Dream Maiden Voyage Trip Report, A Dream Come True = Completed

Monday 7th February 2011


We woke about 9am. I hadn’t felt well during the night but had managed a few hours sleep by 9, we got up and ready and caught the bus to Magic Kingdom. We had a look in the shops on the right hand side of Main Street and I picked up a couple more bits, one being a glass which I had engraved with my name. I guess it has become a tradition now as I have done this on my last four trips.


Once we had finished we stopped off in Main St Bakery for some breakfast, we were quite hungry as we hadn’t eaten since dinner mid afternoon the day before. We got a Ham, Egg & Cheese Croissants and a Café Latte each then I had a Cinnamon Roll and Lee had some Donuts (which are Krispy Kremes):


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After brekkie we went on Buzz Lightyears Space Rangers Spin, where as usual Lee whopped my butt, followed by Stitches Great Escape, then we walked around to Fantasyland and watched our favourite Mickey’s Philharmagic. :love:


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We took some photos of all the screening which blocks off the contruction area’s. I can’t wait to see it all when it’s done. :yay:


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When we were looking at the Beauty & the Beast “Be Our Guest” restaurant poster Lee noticed how in the bottom left corner Lumiere is on a serving trolley being pushed by a waiter, we wondered if they plan to do somethink similar to Remy in Chefs de France? :idea: I hope so, I love Lumiere! :hyper:


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We went on Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise before stopping at Caseys Corner for a drink and a Hot Dog. It was just coming up to 3pm and Main Street was crazy busy! :crowded: We decided that we would head back to AKL before the post parade mass exit, so that is what we did. We found out a little later when we saw it on the news channel that one of the Super Bowl players (Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers) was paraded down Main Street before the parade - that explains why it was so busy!


When we got back to the room Lee chilled out watching tv whilst I finished off most of the packing. I filled the spare holdall and had loads left over so I opened up the other three cases which were already all over weight and put even more in each one until they were fit to burst. :rolleyes1 I also filled the three hand luggage bags and we still had some stuff left out that we needed for the morning.

We showered and got dressed up ready for our last evening meal at our favourite restaurant - Yachtsmen Steakhouse. It was pouring with rain this evening and I got soaked just walking from the lobby to the car park, my feet were drenched and kept slipping off my sandals. It was not a great start, we looked like drowned rats by the time we got to the Yachtsmen. We checked in about 15 mins early and were given a pager, we decided to get a drink in the Crews Cup Lounge whilst we waited. We both just had a coke, I had been taking some strong pain killers throughout the day so wasn’t drinking much tonight. We waited for about 30 minutes before Lee went back to the podium to check why we were still waiting, lots of others had arrived after us and already been seated, they told him it wouldn’t be much longer. We finally ended up being seated 50 minutes after arriving! Unfortunately our evening didn’t get much better, we waited about fifteen minutes before our server came over to take our drinks order. It was then a further twenty five minutes before he came back to take our food order. Our drinks were never refilled, he didn’t come back during the meal to check if everything was ok with the food, service was non existent but thankfully the food was good.


The delicious onion rolls:


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My starter - Ceasar Salad:


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Lee’s starter – Seared Maine Diver Scallops:


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My main – Yachtsmen Filet Mignon with double cooked fries…YUM!


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Lee’s Main course – Oak fired Rib Eye with piped mash potato:


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Whilst we were eating we could see Illuminations in the distance:


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We decided against having a dessert or a coffee as we had been in the restaurant two & a half hours already, not including the hour in the bar beforehand. So we paid up and called it a night, it was such a shame to end our fantastic holiday on a bit of a low. I drove back to AKL and we got some Hot Chocolate‘s from Mara and headed to bed.




Coming soon…….How on Earth did we get everything home?!??!​
 
OMG that cinnamon roll looks so nice!

Shame your meal at the Yachtsman wasn't good.
 


Tuesday 8th February 2011



Well it was finally time to come home. :guilty: Lee got up when the alarm went off at 7am and went to the gym for a run, I stayed in bed until Lee came back with Hot Chocolates. We got showered and finished packing up, I managed to get the last of the stuff in the fourth hand luggage bag. We called Bell services and someone came and collected our three cases and holdall, we took all our hand luggage and collected the car from the car park and drove up to the lobby where Lee & the Bell boy struggled to fit everything in the boot and back seat.


