Disney Dream 3-Day Cruise 5/26 - Longtime DVCers/First time Cruisers

[tedhowe]

Hi All... I'm starting this thread for my trip report on our just completed cruise on the Dream.

We had a great time, and I want to record our memories here.

This first post is just an introduction... details/photos in the posts to follow.

Cast of Characters

Ted (me)
Kathy (DW)
Longtime Disney fan... first visited WDW at age 3 in 1972. Went back for a senior class trip in 1987. My parents joined DVC in 1993 and DW and I used their membership first - for our Honeymoon in July 1994 - staying in a studio at the "Disney Vacation Club" resort (now known as Old Key West). Since then we've been back many times and bought our own membership in 2000 at Hilton Head. We love the characters, Disney service and guest experience.

Grace (DD9)
Our oldest. Grace is a dreamer/loves to read/loves to hear about how things work and is fascinated by science/math. She took her first steps as an infant in our villa at OKW back in 2003.

Joy (DD6)
Joy is our daredevil/princess. She loves to dress up as the princesses and pretend. She pretends to be nervous/scared about things that are new (like flying) but she really likes them if you can coax her into actually trying. She's very tough and a great trooper (more on that later). She is a HUGE Mickey and Minnie fanatic. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was her favorite show as a baby and she still will stop and watch it if it is on. After years of it being out of the rotation, she recently asked me to put a season pass for MMCH back on the Tivo.

Overall Trip Plan
Well... after our last WDW trip in January 2010, DW finally said to me that she wanted to take a break from going to the Orlando parks. We had long thought about going on a Disney Cruise, so this seemed a great way to use up points and have a non-park hopping Disney fix.

After much back and forth (initially planning on a few nights at Vero Beach wrapped around the 3-night cruise) we finally settled on staying in Port Canaveral for the night before the trip and two nights afterward and spending some quality time at the Kennedy Space Center - something I've always wanted to do, but never got around to and it seemed a shame to be in Port Canaveral and not make it over there. I thought the girls would be at a good age to have their imaginations inspired by the stories of human space flight.


That's it for now... the real Trip Report will get started tonight when I write about Day 0 (leaving home) and the problems with too many plans and not enough actual reservations.

 

[Dman67]

Hey Ted! We were on that same cruise with your family. Looking forward to reading your trip report.

 

[tedhowe]

Tuesday May 24th was the last day of work for us... and was also our day to leave home for our trip.

Because of flight prices, we decided to take the early flight from PHL-MCO on Airtran. It is a direct flight that leaves at 8:00AM and was very reasonably priced. But, with two young kids, we decided to stay at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott - which is attached to the airport... you wake up, walk out the connector bridge, and you are in the airport. We used this strategy for our trip to WDW in January 2010 and it worked very well.

We planned to stay at the Residence Inn Port Canaveral for the day before the cruise and perhaps one night after as well. But, being Memorial Day weekend, the return flights were VERY expensive on either Sunday OR Monday after the flight, so we also decided to stay there for two nights afterward and visit Kennedy Space Center.

Tuesday morning, I got the email reminder from Airtran that I could check in and when I went to check it I found that the $69 per seat upgrade to business class was available. We had already paid the $6 per seat for selecting our seats in advance, and were going to check a bag each, so for a total of about $150 I was able to upgrade all 4 of us to sit in Row 2! This was a bonus. We have loved flying Airtran and had always wanted to upgrade to business class on the day of the flight, but it was never available. Since this bargain is going to go away when Southwest incorporates Airtran into their operations, I decided to splurge.

The 4 of us are all students at a local taekwondo school. Tuesday evening has two classes for our 6 year old... and we wanted to get her to class. The plan was for me to get her from school aftercare and for Kathy to finish packing while were were at class.

Well... getaway day from work had surprises (as usually happens) and I was unable to get away in time to get Joy to class. I ended up picking up the girls and just heading home to help with the packing. After I was packed, and they were reasonably well along the way, I sat down at the computer to print out the boarding passes from Airtran along with the hotel confirmations for the three different reservations to cover our four hotel nights.

