We just completed a B2B, 4 day then a 3 day Disney Dream Cruise. We left March 6th for the first leg of our adventure. We arrived at Disney's Bay Lake Towers on March 4th for two nights in a 2 bedroom Magic Kingdom View Villa, needless to say we loved the view.
On March 4th at 9:30am we were picked up by Happy Limo [4 of us total] and we headed for the port. We arrived at the port at about 10:45am. It took us about 10 minutes to clear security and enter the terminal. It took no more then 10 more minutes for all of us to be checked in. There were 8 of us total, 4 seperate staterooms that varied from Outside stateroom with Large Port Window all the way up to Conceirge Level.
One thing everyone needs to be aware of is how Disney decideds who boards the ships first. Please understand that the old way of doing things is no longer applicable. Your boarding number is based on when you booked your trip, the earlier you book the earlier you board. Plantinum and Conceirge do not follow this formula. We meet people who arrived at the port at 9:10 and had number 35 for boarding. We received number 14 and boarded at about noon. Disney will work with people who are in a group and all have different boarding numbers. You now have no choice in getting the boarding picture taken because thats how they identify you for pictures later using the new picture system.
The rooms are listed as being ready at 1:30. We took are carry on luggage and went right to Cabbana's. To be honest this made the start on the cruise fantastic. To call this area a buffet is really unfair, food was great, area was large, food choices abundant, service was perfect. This is not your local buffet on a ship.
The rooms were ready and reminded us of the Disney Magic or Wonder. We had a room with a verandah, and to our suprise the verandah we had was a double sized version. 4 or more people could easily sit out there, we had 4 lounge chairs and table. A truely pleasant suprise. One of our party had the Family sized room with verandah, and that extra space they had was surprising, it added atleast 4 extra feet to the length of the room, and added 1 extra chair. Our other friends where in Conceirge which had the exact same size room as a family room but had many other amenities. The deck 13 deck area in Conceirge was amazing in my opinion, especially if you want silence for reading.
The Dream's size is remarkable, the feel of a new ship is hard to discribe. It smells like a new car you can't wait to drive. We had over 1250 children on the 4 day cruise and over 1000 on the 3 day, unless you were on deck you never would think that many children were onboard. I say Disney takes care of the kids better then anyone. This ship was bulit with them in mind from start to finish. I wanted to just go spend time looking at the kids area since they looked so cool. Deck 5 was a hopping deck with all the kid areas, the main theater and the movie theater, very easy to find your way around on this deck plus if you get lost any crew members would take you where you needed to go.
More to come in my next post, I will discuss all the restaurants and entertainment.
Tom
On March 4th at 9:30am we were picked up by Happy Limo [4 of us total] and we headed for the port. We arrived at the port at about 10:45am. It took us about 10 minutes to clear security and enter the terminal. It took no more then 10 more minutes for all of us to be checked in. There were 8 of us total, 4 seperate staterooms that varied from Outside stateroom with Large Port Window all the way up to Conceirge Level.
One thing everyone needs to be aware of is how Disney decideds who boards the ships first. Please understand that the old way of doing things is no longer applicable. Your boarding number is based on when you booked your trip, the earlier you book the earlier you board. Plantinum and Conceirge do not follow this formula. We meet people who arrived at the port at 9:10 and had number 35 for boarding. We received number 14 and boarded at about noon. Disney will work with people who are in a group and all have different boarding numbers. You now have no choice in getting the boarding picture taken because thats how they identify you for pictures later using the new picture system.
The rooms are listed as being ready at 1:30. We took are carry on luggage and went right to Cabbana's. To be honest this made the start on the cruise fantastic. To call this area a buffet is really unfair, food was great, area was large, food choices abundant, service was perfect. This is not your local buffet on a ship.
The rooms were ready and reminded us of the Disney Magic or Wonder. We had a room with a verandah, and to our suprise the verandah we had was a double sized version. 4 or more people could easily sit out there, we had 4 lounge chairs and table. A truely pleasant suprise. One of our party had the Family sized room with verandah, and that extra space they had was surprising, it added atleast 4 extra feet to the length of the room, and added 1 extra chair. Our other friends where in Conceirge which had the exact same size room as a family room but had many other amenities. The deck 13 deck area in Conceirge was amazing in my opinion, especially if you want silence for reading.
The Dream's size is remarkable, the feel of a new ship is hard to discribe. It smells like a new car you can't wait to drive. We had over 1250 children on the 4 day cruise and over 1000 on the 3 day, unless you were on deck you never would think that many children were onboard. I say Disney takes care of the kids better then anyone. This ship was bulit with them in mind from start to finish. I wanted to just go spend time looking at the kids area since they looked so cool. Deck 5 was a hopping deck with all the kid areas, the main theater and the movie theater, very easy to find your way around on this deck plus if you get lost any crew members would take you where you needed to go.
More to come in my next post, I will discuss all the restaurants and entertainment.
Tom
We booked back at the end of December for out May cruise 
How was the B2B process for you? I have been reading differing responses lately, where some people had only minimal waits (off the ship at 9:30, back on at 10:15, etc) and others didn't get back onboard until 11:45 
