DCL First Timers (and won't be our last!) *It's about dang time update 10/16/13*

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Our First Cruise Ever - Disney Dream, January 6-10, 2013
Well at long last 4 months after our cruise I finally get this TR started! Our vacation entailed 4 nights on the Disney Dream and then 4 nights at the CBR in WDW. I am going to split up this TR into 2 threads, one here on the Cruise Line Forum for the cruise portion, and then do a separate on the WDW TR boards. I will finish this one first before I start on that one but will link them both together. I will get this started with some intros and background information about our crew. First off, my name is Dan. I am a long time fan of all things Disney. We are from the cold arctic tundra of Western New York. My main reason for doing a cruise in January was to get away from the Niagara Falls snow. It was also kind of a Christmas gift for the family. It wasn't a surprise trip but the kids were prepared that Christmas gifts were gonna be meager so we could save for Disney! They got some nice new summer/cruise clothes, bathing suites and flip flops for Christmas. Which by the way if you go shopping online for summer clothes in December you get some MAJOR deals! It was tough finding my son flip-flop though, Carters at our local outlet mall can to the rescue with those! I also want to give you guys as much info as I can to help those planning a first time cruise, I learned a lot of stuff but there were still some things I wish I had of know before. Any questions ask away at any time on this thread.

Our merry crew of Neverland Pirates aboard the Dream was myself, my beautiful fiancé Cathleen, our princess DD Hannah age 9 and our little Buckner DS Noah. Here we are in front of The Dream on Castaway Cay, and then below is us on pirate night at Animator's Palate, Cathleen is wearing what I call her Mr. Smee shirt, she thought it was fitting for pirate night.

I am a supervisor for a group home for people with developmental disabilities. I am also a student working on my Bachelor's degree in Social Work. I also have two children as you can see so my life is kind of hectic. That's one of the reasons I haven't gotten this TR up and going yet but with school letting out now I have more time to type this TR while not having to type papers. I am starting a summer course soon but let’s hope that doesn’t distract from DIS time. Hannah and Noah are from my previous marriage, they both live with us. Cathleen and I got engaged on Thanksgiving last November and wedding is set for October 31, 2014. Cathleen really wanted a Halloween wedding, it’s going to be like a classy romantic masquerade theme, and not a costume party like everyone asks us. Cathleen is also a social work student with me at Niagara University; we are set to graduate together next May. My favorite Disney character is Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey and Cathleen’s is Cinderella.
Hannah is 9 years old and in 3rd Grade. She is our little smarty pants in the advanced enrichment program at her school. She does gymnastics which she just graduated up to the next advanced level (which is an advanced level of tuition also!). Hannah has been to Disney World twice, when she was 3 and 5 years old. Her favorite Disney character is Ariel.
Noah is 4 years old and in Pre-K this year. He is a little ball of energy. This is his first time on vacation, on a plane, to Disney and like the rest of us his first time on a Cruise! He loves the Avengers, anything pirates, Disney Junior, Mickey Mouse, and one of his current favorites is Doc McStuffins. His all time favorite is Buzz Lightyear.
Okay, well that’s us, if you like us stick around. If you don’t like us well then you just don’t know us well enough yet so stick around! Alright jump aboard we are about to set sail. Stay tuned for day one of our adventure coming up next.

Trip Update Links:

Day 1 - Father Forgive Me

Day 2 - The Case of the Phantom Elevator

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Nice intro, Dan! Great pics already...beautiful family!

Rose and I were going to cruise together next Feb, but the cruise was nixed by my neurologist....but who knows, things might change in the next near or two. We started lots of planning....even considered your cabin, but we decided to go up to deck 7.

Looking forward to reading about all your adventures as first time cruisers!

 

[englishrose47]

Dang it Christine beat me to it !!Yes Dan and I have worked together for 10 years and our friendship grew threw our LOVE of Disney !! Dan has been my co worker , my Boss and we both now are Sitr Managers for the same Agency !!Dan is my back up fot the Self Advocates , which is a huge help. He doesn't know it yet but I am recruiting him for a Hot Dog Sale !!!
This TR is so perfect as I leave on Sunday on the same cruise . Different time of year though!!

 

[kid-at-heart]

Agree, beautiful family. Looking forward to reading about your trip.

Kate

 

[Poolrat]

Here for the ride.


