A Double-Dipping We Go--YO HO! Dream 5-Nighter June 10-15, 2012

[Skyw]

Your little one is just the cutest!!!! I just love the pics of her. She is just a free spirit.

 

[Tinker326]

Too bad we didn't meet! How did you like the 5k? I was towards the back of the pack huffin' and puffin'. I'm glad you had an amazing time!

Looking at you in the pictures, I'm pretty sure you and I were running right in the same area- I think I would pass you & then you would pass me & then back again... I was at the back too. And miserable because I was SO HOT! My goal was to NOT pass out before I got to the finish. Hahahaha! There was a moment when the front runners lapped me going the other way because I think they were making their run a 10K & I got all turned around questioning if I was going the wrong way... and then realized they were just going 'longer' and thought - BRAVE SOULS. Please just let me make it to 3.1!

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Looking at you in the pictures, I'm pretty sure you and I were running right in the same area- I think I would pass you & then you would pass me & then back again... I was at the back too. And miserable because I was SO HOT! My goal was to NOT pass out before I got to the finish. Hahahaha! There was a moment when the front runners lapped me going the other way because I think they were making their run a 10K & I got all turned around questioning if I was going the wrong way... and then realized they were just going 'longer' and thought - BRAVE SOULS. Please just let me make it to 3.1!

Were you the one who was running with your own water bottle? I remember looking running near her a lot and wishing I had been smart enough to bring my own water! LOL

There was a time when I thought I was going the wrong way, but then I realized that on the 2nd bike loop some people ran it the opposite way.

 

[Tinker326]

Were you the one who was running with your own water bottle? I remember looking running near her a lot and wishing I had been smart enough to bring my own water! LOL

There was a time when I thought I was going the wrong way, but then I realized that on the 2nd bike loop some people ran it the opposite way.

That was my sister-in-law actually. And she was right in front of me for most of the run. Or there was one person in between us (probably you!).

 

[lisareneepolk]

Did any of you get sick or nauseous at all? Just curious - I have already bought some ginger candy and some Bonine, but would rather not have to take anything. TIA!!! PS - really enjoying your report - I am hoping to post one when we return

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

That was my sister-in-law actually. And she was right in front of me for most of the run. Or there was one person in between us (probably you!).

Ok, now I'm wondering if I was standing behind you guys in the Aqua Duck line on the first day? Like right after boarding??? Were you guys there? Because I was standing behind these ladies on that line that I also noticed ran in the 5k.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Did any of you get sick or nauseous at all? Just curious - I have already bought some ginger candy and some Bonine, but would rather not have to take anything. TIA!!! PS - really enjoying your report - I am hoping to post one when we return

None of us got sea sick! I typically DO get sea sick when I've been on smaller boats. Or even just sitting on a floating dock I get nauseous. But I had no problems on the ship! I took a Bonine the night before, then I forgot to take one the rest of the trip and I was absolutely fine! I could feel that we were moving, but it wasn't like we were really rocking. The veterans on my sailing said that the water was unusually smooth on our cruise.

 

[Tinker326]

Ok, now I'm wondering if I was standing behind you guys in the Aqua Duck line on the first day? Like right after boarding??? Were you guys there? Because I was standing behind these ladies on that line that I also noticed ran in the 5k.

We did ride right after boarding. It was her, myself & my daughter (blonde, 7 year old) waiting in line. We were yelling up because her husband, son & daughter & my other daughter were in line a flight above us...

So I think we were those ladies!

You did FE too, right? I remember your kids names from my packages. I was the one who gave the photo album and CD........

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Guest post written by my husband Brian:


We arrived at Hollywood Studios around 7:15am. I hadn't told Nathan about Star Wars Weekend but since there were signs everywhere I pointed one out and told him that's what today was, a special Star Wars day at Hollywood Studios. A few minutes before 7:30am, the unofficial park opening time, storm troopers were raised onto the roof of the entryway and performed a little skit, asked some trivia questions, then ordered the gates opened. I didn't see them much because they were above where I was standing, but Nathan got out of line and watched them. He seemed to enjoy them.

Once the gates opened it was a mad dash to the Indiana Jones theater to reserve a spot for the Jedi Training Academy. We managed to snag an early spot at 9:45am, and I was glad because while the weather was nice in the morning we knew it would probably rain later in the day. From there, we went to Star Tours and rode it twice in a row before giving Nathan a chance to exercise his one true passion: browsing gift shops. It's pretty much his main drive when we go to the parks and everything else is a break from or an obstacle to getting to the gift shop. I let him browse for about 30 minutes, and during that time we also managed to build two custom droid action figures (this is something new at Hollywood Studios this year). He built one for him self and I built one for Joshua.

