Disney Dream ~ September 15, 2011

[KSandbergFL]

DCL has their own desalinization system on board - the tap water on the ship is fresh and clean, and tastes great. My DW is a bottled-water aficionado, but on the boat she is very happy with the tap water.

On the 3nt cruises, the "formal night" is generally not observed. Only about 10-20% of the guests bother with dressing up (we don't). If you are faced with a dilemma of "should I pack an extra suitcase just for these formal clothes?" -- I would highly recommend leaving the formal clothes at home.

 

[KSandbergFL]

... this time we decided to change things up a bit. We are staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a couple of days before the cruise. We haven't stayed there for a while, so this will be a nice change of pace. I booked our reservation yesterday online, so we are all set.

How long has it been since you were at AKL? Be sure to check out the new Kidani Village (the DVC part) -- the pool there, with the kids play area, is probably the best of all the Disney resorts. We were there the first month it was open (August 2009, if memory serves). The restaurant "Sanaa" is there too, it's very good.

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

Hey guys! Here's a link to another thread I just found that has a different list of DCL Tips. There are different TIPS than what was in my list.

scroll down to post 98

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=935094&page=7

 

[xandrhew]

Not sure if this is relevant to your question, but the only dress requirement I have seen on the ship is for the two adult-only dining options. Palo is not jacket required, but it is more business casual with no shorts/jeans/ect.. Remy's is a little more formal, requiring a jacket for men and I think the dress requirement for women is a little more formal as well.

If you are not planning on going to these restaurants then you should be fine.

 

[JustTJ]

For both of our previous 4 night cruises, the dress up night was listed as "Dress Up Optional". I'd say only 5% of cruises on our last 4 night got REALLY dressed up. A little more wore their "Sunday Best", and most were just nicely dressed but casual. My son and I'll be dressing up on the 4 nighter of our B2B, but nothing really fancy. My son has a suit that he will grow out of soon enough, so he'll wear that on our optional dress up night and I'll wear a dress. Other than than I'm in Capris or sundresses, and he's in shorts or casual long pants. Pirate night, we go all out on pirate night. However we are doing a B2B, so will probably dress up as pirates only on our 4 night portion and then just wear bandanas on the 3 night.

As for the water question, I know people have taken bottled water on board, but can't recall how they got it there (weather as carry on or checked), but if it matters at all, I'm picky about my water. I have to have water with every meal (just how I am). I can't drink the tap water at my aunts house in another town (tastes bad), but love my own water, and love the water on board the ship.

 

[DizDragonfly]

In case you missed it on the main board, they've lowered the height requirement for the Aquaduck.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/di...eight-requirement-for-disney-dreams-aquaduck/

Beginning today, more kids will be able to ride the AquaDuck, the water coaster onboard Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Disney Dream.
MousePlanet.com first reported and a DCL spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the minimum height requirement for kids will drop from 48 inches to 42 inches.


To ride alone, however, the height requirement increases from 48 inches to 54 inches. Also, kids must be at least 7 years old to ride alone. Otherwise, they must ride with someone 14 or older.

 

[davidls]

Isn't even-flo a brand of baby bottles? Do you mean Evian?

Yes, yes, yes, you are right. Is my face RED!!! So sorry, it is Evian................although DW probably would say I still need the even-flo bottles!!!



Capri pants or just capris. My mom calls them pedal pushers. We called them "clam diggers" when I was growing up. Now they have a new name.

Capris...............that's it..................I knew I would think of it!!! Thanks for all of your help DizDragonfly. Looks like I need to run things by you before I post them. Again, my face is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo red!!!!

 

[DizDragonfly]

Thanks for all of your help DizDragonfly. Looks like I need to run things by you before I post them. Again, my face is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo red!!!!

No worries! I hear the brain is the first thing to go after semi-retirement.

I like to say that I lost half my brain with the birth of each of my children. That leaves me just a quarter of a brain. S'ok, I'm still better at algebra than my 16 year old.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

DCL has their own desalinization system on board - the tap water on the ship is fresh and clean, and tastes great. My DW is a bottled-water aficionado, but on the boat she is very happy with the tap water.

On the 3nt cruises, the "formal night" is generally not observed. Only about 10-20% of the guests bother with dressing up (we don't). If you are faced with a dilemma of "should I pack an extra suitcase just for these formal clothes?" -- I would highly recommend leaving the formal clothes at home.

