring break cruise! That's going to be so wonderful. A couple extra nights to enjoy the ship will be nice - is there an at-sea day? What ports do you visit?

Thanks.

You're welcome. I am so excited about our trip.

Everything about Shutters was overpriced from the price of a photo credit to the CD. I did read after I got off the ship that they do free professional photo sessions, but I am guessing DCL charges a fortune for prints of that. The prices are more expensive than a trip to Dl or WDW.

I could not rave enough about the nursery staff. They really cared about what each parent wanted. Hearing all of those instructions made me think I am too laid back with Connor. Since I do not work, I let him decide when to nurse, nap, etc. The lady even asked me if I had any instructions when I dropped him off. I could not think of any. It was wonderful that they are still the only ones who got Connor to take my milk from a bottle.

I agree with you so much on everything you said here. It is important to us that Xander try things before deciding he does not like them. That is hard with picky, easily frightened kids, but he needs to expand his horizons. He is always discovering things he loves once he gives them a chance, like the kids' clubs. Since he only talks about how much he loved the cruise, I think he has already forgotten about there mere minutes where he was scared or upset. There are only fond memories behind.

I think your DH would enjoy pirate night. It really was a lot of fun. That is also the night they had the fireworks at sea. Even though we missed them, I think it is so cool that they have them.

I was a little disappointed that we were not able to get seven days on the Fantasy. It is odd to me that they have openings for four when they are in separate rooms (charging full price for kids' fares that way too) even though some of those rooms say they sleep up to 5. If an opening ever appears, I am going to try to switch over there. In the mean time, I am excited to be taking a cruise at all. Five days on the Wonder does give us two extra days, so we finally have two sea days to explore the ship. Our ports will be the Grand Cayman and Cozymel. Both seem like a lot of fun, so we will be trying something at each. I am thinking of making one an adult only one like last trip.



The show looks really cute!

That is so sweet of the nursery staff! I love that they got pictures of Connor's adventures, and I'm sure that it set your mind at ease to see him well cared for.

I'm sad that it's ending, but ....

YOU'RE LEAVING FOR DLR TODAY!!!! Yay!!!! Have a great time, and give the birthday boy lots of squeezes for me! Can't wait to hear all about it!!!!

The show was very cute. It honestly surprised me that Crap preferred that one. This was the most mushy of the three shows, but mushy in a good way.

The pictures were such an awesome touch. It made me feel better to know that he was having a good time while we were. His smile toward Chip made me happy.

It was fun.

We are leaving today. Thank you. I am so excited. It seems like this year flew by. My baby is already one tomorrow. Wow. I will be giving him lots of hugs tomorrow and every day until he gets to a point where he no longer allows it. Since Crap has a DIS account, I wonder if I can talk him into helping me write the next one. He is a superb writer and puts mine to shame.
 
We woke up very early the next morning, and were able to get out of our room on time. Once again, we were to dine at The Royal Palace, since that is where we had dinner. Franz informed us at dinner the previous evening that he would not be at breakfast. Cast members come from all over the world. After a few months or straight service, they usually go home for a while. Melissa and Simone were there. Crap must have packed the camera away, because there is not a single picture from this entire day. Once again, I borrowed photos from multiple places on the Internet. Here is a picture I found of the restaurant that we dined in three times during the very short cruise.

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Breakfast was good and fast. It was over by 7am. Melissa came around to say goodbye, and Xander started crying. He said he did not want to leave the ship or his friends. Crap and I were surprised by his reaction. We knew he was having a good time, but he had never even reacted to leaving DLR or WDW that way. I asked him why he was crying, and he said he was afraid he would miss everyone too much. It was really sweet that he liked everyone on DCL so much. Knowing that we all had a great time, I assured Xander that we would cruise again someday. This made him feel a little better, and he stopped crying. The funny thing is he cried four times while we were on the cruise and not once (that I remember) at Disneyworld. He swears that he enjoyed the cruise far more than he enjoyed Disneyworld. Only one of the four times was a meltdown though. Two times he cried out of fear. In all fairness, his last crying bout was from sadness that we were leaving. Luckily, Melissa gave him a hug. His tears were dry, and he told her he would see her again someday. My heart melted. How adorable.