Boba Fett guarding Han Solo:

From there, we went to Toy Story Mania to get a fastpass for later in the day. Our fastpass return time started at 1:35pm which would be pretty tight with our lunch reservation at 1:45pm, but the fastpass attendant assured me that all fastpasses would be taken by 11am and we could probably be a few minutes late to lunch. So, we just rolled with that time rather than try to get a later one by coming back.

Next, Nathan wanted to look in a gift shop so I let him do that for a while to kill some time before his Jedi Training Academy return time. Shortly before 9:15am we went to a separate theater where they gave everyone instructions and lined everyone up for the Jedi Training. Nathan didn't want to do this at all, he wanted to spend more time in gift shops and do the Jedi Training later. I told him this was the only chance he could do it today, and after some hemming and hawing he finally decided to do it. They marched him and the other kids over and Nathan got into the ground level stage to battle Darth Vader's alternate (last time it was Darth Maul). To our surprise it wasn't Darth Maul that Nathan got to fight, but Ventress from the Clone Wars. He also had Ahsoka from Clone Wars as his instructor which was pretty cool, too.

After the show we ran into my friend Pam, who was there with her two children. Nathan was dying to go to another gift shop and Pam's son, Jake, was there to meet C3PO, so we went to Darth's Mall to do that. While they stood in line to meet C3PO and R2D2, I let Nathan loose and I picked out shirts for him and Joshua from Star Wars Weekend. Nathan ended up picking out a double lightsaber and a Savage Opress costume (Nathan practiced his double lightsaber skills the rest of the day when there was more than two feet clearance around him).

We also saw a couple who were fans dressed up as Savage and Aurra Sing. I snapped a picture of them posing with the droids. Their homemade costumes were great.

After Darth's Mall it was time to line up for the Star Wars parade. Pam took her daughter to find a spot and I took her son and Nathan to ride Star Tours again (Pam snagged fast passes but couldn't take her daughter on the ride, so we used them). We found Pam on the parade route where she staked out a great spot for everyone. While we were waiting it started raining and we thought the parade would be cancelled, but it ended up starting a few minutes late as the rain died off. Also, while we were waiting I ran off to get Tower of Terror fastpasses for later.

The parade was great. All of the characters were there: Chewbacca, Bobba Fett, Jango Fett, Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, Aurra Sing, R2D2, a wide selection of of storm troopers, clone troopers, jedi, and emperial officers. Plus, there were the Star Wars versions of the big four Disney Characters there, too (Jedi Micky, Storm Trooper Donald, Goofy Vader, and Princess Minnie). Also, there were voice actors from the Clone Wars series (Obi Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, and Ventress) along with the actor who portrayed Bobba Fett in episodes 5 & 6 and the guy who portrayed young Bobba Fett in episodes 2 & 3 (I think?).

After the parade we said goodbye to Pam and her kids and went to ride Toy Story Mania at our return time. We got there right at 1:35pm and it took several minutes to actually get onto the ride even with the fastpass. On the ride I'd like to say that I was magnanimous and let my son outscore me on the virtual midway games that the ride runs you through. But I wasn't. Whooped his butt. I scored something like 250K points to his 3K. I didn't brag about it, though... too much anyway.

Once off the ride we ran to the '50s Prime Time Cafe for lunch. I don't mean we walked expeditiously, but we full on ran through the park dodging people, strollers, and characters to make our reservation time. I was impressed that Nathan kept up the whole way. All told we were about 7 minutes late but it wasn't a problem. We were seated quickly and had lunch (fried chicken for me and chicken nuggets for him). Lunch is always good there and a great way to escape the heat for a while.

After lunch it was off to the Tower of Terror. In the line up to getting on the ride I could tell Nathan was a bit apprehensive about it. But, he was mostly cool with it until the car started dropping us up and down and then he really wanted it to end. In fact, after getting off the ride he would tell some random people that they shouldn't go on the ride, either.

After the ride, since we were nearby, I decided to let Nathan have another run through Darth's Mall and then it was onto the car stunt show (Lights, Motor, Action!). He really enjoyed the car chases, motorcycles, and stunts in the show. The plan was to catch the Indiana Jones show right afterward,
but the walk to and from the stunt show is REALLY long so that wasn't happening. We had to defer to a 6:45pm show for Indiana Jones.