(No photos today I’m afraid as all the camera equipment was packed up, sorry)


Once loaded up we went straight to Downtown Disney to make use of the Twilight check in, thankfully it was empty so we paid our $10 each and the guy asked us to put our cases on the scales. :headache: Well all 3 cases were between 4 & 6 kgs over the maximum 25kg allowance, (the official weight is 23kg but the guy said he allows anything under 25kg) the holdall was 15kg but too small to get anything else in. Our options were either pay $50 per case ($150) or buy a new case. We decided to get a new case and rather than reloading everything back into the car Lee waited at DTD, now I should point out that it was rather cold and he was standing in the shade wearing just a t shirt. I was given directions for the nearest WalMart, which was 5 minutes down the road…….well an HOUR later I finally came back with a new case - I got lost and ended up at Super Target. :confused: Poor Lee was frozen solid, bored out of his head (I had his phone, Ipod etc in the car)and he was also desperate for a wee. :lmao:


Whilst Lee went off in search of a bathroom I put the holdall in the new case and moved stuff from each of the other three cases. They were all weighed again, two were now 25kg, one was still 26kg’s but the guy felt sorry for us and let it go anyway. The new case was last on the scales and you guessed it weighed 30 kg’s! :faint: We ended up taking the holdall out and emptying half of it back in the case until it weighed 25kgs then we had to take the holdall and the rest of the contents with us as hand luggage. We put one of our other bags inside the holdall so we still only had two h/l bags each but two of them were huge. :rolleyes1
I must say that I felt incredibly guilty for making Lee stand in the cold, after all it was all my shopping! :blush: He was so good about it though and never moaned once. :love: I was so glad that when we dropped the car off at Gatwick before flying out we paid to have the meet and greet on the return journey! :worship: Best £25 I ever spent, I know that trying to get 4 cases and 4 h/l bags on the bus to the car park would not have gone down well! ;)


After all that hassle we had missed our breakfast ADR at ‘Ohana which I was really looking forward to. :guilty: Instead as it was nearing lunchtime we went to Earl of Sandwich, Lee had his usual (Original 1762) and I had a BLT (without tomato). We didn’t have any plans for today so decided we would go to the cinema to see Tangled, by the time we got there we had missed the start of the film so we had two hours to kill before the next showing. We went for a little drive, filled the car with petrol, then came back to DTD and went to Ghirardelli’s for a coffee. As we were there we had to have a Gold Rush, it would be rude not too. ;) We picked up some chocolate from the shop to bring home – why not, it’s not like we haven’t already got too much luggage! :lmao:
It was soon time for the film so we went back to the cinema and bought our tickets, what an fabulous film! We both loved it! We laughed all the way through especially at Maximus, his mannerisms reminded us so much of one of our dogs, I also fell in love with Pascal, the whole film was just amazing. :lovestruc


After the film it was time to head to the airport, we returned the car and went through security. We had a drink at McDonalds and I had a burger as I knew I wouldn’t eat on the plane. I got some Disaronno (Amaretto) from Duty Free then we sat at the gate and read for about 20 minutes before boarding began. The flight was rather boring, I watched Due Date and managed about an hours sleep in total. I didn’t have any of the food but Lee had some kind of Chicken & Rice dish which he said was very good compared to what the food is normally like. :laughing: The flight was very quick, 7 hours 10 mins which was two hours quicker than our outbound flight. We were off the plane, through passport control, got our cases, met the meet & greet guy and in the car on our way home within about 45 minutes. :thumbsup2



Well unfortunately that is the end of my trip report, thank all of you for reading and for each and every one of your lovely comments……..until next time. :wave:
 
I just read your trip report from start to finish, and all I can say is ..Wow,
what an awesome read. I almost felt like I was along on the cruise with you. I loved all of your pictures. I know you've mentioned several times which camera you have, but I would love to know what kind of a lens you were using to get such close shots.

I can't wait to see the write up for the TransAtlantic cruise, as I have yet to write a report or scrapbook even one of our cruises, maybe you can inspire me. :goodvibes
 


oh no it's over i am so sad . wow you sure brought a lot of stuff , poor Lee

really enjoyed reading all about your trip esp the dream, thanks for sharing.
 
Claire great report thanks for sharing I loved all your pics. What a nightmare with the luggage..I am sure it was worth it with all the goodies you brought home
 
Thank you Claire for sharing your trip with us, I have really enjoyed it.