All caught and great pictures of the family. Looking forward to seeing more. Who knows I might be hobbling around inthe background of your pictures since you were at WDW marathon weekend right?

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Nice intro, Dan! Great pics already...beautiful family!

Rose and I were going to cruise together next Feb, but the cruise was nixed by my neurologist....but who knows, things might change in the next near or two. We started lots of planning....even considered your cabin, but we decided to go up to deck 7.

Looking forward to reading about all your adventures as first time cruisers!

I loved our cabin, in fact our next trip we are getting the same room but opposite side of the ship. It was the perfect location but I figured the mirror image room would make it feel new lol

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Dang it Christine beat me to it !!Yes Dan and I have worked together for 10 years and our friendship grew threw our LOVE of Disney !! Dan has been my co worker , my Boss and we both now are Sitr Managers for the same Agency !!Dan is my back up fot the Self Advocates , which is a huge help. He doesn't know it yet but I am recruiting him for a Hot Dog Sale !!!
This TR is so perfect as I leave on Sunday on the same cruise . Different time of year though!!

Oh and I have to be eternally grateful for getting me to Disney for free 3 times now (Halloween is all booked! Sept 26-Oct 1an MNSSHP on the 27th!!!) Thank you Rosie I would really like to do a Disney trip with EnglishRose sometime and maybe make it an all out DIS meet with Marv and the wooden spoon gang.

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

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[DannyDisneyFreak]

Here for the ride.

All caught and great pictures of the family. Looking forward to seeing more. Who knows I might be hobbling around inthe background of your pictures since you were at WDW marathon weekend right?

Yes we were in WDW Jan 10-14 following the cruise. Yeah we saw lots of folks with their medals on in the parks. How did you do?

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Agree, beautiful family. Looking forward to reading about your trip.

Kate

Glad to have you aboard!

 

[DanzinMommyof3girls]

Can't wait to hear about your trip. We booked the same cruise for next Fall.

 

[tmoor]

Hi, there! My family was on this cruise with you but apparently we never crossed paths! It was our first cruise on Disney as well (me, hubby, and DD age 3)! We had such a great experience that we also booked another. This time we will be sailing on the brand "new" Magic for the double dip at Castaway Cay, October 2013! Woohoooo! Castaway Cay in January for us was not cold at all I thought. A friend just came back from her first Disney cruise (Fantasy) this weekend and she said a cold front came through the morning of Castaway Cay day so it was very cold so they didn't get to enjoy the island like we did. I say we hit the first time Disney cruiser jackpot! January in the Bahamas was absolutely perfect this year. I've heard others say it is too cold but thankfully we didn't have a problem.
I'm not sure what is happening with my view of the thread but I don't see your whole trip report. Then again, it's probably pilot error on my part! Hope your next cruise is just as magical.

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Hi, there! My family was on this cruise with you but apparently we never crossed paths! It was our first cruise on Disney as well (me, hubby, and DD age 3)! We had such a great experience that we also booked another. This time we will be sailing on the brand "new" Magic for the double dip at Castaway Cay, October 2013! Woohoooo! Castaway Cay in January for us was not cold at all I thought. A friend just came back from her first Disney cruise (Fantasy) this weekend and she said a cold front came through the morning of Castaway Cay day so it was very cold so they didn't get to enjoy the island like we did. I say we hit the first time Disney cruiser jackpot! January in the Bahamas was absolutely perfect this year. I've heard others say it is too cold but thankfully we didn't have a problem.
I'm not sure what is happening with my view of the thread but I don't see your whole trip report. Then again, it's probably pilot error on my part! Hope your next cruise is just as magical.

Well my report just started so that's probably why you do see it all I'd love for you to tag along especially since you were there too!
I thought the weather was perfect, not cold at all.
I would love to do a double dip at CC, how do you find those ones? We are booked for the same cruise on the Dream next Jan but I'm thinking of switching to the Magic which leaves the following day.
Well thanks for joining along!

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Can't wait to hear about your trip. We booked the same cruise for next Fall.

Hello! You will love it I'm sure of it! Welcome along

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Our adventure begins Saturday January 5, 2013 – What better way to recall the day than to share my words from that day:

Ok well the day is finally here (well almost here!) but today we fly to Orlando. I'm not sure how many followers I still have but figure I needed a final post before we go. So our flight leaves at 5:30pm today and we land at 8:10pm so in less than 8 hours we will be in sunny Florida... well not so sunny it will be 8pm... but it will be 64 degrees! Thats not really hot but beats todays high of 28 here in NY! Sunday it is suppose to be 72 in Orlando and 77 in Port Canaveral. The forcast is showing some rain too but not gonna let that get me down.