In the meantime, you guessed it, gift shops. I let him peruse one that was on the way back from the stunt show, and had to pull him away with the promise of a bigger gift shop in order to get the Jedi Training Academy pictures transferred to our photopass near the park entrance. At this bigger giftshop he purchased his second weapon of the trip, a Bobba Fett blaster. When leaving this shop we ran into an old college friend, Christine Barnes and her husband Dan, with their twin girls. It took me a few seconds to realize who they were even after Christine came up to me and said, "Brian?" They were wrapping up their Disney vacation where we were just starting ours. It was good to see them and glad to hear they enjoyed the parks with their kids.

Fully armed with toy weapons, we went to the Indiana Jones show. We snagged seats front and center, and Nathan really liked this show, too. He especially liked the stunt fighting which they do a lot of in this show. After the show was over it started to rain again. But, it was time to leave anyway. We put on our ponchos and trugdged out of the park and, luckily, didn't have to wait long for the bus back to Carribbean Beach. We had a quick bite to eat in the food court and headed back to the room, where Nathan insisted on immediately changing into his new costume.

Note from Nancy: When we met back up with Brian and Nathan at the hotel and I asked Nathan how his day was, he said it was his "best day EVER!" I'm so glad the timing of this trip worked out so that they could experience this special Star Wars day.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Ok, this is the last day before our cruise. I know you all just want to read about the cruise.

Saturday, June 9, 2012


We were up at 6:15 this morning. We had an 8:10 a.m. breakfast reservation at the Magic Kingdom and didn't want to be late!

The bus stop was mostly empty.

Despite the lack of sleep, the kids were excited!

We were at the resort bus stop at 7:00 a.m. We caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom at 7:15 a.m. and we were here for this picture about 7:30 a.m.

The park opened to the public at 9 a.m. this morning. This was our first time ever with an early breakfast reservation before park opening. There was a few dozen people waiting at the gates, all with early breakfast reservations.

About 7:45 a.m. they let all the early breakfast people in. I must say, if you are an early riser, this is a great way to get into the park early with not many people. There was a small rush down Main Street, but the boys had to use the bathroom, and by the time they were done most of the breakfast people were already well into the park.

So we really had a very empty Main Street USA! It was great and so special.

Nothing but open space!

After we took a few pictures on Main Street and in front of the castle, we headed over to the Crystal Palace. It's become something of a family tradition to eat at Crystal Palace every time we visit Disney World. But we've never been here for breakfast before.

Additionally, the Pooh family characters are not present on the Disney cruises (I think it's a licensing thing). So we wanted to catch them on land in the Crystal Palace.

It was around 8:00 a.m. We were seated ready to go to the buffet at 8:08 a.m.

I feel like we kinda lucked out, because when we first sat down our server told us that it could take over an hour for all the characters to make it to our table. But not a minute after we sat down, out comes Pooh! We were the 3rd table in the route of the characters. We waited for him to come over before we got our food.

Immediately after him came Eeyore! So by 8:25 a.m. we had seen 2 of the 4 characters.

All of the characters were great when they visited our table. They spent some time with the boys, but also tried to engage Alyssa, who was in her high chair.

By 8:45 a.m. all of the characters had visited our table! It was so fast! I'm glad, though, because the park opened at 9 a.m. and we wanted to start on some rides.

We had a great time with this early morning breakfast and I would totally recommend a pre-park-opening reservation time for anyone who is a natural early riser (like our kids!)

After paying the bill and taking the kids to the bathroom (again), we headed straight for Fantasyland. Most of the touring recommendations for Magic Kingdom with small children recommend starting in Fantasyland first.

The boys were playing with this sword (from The Sword in the Stone) while Brian ran to get us a fastpass for the Pooh ride. While the boys were here, a boy ran up to Nathan and started talking to him. It was someone from his karate class here at home! Seriously, what are the odds of running into so many people we know at Disney World?

Our first ride was Dumbo. This ride has been newly refurbished and moved from its original location, now in the new circus themed part of Fantasyland. Such a classic ride, we had to do it.

I think it was during this ride line that our boys started fighting and we had to physically pull them apart. This was the first of several times we had to do that today. Even being at the most magical place on earth does not prevent siblings from squabbling. Just keepin' it real, folks.

We wanted to hit Goofy's roller coaster next, but it was closed down due to technical difficulties. Bummer. Not sure if it ever opened that day, we never made it back to that corner.

I went on the teacups with Joshua and Alyssa.

