March 15' TR: Cruising into my 30s on the Dream! *PTR Link Added! 3/28/16*

TinkerbellLuvr7

Tinkerbellluvr7
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Hi Everyone!!!

Welcome to my Trip Report! Now that school has ended, my job training is finally completed, and I'm nearly done with working at WDW for the summer, I decided I can finally start this!

Basic Trip Info:
March 19th: All Star Movies Resort with dinner ADR at Yachtsman Steakhouse
March 20th-23rd: Disney Cruise on the Disney Dream
March 23rd: Wilderness Lodge Club Level with lunch ADR at Be Our Guest


Intros first of course!

Megan (me): 30 year old teacher originally from Pittsburgh but I've lived in Orlando now for 4 years. I love the weather, my teaching job, being close to Disney World, and close to the beach when I can get there! This is my 2nd cruise, first time on the 3 night cruise.





Mom: Loving retired mom who lives in Pittsburgh with my dad (who chose not to join us on this adventure). They have WDW AP's and visit my brother and I often in Orlando! This was her first cruise.




I hope you enjoy the trip as I relive it and dream of when my next cruise might be!


 
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Cruising into My 30s on the Dream!
Welcome everyone!! I debated whether I wanted to start a new TR endeavor when my last one was so long ago but I thought since I had such great memories on this cruise, why not relieve it! I also have a few friends who will be going on their first cruise within the next year and thought they might want to join along for the anticipation!

The "Ws" of the trip!

Who: Mom and I

What: Disney World and Disney Dream

Where: All Star Movies, Disney Dream, and Wilderness Lodge Club Level

When: March 19th-24th, 2015

***WHY: TO CELEBRATE MY 30TH BIRTHDAY, CHRISTMAS GIFT 2014, AND MOM'S FIRST CRUISE!!!!!***

Some Background...

This was my 2nd cruise and mom's first cruise. When I looked at options for what to do for my birthday, it was between going to DL or DCL. I jokingly said to my parents that for Christmas 2014 and my birthday, I would like a Disney Cruise and for mom to join me. Little did I know they took my request seriously and for Christmas 2014, I got the gift of a Disney Cruise!!!!

My first cruise was a 4 night in March 2013 with my now ex..although most of you know that story by now. When deciding on DCL, I didn't do it with the intentions of wanting to replace those memories because regardless of who I was with or who that person became at the end of our relationship, I did a lot of amazing things on that first cruise that I can't ever forget or attempt to replace. I wanted this trip to be a special mother/daughter adventure so I could create lasting memories with my mom whom I love and look up to! Although I wished we could do a 4 night, mom was apprehensive to begin with and the Spring Break price point in March was huge between a 3 night and a 4 that we settled for a 3 night and would make the most of it….

Which is exactly what we did!!!!
 
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Hey I can't wait to read you TR! Thanks for the invite! My goal is to take the family on a DCL soon... We are coming down on the 25th for a week at BLT. Maybe we can meet up this time!
 


Pre-Birthday Festivities and Packing!
(March 18th, 2015)

Once again, Welcome!!! Here we go!!!
Even though the cruise started the day after my birthday, the festivities began before my birthday!

Wednesday, March 18th, I was still working at school since it wasn't our Spring Break yet. I worked the whole day until 4:00pm and then had a TON to do before vacation began!

With any big trip I go on, it's a tradition to get a mani/pedi! Since I work a lot of weekends at WDW and they don't allow any sort of nail art with food/beverage, getting acrylic nails was a huge treat!





After my traditional birthday mani/pedi, I was off to another tradition which is to go to Benihana with the birthday coupon! It's been a tradition the past 4 years living in Orlando that my roommate and I go which ended up being a great plan since I would be leaving for almost a week the following day and who wants to cook that close to their trip?!





Following dinner, I went back to my apt and began to pack for the trip! I couldn't believe the amount of bags that I would be taking…actually, I'm not very surprised haha. Since my PTR seemed to die off and begin way too close to the trip, I'm going to include some packing/planning pictures now!

~Door Magnets~



~Planning Binder and DCL Booklet~



~Gift Basket from Dreams Unlimited Travel (Thanks Teresa!!)~



~Surprises for Mom!! (DCL bag, wallet, laundry basket, and luggage tags)~



~Bags, Bags, and More Bags!~
*I should preface this by saying the two "Castaway Club" bags that I have are not ones I have earned (haha) I bought the red/black one at my discount CM store and the backpack (which I've wanted for YEARS) was bought on ebay!