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We made our way out of the ship right after breakfast as we were instructed. The only problem is we were unaware breakfast would be so early, and we were expected to leave right after. I ordered the car from FL Tours to pick us up at 9am. Assuming they made it on time (they were 30 minutes late on the way there), we would be waiting outside where it was a little windy and a little cold for two hours. There were a lot of other people waiting there with us. Crap called and was told that they were able to pick us up earlier than planned, but it would still take some time. Port Canaveral was far from where any of the extra drivers currently were.

In retrospect, we could have forgone our table service breakfast for quick service. That would have given us more time to sleep as well. Most of the ship’s services were closed, since the ship was in port. I did not see the point of staying on the ship amidst the crowds when we could not really do anything.

We waited on the curb with a few other people. There was nothing better to do, so we did some people watching. Most people came and left relatively quickly and only a few came and waited a long time with us. Almost everyone who left the ship seemed to be in a great mood. I know I felt nice and relaxed after that cruise. It was so wonderful, and I cannot wait until we return this March. After well about an hour and a half, it was finally our turn to leave. The funny thing is the driver was almost exactly 30 minutes early from our original pickup time. That really made up for the driver who was 30 minutes late bringing us there.

We arrived at the airport ahead of schedule, so I got to spend some time with Crap and Xander before they headed toward the Delta gates and Connor and I headed toward the Southwest gates. I decided to have Crap gate check the stroller for Las Vegas, since I had such a hard time with it on the way to Orlando. Yes, for those who did not know, we flew in separately. Crap had enough miles for two Delta tickets, and I used a free flight Crap had from previous Southwest trips. It would have expired before we had a chance to use it again. Connor did not do as well on the way back as he did on the way there. His final leg was the only one where he even cried though. This was the only leg where he was not interested in nursing through takeoff. I quieted him quickly and even received compliments on how great he was (as I did with all four legs). He is a great flyer (at least for now). Even though it was hard getting through all of the airports without a stroller, it was easier than it was with it.

When we arrived back in Vegas, Connor slept in my arms for two hours while we waited for Crap and Xander’s flight to get in. The flights were originally going to land very close to one another, but Delta changed the itinerary long after we booked the flight. Our driver was there to pick us up on time, and we were finally home and resting within 45 minutes of meeting up with Crap and Xander. It was an awesome trip.

Thanks for coming along for the journey. I hope you all take cruises soon too. You are sure to have a great time. The Disneyland Report should be up and running shortly after we get back for anyone interested in reading that. We are leaving as soon as Crap gets home from work today. After it is started, I will come back here and enclose a link. I promise that Crap or I (if he does not) will take a lot of pictures for anyone else who is as excited as we are to see Carsland. Since trip reports need pictures, I will leave you with some pictures I found of the nursery and the kids’ clubs online. Anyone would have fun playing here, so I get why it was hard to pry Xander out of the clubs.

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Summary
Total Times on the Aquaduck - 1
Total Broadway Style Shows -3 (The Golden Mickeys, Villains Tonight and Believe)
Total Buffet and/or Quick Service Meals- 4 (Cabanas x 2, on Atlantis and Cookie’s)
Total Sit-Down Meals- 6 (Animators Palate, The Enchanted Garden x 2 and The Royal Palace x 3)
Total Meltdowns- 1 (When we dropped Xander off at the Oceaneer Club)
Total Excursions- 2 (The Aquaventure at Atlantis and the String Rays at Castaway Cay)
Total Trips to the Kids’ Clubs- 5 (Xander x 2 and Connor x 3)
Total stops to nurse- Too many to count
Total Bathroom stops- Too many to count
Total happy, grateful family members- 4 (even though we were sad to go home)
 
Great report! Have a great time in DL...can't wait to hear all about it.