The boys went on the carousel while I got fastpasses for Peter Pan.

When Brian got fastpasses for Pooh, the machine also popped out fastpasses for Mickey's Philharmagic. What a fun show!

Then we rode on Pooh and Peter Pan with our fastpasses and then we went on it's a small world boat ride.

And Fantasyland was done! It was about 11:30 at this point. We had a 12:00 lunch reservation at The Plaza restaurant with our friend Pam, but Brian decided we had time to make the Haunted Mansion before that. So he took the boys on that ride while I grabbed fastpasses for Splash Mountain.

Thus far, the park crowds were not too bad. But it was definitely picking up. After all, it was a Saturday in June. I guess I was hoping that since EPCOT was so empty the day before, maybe the Magic Kingdom wouldn't be that bad. I was wrong.

Therefore, getting fastpasses was critical to getting on rides in a timely manner. Especially when you have kids that don't do well in lines.

The return time for our fastpasses for Splash Mountain was 12:20-1:20 p.m. Since our lunch was at noon, I figured we'd probably be ok to make it over there by 1:20. (A few months ago, Disney World stopped allowing people to use a fastpass after the printed return time. They used to be really flexible about this).

But, we ended up waiting almost a half hour for our table at The Plaza restaurant! (Oh, and in case you're wondering why we had another reservation at a sit-down restaurant, we prefer to eat lunch inside sit-down restaurants when we go to the parks. Depending on where you go, it's not much more expensive than the fast food and it's easier to sit down and get cooled off).

Here is everyone at lunch:

Once we got seated, the service was pretty good and fast. Brian and I split a cheeseburger since we had a big breakfast that morning. The restaurant split it up for us and each of our servings were plenty big.

The kids' meals came with a great ice cream dish for dessert.

So based on taking longer to get seated, it was now close to 1:30 and past our fastpass time. We figured we would have to start over and get either a fastpass for Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain. But we decided to try and see if our fastpasses would still work for Splash Mountain based on us having to wait for our lunch table. And they did! The cast member waved us through and said it was no big deal to be 10 minutes later. Woohoo! (Thank goodness, because the wait for Splash Mountain in the regular line was now 95 minutes long!)

So we also got a rider-switch pass for this ride since Alyssa was not tall enough to go on it. A rider switch pass allows the first part of your party to ride the ride while the someone waits with the baby/toddler, and then you switch so everyone gets to ride it without getting in line twice.

I started out on the ride with Nathan and Joshua. And Joshua liked the ride until the very last hill, the big one, and then after going down that one he started to cry loudly. Poor guy.

While we were on the ride, I sent Brian to get fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then he parked the stroller with Alyssa at the exit to the Tom Sawyer Island boat (my secret quiet place to take a kid in a stroller to fall asleep). Unfortunately, Alyssa didn't fall asleep. So then it was Brian's turn to ride Splash Mountain, and the rider switch pass allowed him to take 3 other people with him. Joshua didn't want to go, so he stayed back with me and Alyssa while Brian and Nathan rode. And Alyssa still didn't fall asleep in her stroller!

By the time they were off the ride, our fastpass window had opened up for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. So again, we did the rider-switch pass so that we could both ride it and Nathan could ride it twice. This is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom, and I didn't get to ride it last time since I was pregnant. Such a fun ride! While Brian and Nathan rode, I took Joshua and Alyssa to the Pooh playground nearby:

Joshua didn't like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad either. At this point, he had been scared on 3 rides in a row (Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain) and he said no more scary rides! We had planned to all go to Pirates of the Caribbean after this, but I had a feeling Joshua might be too scared. Plus it started raining and was getting to be later in the day and Brian and I were exhausted, so we needed a plan of what other rides we had to hit before we left the park. Buzz Lightyear ride and Space Mountain were priorities. So we decided to just stop by the gift shop outside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and then head over to Tomorrowland.

(to be continued, I ran out of photo space on this post):

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

By the time we made it to the pirate gift shop, it was full on pouring rain. After a few minutes in the store, Alyssa finally fell asleep.

We were in the pirate gift shop for what seemed like forever. Brian and I each bought a pirate shirt to wear on the cruise, and the boys spent some of their Disney gift card money that they got for Christmas on various pirate toys. By the time we purchased our loot, it had stopped raining. Yay!

Alyssa was still asleep in her stroller, and we wheeled her over to Tomorrowland where we spent some time getting fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. The boys rode on the People Mover while we waited for our fastpass timing to come up.

