A Gaggle of Band Geeks on a NYE Dream FINISHED! 2/28

[Sooze]

I LOVE the shadow boxes at Pop! I could also spend a day looking at them!

Oh my gosh, me too! Someday I will go there without my kids, just to look at them all!!

I loved this update! The picture you painted of the everyone going crazy heading down the highway -- fantastic.

Every time I think of it, it makes me smile. We were all BEYOND happy. So blessed to have such a wonderful memory!

I'm glad that you took those gangplank pictures. Everybody who's been on a cruise always looks down, but no one ever takes a picture.

I was in such AWE with what we were doing... the view over the gangplank struck me as I had NEVER seen something like that (from my own personal point of view) before. Glad I had the camera at the ready, and glad you appreciate the shot!

What a great father/daughter moment with the shrimp scraps!

Isn't her face hilarious!?

 

[Sooze]

As soon as we were done with lunch, we found some restrooms to use as dressing rooms, and got the kids ready for the pool. I was so glad to see that the Mickey pool was shallow, and Shae spent her time exploring every nook and cranny of Mickey’s face! Tyson immediately hit the Aquaduck. While the kids played in the pool area, the adults stood around and took it all in. I seriously don’t remember much about this time other than that constant feeling of being overwhelmed. In a good way overwhelmed! I was also very anxiously awaiting the moment when we would pull away from port and I would experience my very first cruise ride. I would see this massive work of art floating away into the ocean. It was simply overwhelming!

Soon, our state rooms were ready. We dried off the kids and headed down a few decks and found our room, located WAAAAAAY in the front of the ship. It was welcoming to see our DVC magnet on the door!

We opened the door and literally gasped at how amazing our room was! It was a deluxe family ocean view room. It was square-shaped instead of rectangular, and had TWO porthole windows. It was SO spacious!! Here, check it out:

When you walked in, to your immediate left was the bathroom, just beyond the bathroom, still on the left, was the bed:

On the wall opposite the door were the two windows, with a large desk in between:

If you walked up to the windows and turned around, you’d see this view of our couch. This couch opened up to a bed and was opposite the main bed:

I have more pictures later of the beds turned down, so you can see how the kids slept. This was the view out of the windows while we were in Port Canaveral:

How VERY DIFFERENT this view would be the next morning!!

After settling into our room, we headed back out to the DVC celebration. While we got some great swag (including free hats and drinks!), the ‘celebration’ turned into a sales pitch. As first time cruisers, we didn’t realize DVC would be trying to sell us more points on the cruise! We also didn’t realize they’d have some AWESOME offers and discounted points available. It was super tempting, but since we didn’t plan for, or budget more points at that time, we graciously declined!

Up next was the lifeboat drill, which basically meant we gathered in our ‘assembly station’ (ours was in the Walt Disney Theater which was just around the corner from our room!) and listened to some emergency instructions. It was quick and painless!

FINALLY, we were all able to gather on the main deck and get ready for the sale away party. As soon as we arrived, the Cast Members were swarming with platters full of yummy drinks! I swear, these guys were EVERYWHERE, EVERY DAY, ALL THE TIME!! Dean didn’t hesitate!

We grabbed a great spot on the upper deck, where we could watch and participate in the fun, but had our own ‘zone’ that didn’t feel so crowded.

As we were partying, I watched this…. Uh…. Ship? …. Yeah, ship. I watched it sail away. While I understand Disney isn’t for everyone, and a cruise of any kind should be celebrated, I couldn’t help but wonder if the people on this thing were jealous of us… partying on this piece of artwork ship with the most magical of times awaiting us. Ah well…. As you see this picture, please sing the sad trombone … ready? Go!

Wah… wah.. wah… wwaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh:

I’m sorry… I just think that is the saddest looking ship.

Back to the magic - we took in the celebrations and had a fabulous sailing away party!!

View looking up at the Aquaduck:

Chip and Dez rode the Aquaduck during the festivites!

After singing and dancing and putting our cell phones away for a good long time, we suddenly felt that something was different. Oh. My. Gosh……. We are MOVING!!!!

It was so SMOOTH!!! I couldn’t believe it!!
The beautiful Dream horn sounded a few times, and we were headed out to sea! It was time to return to our fantastic state room to pretty ourselves up for a show and then dinner. Just as we got there, we noticed the sun was setting just out our window.

Stay tuned to see how we wrapped up the evening… and how did we do getting our ‘sea legs’? Two words…. NAW. SHUS.

 

[micandminforever]

I love those big windows. What a sunset.

 

[Sooze]

I love those big windows. What a sunset.

