Do as Dreamers do: Disney Dream Jan 21-23rd **COMPLETE 1/30**

[Sorahana]

Ok so here is my pre-trip report which will turn into a trip report after our adventure!!

So a little backstory to start us off...
Once upon a time there was a little girl who had been to Disney quite often as a child (due to her uncle being a total fanatic and he still is), and growing up had a dream to work there. Well in 2008 that dream came true when that girl was accepted into the Disney College Program in attractions.
She then went on to become a Campus Rep for the Disney College Program, then did an alumni program in 2009, again in attractions.

Now to present day! I am so excited about this cruise for a variety of reasons...

-We have never been on a Disney Cruise. No one in my family has. We could never afford to have the whole family go, we weren't sure about it, etc.
-It's a preview cruise!! I'm so excited to be among some of the first to sail on the Disney Dream.
-VACATION! Come on, who isn't happy about a vacation?!

So here's a little intro to the characters:

Amanda-Me! Yes that story was about me . I'm 23 and recently engaged!! I've been to WDW 15 times and DL once. I love Disney and my favorite characters are Stitch and Pluto .

Marianne-My mom! She is a 50 something year old who loves Twilight (and anything related) loves to relax on the beach, and also loves Disney. Her favorite character is Pumbaa!

How this cruise thing came about...
So I heard on here about the preview cruise and decided to look into it. When we originally requested to get on it, the cruise was full. We decided "oh well" and just went on with our lives. Then one day, they called me up and told me they had a room on the cruise for us !! So obviously, we took it and started the countdown. At first we thought we'd have to call back and cancel if my mom couldn't get off or we needed passports, but that wasn't the case, so we are really excited for this cruise.

Cruise Schedule/Plans
Thursday-Fly down to Orlando, stay at Pop Century
Friday-Go to Cape Canaveral, GET ON THE DREAM !!!
Saturday-Castaway Cay
Sunday-Back to Cape Canaveral, go back to WDW and go to a park, and spend the night at Wilderness Lodge
Monday-Fly back home
I hope you enjoy this report!!

 

[allisonjones]

We have some agents on this cruise! They are soooo excited to be there! Have fun!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

Can't wait to follow along and be able to see someone elses view on the cruise!! We wil also be onboard with you!! I plan on doing a TR when we return

 

[bobbidiboo]

this is so exciting to be so close to reading all about the Dream. I will be waiting patiently for your reviews "NOT" !!

 

[praisehisname]

Joining in and can't wait to hear about it!

 

[Mom2CJ&Kitty]

Can't wait to hear more about it!!

 

[BettyBeBop]

Hoping you had a great cruise!! Can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[Sorahana]

So we got into Orlando around 9 in the morning and took Magical Express to Pop Century!

Oh my goodness we're here...

We get to Pop, relax a little, then head to Downtown Disney to take the boat to Port Orleans French Quarter for lunch. We were very disappointed since they did away with Taco Salads on property !!
We then sat by the pool for a little bit, then went back to Downtown Disney to walk around (and ended up shopping).

We finally decided to head back to Pop Century, so we grabbed dinner at Earl of Sandwich.

YUM.

We got back to the hotel and ate, then we relaxed a little and went back to Downtown Disney to pick up my shirt from Design-A-Tee (it was a 1st cruise shirt as this was my first cruise).

Construction at Pop.

We then hopped the bus to Contemporary and watched Wishes from the stairwell of the Contemporary! We had a snack there, then mom suggested instead of waiting for the DTD bus at Contemporary (since it took 40 mins to come the last time we took it), we walk to MK and take the bus right back to Pop Century.
...Bad idea since MK had just closed and everyone was heading back to their resorts. We had to wait at least 4-5 buses to get on one.

View from our room at night.

So we finally got back to the hotel and got ready for the next day: DAY 1 ON THE DREAM!!

 

[Sorahana]

This is the 3rd time I've tried to post this but somehow I keep closing my browser midway through!! Let's try this again!

We got up and ate breakfast, then we waited for my friend to pick us up and take us to Cape Canaveral. We had a nice drive there, minus the amount of tolls.

On approach to the boat!!

We got to Cape Canaveral and walked into the terminal. We went through security, and went to check in. We were in boarding group 21 so we had a bit to wait. We sat on the couches and waited until we were called.

The view of the boat from the terminal. You can kind of see Royal Carribean's smaller boat nearby, it looked like a bath toy compared to the Dream.

We were finally called and got on the boat and everyone was welcome on by name (family name), our jaws dropped when we got on the boat. IT WAS HUGE. We headed to the elevators to go grab lunch and the crew member said that Cabanas was full and to go to Enchanted Garden, so we did.

View from our seats in Enchanted Garden

The buffet was good. We sat with two other CMs and a mother and her son (who made me laugh while poking his bread with a fork, his mom was frowning upon it). We chatted with the CMs and then we went and explored the ship some more. We popped into Animator's Palate to see it without people in it and to see the menu. We also popped in Royal Palace.

We eventually made our way up to our room (which they were ready by 1:30) and found our "home" for the next couple days.

Stateroom 9664!

