Heat, Humidity, and Our Favorite Disney Dog Was a Thug! LINK TO NEW PTR!!

[DisneyJo]

Oooh great start to your cruise

I, like other posters, will live through your report as due to my DH getting very sea sick the chances of me ever cruising are very remote!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Gotta love the room service that is included with the cruise! Its so luxurious! Your room looks great! DH and I decided we are not going on another cruise until we can afford a balcony.

I totally agree with you, going to WDW is super exciting but nothing compared to walking on the ship. It is a feeling of excitement I have never felt before. I didn't even want to go on a cruise before we went on our Disney Cruise, it totally blew me away!

 

[RGirl]

Great update!

Thanks!!!

Looking at your pictures of the ship and I think "and that's when we lost contact" I'm such a geek.

OMG! I know! I remember that day - surely I can get in one more message to Shannon before we I have to shut down the phone. It made me all panicky!

Honestly I'm so excited to read about your cruise adventures and see all the pics! You make cruising sound heavenly. I'm definitely thinking we may have to do it some day soon!

Um, yeah! In 2015, perhaps???

Yay room service! I want a cheese plate right now!

Me too! Why didn't this house come with room service?????

YAY!!! The cruise....I will just have to live vicariously through you on this one. I doubt I will EVER go on a cruise as I have terrible motion sickness But it looks wonderful already!!!

Oh, that's such a shame! Can you not wear one of those behind-the-ear patch things? I always see a lot of people with those on the ships. I will try to give you as much of the experience as I can here - without the motion!

The autograph books.......I can already see that I probably should have just bought them... Don't get me wrong, they are fun and they will be a great keepsake, but I am going to be investing WAAAAAAAY too much time in these things. I did get all of the chipboards covered in paper this weekend though and started actually putting the pages in order. We'll see how it goes

They will be great! And a wonderful keepsake. And, if you are anything at all like me, you will NEVER do them again!

Have a great time at disneyland. Ride Mr. Toads for me, it's my fave!!!!

Thank you!!! Really excited to be heading out tomorrow morning. We will definitely pay a visit to Mr. Toad for you!

 

[RGirl]

Happy belated birthday to the Queen of Selfies...Miss Willow!

Thank you!

I'm excited the hear about your DL trip but I'm also excited to hear about the cruise. We have booked a 4 day cruise in October on the Wonder. We've never cruised before so this is our dipping-our-toes-in-the-water trip. I'm sure we will love it, I haven't heard anyone not like their DCL trip. I may need to go back and re-read your TR on the Wonder just for the pictures.

Oh, how exciting that you will be cruising on the Wonder! We love that ship so much!!! If you run into assistant server Doulson, tell him we said hi - he made our cruise all the better for providing such wonderful customer service. I think you are going to LOVE IT!!!!!

Have fun in DL! I'm sure the DL Pulto is much better behaved than his counterpart!

We will certainly be checking in with Pluto to make sure he is in a better mood at DL!

Can't wait to hear all about your cruise. Your room does look "roomie"! The only cruise I have been on was a Carnival cruise to the Bahamas and I was not overly impressed. My DH is a diabetic, and he never wants to cruise since he thinks it's all about eating! Guess I will have to try this one with my DD (or go solo).

Oh, that is too bad! There are a lot of eating opportunities, but there's so much more to do! I hope you will enjoy reading about our experience on the Fantasy - we had such a great time!

The balcony looks really nice. Can't say I would have a problem enjoying a little rest and relaxation out there watching the ocean flow by!

The stateroom verandah is my favorite spot on the ship - I wouldn't sail if I couldn't get a verandah stateroom.

And AAAAAAAAAAH!!! You leave tomorrow!!! Have a great time!! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks! We are really excited tonight!

Oooh great start to your cruise

Thanks! I'm so excited to tell y'all about our cruise - it was so much fun!

I, like other posters, will live through your report as due to my DH getting very sea sick the chances of me ever cruising are very remote!

Oh, that is so sad! DCL is just a wonderful way to vacation. I hope you will at least be able to enjoy reading along.

Gotta love the room service that is included with the cruise! Its so luxurious! Your room looks great! DH and I decided we are not going on another cruise until we can afford a balcony.

Yeah - I won't go without a verandah. I would rather cruise less frequently with one than more frequently without. Everyone is different, but to me, the verandah is a HUGE part of the cruise vacation.

I totally agree with you, going to WDW is super exciting but nothing compared to walking on the ship. It is a feeling of excitement I have never felt before. I didn't even want to go on a cruise before we went on our Disney Cruise, it totally blew me away!