It was so great that we had two of them, too! One for each kid! We spent A LOT of time looking out of them... and more beautiful sunsets to come!

 

[BsAngel]

waiting for more

 

[mermaid764]

Wow your room is gorgeous... I never expected the portholes to be that gigantic..it really brightens up the whole room and the sunset looked amazing.

Yay for finally being underway, but not yay for being nauseous...hopefully that passed quickly and you guys were able to enjoy your long awaited vacation.

Can't wait to hear more

 

[Sooze]

waiting for more

Just returned from teaching a big ol' band camp! (Must keep up that band geek status) Will be updating soon!

Wow your room is gorgeous... I never expected the portholes to be that gigantic..it really brightens up the whole room and the sunset looked amazing.

Weren't they AWESOME?! I myself was imagining tiny little circles that we could fit our face in!

Yay for finally being underway, but not yay for being nauseous...hopefully that passed quickly and you guys were able to enjoy your long awaited vacation.

Can't wait to hear more

Stay tuned for the details. I'll give you a sneak peek and let you know it certainly did NOT effect my enjoyment of the vacation!

 

[Sooze]

Our group decided to go with the later dining time (as our DVD family recommended), so after freshening up, it was time for a SHOW! The first night, we were treated to “Villains Tonight” in the Walt Disney Theater. As we were sitting and waiting for the show to begin, Matt kept turning to me saying, “Did you feel that? Did you see the curtains move?” I sure wish he didn’t keep pointing out to me that we were in this ginormous theater, and that the whole theater was actually floating and moving. I don’t know…. It just made me feel a bit queasy. The funny thing was, the day before we left for our trip, I made a stop at the drug store to pick up motion-sickness meds for MATT. I had NEVER felt seasick before in my life. And here I was starting to feel it!!

The show was amazing! So professional and well done and filled with our favorite Disney tunes and characters. As we were leaving, we had to walk down the hall and a flight of stairs to head to our first dining experience at the Enchanted Garden. I was dressed up a bit and happened to be wearing some small heels. The combination of the walk, the heels, the swaying of the ship, and my hunger just got the better of me. I really felt nauseous and couldn’t believe it!! The feeling of being on this large moving vessel just got to me, I guess! But, do not fret, my dear readers! As soon as we sat down and ate, I was quickly feeling better. I didn’t even need the motion sickness med. Hooray!

The Enchanted Garden was a lovely dining place. We were super pleased to see that our LARGE group was actually seated together. We spent dinner laughing and sharing stories and enjoying the delicious food and relaxed atmosphere.

Our server was name May. She was a joy! Our assistant was Made (pronounced MAH-day) and he was a hoot! One of our first moments of realizing how great this trip was going to be was when they delivered our meals. They asked Shae if she wanted ketchup for her fries. When she replied, “Yes, please” (because she has amazing manners, of course), this was what was put on her plate:

She looked forward to her Mickey ketchup at every dinner!

Another great story happened at dessert time. As May was going around the table asking what each of us wanted, Uncle Ralphie replied, “Nothing, thanks.” So what did May bring for him? Well… NOTHING of course!

After a delicious and wonderful meal, we all headed up to the upper decks to enjoy the open ocean air. It was INCREDIBLE to see… the vast darkness spread out on all sides of the ship. The soft glow of the lights reflecting into the water near the ship. The cool (almost cold, it was December!) air blowing around us. It was awesome!

I’m a little fuzzy on the evening’s details from here. I think we may have explored the Oceaneer Club. I think Tyson braved the cold air and did some swimming/Aquaduck time. I think we may have checked out the adult area. I think we may have perused the gift shops. It was a free-for-all as we got used to the ship we’d call home for the next few days!

Soon, it was time for bed. We returned to our state room to see our beds turned down, which included the kids’ beds. Shae’s came down from the ceiling, and Ty got the sofa bed. Here’s what they looked like ready for sleeping:

You can see Shae quickly climbed up and settled in!

One of our favorite details was on the ceiling above Shae. Disney misses no details!

We crashed!! Despite our excitement for Castaway Cay the next day, we quickly fell asleep with the gentle rocking of our Dream ship!

Tomorrow…. We get to explore THIS:

Night night!

 

[glennbo123]

Sounds wonderful! I love meals on cruises -- so good and the servers are so much fun.

 

[Sooze]

Sounds wonderful! I love meals on cruises -- so good and the servers are so much fun.

I always looked forward to the meals! I completely agree!