We walked in and fell in love with the room, and the verandah!

We also had these on our bed: a Disney Dream blanket and a toy of the boat. So cute!! Everyone on the cruise got these!

Wandering the ship again...

We had time until the Sail Away party so we walked around some more and eventually made our way up to deck 11.

The reason this cruise happened, it was a charity cruise for the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida. All the proceeds from the cruise went to them, they raised $750,000!!

Then it was time for the Sail Away party!!

Champagne glasses they gave everyone, you had a choice of champagne or sparkling apple cider (I took the cider).

It was very windy!

The dolphins started coming around the ship when it left port!!

And we were off to Castaway Cay!! It started to rain but the rain let up later on in the evening.

Leaving the continental US (I have never left the country, so this was a big deal for me to take a photo of, lol)

We did some more exploring until we had the show (we had 2nd seating for dinner). We were originally supposed to eat at Animator's Palate, then Enchanted Garden but mom wanted to switch so we could eat at all three, so we switched to Royal Palace, then Animator's Palate (had to go to a predesignated place on the ship to meet with the dining manager to make the change).

The hot tubs are awesome since they have a glass window in the bottom so you can look down at the ocean!

We then went to see the Golden Mickeys and loved them, especially the Rapunzel part of the show!

Oh boy! You have the late dinner seating!

So we went back to our room, and we found this:

They turn down your bed and leave chocolates, so awesome!

We then headed to dinner at Royal Palace. The food was good, we skipped on dessert because it was almost 10:30 and we had just gotten a dessert menu and were tired. I was also getting over a cold so I wasn't feeling super (our table got our food very slowly, every night).

Navigator from Day 1, very nice.

I took a shower and went to bed, my mom hit up the beverage station again and eventually came back to the room and also went to sleep.

Next up, Castaway Cay!

 

[Sorahana]

We were woken up at around 6:45 since room service has brought our breakfast (mom had it arranged last night). We got our breakfast and ate it out on the verandah as we pulled into Castaway Cay. It was warm, but very windy. We also got to see the sunrise!

Towels for Castaway Cay

Castaway Cay!!

We didn't realize we had put our plates like this...

The view of Castaway Cay from the verandah

We went up to Deck 11 for a drink and we went to look at the Aquaduck. After that we headed back to the room and waited until we could get off the boat.

Lots of things were cancelled due to the strong winds.

The boat from the port.

We had decided to do bike riding so we walked to the bike rental station and got our bikes and rode the bike trail to the Observation tower. The view was amazing! We heard this little boy down a level of the tower saying he had to pee, so his mom ended up taking him to a bush as there aren't any bathrooms near the observation tower .

We got back on our bikes and rode back and decided to get a drink and some ice cream. I got a non alchoholic Pina Colada (yum) and mom got a mudslide.
We went and sat on the beach and enjoyed the sun. The water was pretty close to being as cold as it is at home so we didn't go in.
Mom went and got me some lunch from Cookies and the ribs were AWESOME, so was the coleslaw. She had a hamburger but it didn't make it back to the chair, haha.

We decided to leave Castaway Cay at around 11:30-12ish since we got on the island at around 9 and we wanted to ride the Aquaduck. As we were leaving, we caught the hermit crab race.

Hermit crabs!!

We got back on the boat and hit up the Aquaduck, had to wait about 20-25 minutes. It was worth it! We then headed over to the adult pool and hot tub and lounged. I LOVED the hot tub, especially since you could look down in the floor and see the ocean below you.

We went back to the room and I got changed since I had an appointment at 4 for a fire and ice pedicure in the spa! Mom went in the Rainforest Room while I was in the "salon".
(FYI: Rainforest Passes sold out really quick on this day aka Saturday. A lot of people were upset as the staff wasn't expecting such a high demand for the passes. Some people were able to purchase a pass the day before, which was what my mom did.)

The Fire and Ice Pedicure was worth it, I would do it again AND the manicure (I didn't do that this time). It was very relaxing!

When I was finished the boat was blowing it's horns (It did "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and "When You Wish Upon a Star") that it was getting ready to leave, so I got to watch us pull out from the spa.

I headed back down to the room and mom and I got ready for the show, which was Disney's Believe. It was a really cute show. The Genie=OMG WOW not what I was expecting at all but he was hilarious. The show got a standing ovation.

I changed again for dinner, we packed our luggage and left it outside the room (have to do this between 8:30 and 10:30 for it to be taken off the ship in the morning unless you want to carry it off yourself) and we headed down to Animator's Palate.

I was ready to eat by this point, lol. BRING IT ON.

I ate two baskets of bread (I love bread), and the other food I had was delicious. Mom didn't like hers much. This night our dinner was SUPER slow. We were waiting close to 25 minutes between courses.
I had a sundae for dessert and it was great!


After dinner, we headed up to Deck 11 for Buccaneer Blast, where I spent $10 on a drink (not doing that again).

It was the "special" and I don't know what was in it but it was delicious, I could taste a hint of coconut and maybe some rum,, but I'm not sure. It was fruity and I like fruity drinks.