Except... I apparently never made the reservation at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott. With so much trip planning in the last few months (we also took a 10 day trip to Italy earlier this year without the kids) I had researched the prices at the Marriott, but had never actually completed a reservation. So there we were at 7PM with no hotel to stay at near the airport. This was not the end of the world as we only live about 40 minutes away, but it meant we had to get up very early.

The Marriott still had availability, but at $300 for the night. I did some other quick searches and found a Microtel just a few minutes from the airport with a room and a park, sleep, fly package that would cost just $126 with all taxes. So this snafu ended up saving us about $120 vs. staying at the airport Marriott and parking the car at an offsite lot.

So we hit the road for the airport at about 8PM, stopped for a late dinner and then checked in and, after requesting a 5:30 AM wake up call, all went to sleep... exhausted and seemingly more than ever... in need of a vacation.

Next up... Day 1 - Flying business class, feeding gators, kickin' back in the pool at the Residence Inn.

 

[tedhowe]

So the alarm goes off at 5:30am in the hotel room... we were so exhausted from the prep day and commotion of last evening that ALL 4 of us were asleep within about 20 minutes of getting in to our room.

I for one slept right up until the alarm.

Wake up, quick shower, get dressed and out to the continental breakfast area. By 6 AM we are on our hotel shuttle to the airport.

Confession time... I'm mostly an easy going kind of guy... whatever/whenever is my style... except on two main occasions: moving day and travel day.

We no longer need to/decide to move ourselves. We pack our things, but hire movers. Much cheaper than marriage counseling.

But there's no real help for travel day. I admit it, I'm a mess until I get through airport security... then I can relax, but up until them, I'm a miserable traveling companion. This is part of the reason for staying at an airport hotel... it removes the "we have to leave home NOW" part of my dark side from the equation... but I still am not fun to be with until we're on our way to the gate on the other side of the TSA line.

Anyway... we arrive at the Airtran check in at about 6:10, drop our bags off, and head for security... security at PHL can be a nightmare, but here's a tip... be a family traveling through PHL on a Wednesday morning. We were directed to the family line... and there was NO ONE ahead of us. I've never had that happen. by 6:20 we were through security even though I got selected for additional screening.

Ahh... now I can relax. We stop so DW can get a healthier breakfast than was offered at the Microtel and meander toward the gate. The kids watch planes coming and going and at the appropriate time, they call for boarding. With the Business Class upgrade, we're in zone 1... first ones on board the plane. We sit back, relax and wait while the rest of the plane boards.

After an uneventful flight, I run out to check the National Emerald Aisle while DW and the girls wait at baggage claim. I look in the B-side and see almost all Impalas and Altimas. That's good enough. I head back to the belt and we start to get nervous about our bags. Most people have gone already... but there are about 10 or so people waiting from our flight with no bags. The belt eventually stops... not a good sign.

The Airtran baggage office is right next to the belt, so we head in to start a trace on our bags before the other 10 people jump in in front of us. We're just about to put in the trace, when - after 10 minutes with nothing at all coming out, the belt starts back up, and our bags appear. Whew... I was not looking forward to that hassle, but with a day to the cruise, we would have been okay.

So off we go, grab the bags, hop in a white Ford Fusion and we're on the road for Port Canaveral. The drive over is uneventful except for one stretch where we went through a swarm of love bugs... the windshield is a mess and I can't imaging what the front of the car looks like... until we later park. All I can say is EEEEWWWWW. I'm glad I don't have to wash the rental car before we return it.

We get to the Port Canaveral area at about noon, and figure our room won't be available yet, so after a drive by to locate the hotel we follow trip advisor's advice and head into the port to eat lunch at Grill's Seafood.

What a great meal. I shared the hot peel and eat shrimp with the kids, had a bowl of Bahamian spicy fish chowder and a grilled mahi mahi sandwich that was excellent. Yummy... this is shaping up to be a great vacation.