:)
 
I can honestly say Claire that this is by far one of the best trip reports I have ever read. It was full of some fantastic photos, great write ups and some real comedy moments. All in all a great read.
Can I ask - with your last two meals having really bad service, how did you deal with that? Did you still tip or did make you feelings known?
Now - how long do we have to wait for your next one :goodvibes
 
thanks so much for your fab trip report, I have thoroughly enjoyed, didnt post between each day but absolutely loved it , your photos were fantastic too. LOL when you were telling us about your check in at DTD that was too funny!
 
Thanks for a great report Claire, I've loved reading it. :goodvibes
 
Fab report Claire, really enjoyed reading and looking forward to the next one :thumbsup2
 
Thanks Claire! We loved your trip report! So sad it is over!

Thank you for reading. :)


I just read your trip report from start to finish, and all I can say is ..Wow,
what an awesome read. I almost felt like I was along on the cruise with you. I loved all of your pictures. I know you've mentioned several times which camera you have, but I would love to know what kind of a lens you were using to get such close shots.


I can't wait to see the write up for the TransAtlantic cruise, as I have yet to write a report or scrapbook even one of our cruises, maybe you can inspire me. :goodvibes

Thank you for reading. We have the standard lens & also a 90-300mm. :thumbsup2

Are you on the WBTA in September?

I have just printed lots of our photos so my next project is to start my scrapbook for the Dream cruise. :yay:


oh no it's over i am so sad . wow you sure brought a lot of stuff , poor Lee

really enjoyed reading all about your trip esp the dream, thanks for sharing.


Thanks Andrea. Yes I could shop for England. :lmao:

Claire great report thanks for sharing I loved all your pics. What a nightmare with the luggage..I am sure it was worth it with all the goodies you brought home

Thank you for reading, it was definately worth the luggage hassles...well for me anyway, not sure Lee would agree. ;)


Thank you Claire for sharing your trip with us, I have really enjoyed it.

:)

Thanks for reading Michelle......you will feature in the next one! :dance3:


I can honestly say Claire that this is by far one of the best trip reports I have ever read. It was full of some fantastic photos, great write ups and some real comedy moments. All in all a great read.
Can I ask - with your last two meals having really bad service, how did you deal with that? Did you still tip or did make you feelings known?
Now - how long do we have to wait for your next one :goodvibes

Wow thank you Kenny. I was hoping I wasn't boring everyone with my ramblings, so it's nice to hear that. :hug:

We were using a Tables in Wonderland card so the way it works is we got 20% discount off the total bill but they add on 18% gratuity. I could have complained and got them to remove it but I just let it go as the food was good....typically British! :snooty: :laughing:

September is the next one......3 nights in Barcelona, then a 14 night Transatlantic cruise on the Magic, followed by 3 nights at Bay Lake Tower. :dance3:


thanks so much for your fab trip report, I have thoroughly enjoyed, didnt post between each day but absolutely loved it , your photos were fantastic too. LOL when you were telling us about your check in at DTD that was too funny!

Thank you for reading. I'm glad it amused you, thankfully Lee laughed about it on the day too. I don't think I would have been as pleased if was the other way around. ;)


Fab report Claire, well done! I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to the next one... :goodvibes

Thanks Lauren. :goodvibes


Thanks for a great report Claire, I've loved reading it. :goodvibes

Thank you for reading Tony. :)


Fab report Claire, really enjoyed reading and looking forward to the next one :thumbsup2

Thanks Rach. :goodvibes
 
Great report Claire - I have really enjoyed reading it and looking at your beautiful photos.

All I can say is boy can you shop :rotfl::rotfl2::worship:!!!!

Tam
 
Thank you for sharing your fantastic trip report Claire, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it and looking at your lovely photos ::yes::

I now look forward to reading about your adventures on the Magic in September :)
 
I really enjoyed your report Claire. All that lovely food.....yum yum.

I especially enjoyed seeing the Dream through the eyes of somebady I know:goodvibes

Sorry to hear you had a couple of off par meals, I didn't rate Mama's when we did the FDP back in 07', but you never can tell, like you said, it seems like it's hit and miss :confused3

Looking forward to you next trip report ::yes::
 
Aww so sad your report is over. Have really enjoyed my daily read and your photos were fantastic. The luggage saga at DTD check-in did make me giggle. Thank you :goodvibes
 

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