Thanks for the info!

For both of our previous 4 night cruises, the dress up night was listed as "Dress Up Optional". I'd say only 5% of cruises on our last 4 night got REALLY dressed up. A little more wore their "Sunday Best", and most were just nicely dressed but casual. My son and I'll be dressing up on the 4 nighter of our B2B, but nothing really fancy. My son has a suit that he will grow out of soon enough, so he'll wear that on our optional dress up night and I'll wear a dress. Other than than I'm in Capris or sundresses, and he's in shorts or casual long pants. Pirate night, we go all out on pirate night. However we are doing a B2B, so will probably dress up as pirates only on our 4 night portion and then just wear bandanas on the 3 night.

As for the water question, I know people have taken bottled water on board, but can't recall how they got it there (weather as carry on or checked), but if it matters at all, I'm picky about my water. I have to have water with every meal (just how I am). I can't drink the tap water at my aunts house in another town (tastes bad), but love my own water, and love the water on board the ship.

Yeah, I'm mostly about taste with the water. I **know** Dasani is just treated tap water but I love the taste or what I call lack of wang. I can't stand to have a wang when I drink water. Aquafina is the WORST. LOL!

No worries! I hear the brain is the first thing to go after semi-retirement.

I like to say that I lost half my brain with the birth of each of my children. That leaves me just a quarter of a brain. S'ok, I'm still better at algebra than my 16 year old.

Is this what happened to my brain?! Oh man! Glad I only had the two. I'd have been in real trouble with a third. LOL! My 15 year old may have me licked with the Algebra but I can write circles around him in my sleep AND you can read my handwriting without any issues.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Onward with the water dilemna plus a reference to the cruise tips from the link above...

Instead of bringing a case of water, can I bring a couple of my favorite insulated cold cups from home (they have a lid & straw)? Sometimes if I don't feel like having just a bottle of water I mix a Crystal Light pomegranate lemonade with the water and put it in my cup over ice. If I could mix up my Crystal Light in my cup I could potentially skip the case of water altogether which would be niiiiice!

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

Onward with the water dilemna plus a reference to the cruise tips from the link above...

Instead of bringing a case of water, can I bring a couple of my favorite insulated cold cups from home (they have a lid & straw)? Sometimes if I don't feel like having just a bottle of water I mix a Crystal Light pomegranate lemonade with the water and put it in my cup over ice. If I could mix up my Crystal Light in my cup I could potentially skip the case of water altogether which would be niiiiice!

You can absolutely do that! We brought our own cups w/ lid/straw last year. But they weren't to carry around flavored water. Our fridge was stocked with some yummy bottles of banana rum and pina colada mix!

 

[perfectmatch300]

OK, I confess, I'd been worried about "dress up night" too! Not so much the dress, it was the SHOES I was worried about! I wear sneakers, flip flops, or sandals & these days I can't seem to walk in much of anything else! Those don't go very well with a really nice dress! Glad I'll be able to work around that!

I'm also glad to see a bunch of other newbie cruisers here. I'm sure I'll have all the same questions and am glad I won't be the only ones asking them! I think I will bring my favorite drink bottle and some Crystal Light. I am a diet soda drinker but prefer caffeine free so I can sleep and that can be pretty hard to find. I'm not at all a morning person but am prepared to get up early on the cruise so I'll have to find a way to stay caffeine free or I'll be up all night and then I won't be able to get up in the morning.

We aren't staying at WDW before or after the cruise, but that's because we only live 45 min away. We will be in a park somewhere on the 12th to celebrate our 11 yr anniversary, a celebration I plan to carry over onto the cruise! I haven't picked a place yet to celebrate at WDW but I guess I'd better get going on that pretty soon.

Hey, anyone else going to be in the parks on the 12th? Maybe we could do a brief pre-cruise meet!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We're arriving on the 12th! I'm up for a meet!

I can't seem to be able to force myself to sit still and figure out all our dining for the land portion of our trip. I think this is what I'm lovin most about the cruise right now. I don't have to do the mental gymnastics to predict where we'll be each day of that part of our trip. They'll tell us where to go and when to be there. I'm feelin' this cruisin' relaxation I've heard so much about. Oh yeah!