Isn't that bizarre!? I was all the more excited because of how excited Willow was, of course, But it is just thrilling to get on one of those gorgeous DCL ships!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

aaahhhh!!!! the boat! mickey in a sailor outfit! room service included! I'm so excited to read all about this cruise!!! (you couldn't tell or anything by the excessive exclamation points or anything, right? )

 

[librarygeek]

Okay, I'm playing catch up again with your TR!

How nice that Willow chose AK for her last day! AK is a particular favorite of mine And the Dug and Russell meet and greet is just too cute! And I love the Chip and Dale meet and greet, it looks like they are having too much fun!

Love Willow's Yeti poses! And it's always fun to ride EE multiple times. It's one of my absolute favorite rides and if the line is short I'm all for doing it again and again!

You know, Dinosaur has been growing on me too the last few times I rode it. I didn't like it at all the first two times, but lately I've been enjoying it more and more.

I love Willow's dress for 1900 Park Fare! The GF is truly stunning, I hope to one day be able to stay there. I haven't done the dinner there (only the breakfast), but I think it's neat that they have the Cinderella family. It's a cool opportunity to meet some different characters like Lady T and the stepsisters!

I'm so excited to read about the cruise portion of your trip! I've never been on a Disney cruise so I have to live vicariously through the boards

So exciting about your Disneyland trip coming up! Have a fantastic time! Will you be doing a TR for that too?

 

[hstrickland]

So I'm guessing you're at Disneyland RIGHT NOW! Hope y'all have a fabulous time!


So excited to read about your cruise. Aren't they the best?! DH actually prefers DCL over WDW....not me, of course But still love them! Really hard to compare the two since they are so totally different. Nice to just relax and do nothing, and have room service

 

[Simba22]

I fell a bit behind but now I'm all caught up and you're gone again!!!! Hope you guys are having an amazing time!!!!

BTW, the one and only time we ever used the Dining Plan, the same thing happened to us with the snack credits! On our last night, we loaded up with like 10 snacks each, and then I forgot them in the fridge in the room and we left without them! I was so mad!

 

[Luvchefmic]

Hope you're having a wonderful time !!

 

[RGirl]

aaahhhh!!!! the boat! mickey in a sailor outfit! room service included! I'm so excited to read all about this cruise!!! (you couldn't tell or anything by the excessive exclamation points or anything, right? )

I'm so glad you are excited! I am so excited to relive the cruise!!!!

Okay, I'm playing catch up again with your TR!

I feel like I'm always playing catch-up with everyone's TR!

How nice that Willow chose AK for her last day! AK is a particular favorite of mine And the Dug and Russell meet and greet is just too cute! And I love the Chip and Dale meet and greet, it looks like they are having too much fun!

We really developed a new-found love for AK on this trip. It's really quite a nice park. And has a lot of awesome character meets!

Love Willow's Yeti poses! And it's always fun to ride EE multiple times. It's one of my absolute favorite rides and if the line is short I'm all for doing it again and again!

EE really seemed to surpass ToT as Willow's favorite ride on this trip. But, be warned, I'm pretty sure another attraction has now replaced EE since our little trip down to DLR.

You know, Dinosaur has been growing on me too the last few times I rode it. I didn't like it at all the first two times, but lately I've been enjoying it more and more.

I really affirmatively disliked Dinosaur the first time I did it - so loud and jerky. This last time, it just didn't seem so painful. We both actually kind of liked it. I wonder if they turned down the sound a little or something.

I love Willow's dress for 1900 Park Fare! The GF is truly stunning, I hope to one day be able to stay there. I haven't done the dinner there (only the breakfast), but I think it's neat that they have the Cinderella family. It's a cool opportunity to meet some different characters like Lady T and the stepsisters!

I have read much better reviews of the 1900 breakfast. The characters you get to meet at dinner, however, are very cool. Not sure if they are quite worth the yucky food, but almost!

I'm so excited to read about the cruise portion of your trip! I've never been on a Disney cruise so I have to live vicariously through the boards

I'm so excited to write about it! We LOVE DCL!!!

So exciting about your Disneyland trip coming up! Have a fantastic time! Will you be doing a TR for that too?

Thanks! We had a great time!! I will be writing a TR.

So I'm guessing you're at Disneyland RIGHT NOW! Hope y'all have a fabulous time!

We had a fabulous time! Thank you!!!!

So excited to read about your cruise. Aren't they the best?! DH actually prefers DCL over WDW....not me, of course But still love them! Really hard to compare the two since they are so totally different. Nice to just relax and do nothing, and have room service

It is really hard to compare. I think I'm kind of on the fence - I may actually prefer DCL.