So we go back to the hotel, check in to our room and assess if there's anything we need to get before we cruise. I need sunglasses and DW needs a new sun hat. We look at the attractions in the area and head for Ron Jon in Cocoa Beach with the intention of doing some mini golf while we're out.

The trip out is successful and not far from Ron Jon is a place called Funtasia Mini Golf and Gators. You can feed the gators and then golf. Well, you can't feed gators back in PA, so we decide to do both. $4 each for a "cup" of gator food for the kids... turns out to be one hot dog sliced into pieces. Some expensive hot dogs. Well, it was fun, but also sad in a roadside america kind of way.

Here's the first picture of the trip report. DW6 using the poll/line to feed the gators.

After an ungodly hot round of mini golf (we'd forgotten that mid-afternoon is not a good time to be out in the middle of concrete and fake grass in Florida), we head back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and dinner (Wednesdays feature a free barbecue cookout at the Residence Inn).

In the room, we find the first forgotten thing of the trip. DD9 didn't pack the swimsuits - which were laid out for her on her bed - in her suitcase. They each were supposed to bring two suits, and she has none. Fortunately, one of DD6's suits is a hand-me-down which still fits DD9 so for tonight we're okay, but there will be a late night trip back to Ron Jon. We head down to check out the pool situation.

The pool itself is very nice.

With the 3 of us included (DW didn't swim that day), there were 7 people in the pool. We didn't ever see a pool this empty on the cruise, that's for sure!

After swimming for about an hour, it was time to eat dinner. When she was getting out of the pool DD6 is limping a bit. She kicked the side of the pool while splashing about. I took a quick look and noticed that the 2nd and 3rd toes are scraped and figured that that was all it was.

We had dinner, and after the kids relaxed on the patio, it was time to head back to the room to get packed up and put together our day bags for embarkation day.

Joy rocking on the patio at the Residence Inn

Back in the room, Joy is complaining about her toes. She's a tough kid with very high tolerance for pain, so I should have paid more attention, but I attributed her complaining to the fact that she was over tired (which she was already) and I just put bandaids on the toes and we got them tucked into bed.

DD went off for a trip to Ron Jon and I relaxed watching the Phillies game on my computer.

We had a 8AM wake up time to get organized, have a nice leisurely breakfast and catch the 10AM shuttle to the terminal.

A good day to really start the vacation.

Next up... Day 2: Embarkation day, in search of a doctor and our magical surprise.

 

[Toria]

Great start! Hope her toes are ok.

 

[tedhowe]

So we wake up on embarkation day in our lovely suite at the Residence Inn and all is right with the world... except Joy's toes.

Overnight, the 2nd and 3rd toes on her right foot have swollen up and started to turn purple... we're wondering if she has possibly broken a toe. Not really thinking things through too well, we decide to wait and see how she feels after breakfast and after some children's advil. My thinking is that if it's broken, she'll probably not get much relief from just regular advil, but we'll see.

Breakfast is nice at the Residence Inn and we head back to lock up our suitcases, sign the cruise contract and put the luggage tags on.

A bit of my unbearable travelling companion side comes out as we are getting ready to get on the shuttle bus from the hotel to the port. There are quite a few cruisers that were staying at the hotel - as would be expected. I had to run to move the rental car to the back part of the parking lot for the time we are on the cruise, and when I get back, Kathy hasn't gotten in line with the other cruisers waiting to board the bus yet. I got annoyed that she was waiting in line at the front desk just to provide some positive feedback to the manager there - everyone at the hotel has been pleasant, helpful and just plain friendly and she wanted to say thanks, and we'll see you soon - since we would be back in 3 days time.

Anyway - Evil Ted got annoyed because at LEAST 2 families were now ahead of us for the bus (oh the horror!)... I try to relax about this stuff, I really do, but sometimes I don't succeed.

So the ride to the terminal is pleasant, and as we round the corner, we get our first view of the Dream in person... all I can say is "Wow. She's really big."