We left at around 3:00pm. My dad was driving us to the airport in my car and then going to bring my car home so we didn’t have to pay to park at the airport. Since we had a late flight I knew we would be hungry so we stopped for our early dinner at Wendy’s (I knew peanuts on the plane wasn’t going to hold over my Pooh Bear appetite until 8pm). So Wendy’s is exactly 1.5 miles from our house on the same road we live on, so from the time we pull out of our of our driveway to Wendy’s is less than 2 minutes, keep that in mind… Thankfully I was driving yet bothersome for me that my dad would be taking my car home, my dad was fast asleep in the passenger’s seat! Now what I say next I am a bit ashamed of, but only a tiny bit, we went through the entire drive through window will him still out like a light and I was looking for a spot to put the drink holder and…

Obviously the kids thought that was hilarious but the best part was the whole ride to the airport he did not wake up and the cup holder balanced perfectly the whole way! Granted the airport was only 3 more miles but hey that's a good trick. I did a similar trick on our last trip on the boardwalk:

Okay, not exactly the same… well we made it to the airport, woke up dear ol’ dad, said our goodbyes and waited in our first line! No fastpass unfortunately and the kids we excited and impatient to wait in line, I let them know that we may wait in a few more lines before the week is out. After the seemingly long baggage check line the security check and then wait to board was fairly quick. We were then on our way! Noah’s first plane ride went well, he was very excited.

It was a very smooth flight for me, normally I get somewhat motionsick durning takeoff and landings but we had started taking Bonine tablets that morning to prepare for the cruise and I think that helped. I recomend that for anyone doing a cruise. Here's us and Hannah a bit sleepy.

We arrived at the Orlando-Sanford airport on time and here again is my words the following morning recapping the trip:

Well I'm awake early and can't sleep, we had a great flight very smooth and landing in Sanford was way less hectic than MCO! Walked off the plane had our luggage in 15 minutes at most, 20 minutes after that we were in our rental car. Sam should like this one, my good ol' GPS that I have named Wall-E, sent us on a little detour once again! He says exit on the right, then veer to the right after the exit so I veer to the right after the exit and... RECALCULATING!!! That means wrong way in Wally speak and now I'm gonna tell you where to go, luckily not up any steep hills like last time. But we made it to the hotel in 20 minutes a bit farther than I thought but nice, we got some late night grub from a pizza place across the street then off to bed and now here I am laying in bed in the dark on my DIS iPhone app at 7:10am. Well I think I'm gonna take a shower before everyone else is up. I'll try to post one last time before we embark on the ship, ahoy mateys!

Okay, well I'm kind of spilling over into Day 2 here so I'm going to cut it off, but I'll leave you with our first view of the ship:

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Your father is one of the good guys!!

Must have been exciting to get a first glimpse of the ship! Very interested to know ow the Bonine worked - I have terrible motion sickness, but have never tried Bonine. Hope it worked perfectly for you on the cruise!

 

[sager1969]

What a great family! Love the picture of your dad. I had to go back and look at it again. Thanks for sharing.

 

[englishrose47]

Oh and I have to be eternally grateful for getting me to Disney for free 3 times now (Halloween is all booked! Sept 26-Oct 1an MNSSHP on the 27th!!!) Thank you Rosie I would really like to do a Disney trip with EnglishRose sometime and maybe make it an all out DIS meet with Marv and the wooden spoon gang.

I would LOVE that Dan, do you think Cathleen would trust us again !!!I also love the Dis Meet as well , I was thinking at least 6 Dissers , they could each get an individual,

Your father is one of the good guys!!

Must have been exciting to get a first glimpse of the ship! Very interested to know ow the Bonine worked - I have terrible motion sickness, but have never tried Bonine. Hope it worked perfectly for you on the cruise!

Christine I think you now see why Dan and I get along so well, he has a warped sense of humor too!!!

Great Update Dan !!!! But what about the Hot Dog Sale !!!

 

[ilovedevin]

Great start can't wait to read more...your family is so adorable.

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Great Update Dan !!!! But what about the Hot Dog Sale !!!

I don't know???