 

[Sooze]

I was excited early the next morning, to feel the engines of the ship turning us around, realizing that we’d be parking this big baby into Castaway Cay! Sure enough, when we peeked out the window, we were greeted with paradise!

We took our time getting our swimming gear and on-shore bag ready, then headed up to Cabanas for breakfast. Here was our view as we enjoyed the delicious buffet.

There were quite a few bulldozers pushing stuff around down on this side. We weren’t sure if they were contemplating building a second dock (I hope not, two ships at one time on this island would mean too many people), or if they were fixing the mess that Hurricane Irene left.

Shae ate quickly, then found herself exploring details. It’s crazy what grabs a kid’s attention.

On our way out, we decided to check out Deck 4, which I like to call the “Titanic Deck” (I’m sure many people do!)

It’s an open-air deck that runs under the lifeboats. People use it as a walking/jogging track, and there are retro-looking lounge chairs to rest in. As Shae so adorably models here:

Our next stop, on the way to the gangplank, was the lobby, which was beautifully EMPTY!

Aren’t the Christmas decorations just gorgeous?

Finally, we made our way off the ship and stepped foot on Castaway Cay for the first time. I marveled over and over again at the size of the Dream. I love how this picture helps show how huge she really is!

We decided to take the long walk to the beach and had a good laugh at this sign that greeted us at the start of the walk:

Another great sign:

Goofy was out, as were lots of other characters, who were greeting us along the way!

At this point, the camera went away! We spent a wonderful day on the beach, building sand sculptures, wading in the small waves, splashing in the salt water, and enjoying the perfect weather. Lunch was a BBQ meal that was superb! We did pay for float/snorkel gear , but really only used the floats.

Eventually, I was able to talk Shae into spending some time at Scuttle’s Cove, which is the place where you can leave your kiddos. While we were sitting at lunch, we noticed that you could see into this area. Shae was able to see the AMAZING play area they had in Scuttle’s Cove, and seemed a bit interested in exploring it. So I left her there with a gaggle of happy CMs. As soon as she was happily checked in, I took off like a lightning bolt to Serenity Bay!! Many of our band geek friends had already been spending some time there, and I was DYING to join them. (What about Tyson, you ask? He was having the time of his life having free-reign on the island. Playing in the ocean, spending time in the ‘tween’ zone, just being a pre-teen!)

Soon, Matt and I found ourselves here….

Oh, sweet heaven. It was SO peaceful!!!

Even with a FULL ship, this beach was quite empty and very quiet!

Yes, I could possibly do THIS every single moment of every single day:

We all agreed that we were SO thankful that we would be coming BACK to Castaway Cay on another day of the cruise. SO thankful!

The day MUCH TOO QUICKLY came to an end, and soon we were lugging our tired selves back to the ship. We stopped at Scuttle’s Cove to check out Shae (who, of course, did NOT want to leave!), and decided to catch a tram back to the ship. (I HIGHLY recommend this!)

This was one of those times we were SO glad we did the later dining, because we had plenty of time to get pretty (it was formal night) and prepare for the evening show and dinner. Stay tuned for some fancy pictures ☺

 

[micandminforever]

Once again you did a great job on the pictures. I am ready to book the next cruise. I look forward to the fancy pictures.

 

[Sooze]

Once again you did a great job on the pictures. I am ready to book the next cruise. I look forward to the fancy pictures.

Thanks! It was hard to take out the camera while we were having such a crazy good time!

And we booked our next cruise within a month of disembarking!

 

[mermaid764]

What an amazing day on Castaway Cay.....your pictures are gorgeous and it looks like everyone was having the time of their lives.

Enchanted Garden looks so gorgeous from the pictures and the food sounds delicious, and awesome to hear that your sea sickness went away on its own.

I love the picture of Shae posing in the lounge chairs too cute!

Can't wait to hear more

 

[Sooze]

What an amazing day on Castaway Cay.....your pictures are gorgeous and it looks like everyone was having the time of their lives.

And we had ANOTHER one to look forward too!!

Enchanted Garden looks so gorgeous from the pictures and the food sounds delicious, and awesome to hear that your sea sickness went away on its own.

I sure wish I took more pictures of the dining places. There was always SO much going on, I just never thought to take out my camera.

I was super glad the nausea didn't last long! That is SO not like me to feel motion sick!

I love the picture of Shae posing in the lounge chairs too cute!

Can't wait to hear more

She's my little America's Next Sweet Model!

 

[glennbo123]

Ooo, I love that last picture. It's like "Calgon, take me away!"

 

[Sooze]

Ooo, I love that last picture. It's like "Calgon, take me away!"