Kathy snapped a photo on the iPhone and posted it to Facebook... while checking us in at the port. Her comment... "It's the largest thing I've ever seen that moves" This would be the last Facebook check in for a while since we both were looking forward to "checking out" and hadn't arranged for any way to use the phones while at sea.

A brief aside on the iPhone/Facebook thing. We're both iPhone users and Facebook fanatics. We had a trip to Italy earlier this year that involved lots of competitive "check ins" - whoever was first to think of it when we arrived at a place would check themselves in and "tag" the other one. This trip started out in a similar fashion - with the girls along this time choosing sides as far as who they wanted to "win" the check in race when we got to each place.

Well, on embarkation day, Kathy dropped her iPhone and broke something in it. The home button wouldn't work and as we later found out, the dock port no longer charges the phone. Even though there wouldn't be much opportunity to check us in on a cruise, I by default became the winner of any check-in race for the rest of the trip. As I type this on the saturday after the cruise, she is off at the AT&T store to see about getting a new phone. I guess I had better get my speed check-ins ready to go again.

After dropping our bags with a porter, we head to the gate and passport control. The friendly cast member there addresses the girls as "princess" (as is often the case with Disney CMs), which is met by a scowl from Joy - the injured toes appear to have removed any pretense of enjoying being called a princess from our... well... princess. Joy is the one who absolutely LOVES to dress up in Disney Princess outfits. If she doesn't like being called princess, this may be more serious than we had feared.

We go through security, make our way up the escalators and stop at the medical desk. We fill out the form and then flag down a cast member to ask about the availability of a doctor on board the ship. We've decided that we'd like a medical professional to look at the toes. She says that a doctor should be available after we board. Not great, but at this point, we don't have a car even if we want to go out to a local urgent care center. It will have to do.

We head to the check in line. The CM at the head of the line hands us our boarding number - #9... not bad at all. Not great, but I was worried about something in the high teens or twenties.

We check in, get our pictures taken and then the girls head off to a couch to watch movies on the video monitors. The line for activity check in is pretty long, but I've heard it moves quickly. Kathy gets in line, and I walk around. The line isn't moving at all... it's just stuck. I find out that the computers that link to the oceaneer's lab and club aren't working. They haven't been able to link them up to the info for today's sailing. No one is checking in at all. There's still about an hour until they start boarding, so the CMs remain hopeful, but are realistic. They hand out the registration forms to anyone who hasn't pre-registered on line to speed things up later.

With nothing else to do really, Kathy decides to stand in line just in case they are able to get things sorted out.

I notice the doors to the observation deck and ask the girls if they want to go out to look at the Dream up close. Joy doesn't want to go anywhere, but Grace comes along.

Embarkation Day - Grace and the Dream in the background.

The magic "portal" awaits - only a few minutes more and we'll start boarding

As they start boarding, each number called shrinks the line of people in front of us at the kids check-in. No one wants to wait for computers when you could be boarding. Like the rest of those ahead of us, we wait until they call our number, but then immediately abandon the queue. I guess we'll have to check the kids in onboard.

We get our photo taken, cross the gangway and step on board as they announce our name. We're here!

The ship is more beautiful and bigger than I had imagined. Once we step into the atrium, we flag down one of the cast members to ask about the medical center and availability of a doctor. The CM directs us over to Guest Services and they call down to the medical center. The center will open (like the most of the other "activities" on the ship) after the muster drill... 4:30PM. That's about 3 hours away. Joy's doing okay, but we really want to have a professional look at her foot. They inform me that it will be $143 just to see the doctor - well, I'm glad I have $500 in OBC from our Disney Rewards Visa card!

We head up to Cabanas for a very nice lunch. I like the way the restaurant is laid out. I can't really remember what I had to eat, but desert was hand dished ice cream. The kids had chocolate and vanilla, but I had the pineapple and coconut with toasted coconut flakes on top. I used to HATE coconut, especially toasted coconut, but I guess my taste bugs in that area have finally grown up.