Jill in CO
 


Great report Kimberly! Thanks so much for sharing your vacation with us.

I can't wait to hear all about your next adventure. You do just fine without Crap. :goodvibes

Have a safe trip!
 
I really enjoyed your report! I don't usually read cruise TRs, and I guess I now know why- because they make cruising look all too tempting! :rotfl:

Thanks for all the wonderful advice, especially about the nursery, since I haven't seen all that much information about what goes on in there. You have definitely given me a lot of food for thought for our vacation next year.

I'm looking forward to your DL & DCA trip report, because Carsland is looking really tempting too! :rotfl:
 
Great report Kimberly! Thanks so much for sharing your vacation with us.

I can't wait to hear all about your next adventure. You do just fine without Crap. :goodvibes

Have a safe trip!

Thank you so much. No problem. I was happy to share it.

Crap makes fun of my writing all the time, so I appreciate the kind words. I am so excited about our trip.

Thanks.


I really enjoyed your report! I don't usually read cruise TRs, and I guess I now know why- because they make cruising look all too tempting! :rotfl:

Thanks for all the wonderful advice, especially about the nursery, since I haven't seen all that much information about what goes on in there. You have definitely given me a lot of food for thought for our vacation next year.

I'm looking forward to your DL & DCA trip report, because Carsland is looking really tempting too! :rotfl:

Thank you. Cruising is an awesome vacation. You can take it as slow or as fast as you'd like. I cannot wait to cruise again this March.

The nursery is amazing. I have a feeling that they really do care a lot about instructions and are so wonderful with the kids. It was nice that I got to experience the nursery behind the scenes to see how wonderful they really are.

We are so excited about Carsland and Connor's first birthday. I cannot wait to see how he and Xander react to it.
 
Awesome Finish! I love the pic of Connor with Chip. That is so sweet. I teared up a little when I read that Xander cried when it was time to go. That is the sign of a great trip! Thanks for the tip on the quick service breakfast. We are not big breakfast people anyway, and the thought of a 6am breakfast on our last day was not really exciting me, lol. Where was the Quick Service breakfast? Cabanas???

Have a MAGICAL time in Disneyland,pixiedust: and give Connor lots of hugs and kisses from all of your "imaginary Disney friends" (That is what my husband and kids call my DIS friends:rotfl2:)
 
Have a great time at DLR and I hope everything works out with the celebration!

Thanks for sharing your trip. :thumbsup2
 
Have a MAGICAL time in Disneyland,pixiedust: and give Connor lots of hugs and kisses from all of your "imaginary Disney friends" (That is what my husband and kids call my DIS friends:rotfl2:)

I call them "Friends-in-a-Box" or my 2D friends. It's hard to think of my Dis friends as Imaginary! :flower3:
 
Well I finally got caught up and you're all done! :rotfl2: At least you followed the unwritten rule of finishing a trip report before you start another trip! :thumbsup2 Sounds like you had a great time. I'll be looking forward to hearing about your Disneyland experience, and especially food porn from the Carthay Circle Restaurant.

He sees two different people back home who charge either $55 or $65. My guess is it was probably less than that since he considered it reasonable.

:scared1: :scared1: I go to a salon and my haircuts are $10, I have to tip the guy $10 just to not feel guilty about how little he charges me.
 
FYI...we've been at DCA for a bit less than 3 hours and Kimberly has already made me snap roughly 250 photos. Help!
 
FYI...we've been at DCA for a bit less than 3 hours and Kimberly has already made me snap roughly 250 photos. Help!

Make sure you keep the camera battery charged so we can see the food porn from the Carthay Circle!
 
FYI...we've been at DCA for a bit less than 3 hours and Kimberly has already made me snap roughly 250 photos. Help!

:lmao: It's not like she didn't warn you...

The TR readers need the photos Crap. You're taking one for the team!

Have a great trip!!
 

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