I posted this to another poster's question about this decision:
I switched from Dream to Magic in Feb 2014. Here is why:
I didn't like the Aquaduck enough after doing it once right at the beginning of our last Dream cruise to stand in line for an hour to do it, and it was broken down a lot.
the new AquaDunk looks fabulous and line preventative as it's such a quick ride! And I am short so I can ride on the Twist and Spout as an adult (up to 5'4") - wicked cool!
I really really felt the crowds of the Dream in the dining rooms, except in Animator's. I absolutely loved Animators on the Dream!
The cool things I loved about Animators is coming to the Magic plus the new enhancements that the Fantasy has!
I really hated the pools on the Dream - why oh why can't they have made them bigger for the bigger crowds! What were they thinking?!
How flippin cool does the AquaLab family area look?! Really cool!
Dream had the most fabulous kids clubs imaginable!!! Really they are amazing! And Detective was so awesome!
BUT my 11yo son lives and dies for the Avengers and Iron Man - he is psyched!!!! Avengers Academy! (Hope it doesn't interfere with anything else that day!)
Castaway Cay doesn't grow in size when the big ships dock! It really does get crowded and hectic there with the bigger ships docked. But I didn't have any problems getting a space where we loved even with the bigger crowds. So I would say this isn't that big of an issue, but....
smaller ships at CC make for a more pleasant day all around at the place I like to refer to as Heaven on Earth
I am a big fan of the Rainforest Room and an even bigger fan of the exotic Rasul on the Magic - the Dream's rainforest area was always packed and no exotic rasul room as far as I am aware. But I was newly divorced for my Dream cruise, so maybe it existed, but I just didn't do it.
Brand spankin new spa area on the Magic to check out (please Disney keep the Exotic Rasul!!!! PLEASE! I have an amazing boyfriend now and really want to show him this "treatment" )
I have to say that everything about picking up your pictures sucked on the Dream and took so much of your time up to do it, but when I cruised it was the beginning of the new system and they didn't have them working yet, so you still had to find your photos and stand in line to purchase them.
Re-booking on the Dream was a nightmare of lines all the time - from the first day to the last!
less crowds on Magic when getting your pictures and re-booking and for characters meetings and for shows and for... well, you get the picture
So there is a smidgin of why I chose to change back to the Magic. I am wicked psyched!!!
oh and by the way, I really didn't like the food on the Dream (except Remy was amazing beyond words!!!), but love it on the Magic - so this is very subjective and may have been because it was a nightmare of crowds, pace, craziness for our servers each time we ate in the dining rooms so I may have been at the end of my rope each night too. My server ended up being our server from a Magic cruise and he was so excited at first to go over to the Dream but then he told us he wanted to go back so badly because it's so hard to deal with the crowds in the dining room every night and you don't get to know your passengers as well.
I think we are leaning towards the switch and saving the money! The only thing that does look tons better are the staterooms - we are a family of 5, but how much time will we actually spend in our rooms? I'm guessing not much???