I never really thought of our girls like this before, but the two seagulls on the sign at Cabanas really hit home... the resemblance is more than coincidental at times... sibling rivalry can be a challenge.

After lunch, we headed to check out our stateroom - 7006. We loved this room. It's unique and large and unusual, it won't work for all, but we think it is a great bargain as a category 9A. Check out the threads on these "corner" rooms and my room report for all the details.

We decide to attend the DVC Member reception - nothing like free hats. We head down to Evolution for the reception.

As we head down the midship area, I stop to snap a picture of the chandelier in the atrium

As we walk in, they will not take "no" to an answer and start handing out mimosas and sparkling cider for the kids. The sheer number of glasses on the bar immediately reveals the sales strategy for this session - get 'em drunk and happy and have them buy an add-on of more points.

Well, we weren't buying but I'll take free mimosas from time to time. We sit down and the spiel (show) starts. They are looking for "panelists" to answer questions - guest with the most cruises, who came the farthest, etc. We turn out to be tied with another family for the longest standing DVC members in attendance (Oct. '93)... and we get picked to be on the panel. We were both trying to avoid going up, and when Kathy proposed sending one of our girls up, the cast member decided that that wasn't nice and her punishment was to be drafted... I got to sit back and drink more mimosas.

Kathy on the "experts" panel for the DVC presentation

As soon as the panel part was over, and they got into the real sales part of the presentation, we skipped out. It wasn't worth that much of our time on the trip since we weren't buying. It was a fun diversion, but our next stop was the pool/aquaduck.

When we got back up to deck 11, the place was a madhouse... it was almost 3 o'clock and the embarkation day crowding was in full swing. We sized up the situation and realized that the duck was going to be out of the question since the wait was 40 minutes.

We decided to let the girls swim in the pool for a bit before the muster drill.

Mickey's under there somewhere... wall to wall kids in the pool.

The whole deck was a mob scene at 3pm on embarkation day.

I found some shade by the Mickey slide and caught a cool photo of someone on the Aquaduck going by.

At the appropriate time, we made our way to our muster station - in the balcony of the Walt Disney theater - and listened to the instructions. I'm normally the quiet type who figures everything will work out, but I get some nervous parent points for asking the question of what happens if there is an emergency and the kids are in the Oceaneers Lab at the time...should we go get them, or should we just go to our muster station. (Answer - you can go get them if you want, but they would prefer you just go to your muster station... the kids wristbands all have the letter of the muster station they belong at printed on them, and there are Club and Lab CMs assigned to lead the kids for each station there).

Well, I'm out of time right now so the rest of embarkation day will have to wait til later.

In Day 2 (part two): Visiting the medical center, sail away party, dinner and a show and finally, a magical surprise - what a day!

 

[gfly]

awesome

 

[gfly]

question, is there another pool besides the mickey pool in the family area? if so is it deeper?

 

[tedhowe]

question, is there another pool besides the mickey pool in the family area? if so is it deeper?

There is a second pool on the pool deck. If you look at the photo I posted of the whole deck, the Mickey pool is in the foreground, closest to me. There's and area of deck chairs between the two pools, and Donald's pool is on the other side (near the giant video screen). That pool is deeper (a bit over 5-feet, I believe. The deep part is just an oval, with a larger wet-deck area surrounding it that is just a few inches deep.

I think I'll have a photo of that pool to post in the Day 3 post when I get there. We stayed on the ship in port at Nassau and the kids watched Finding Nemo from the pool that day.

 

[BelleProfHP]

Enjoying the TR so far. Can't wait to read more!

 

[KatInHat]

Enjoying your trip report. We were on the same cruise. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Mjonas2014]

my first post so excited welcomeing myself to the dis!

 

[disneycruiser22]

great report-may i ask what time you arrived at the port? or what time your shuttle was? thanks

 

[Katie's Mom]

We are sailing in 16 days and I am loving your trip report!