I don't have any pictures of our time in Tomorrowland because it started raining, pouring actually, and Alyssa woke up and I tried to put her in a poncho but she HATED IT and screamed the whole time it was on. So I took it off.

The last thing we did was ride Space Mountain--just me and Nathan. When we were here 2 years ago, Nathan was just a hair too short to get on Space Mountain. Not this time! He was screaming for joy the entire time in the ride! "Awesome! This is so awesome! It's like we're flying through space!!!" He was sitting in front of me on the ride, so I'm surprised I could hear him. He wanted to ride again, but the standby line was 90 minutes. So, no.

At this point I think it was almost 6:00 and we had had enough. We were drenched and tired. I think part of what kept Brian and I going even that long was knowing that this was our last day in the parks, and that for the rest of the vacation we'd be on a cruise! Seriously, the parks are exhausting! (But fun!)

Overall, a great day at Magic Kingdom. Since the park was so crowded, we definitely had to be strategic with our use of fastpasses. We made it on 13 rides. I read that the average person only makes it on 9 rides a day at the Magic Kingdom. So considering we left around dinner time, I think we did pretty good.

We hopped onto our resort bus and got off at the food court stop.

There was a dance party going on in the food court. When we arrived it was mostly cast members doing the electric slide, but then the dance party grew as people started to enter the food court. Not sure if this was an impromptu thing or what, because I didn't see it mentioned on the activity schedule.

After dinner, Nathan wanted to stay in the room and play with his pirate and Star Wars toys he had bought at the parks. Joshua wanted to go to the pool. So I left Alyssa and Nathan back in the room with Brian, and Joshua and I went out.

On our way to the pool, we stopped at one of the beaches and got on a hammock.

Then we looked across the lake and saw that the campfire was still going on. So we crossed the bridge and toasted marshmallows.

And then I let Joshua cut loose on the pools. Our last night at the Caribbean Beach Resort! What a great place!

Up next: Our first night on the cruise!

 

[jedijill]

The picture of Alyssa with Pooh is adorable...she looks like she is giving Pooh the stink eye!

Jill in CO

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

The picture of Alyssa with Pooh is adorable...she looks like she is giving Pooh the stink eye!

Jill in CO

She wasn't so sure about those characters at first! But at least she didn't cry or scream like my other son did when he was little. She did get a lot more comfortable with the characters by the end of the cruise!

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

We did ride right after boarding. It was her, myself & my daughter (blonde, 7 year old) waiting in line. We were yelling up because her husband, son & daughter & my other daughter were in line a flight above us...

So I think we were those ladies!

You did FE too, right? I remember your kids names from my packages. I was the one who gave the photo album and CD........

Yes! I was waiting with my oldest son in the line. I remember talking to one of you about how we had read that this was supposed to be a good time to ride the Aqua Duck with no line--but not so much! LOL

Thanks for the FE gifts--the kids really loved participating and got such a kick out of coming back to our room to see what was in the pockets!

 

[Tinker326]

Yes!! I remember that conversation about the lines on Aqua Duck! Hahahaha!!!!

I love, love, LOVE your Mickey Tie-Dye Shirts. They turned out awesome!

We did Magic Kingdom on Thursday (I think the day you were in Downtown Disney) and it poured BUCKETS on us. I mean, BUCKETS. The whole tomorrowland raceway was flooded & the kids were running and playing in water that was ankle deep over the ENTIRE Magic Kingdom. It was craaaazy!


But...no crowds.

Loving reading your report. It's taking like reliving my trip! I'm going to Scout your Cruise background pics for my family!!!

 

[cheryllarsen]

My 2 year old is going on a cruise in Jan with her grandparents. She loves Disney and will have a blast!

 

[cheryllarsen]

She is going on the Dream as well.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I took so many pictures the first day of our cruise that I will have to break this down into 3 parts.

Sunday, June 10, 2012:

I woke up at 5 a.m. Not because I wanted to, I just did. This was the one day we could really "sleep in", as we weren't leaving for the port until 9:30 a.m., but I just couldn't sleep. I laid in bed quietly for over an hour, but the kids woke up at 6:30 a.m. anyway.

Since I'd been up so early, after everyone else got up I decided to go to the food court by myself to grab some breakfast and take some more pictures of the resort. It was so beautiful to see the sunrise and walk around the peaceful, deserted grounds of Caribbean Beach.

When I got back to the room, I sent Brian out with the boys to go to the food court so that I could get some time alone in the room to pack and rearrange our carry-ons for what we'd need for our first day on the ship. I was glad to get the room to just me and Alyssa, because I was able to pack and organize much better than if everyone was in there.