~Prepping for the Weather!~





I'm not sure what time I ended up going to bed but I know it was after midnight because the DCL ticker said "One Day Until Your Vacation!!"

And with that, 3/18 was over and my birthday would be hours away!!!!

*Trip Tips:*
#1 Packing List and/or Trip Folder!! I don't usually do the list or big folder for weekend trips to WDW now but for this trip I did!


#2 Collapsable laundry bags are great to hold dirty clothes and fit perfectly in the closets on DCL.

#3 Overpacking isn't a horrible thing!

#4 Door Magnets for the cruise are a great way to decorate the door and also a easy way to locate your room!


UP NEXT: MARCH 19TH, MY 30TH BIRTHDAY!!!






 
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Hey Megan!! I am here. Thanks for the invite. Can't wait to read about your cruise. Pretty nails!
 
Hey Megan!! I am here. Thanks for the invite. Can't wait to read about your cruise. Pretty nails!
Hi Kelly!!! :welcome:




Hey I can't wait to read you TR! Thanks for the invite! My goal is to take the family on a DCL soon... We are coming down on the 25th for a week at BLT. Maybe we can meet up this time!

Hi Gina :welcome:

I'm leaving for PA on the 27th but my last day of work is on Saturday the 25th so maybe we can meet up when I get off work that day or on Sunday the 26th before I leave!
 


:bday:HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO ME!!:bday:
(March 19, 2015)
It's the day I've been looking forward too (dreading too haha).

My alarm went off at 5am and I started my usual morning routine except this routine included a stop at WDW before work! I always like to check into the resorts early in the morning before work so I can avoid lines in the afternoon when I'm off. Thankfully, my school is just 15 mins from WDW so it's an easy stop to make on my way in!

I arrived at All Star Movies around 7am. Of course there was no one at check-in so that was quick and easy! I got my birthday button and gave my phone number for a room assignment (room wasn't ready) and headed to the food court to get breakfast to go! Normally, I would take pics but I was in a rush to go to work but I got Mickey waffles with bacon and apples (kids meal hehe) and off to work I went!

We had a fun day at school that day because the kids surprised me with little birthday treats and it was my last day before Spring Break!

At 3:30pm, I was off work and on my way to the resort! At some point in the day, I got a text saying my room was ready and we got into the Fantasia building (first floor)!














One of the gifts I got for my birthday at school was a Minnie Tsum Tsum so she went on the trip with us! I since then have gotten the Tsum Tsum bug and now own the following: Minnie, Tink and Fairy Godmother.



Standard Preferred Room View:




I got settled and unpacked a bit before it was time to get mom at the airport!

She arrived right on time and before we knew it, we were back at the resort and she was unpacking!

We decided to head to the food court and get a kids meal to split since our dinner ADR was at 7:50pm which was a nice snack!

After we had our snack, we decided to go to the pool except the Fantasia pool was closed so we walked over to the Mighty Ducks pool which was swamped but it was nice and refreshing!
When we were finished at the pool, we got ready for dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse!

It was a quick drive over to the restaurant and had begun to rain! I debated just to valet the car but the rain was light so we just parked the car. Our ADR was at 7:50 and we were seated by 8:00pm.



My roommate, future sister in law, mom and I were all at dinner (my brother was out of town.) Our server was a great older gentleman who had been there for years and years and he was amazing! The meal in general was a 2.5 hour experience but it helped passed the time before cruise day!

I got a special menu!



I don't have meal pics but we had the following:
Mom and Kylie (future SIL) split the salad
Jen and I split the lobster soup
We all had the filet and had a side of the Truffle Mac and Cheese
We all also had some adult drinks..can't remember what everyone had but I had a fruity Sangria!

For Dessert…I had a surprise!







Overall, we had a great meal and it was a long meal but delicious and amazing!

After dinner we said our goodbyes, mom and I headed back to the resort and the packing and repacking began!!!

2 hours later I think we were finally packed and unpacked and again! We debated bringing all our clothes and items or just some for the cruise and leave some in the car. We also decided to throw our pool clothes in the dryer at the laundry room so we didn't have wet clothes to start the cruise or have wet clothes in the car. It was worth the $2 to use the dryer and I had never used the laundry room before but it was pretty great and close to our building!

Before we knew it, it was 1:00am and it has been a great 30th birthday but we needed to get to bed so we could get up super early and drive to the Port!!!!!!!

~I also forgot, I was going to list some "trip tips" at the end of each submissions. My last cruise, I know a lot of first timers or trip takers enjoyed reading them!~

*Trip Tips:*
#1 Using the Washers/Dryers at the resorts are so convenient !