 

[tedhowe]

great report-may i ask what time you arrived at the port? or what time your shuttle was? thanks

We arrived at the port at about 10:20 - 10:30. Our shuttle was supposed to leave the hotel at 10:00, but it took until about 10:15 to get everyone loaded on and paid for.

When I checked in online for the cruise on the DVC website, the only time that was available to check for the port arrival time was 2:30PM, but I just ignored that and we got there when we got there. Nobody even seemed to be aware of what time we had selected.

 

[tedhowe]

After the Muster Drill, we made our way down to the Medical Center. Joy's foot was not hurting her as much, so we were feeling a bit better, but still wanted a pro to look at it, just in case.

The doctor was not there yet, but a nurse took a look at the toes, and did not think either was broken. She taped them up and we got some children's tylenol to go with our Advil for any discomfort Joy might have. Total charge at the medical center - $3.50 for the bottle of tylenol... not bad. Joy seemed to be more relaxed about her toes after having a pro look at it as well. A much better time at the medical center than we were expecting.

After our visit, we hurried back up to Deck 11 to find a place to take in the sail away party. We managed to work our way into the center of the deck - they have closed the cover over Donald's pool so we were walking on water!

Grace and Joy enjoying the show at the sail away party.

They shoot off streamers at the end of the sail away party, and predictably, Grace and Joy collected as many of them as the could. Some even made it home with us.

After the party, it was getting close to dinner time, so we made our way back to our room and changed for dinner. The first night was at Artists' Palette.
We loved the restaurant. Crush was a hoot talking to the various sections of the room. We met our servers for the cruise... Joselito our waiter, Aytug our assistant waiter and Raul our head waiter.

They were pleasant enough, Joselito especially was funny and personable, but they did not seem to be the "A" team in the dining room. We never really had problems, but the service was not top notch.

The food, however, was very good in my opinion. The smoked salmon tartar with capers and sea salt was excellent and the veal trio entree was also.

The girls had mac and cheese (sigh... the talks about trying out different foods didn't really sink in).

Dessert was just for the girls tonight. Joy had her favorite: a Mickey Bar

After dinner, on the way forward, I stopped to get photos of the girls in the big picture window portholes along the corridor.

We headed for the Walt Disney theater to see the Golden Mickeys. The show was cute and funny and the performers were very good. Not the greatest thing that I've ever seen, but a lot of fun, and the girls both enjoyed it a lot.

After the show, we went back up to our stateroom.. it had been a busy day, and everyone was pretty tired so we were planning on turning in early.

When we arrived in the stateroom, it had been made up for sleeping. There was a towel animal on the bed as we expected... and something unexpected on the coffee table/chest.

There was a plate of cookies and four glasses of orange juice along with a note.

The note was from Pablo in Guest Services, informing us that out of all the families on the cruise, we were chosen as the "Magical Family of the Cruise". The cookies were just a first taste of a bit of extra special magic that we could expect throughout the trip!

We were floored at our good fortune. And as we turned in for the night, we couldn't help but drift off with dreams of what might await us in the rest of the time on our Dream cruise.

Next up: Day Three: Nassau, Goofy Golf, Aquaduck and Detective Cases

 

[mlayton14]

Excellent trip report thus far .. makes it feel like we are there.

However, after seeing that first shot of the Mickey Pool .. cant say I am going to be in any rush to go on the Dream .. what a mob scene. Looks like the pool will hold about 30 kids arm to arm .. with prob 1500 kids on the ship out of total 4000 guests?? Other than that ship looks beautiful.

 

[MrsTedHowe]

A bit of my unbearable travelling companion side comes out as we are getting ready to get on the shuttle bus from the hotel to the port. There are quite a few cruisers that were staying at the hotel - as would be expected. I had to run to move the rental car to the back part of the parking lot for the time we are on the cruise, and when I get back, Kathy hasn't gotten in line with the other cruisers waiting to board the bus yet. I got annoyed that she was waiting in line at the front desk just to provide some positive feedback to the manager there - everyone at the hotel has been pleasant, helpful and just plain friendly and she wanted to say thanks, and we'll see you soon - since we would be back in 3 days time.