Everyone dressed in their swimsuits (boys with a t-shirt on top, Alyssa with a cover-up and me with shorts and a shirt over it). I had read that swimming is a good thing to do when first getting on board, and of course Nathan and I wanted to hit the Aqua Duck as soon as possible. And I also read that the lines at the bathrooms on board to change into swimsuits would get rather long. So we decided to just be ready to swim already!

We called bell services and scheduled a van pick-up to take us to the lobby building to meet our port shuttle van driver. They said they'd pick us up at 9:05 a.m., and they were right on time.

Before we left our room for the last time, I took this picture of the Disney cruise ship that was hanging by our bed:

When the bell hop van pulled up to the resort lobby, we could see that our shuttle to the port was already parked out front waiting for us. We dropped our luggage off at the shuttle and went into the lobby for one last bathroom stop before hitting the road.

Inside the lobby there was also a model of a Disney cruise ship. I had never noticed how much these ships were promoted at Disney World!

When we got finished with our bathroom break, our van had pulled around to the door and our luggage was already being loaded. We hired Space Port Transport to take us from Caribbean Beach Resort to Port Canaveral. I had heard good things about this company on the DIS boards, and they were the cheapest rate (if you paid with cash instead of credit card). Our driver's name was Ryan.

I had requested 2 carseats and a booster seat for the kids, and they were already in place in the van. So we were all set to go!

The ride was just over an hour, and Alyssa fell asleep for part of that. Good, she needed that!

Our driver was friendly and lived in Port Canaveral, so he was able to chat with us about the area and some of the cruise ships we'd see on the way. As we got closer to Port Canaveral, we could see the Disney Dream on the horizon!

We were assigned an 11 a.m. port arrival time when we did our online check in 75 days ago. (Remember, I stayed up to the wee hours of the night to get the earliest possible arrival time?) We wanted to get on board as soon as possible to enjoy the ship as much as we could. When we scheduled the shuttle, I had planned to make a grocery store stop on the way to the port to get diapers. But it turned out that I could fit all the diapers we needed in our suitcases, so a grocery store stop was not necessary. So we ended up getting to the port earlier than planned, at 10:40 a.m.

Here was the spot where we were dropped off. Disney crew took our suitcases from us at the curb.

Here is the front of the Disney terminal building. It's hard to see, but the clock on the front of the building has been Disnified with Mickey Mouse hands.

So we were 20 minutes before the earliest supposed arrival time, but we seemed to have no trouble getting dropped off that early. Outside we had to show our passports and cruise documents to someone. Then we had to put our bags through an x-ray and walk through a security check (just like at the airport). Then we took an elevator upstairs where we entered the main part of the cruise terminal:

There was already a lot of people who arrived before we did. And we thought we were early!

Although the cruise terminal looked similar to an airport, with check-in lines and places to sit and queue ropes, I have to say that it totally FELT different. The atmosphere was almost electric! You could sense how excited everyone was. It's hard to describe.

It was still before 11 a.m. and we saw that Captain Mickey was already out taking pictures with families! But first we had to get checked in.

First we were directed to a table with health questionnaires to fill out. We had to sign something that said we haven't had a fever or thrown up for the past X amount of hours (24? 72? I can't remember).

Then we were directed over to a check-in line. And we got with an agent right away, who took our cruise documents and took security pictures for each member of our family. We were handed a boarding group that said we were in boarding group #5. We all got our Key to the World Card, which would serve as our room keys and our credit cards on the ship.

The cruise terminal was starting to fill up.

We were told to go stand in the kids' club line to get wrist bands for our kids, but that line was long and not moving very fast. We had read on the DIS boards that it's not necessary to wait in that line and it's actually faster to just get the wrist bands on board at the club. So that's what we decided to do.

Next, we got in line to get our picture with Captain Mickey. However, by the time we got to the front of the line, Captain Mickey had to leave and was replaced by Cruise Director Minnie. And all 5 of us are actually looking at the camera!

As we were getting our picture taken with Minnie, we could hear them announce that they already started to board the ship. It was 11:25 a.m.

This is where you board the ship, walk into the big Mickey ears!

I knew our boarding number would come up soon, so we sent all of us for one last bathroom stop. I changed Alyssa into a swim diaper. And within 5 minutes of the first boarding call, group #5 was called to board. They really do go through those boarding numbers quickly!