#2 Keeping busy the night before a huge trip is a good distraction.

#3 It's okay to pack and repack!

Up Next: My dreams of the Dream are finally reality!











 
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HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO ME!!:bday:
(March 19, 2015)

Joining your TR! So excited, we share the same birthday except I turned "4-0" this year!! :P
I also celebrated on the Dream in March but it was a week before my birthday as I had to go during Spring Break when my kids were out of school. Looking forward to reading!
 
Joining in. :wave: Belated Happy Birthday to you. I definitely remember reading another trip report of yours. Looking forward to reading this one as well.
 
:welcome: Welcome Everyone!!!! I just have to say that I spend last night searching cruise prices and I've spent the better part of my day off today watching DCL videos and dreaming of when my next cruise might be!

I'm here! Can't wait to read more!

Hi BFF!!!! For one of the people who I'm doing this for…hope it excites you even more for your Disneymoon in Dec!!

Joining your TR! So excited, we share the same birthday except I turned "4-0" this year!! :P
I also celebrated on the Dream in March but it was a week before my birthday as I had to go during Spring Break when my kids were out of school. Looking forward to reading!

Happy Late Birthday!! Hope you enjoy it!

Joining in. :wave: Belated Happy Birthday to you. I definitely remember reading another trip report of yours. Looking forward to reading this one as well.

Thank you! I've been on the boards since 2007 and have written various trip reports from WDW TR to a blog about my College Program experience and now that I live in Orlando, I've decided to cut back on the WDW reports and focus on the "non WDW" trips that I take!

Joining in. Looking forward to reading more!

Thanks, Hope you enjoy it!!

Joining in on the fun!!

Thanks, It will be lots of fun for sure!

I'm here! Can't wait to ready about your trip! I just love the Dream!

Hi Jamie…thanks for joining!


Welcome!! Hope you enjoy it!
 
Dreams come True!!!
(March 20th, 2015)
Well Friends, this is what we have all been waiting for!!! In 2013, before I had even set foot on the Disney Dream (not knowing if I'd get sick, have an awful time, and hate cruising,) I said "I just wanna go again!!" Turns out, I LOVE cruising and after two years of waiting, my dream finally came true!

Even though the time stamp says "10:51," I had seen this celebration long before that time of day!



The alarm went off just before 7:00am with a departure time of 9:00am from All Star Movies. I never for once thought we should take the DCL bus for a few reasons:
#1 They typically don't arrive to Port until after lunch time (long after I can be on the ship)
#2 Living in Orlando makes it easy with already having a car and Sunpass for tolls
#3 It's cheaper to drive and pay to park (even at the Port) than pay for the DCL bus

After we got ready for the day, we headed to the food court to get breakfast. Of course I didn't take a pic and can't remember what I had (too excited for the day) and my dad had called so we were both talking to him. After breakfast, Mom ran to the gift shop to get a toiletry that she had forgotten and I went to the front desk to get our room bill. We met back up and headed to the room to collect our (what seemed like a THOUSAND BAGS), tag our bags with the DCL tags, loaded the car, and headed for the Port at 9:05am.

Since I somewhat know the lay of the land, I drove us to the Port. I put mom in charge of Port pics which of course made me nervous but she actually did a great job! Before we knew it, we saw the Disney Dream!!!







Even now seeing these again, I get goose bumps! Deep down, I knew I would love cruising especially if it's on Disney!


I'm going to be honest, as we got closer, I began to get really nervous because last time it seemed to be really congested and confusing once you got into the parking garage area (and I didn't even drive last time!) and I'm a very OCD Planner so everything needs to be on time..haha.. This time was completely different….sort of haha. In 2013, we totally missed the area where you drop the bags so thankfully once we got into the garage, there were porters who were able to take the bags. This time though, they had someone directing traffic and stopping traffic. Once it was your turn, they told you what number to pull up to and then you can drop the bags. We waited and then were directed to white awning with #1

*Us waiting our turn!*



Once we got the bags dropped, and tipped the Porter, we proceeded to the parking garage. You can pre-pay your parking ($60 for a 3 night cruise) which is what we did but had to wait for an attendant to process it which defeated pre-paying IMO but we were allowed in! I'm not sure we would worry about pre-paying for parking unless it was a budget thing that we needed to get paid off. That's when the nerves set in….
AND I MISSED THE TURN FOR THE GARAGE! Turns out the pretty ship next to me distracted me and I missed the entrance. After going down a "Do Not Enter," we found our way in haha. I remembered that if we parked on level 3, it was the same level as customs so we did just that!

