Events were starting to move along very quickly now. Even though there would still be a couple of mandatory detours and a bit of finger tapping here and there, the rest of this day was going to fly by about as fast as kudzu can devour a landscape (and honestly that particular plant has been known to out run a small child). In truth, we were now smack in the middle of one of the better themed queues for a ride (excuse me… attraction), that has ever been devised. And being as Disney’s Imagineers are masters of queue wizardry, that’s quite the accomplishment.
First stop… the main gate. This is a whole lot like checking in at the front gate at any of the resorts on property. The only real difference is that when they ask for an ID they’re looking to see your passports. But once those had been checked against the manifest and our names did indeed appear on said list, it was like a weight had been lifted off of me. Not only were we finally there… we were expected.
Next stop… the terminal itself (and a welcome bit of air-conditioning).
The ground floor is mainly reserved for baggage pick-up and US Customs, neither of which we’d be dealing with for several days yet. For those that will be boarding… the first thing you’ll encounter is the line for the TSA screening process.
The second thing you’ll encounter is a sign saying it’s illegal to video or photograph this area of the building (oooops... technically that last image could be considered terrorist contraband, but I won’t tell if you won’t). Basically this process is the same Hokey Pokey we’re all forced to dance at every American airport except… here you get to keep your shoes on. After clearing the metal detectors and having all your carry-on bags thoroughly irradiated, an escalator whisks you up to the main floor where you’re greeted by this slightly chaotic site…
It may look daunting, but really its’ not that tough to navigate. Directly in front of the escalators are a group of tables where you can pick up and fill out a “mandatory health questionnaire”. It’s only a couple of questions, but there is a regulation of some type that says you got’a fill it out, so take a minute and get this done. Besides, this is also where a CM will likely give you your boarding number card (more on that in a bit).
From hear it’s on to the Check-in queue over to you’re left. There’s one line for first timers and a different one for
DCL vets
We were in that one. It moves a bit quicker because returning cruisers basically know the drill and most of the necessary information is already in their systems. A lot of the paperwork and such was also done beforehand as well. It’s considerably less hectic over on this side of the room since most of the folks out in the main area have already checked in. I wasn’t in line more then ten minutes before I was ushered on over to the next available CM. A few minutes to go through the formalities… they turn over your travel cards and documents... and boom… you’re free to roam the terminal.
Sense the ship still won’t be boarding until about 11:45ish, come on and I’ll show you around the place. Like every thing else Disney, the details in this building are amazing. Right down to the floor beneath you.
It’s laid out like a giant scale map of the Florida / Bahamas area. Back toward the front of the building you’ll find the obligatory “you are here” spot on the map
And a really cool inlay of the Disney Magic (their first ship) “leaving port”
The giant sand dollars are just an added bonus… I think. So far as I know, there aren’t any living creatures of that size and magnitude roaming the waters just northeast of The Cape. But then again… there is a major government research installation in the area so ya’ never know do ya’? As for details, even the shading and composition of the terrazzo floor goes so far as to show where the continental shelf ends and deep water begins.
If you walk back toward the gangway, you’ll even run across a fine representation of our first destination on this particular trip.
As you might expect, there is a prevalent, yet subtle “wave” theme washing over the building. The most obvious of these undulating motifs is built into the ceiling
The curved panels look as if there made of brass and the skylights bath the whole thing in sunlight giving it an almost ethereal glow. It’s really more dazzling then my point-n-shoot camera can replicate so you’ll just have to take my word for it (or better yet go see it for yourself). At the far end of the building is the entrance to the gangway (sporting a not-so-hidden Mickey design) and on the other side of that grand wall of glass beyond… the ship itself.
Dominating the middle of the terminal is a huge and amazingly detailed model of the Disney Magic (being first does have its privileges). Just on the other side you can catch a glimpse of Captain Mickey inspecting his new galley-slaves… errr…. greeting the new passengers.
This is actually the direct cause of most of that big jumble of people that you saw when we first entered the room. They’re all pretty much in line for this unique meet-n-greet opportunity with one or more of the Fab-Five in front of the ship model. If you have young kids (or are just a typical Dis-Fanatic) this is an excellent photo-op. Had we arrived earlier, I’d have partaken but…
OK, here’s one more shot toward the fount of the terminal just to give you an even better feel for the scale and grandeur of the place.