I fell a bit behind but now I'm all caught up and you're gone again!!!! Hope you guys are having an amazing time!!!!

Thank you! We had a great trip!

BTW, the one and only time we ever used the Dining Plan, the same thing happened to us with the snack credits! On our last night, we loaded up with like 10 snacks each, and then I forgot them in the fridge in the room and we left without them! I was so mad!

Oh, I would have been fuming!!!!

Hope you're having a wonderful time !!

Thank you! We had a great trip!!!

 

[RGirl]

*** Before I post the next update, I just wanted to let you all know that we are home and had a wonderful trip to Disneyland Resort! Unfortunately, Willow got sick as soon as we got home, so we have not yet been back to school or work, which is not good. But what can you do? Get caught up on the DIS, I guess!

So what do y'all think? I am planning to do a TR of our short DLR trip. It was a short trip though, and I am not the type of person who could possibly keep another full TR updated while working on this one. I was kind of thinking that I may just tack on our DLR trip at the end of this TR. Is anyone interested in that?

Okay - now on with this TR!

A Little Exploring​

Saturday, August 17, 2013
Port Canaveral
Sunrise: 6:53AM
Sunset: 7:59PM
Evening Attire: Cruise Casual
All Aboard: 3:45PM
Saturday: Overcast, High 81 degrees
Sunday: Overcast, High 82 degrees

When I last left off, Miss Willow and I were relaxing for a bit in our stateroom - trying to adjust to Cruise Time instead of Disney World Time. Definitely a very different vibe! I am sure I took some time to study today’s Navigator during this time. Every day on a DCL cruise, you receive a Navigator with information about the day’s port, shows, characters, classes, games, etc. Within that is a chart of all the day’s activities by 15-minute intervals. These are wonderful - makes it a lot easier to figure out which things you want to try to get to on any given day!

A little before 3:00, we decided to head out to check out the kids’ clubs and get Willow’s Mickey band. (All kids who go to the clubs wear a bracelet that must be scanned when they enter and leave the club. Only an adult who knows the password for the child (and who is listed as okay to pick up the child) can retrieve a child from the club.)

After getting the Mickey band, we had a few minutes to look around before the clubs closed up for the Life Boat Drill. On the Fantasy (and the Dream, I believe), the clubs feature these awesome automatic hand washers.

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Unfortunately, we only had a few minutes to look around, so I didn’t get a ton of pictures. I will share what I got. We didn’t end up back at the club during an open house, so this was my only opportunity to get pictures.

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Okay - maybe I got quite a few pictures after all!

Then they kicked us out because it was getting close to time for the Life Boat Drill. We headed back to our stateroom first. When you hear people talk about Fish Extenders, they are talking about this little fish outside every stateroom door and making something that hangs from it where people can leave things (a lot of people take part in exchanges on the cruises and bring things to pass out; we did not, but maybe we will next time!).

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We were located right by the laundry room, so I grabbed a picture so people could see what those facilities are like on the ship.

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When we got back to the stateroom, one of our three suitcases had arrived, so I got that unpacked before we headed to Deck 4 for the safety drill at 3:45. This is the elevator lobby on our deck (Deck 8).

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There was a lot of neat artwork all over the ship (a lot of it was interactive and would change scenes and such - very cool).

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The Life Boat Drill took quite a long time, and it was VERY hot out there on Deck 4. Most of the time, we were just standing around - mostly waiting for people to show up, I think - there were just a few minutes of actual instruction.

Up Next: A Little Exploring Cont.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Tell us about DLR later, this is way too exciting for me I LOVE the way you tell a TR I have NEVER been on a cruise and really am learning as you take us step-by-step in case I ever can go on one it will DEFINITELY be DCL ..no doubt (well actually I have been on several " cruises " in my former NY life The Staten Island Ferry and The Circle Line ) Now on to more important things:



Sending you a little love and wishes to feel better soon Little One

 

[shan23877]

You know I vote for tacking it on.

I AM NOT showing Maddie the kids' club pics. I don't need her talking about DCL and WDW every single day.

I too appreciate the DCL for Beginners info. I like to be well informed before I do something.