When we got out of the car, there was a HUGE line at the first check point. I hadn't experienced the line before and I'm thinking it's because the garage just opened or more people had driven…not sure but it moved and before we knew it, we were cleared!

After the first check point, we entered another line to go thru the security area. We snapped pics while we waited!







As we neared our turn, the grandpa in front of us learned he could NOT take his pocket knife on the ship and after a minor bickering with security, he gave up his knife and we were on our way! As we turned the corner, we were one step closer!





The first stop was to check-in. One of the first things that a DCL cruiser can stress about is the Port Arrival Time (PAT). My last cruise, I got 1:00pm and that was with checking in the early morning of our check-in date. This year even with booking 2 months before the sailing, we got 10:45am! Just one time of 10:30am was before us and was filled.

Back to check-in... Since I'm silver CC, we got to go in the special dedicated CC line! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Disney Magic of their greeting. I was greeted with a welcome back and my mom, welcome for her first time! The CM confirmed all of our info and room number 9512 And FINALLY, I officially earned my CC Lanyard! He handed us my lanyard (mom didn't get one,) our Navigator and Room Keys! We checked in with ease and were given more magic…BOARDING NUMBER 4!! Now, I have NO idea how they assign boarding numbers..something I've been meaning to try and look up. If anyone knows, I'd love to know! Is it luck of the draw, your arrival time, what time you checked in…etc??



After we checked in, we hit the bathroom and got into the line to see Minnie as I thought we had plenty of time but they made an announcement that boarding would be starting soon so we decided to skip the traditional Minnie and/or Mickey picture, snap one as we walked by, and walk outside to get a glimpse of the ship (and our stateroom!) before it was time to board! I didn't even have time to read my Navigator before we boarded!!






(Our stateroom was the slanted verandah room to the left of the last Porthole window on the top deck)












We walked back inside and within less than 5 minutes they began calling boarding numbers! It was then that I actually looked at my room key and noticed our Dining Rotation…another thing that DCL cruisers may be anxious about! My IDEAL rotation for this trip was: Enchanted Garden, Animators Palate (Pirate Night), and Royal Palace (Optional Dress-Up Night). We didn't get that haha. We did get Enchanted Garden, Royal Palace (Pirate Night), and Animators Palate (Dress Up Night), the same rotation I got 2 years ago. As Numbers 1, 2, and 3 were called, we inched our way up to the front for #4!!








Checking in was a breeze and also getting the pre-board photo was really quick too! Besides the parking lot into the Port building being slow, this process of checking in and picture was much faster than my first cruise!

And with that, we were on and they said, "WELCOME WILLIAMS FAMILY!!!!" And jaws dropped for the 2nd time and for the first time!




I was going to try and do one post of entering the ship-lunch but I'm reaching my pic limit for this post so I'll leave you with that!

*Trip Tips:*
#1 If you can afford to pay and park at the port, it gets you there quicker than the DCL buses


#2 Try to not stress about parking, boarding numbers, and dining rotation

#3 Have your passport and document book out for security and check-in

#4 Parking on level 3 of the garage will put you on the level as check-in

#5 Don't forget to tip the porters who take your bags and put the DCL tags on your bags

#If you try to bring a pocket knife, customs will take it

UP NEXT: FIRST GLANCE OF THE SHIP AND LUNCH!




 
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You're on the ship! Yay! We paid and parked at the port both times too. The second time the guy at the parking garage didn't know what to do with our pre-paid receipt. Can't wait to hear about your mom's impressions.
 
All caught up.

Loved the shower curtains at all stars movie

Dinner sounded nice. That was nice you got cake for your Bday :bday:

Enjoying how you take us through whole check in process of the cruise, Parking, customs, boarding, etc, for those of who have never taken a cruise, very good info, should we decide to in the future

Can't wait for more!!
 
You're on the ship! Yay! We paid and parked at the port both times too. The second time the guy at the parking garage didn't know what to do with our pre-paid receipt. Can't wait to hear about your mom's impressions.

Haha, we had the same experience! I don't think it saves anytime prepaying for parking!

All caught up.

Loved the shower curtains at all stars movie

Dinner sounded nice. That was nice you got cake for your Bday :bday:

Enjoying how you take us through whole check in process of the cruise, Parking, customs, boarding, etc, for those of who have never taken a cruise, very good info, should we decide to in the future

Can't wait for more!!

Thanks!! I did a lot of research on the boards before my first cruise. You can only prepare so much before you just have to experience it yourself and there's always a story haha!
 

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