We went through the Mickey ears and then found ourselves in one of 2 lines waiting for the embarkation photo. The lines looked long, but there were 3 stations set up for pictures, so it actually went pretty quickly.

This is our embarkation photo taken on the gangway. Again, all 5 of us looking at the camera, I think it's a miracle!

Then we had a clear gangway to move through where we could see the side of the ship. We were finally almost on!

And then we were finally on the Disney Dream! A crew member asked for our family name, and then she got on the mic and announced "Disney Dream, please welcome aboard the Powell family!" Followed by applause.

Ok folks, we are on the Disney Dream!

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

OK, where were we? Oh yes, we had just boarded the Disney Dream!

Right after our name was announced, a cast member whisked us away toward the elevators. She explained that our stateroom would not be ready until 1:30 p.m., but we could enjoy the pool and have lunch until then.

Before we took the elevator upstairs for lunch, we took a picture by the statue of Donald:

We had to just stop for a minute and take in all that we were seeing. The atrium on the Disney Dream is just, well, grand! The chandelier...this picture doesn't even do it justice.

We then boarded an elevator to head up to Deck 11, the pool deck and where the Cabanas buffet and the fast food places were located. The details on this ship were amazing. The elevators had the Mickey hands. We got in a corner elevator, with glass walls for the first few decks. Then when the glass disappeared, there were Disney paintings we could see on the walls as we went up.

So my plan was to get on the Aqua Duck right away! However, we had boarded earlier than we thought, and the Aqua Duck didn't open until noon (about 20 minutes from then). So we figured we'd eat lunch. The fast food places weren't open until noon either, so we settled down to eat at the Cabanas buffet.

I totally underestimated how much I would like Cabanas. There are huge windows there and great views! The buffet wraps around the entire back of the ship, there is tons of seating, and the food stations are very close to the tables. Which is very handy for people with young kids!

And the crew members at Cabanas--wow. I guess this would be our first time experiencing the Disney Cruise Line service, and we were very impressed. A crew member saw we had young kids and offered to go get their drinks for us. Very helpful!

What a view:

As I mentioned above, the handy thing about this buffet set up was that the tables were so close to the buffet that we felt comfortable leaving our kids at the table while going up to get plates of food. We could always see them.

There was quite the variety of food at Cabanas. I was trying to keep it light, so I had a turkey wrap, a roll and some fruit. The kids had chicken tenders and fries. Brian got a few different types of fish and meat & some vegetables:

I wish I could write that this was a relaxing, enjoyable lunch. But it wasn't. Just because of me--I was so focused on getting to the pools and Aqua Duck at this ideal time before everyone boarded and the area got crowded. We were still finishing lunch until shortly after 12:00 p.m. And I wanted to hurry.

So it was around 12:15 or so when we finished lunch. We decided that I would take Nathan to go on the Aqua Duck while Brian stayed back with the 2 younger kids to go in Nemo's Reef splash pad.

So far, the pools weren't too crowded:

Here are the younger two in Nemo's Reef:

Joshua loved this slippery slide!

When Nathan and I got to the Aqua Duck line, the sign said 45 minutes. So we figured it was from that point, and the line wasn't to the sign. It didn't look that long. So we waited in line which went up some stairs to the funnel. (By the way, I totally recommend having water shoes, as the deck area can get hot in the sun and they make you put all your belongings in some cubbies before entering the ride).

When we got to the funnel, we saw that the line kept going up 2 more flights of stairs on the inside. Oy! The line was longer than we thought. All in all, I think we waited about 30 minutes to ride the Aqua Duck that first day.

And it was a fun ride!

But by the time we got out, the line had gotten even longer, and it looked like it would be a 45 minute wait. We had planned on having Brian go on the Aqua Duck with Nathan, but decided that could wait for another time. We all hung out in the pool area for a while longer.

It was just past 1 p.m. and I decided that I should try to change our adult dining reservation day. We were scheduled to dine in Palo (the adults-only restaurant) on Thursday, but that turned out to be Pirate Night and we wanted our kids to dine with us on Pirate Night. So I went to the designated place to change dinner reservations (with Alyssa in her stroller--maybe if I got lucky she'd fall asleep!). There were only 2 people in line ahead of me at the Royal Palace. I was able to change our Palo reservation with no problem. They said I would also have no problem getting nursery hours for that new night.

By now it was getting close to 1:30 p.m. when our stateroom would be ready. We all wanted to see our room and drop off our backpacks. So Brian and I arranged to meet back at our stateroom around 1:30 p.m.