 

[DisneyJo]

I never realised there were laundry facilities onboard I just assumed you'd only be able to do the type where you paid a fortune for it

 

[RGirl]

*** Oops!!! I intended to post all three parts of the "Exploring" segment back-to-back but got distracted trying to catch up on other people's TRs! Some quick replies, and then I will add the other two related updates! ***​

Tell us about DLR later, this is way too exciting for me I LOVE the way you tell a TR I have NEVER been on a cruise and really am learning as you take us step-by-step in case I ever can go on one it will DEFINITELY be DCL ..no doubt (well actually I have been on several " cruises " in my former NY life The Staten Island Ferry and The Circle Line ) Now on to more important things:

Sending you a little love and wishes to feel better soon Little One

Thank you so much - Willow is definitely on the mend, and I'm hoping we will return to work and school tomorrow.

I figured that, since I was posting my cruise TR on the WDW board, I should probably add a bit more detail since I was not preaching to a cruise audience, you know?

You know I vote for tacking it on.

Thank you! I am definitely leaning in that direction, although I fear I will run out of room for chapter links!

I AM NOT showing Maddie the kids' club pics. I don't need her talking about DCL and WDW every single day.

Maybe Willow should just email her the pics….

I too appreciate the DCL for Beginners info. I like to be well informed before I do something.

I'm usually pretty bad about providing helpful info (as you well know); since this isn't on the DCL forum though, I figured I should at least try!

I never realised there were laundry facilities onboard I just assumed you'd only be able to do the type where you paid a fortune for it

Disney knows parents need laundry facilities - even at sea!

 

[chattadisser]

Yes...please add DL to the end of this TR!

I can't believe that your DL trip is already over. It went too soon! I hope Willow gets better soon!

Christine

 

[RGirl]

A Little Exploring Cont.​

After the safety drill, for some reason Miss Willow wanted to skip the sail-away party, which takes place at 4:30 directly following the Life Boat Drill. I think she was just OVER the heat after standing out there on Deck 4 for so long. I was kind of disappointed, but at the same time I was a little relieved - it was really hot, and the idea of crowding in with the hoards of other people to try to watch the show wasn’t that appealing. If it had been our first cruise, we absolutely would have gone, but we decided to go ahead and skip it.

We went back to our stateroom, but our other two bags were still not there. I did NOT want to spend the cruise watching TV, which I think Willow would have been happy to do right at this moment - there are endless Disney movies available on the stateroom TVs. I insisted that we at least go check out the ship, get a map, etc. So we headed out. Even the hallways on the ship are gorgeous.

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It’s nice that you can just find thrones in various spots.

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We made a stop at guest services on Deck 3 and got a deck map. I also asked about allergy dining as I had read that you need to order in advance. The CM there said that they would handle it at dinner that night, so I just went with that.

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Here’s what the map looks like:

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We wandered on and checked out the shops (closed at this time because we were still in port).

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Past the shops, you find the Walt Disney Theater where they have all of the big shows and also show whatever new-release movie is premiering on the ship.

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We headed back to the main atrium, which we knew would be less crowded now. We got a chandelier picture, and Miss Willow got her picture with the Fantasy mascot (she has a similar one with Ariel from the Wonder).

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These ships are just so gorgeous! We decided to walk up to Deck 4 to explore a bit more.

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This is the Vista Cafe where you can get specialty coffee drinks (for a charge) and pastry treats (no charge).

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Up Next: A Little Exploring Cont.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Hannah would FLIP if she saw those pictures if kids club! She already tells me how she's spending so much time there when we go and how I'm not allowed. I wouldn't hear the end of it for over a year!

I say tack DL on to the end if this. Just more for us to enjoy!

Hope willow is feeling better and gets to go back to school soon! (Wait...is that a good or bad thing?)

 

[RGirl]

A Little Exploring Cont.​

Next, we proceeded to Deck 5 to see if we could find the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique - as of now, I think the Fantasy is the only ship with a BBB. The chandelier looks pretty good from up here too.

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We located the BBB (also closed).

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The ship is enormous, but DCL does a very good job of making it quite easy to navigate your way around. I highly recommend carrying a map with you, but these help a lot too.

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By this point, I knew that the Sail-Away party was likely over, but I figured there would still be music and dancing and FROZEN DRINKS. So I insisted that we go up to Deck 11 and see what was going on. We quickly snagged a grown-up and kid version of the frozen drinks that were being served all over by CMs. We even found a table and chairs and enjoyed a little more relaxation - finally! Miss Willow was feeling pretty happy at this point!

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We were finally heading out to the high seas!

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We made careful note of the soft-serve ice cream station after our little interlude. (On the DCL ships, there is self-serve soft-serve ice cream available pretty much all the time. )

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Up Next: Our First Fantasy Characters

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Missed that last post--everything is so pretty!! I love it! Love the throne!