Anyway - Evil Ted got annoyed because at LEAST 2 families were now ahead of us for the bus (oh the horror!)... I try to relax about this stuff, I really do, but sometimes I don't succeed.

Ted's DW Kathy here. May I just point out... it's 10:00 in the morning. The boat doesn't sail away until 4:30 p.m. or so. There's no airport security to clear.

I Tedhowe, but he does not exaggerate when he admits to his evil twin on travel days. (I still think I'll keep him, though. The warranty's expired anyway.)

 

[tedhowe]

We woke up early on our Nassau day. DW went off to find coffee and some open air solitude at that time of day. The girls were still asleep for the time being. I actually got up and looked out the porthole. I liked the view and snapped a quick picture.

Overnight I had felt some motion and could feel some now as well. The seas were not flat calm, but there was a little chop. The motion was noticeable, but in a pleasant way... none of us were feeling any effects of the motion.

While Kathy was out of the room and the girls were sleeping I went online to try to find out more about the "Magical Family of the cruise"... there was not a whole lot of information here on the Disboards (or elsewhere)... many people confusing it with the "Magical Family of the Day" that is picked to board first, but this was different. Without much more info to go on, I just figured we'd see what happened.

Kathy came back and we all got dressed and headed out to breakfast. We decided to eat at Cabanas and sit out back in the open air right at the stern.

The view was beautiful and as we ate, we started to see the port approaching for Nassau. We had planned to stay aboard and didn't have any excursions, so Kathy had made reservations for a couple of spa treatments and I was planning on spending the morning with the girls exploring the ship a bit more and hopefully riding the Aquaduck.

After breakfast, we headed up to Goofy's sports deck to check out the view and the minigolf. While the girls and I were playing golf, the ship was doing its slow pirouette to tie up at the dock. The goofy golf is a lot of fun... and I managed to play the whole course in just one over par, so that's a good day on the links for me!

While up on deck 13 there, we snapped a few pictures - including of the Carnival ship moored next to us. Another passenger who was looking at the Carnival ship said to me: "Doesn't it just make you want to yell over: Nyah Nayh! Our ship is bigger than your ship!" I'm not sure I would put it that way, but it it really did bring home just how big the Dream is.

Joy with the Carnival Fantasy in the background

After our golf outing, the three of us went back to the stateroom and changed into swimsuits and headed to deck 11.

The wait for the duck was listed at 40 minutes, but the line didn't look that long. We dropped our stuff on a chaise near Donald's pool and got on line. Based on their heights, Grace could go with either another young person, or with an adult... Joy could only go with an adult. I checked with a cast member and confirmed that I could do a swap with the kids - the three of us would wait in line to the top, and then I would ride down with one of them, and once we were done, climb back up the stairs and join the other at the top for another ride down.

While waiting, I decided that Joy and I would ride first with Grace waiting at the top... I'd drop Joy off in Nemo's Reef for a little while as I went back to ride with Grace. The plan worked very well, and Joy enjoyed her time with Nemo. The only problem with the plan, is that there is no alternate way back up the stairs so I had to move, dripping wet, past all the rest of the people on the stairs... I said "Pardon Me" about a hundred times. Everyone was outwardly polite, but I'm sure some of them were wondering where I was going.

The Aquaduck itself certainly is not anything outstanding as a thrill or even a water ride, but the fact that it is on a ship at sea does make it a lot of fun. It's a good ride, and certainly worth doing at least once... and if the wait is only in the 10-15 minute range, I'd wait for it almost any time I was on board and ready for some water action.

After the duck, we went back down and retrieved Joy from the reef and the girls went on Mickey's slide a couple of times.

Joy coming down head first... both the cast member by the bottom of the slide and I warned her to come down feet first after that.

Grace coming down sitting bolt upright... she's not as much of a daredevil as Joy is.