We stayed in stateroom #8510 which was a category 8C, Deluxe Family Oceanview. One of the changes made to the 2 new Disney ships were more rooms that could fit a family of 5. And this was one of those rooms. (On the 2 older ships, the rooms that fit 5 are a higher category with a verandah and therefore more expensive. For a family of 5, we would either have to get one of those more expensive rooms or 2 rooms on the older ships).

The porthole was really big! And it had a cushion to sit on. We sat in the porthole quite a few times on this cruise!

The room was bigger than we thought it would be! It was long and narrow. It basically had 3 main sections: the front hallway with 2 closets and 2 bathrooms, the middle section with the queen bed, and a curtain that separated out the 3rd section which contained a sofa, an upper berth bed, and a murphy bed (and a long desk).

Looking at the room from the end of our hallway:

Looking at the room from the window area:

The hallway by our front door, with 2 bathrooms and 2 closets and another cabinet area:

There was actually quite a bit of storage space in this room! The big suitcases could be stored underneath the bed. The coffee table opened up with storage inside, which is where we decided to keep all of the kids' loot. And the desk had 6 drawers and the front cabinet had another 3 drawers. Each closet also had some shelves plus room for hung clothes.

Everything in the room was so, well, thick and sturdy. Not sure how else to describe it.

We ended up liking our stateroom location a lot, too. It was far towards the front of the ship, only a few cabins were more forward than ours. So we didn't have a lot of foot traffic or kids running down the hallways near us. We also didn't hear any noise from the theatre/adult clubs/pool, etc.

It was great to drop off our backpacks in our room! We knew we needed to unpack and get organized, but with the kids in the room that would be hard. We decided to save that for later, and head to the kids' clubs for their open house.

We took the elevator to Deck 5 Mid-Ship for the kids' clubs. I took Alyssa into the It's A Small World nursery first to look around while Brian took the boys to the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab to get their wrist bands and look around.

When we first entered the nursery, there was a little play area where the kids could get comfortable while we signed them in.

Inside the gates there were toys and play areas that were very age appropriate for the under-3 crowd. I figured Alyssa would have a good time here.

While we were there, I asked about scheduling additional nursery time for Alyssa. We were allowed to book 10 hours online before the cruise, which I used mostly for dinners, but I wanted to see if I could get her in the nursery while I ran the Castaway Cay 5k run the next day so that Brian would have to only look after 2 of our kids instead of 3 while I was gone. They were totally flexible and accommodating. They said I could book as much time as I wanted! So I booked her for 9-11 a.m. the next morning.

We stayed for a few more minutes, but then I wanted to take Alyssa to explore the bigger kids clubs. She was not happy about leaving the nursery! I told her not to worry, she would be back there tonight after dinner.

So when we left the nursery, the boys were already in the Oceaneer Club checking out everything.
First, we saw the automatic hand-washing machines. Those were cool.

I have tons of pictures of the Oceaneer Lab! But in the interest of space I won't post them all. If you want to see the full set, see my blog at www.savingforadream.blogspot.com.

Andy's room (a big hit with the younger ones! There was a giant Mr. Potato Head, a giant piggy bank, a big slinky dog to crawl through...)

During the open house, parents had to stay with their kids. Starting at 6:00 we could check the kids in for supervised club time. But I thought it was neat that the kids' club staff really tried to interact with our kids while they were there at this open house.

At this point we had been mostly checking out the Oceaneer Club, which is open to kids ages 3-10 but is geared more for the younger kids. When we went to the back of the club, there were some table & chair/lab areas that connected to the back of the Oceaneer Lab, which is also for kids age 3-10 but is geared more for the older kids. Brian and I each took a turn checking out the Oceaneer Lab, too. It wasn't as heavily themed at the Club and it seemed to have more computers/video games. But still nice. The boys were still in the Club discovering everything. We figured eventually during the cruise they would make it to the Lab.

It was about 3:00 or so at this point, and I was hungry! That light lunch I had just wasn't cutting it. So we decided to go in search of food before the 4 p.m. lifeboat drill.

Up next: The Vista Cafe, the lifeboat drill, the Sail Away deck party, dinner at Animator's Palette, and our first evening on the ship.

 

[Tinker326]

I can't help but laugh! My family is already in your pictures!!!

Picture of the big Mickey Ears to board the ship. The big head in the left corner that kinda ruined the picture is my husband and then my two littles are the ones in the red!Too funny!

Love, love, loving reliving my trip through your report!