The Buccaneer Blast was great, it was cool to see fireworks at sea! I wish we had stood on deck 12/the upper deck since we had a side view standing in the main open area on Deck 11.

After the fireworks, we headed back to the room, found our disembarkation stuff, and went to bed.

They gave everyone a piece of chocolate shaped like the ship!

She folded out the sofa bed and we don't know why, lol. She didn't do it the first night (talking about the stateroom hostess).

A penguin with chocolates! (That's what I thought, now people say it could be a shark, or a dolphin. You decide ).


Next up, Day 4...back to Port Canaveral and off to Disney World!

 

[Sorahana]

I woke up around 6:30 and saw that we were slowly approaching the coastline. I stayed up and watched the ocean go by until my mom got up and we finished packing.

Back in port

We had the 2nd seating for breakfast in Animator's Palate. The breakfast was very disappointing. My mom and the man at our table got the wrong orders, as did his wife. I got my order right, but I was surprised how small the Belgian waffles were. Also, our assistant server only came by once with the syrup.
My mom and the man ate their pancakes but they were cold when they got them, I also only got a little bacon when I also asked for a hashbrown .

We went back to the room and got our things and stopped at Shutters on our way off the boat to buy a picture. We got off the boat and got in the super long line for customs, it was crazy how long this line was. (This is also when we saw families that had around 10-15 suitcases each...for a 3 day cruise?)

We finally get through customs about an hour later and my friend drives us back to Wilderness Lodge. This was our first time staying at a deluxe resort, so we were excited.

I liked it, but we were a little disappointed. The resort (well the part we were in) could use some updating (ex: showers, the thermostat in the room was from the 90's where the value resorts have digital ones now, etc).

Also, the biggest disappointment...

The whirlpool/hot tub was under refurbishment, and we didn't know about using the one at the villas until we were leaving .

Not really in focus here but we could see the castle through the trees!

Rest of our woods view

We went over to the Polynesian with my friend to have lunch and dole whips. I thought I'd lost my wallet so I ran to the front desk and had them call the Dream to see if I left it there (never got a call back but I guess it's because I left a 2nd voice mail saying I found it later).
My wallet ended up being in my suitcase the whole time! Why I put it there? No idea.

Mom and I then went to Animal Kingdom and saw Finding Nemo: The Musical (she's never seen it) and we had awesome seats for it. We also rode Dinosaur and walked around. We then hopped the bus to EPCOT and saw Captain Eo (again, I LOVE IT SO MUCH and omg they have a stuffed animal of Hooter now, I WANT IT EVENTUALLY!) went and saw the Manatees in the Living Seas (I also LOVE Manatees), rode Spaceship Earth, rode the Mexico boat ride, and had dinner at Nine Dragons (my favorite restaurant on property). We walked around World Showcase some more before getting a spot for the Fireworks over in the bridge to Odyssey and we left right before they ended so we got to the bus before the rush.

We sat on the bus ride back with a family that had two boys and the mom told me "Please sit between them!" haha, she even warned me they may try and throw punches to each other across me .

We got back to the resort and went to bed.

 

[Sorahana]

We got up and packed, and headed down to have breakfast in the food court. We ate and went back up the room to get our stuff, then we waited our front for Magical Express.

We got on the bus and we stopped at Polynesian and Grand Floridian on our way to the airport. A girl sat next to me and we talked the whole way to the airport. Here I thought she was least 18, she was 13-14 !! She was so mature and so nice!! My mom ended up talking to her mom on the way back on the bus.

When we got to the airport, we stopped at the book store and went through security. We went the wrong way !! We had to come back on the tram and go through security a 2nd time! My mom was flipping out at me because we had to go through again, but I didn't realize until after the fact we went the wrong way.

The 2nd time through we had to go through the body scanner (which wasn't bad at all), and we got to the gate. It was a full house so we stood until we got to get on the plane.

The plane ride back was fine! We got into Philly early and waited for my dad to get us (IT WAS COLD). We got picked up, ate at Longhorn Steakhouse, then went home.

So all in all, a nice trip!! I would go on the Dream again in a heartbeat!! I keep trying to talk my fiance into it for our honeymoon but he doesn't want to be smothered in Disney so we'll see what happens with that.

Thank you so much for reading my trip report and I'm glad you enjoyed it !!!

 

[my3sonstx]

love it! more, more.....

 

[Mom2CJ&Kitty]

Great update, but I'm anxious to hear more!!

 

[Sorahana]

Just updated Day 2!! Glad you're liking the report so far!

 

[lovegrumpy]

Just seen that your marrying a coastie!! Welcome to the club. Are you on coastie chicks? If not u should. It's a great group of girls.

 

[Sorahana]

Just seen that your marrying a coastie!! Welcome to the club. Are you on coastie chicks? If not u should. It's a great group of girls.

Yes I am ;D!! I'm on Coastie Chicks as well small world! (I'm Shutterwish on there).

 

[3dmykids]

Loving the post so far, can't wait for more.

 

[KatInHat]

I'm loving your trip report! Thanks for sharing.

 

[praisehisname]

Loving all the pics! Enchanted Garden looks so amazing!