After spending some time on the slide, the girls went back in the pools while I relaxed. They were watching Peter Pan from the pool on Funnel Vision... it really is a neat way to catch a movie.

The pool deck was much more reasonably populated today, as I'm sure many people chose to leave the ship and explore Nassau.

Here are some pictures of the pool deck and the kids watching the movie from the Pool.

After her spa appointment was over, Kathy joined us on Deck 11... the girls and I grabbed lunch from Flo's and Kathy went back to Cabanas to get her lunch but joined us out on Deck 11.

After lunch, we headed down to the D Lounge for a family craft activity. Kathy and the Girls made ceramic tile coasters. This is the sort of activity that I love about Disney and their focus on serving families. We are DVC members and even with all the other opportunities to spend money, Disney provides a lot of opportunities for simple family fun that doesn't cost any thing extra and provides you with small, simple souvenirs.

DW and the girls working on their coasters.

The girls and me in a window seat in D Lounge.

After the craft was done, we headed back to the stateroom to drop off the things and get everyone changed out of swimsuits.

This was the opportunity for the girls to get some extended time in the Oceaneer's Lab and Club... we checked them in and headed off to the Buena Vista Theater to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - in 3D.

Now, I'm not a POTC fanatic... I enjoyed the first one a lot, thought the second one was pretty good and got totally lost in two different attempts to watch the third one. The fourth one is a lot of fun, and though I wouldn't have paid the extra to see it in 3D myself, I enjoyed the 3D experience.

After the movie, we back by the lounge and picked up the girls and stopped by the Midship Detective agency to pick up detective badges and casebooks for the girls. They each chose a different case to investigate and off we went to track down the thieves.

The girls leading the way down the corridor in search of clues.

Joy taking a rest in the lobby outside of Guest Services on Deck 3... if you don't plan it out you could easily walk 2 to 3 miles back and forth around the ship in search of all the clues.

We got about half of the way through the mysteries and it was time to head back to our room and get ready for dinner.

When we got back, we had a note from Pablo at Guest Services waiting for us. Inside the envelope was a letter and excursion tickets for the next day at Castaway Cay. We had already reserved an excursion with the Sting Rays, but hadn't set up anything else. Our magical gift was the Getaway package - snorkels, floats and bike rentals for the four of us. What a great treat! I had debated adding this on, but decided not to - so this was a great treat.

We headed off to the Enchanted Garden for our dinner. Dinner again was delicious. I had the sea bass and it was just sumptuous. I like to cook and DW says I do a pretty good job, but one thing I've never learned is how to cook white fish well. This bass was as good as any I've ever had. I have to try again to learn how to cook white fish.

Tonight, both Raul and Joselito took it upon themselves to bring Joy her Mickey Bar for dessert, so I decided to have one of them for my dessert instead of ordering off the normal menu.

Joy checking out the fountain at the center of Enchanted Garden.

With such a full day planned in Castaway Cay, we decided that the pirate party/fireworks AND the Villains Tonight show were not in the cards for the girls (all 3 of them). So we left it up to the kids to decide whether they wanted the show or a rest followed by fireworks. They chose the show, and I have to say I think they chose wisely.

I've heard very mixed things about this show, but we really enjoyed it. The actor playing Hades was VERY funny and the whole show was pretty enjoyable. Before the show, Pain and Panic go around the theater as a kind of pre-show...Grace had fun chatting with Pain.

After the show, we got the girls tucked in to their bunks... Alecia left us a swan as a towel animal this night. I decided to go back up on deck to check out the fireworks.

Up on deck, I found a good vantage point - parked right under the aquaduck... I caught a neat photo with the lights on, and no water running in the duck

The fireworks show was nice and I enjoyed it, but it only confirmed my thoughts that the show was a better choice if you were only going to do one thing.

After that, I headed back to the stateroom and turned in myself.

Next up: Day 4: Castaway Cay!

 

[gfly]

looks great! What time did you get to the pool? it actually looks manageable!