Over on the southeastern side of the terminal is a good-sized seating area. By the time I’d walked around and gotten a few pictures, Tamara had found a good spot to stretch out and we all settled in to wait the last few minutes before the show got started. Here are a couple of pictures from that side of the building.
Interestingly, the ship you see through these windows isn’t Disney’s. That one is actually the Freedom of the Seas (which is likely one of the reasons the windows are covered over), but regardless of what ship you see, the silhouette is still a grand site as you’re sitting there waiting for them to call you number.
Since we have a minute or two yet, this is a good time to familiarize yourself with your magical passport to far away destinations: the KTTW. The Key to the World card that is issued by DCL serves the same functions as the ones that we’ve all had at WDW and it looks a whole lot like this:
OK… it looks exactly like that (well mine did anyway), but you’ll notice that there are a few additional bits of info scattered around the surface. The dates, name of the ship, and the image of my patron saint are all pretty standard fair. Also like the cards at WDW, you won’t find your room number. DCL doesn’t want anyone picking up a stray card and knowing exactly which cabin it will get them into, so they give you that info separately. But then again, you should already know what you cabin number is from the sailing document you got in the mail a few weeks ago. The “Silver Castaway” number just shows that I’ve been here before (actually it our third time on this little hay ride, but I’m scheming to up that tally considerably in the future). Once you’ve been through this mill for the tenth time, they’ll change it to “Gold Castaway” and you’ll acquire a few additional little perks.
Now that big “J” down in the corner by Goofy’s left arm is interesting. It’s actually our lifeboat designation. Each of the lifeboats aboard the Dream are identified by a letter and the life-vests in your cabin will have the same letter along with your cabin number printed on them. It’s a good idea to take a little stroll around the promenade deck (that’s deck 4 for you noobies) where the boats are located and find where yours is located before the Muster Drill (I’ll talk about that more later on as well). This will give you a better idea of exactly where to report should the need arise.
But of all the info on this card, the one that gets most people in a twitter is this one right here:
That… is you’re dining rotation. Since food is one very big part of a cruise, this is the bit that most DCL cruisers wait eagerly to see (and you won’t know what it is until they hand you this little card). When you first book a cruise you have a choice between an early dinner seating with a late show time, or vise versa. Everyone has his or her own reasons for choosing one over the other, but that is also a discussion for a different time. What’s important right now is that we know that we’ll be sitting at Table #66 in each of the three main dinning rooms and the “RAAER” bit says that across the next five days we’ll be visiting those exotic realms in the following order:
R: Royal Palace
A: Animator’s Pallet
A: Animator’s Pallet
E: Enchanted Garden
R: Royal Palace
Your exact rotation is the last great unknown prior to boarding. This is actually something that raises a great deal of conversation on the boards. There is much fretting and gnashing of teeth amongst cruisers who whish they already knew this detail when they were trying to make reservations for Palo, Remy or any of the other potential evening excursion.
That leaves only the boarding card left to talk about. That’s this thingie…
You can get into the terminal as early as 9:30 in the morning if’n you really want to, but no one gets on the ship before the crew has cleared the previous passengers off and gotten everything up to snuff for the next sailing. Generally, boarding will start somewhere between 11:30 and noon. To control the crowd, they board everyone in groups. That’s where these cards come in to effect. Depending on when you arrive (and other random factors including karma and sheer luck), your card will have a number somewhere between 2 and 12. The cards with a big ol’ “1” plastered on ‘em are reserved for the concierge passengers (and bless your heart if you can afford this caliber of luxury). The number on the card is your boarding group and you have to wait until they announce that folks with those cards may now head toward the gangway. You’ll notice that we ended up with a group-11 card (thanks in part to missing the early shuttle), but honestly, that’s not really so bad. The whole thing moves pretty quickly once they get started… Oh, wait a minute! I hear a crackle on the intercom… I think they’re about to introduce the “Family of the Day”!
"Disney Cruise Lines would like for you all to extend a warm welcome for our family of the cruise… The Pelekai Family!"
Good thing you guys didn't have to be there right away...
How long did it take to train it to do that? 
So did you go with a backpack, duffle, or a roller-type bag?