When I'm stressed out, I sometimes close my eyes and remember that exact moment on the beach. Definite Calgon moment!

 

[howlongtildisney]

I love how you put your camera away and were just present for the day. Looks like so much fun!

 

[Sooze]

I love how you put your camera away and were just present for the day. Looks like so much fun!

I guess I was inspired by not being able to have my cell phone, either! It was uncomfortable, yet very freeing!!

 

[Sooze]

My friends, I have misled you! Tonight wasn’t FORMAL night! I was fooled by Shaelyn’s dress choice, because she wore the same dress for two evenings. I remember now that she was dying to wear it, because she had a matching dress for her Ariel doll! So now you will really have to stick with me for a while longer, because formal night is eventually going to be here!

But, we do get to see Shaelyn posing in her pretty purple dress!

Disclaimer: I never once asked her to pose… this is pure Shaelyn!

Tonight’s show before dinner was a ventriloquist. Most of our clan went to check her out. I had no interest, so Shae and I took that extra time to get pretty, and explore the ship some more before dinner. Shae interpreted this as… PHOTO SHOOT!

Ariel wanted to get in on the photo shoot as well:

LOVE this picture of my two red-heads having some kind of deep conversation on the main stairway:

Ginger love!

We knew Mickey would be showing up in the lobby soon, so we got in line and waited. I was so excited to see him in his Christmas sweater. Isn’t it just perfect?

Down the hall was Peter Pan:

He was fantastic and spent a bit of time talking to Shae:

This was one character I had to jump in on. Mostly because I have a great friend who has a dream of playing Peter Pan on stage. Do you think they’d cast ME instead?

Ha ha ha ha! I am SUPER GINORMOUS!!! The heels certainly don’t help. (Neither does the fact that he was super tiny!)

Next up was Jessie from Toy Story. Her line was particularly long. This was one teeny tiny negative comment I have about the trip. I have read other people’s trip reports from the cruises, and most of them talk about the plethora of characters and how you don’t have to wait in long lines to see them (like you do at the parks). Well, we had the opposite experience. I waited longer for characters on the ship than I ever had at the parks. Now, mind you, this was a New Year’s Eve cruise, and the ship was sold out. So I’m sure that had a lot to do with it. And, of course, it wasn’t a big enough deal to make the cruise any less amazing!! So on with the pictures:

We hopped in one more line for Minnie (even though we had already seen her at port). While waiting, the Captain of the Dream came down the hall. We stopped him for an autograph and a picture!

Another visit with Minnie, this time with an autograph:

And look who joined us!

The rest of the gang had finished the show, and it was time for us to head to dinner at the Royal Palace dining room. The restaurant was gorgeous! I felt like royalty being escorted to our enormous table. Waiting for us on our plate was a beautifully folded napkin:

Again, I didn’t take near enough pictures, but the royal theme was everywhere! Even the bread basket was designed to look like a carriage! The food was also very regal. If you have followed any of my trip reports, you may remember that we are NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, food connoisseurs. Meat and potato, pasta and bread, no bells and whistles needed for us! So Matt often had to look past the fancy stuff on the plates to find the ‘real food’. Here was his expression when his entrée was placed in front of him at the Royal Palace:

Ha! He was taken aback by these crazy little gel-cubes of who-know-what! Really… check them out:

See the clear, crystal-looking items on the plate? If you touched them, they were squishy, like jell-o! It was fun!

Shae got a nice, simple chicken breast. As I pulled her plate towards me to cut the chicken into edible-sized pieces, May, our server, swooped in and scolded me! She said, “Mom is on vacation! I will cut for you!” And she proceeded to help Shae out with her meal.

Now THAT is something I could get used to! Or… I could just train Shae to cut her own meat… that sounds like a better idea ☺

During the meal, we noticed Belle walking by the restaurant (we had a view of the main entrance). I was still in the middle of eating, and didn’t feel like taking Shae out there to see the princess. Tyson jumped at the opportunity. “I’ll take her!” he said. He was really enjoying how independent and grown-up he was feeling on the trip.

The kids rejoined us for dessert, followed by magic tricks, courtesy of Made, our assistant server. The kids LOVED LOVED LOVED this! And Made continued this each night.

That night, Shae enjoyed the Oceaneer Club, Tyson spent time on his own at the Tween club, and Matt and I enjoyed adult time in the District. It was so wonderful to have something for all of us to do, both together and on our own!

So, what’s on the agenda for tomorrow? How about meeting a gaggle of princesses and soaking up the sun while watching Disney movies on a funnel vision screen? Yes, it was as fabulous as it sounds!