 

[davidls]

No worries! I hear the brain is the first thing to go after semi-retirement.

I like to say that I lost half my brain with the birth of each of my children. That leaves me just a quarter of a brain. S'ok, I'm still better at algebra than my 16 year old.

I know a mind is a terrible thing to waste...............and it seems I've been wasting mine way too much!!!! (Wish I could say I'm smarter then a 5th grader...................BUT I CAN'T!!!!!) I guess I need to start hanging around with the smart crowd, maybe some of those smarts will rub off on me............ya think???? More then likely I'll just be showing all just how plain ol' dumb I is!!!

 

[DizDragonfly]

I guess I need to start hanging around with the smart crowd, maybe some of those smarts will rub off on me............ya think????

Yeah, but the fifth grade smart kids aren't as fun as the rest of us.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Happy Monday, fellow Dreamers!

The hubby had a day off work on Saturday so I finally was able to nail the family down to work out our dining plans for the land portion of our September adventure. Ugh. What a chore. I wish it could all be as easy as the cruise part.

Everyone have a good week ahead!

 

[davidls]

And a very Happy Monday to one and all out there is DIS Board land.

DW and I are staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a couple of days before the cruise. We haven't decided as yet just where we are going to eat. We probably will grab a bite at the lodge one evening. I was thinking about going to Downtown Disney and getting a bite at the new restaurant there.................ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............give me a second here I'm trying to think of the name.............ummmmmmmmm...................this ol' brain of mine just don't seem to be working today...............ummmmmmmmmmmm..........oh yes, I thought of it. -------------------------------
So how are ya'll doing today? Finished my yard work yesterday, we are having some beautiful weath..........wait a minute, was I talking about eating at Downtown Disney???!!? Sorry the ol' brain skipped a beat there for a minute!!! Yes I do remember now............T-Rex - that dinosaur restaurant or more then likely it will be Captin Jack's. DW loves her crabcakes and they serve some nice crabcakes at Captain Jack's!!! Plus we can get some last minute things we may need for the cruise.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Oh I thought you were gonna say that Pollo Camero or something like that that they put where the McDonalds used to be. T-Rex is good, too. We've never been to Cap'n Jack's. The oldest DS begs for Fultons but I know him too well. He'll sit down and order the most expensive plate in the joint. Or a pricey steak with 2 lobster tails on the side. He kills us. So, I'm officially afraid to take that kid to Fulton's.

AKL! We enjoyed it there when we stayed in January 2010. Of course, we were there for that extreme cold snap...you know, when white stuff fell from the sky in the wee hours TWICE. I expected the animals on the savanna to go on strike.

 

[JustTJ]

We awoke this morning to freezing rain, and cancelled school buses! Then Thick falling snowflakes for most of the afternoon! One last Winter Blast before March Arrives

Our latest news is our newest Family? member? I'm still calling him a Temporary Guest. A CAT. We do NOT need any more pets, and when my daughter told me just after Christmas that she was going to bring home a kitten the following week, I FORBID her from doing so. We have Two dogs, two rats and a fish.
On Saturday an older Kitten followed my DS13 home from walking his dog. When DH went out to see what DS was talking about, the cat was on our porch. DH called to it, holding the door open and the thing walked right in and made itself at home. None of us wanted to put it back outside since here the prevailing opinion is that unless you live on a farm, a cat is a HOUSE PET and not an outdoor animal. It' still quite young so we hoped that he had just escaped his Real home and lost? We figured we'd try to find his real home but in the meantime, he'd stay with us. Took him to the vet today, he's not mircro chiped so I'll call both local papers tomorrow to put in a FOUND ad. Those papers come out Thursday and Friday. DH now says if nothing comes of those efforts plus the notices we've left at the local vets, then this cat has FOUND his new home, UGGGHHHHHHHH! He is cute though

 

[DizDragonfly]

We have Two dogs, two rats and a fish.

Sounds a bit like my place. We have two dogs, three rats (had four but one passed yesterday) and my son adopted a kitten last month. The DH and I are dog people. So, we were NOT thrilled with the idea of bringing a cat in. But, it was the first pet he's ever asked for (at age 16). So, we allowed it. The kitten is sweet. But, he's making me crazy. I bought new curtains at Christmas and they are already wrecked.