I DREAMed a DREAM in time gone by...Pre-Trip & Trip Report 5/26-5/29

[Conservative Hippie]

I have been waiting to write a pre-trip report since we first booked this cruise almost a year ago! Since DH and I took the kids to get their passports today, I figured I could officially start it. This is our first cruise, and my first PTR/TR, so please excuse me if it's boring/too long/whatever. I feel like I need to start from the very beginning, like I said we have had this trip booked for almost a year. There will be 8 of us total, all my family. So first, introductions...

Meghan (me) - I'm 29, SAHM to 2 kids. DH and I have been married for 8 years (our anniversary is June 7, so we are "celebrating" on board the ship). My passion is music, and my hobbies also include yoga, coffee, good food, children's activities at our church, and my current weight loss endeavor (which I will probably talk about a lot). I set a bit of an ambitious goal for myself, but my first goal is to lose all my baby weight from #2 by cruise time. When my weight loss ticker hits -35, I'm there!

Josh (my DH) - 30, and a Disney CM. He loves sports, reading the Wall Street Journal, going to WDW, watching various cooking and travel shows, and he does work with a college ministry and prison ministry at our church. Josh is the only one of the adults going who does not enjoy coffee!

Katherine (our DD) - 3 1/2 at cruise time. She is a princess and a pirate all in one! Very active, very curious. She has grown up with WDW as her personal playground and she looooves meeting characters.

Judah (our DS) - 10 months at cruise time. He has had this cruise booked since before he was born! So far he is showing a very laid-back and gentle personality, although he is not afraid to defend himself if sister takes his favorite toy.

"Nana" (my mom) - My mom gifted this trip to all of us for Christmas, and we are so grateful! She loves computers, math, her new iPhone, music, coffee, and her grandbabies. Honestly, I think she wanted to take us on this cruise so she could shoo us off and have the kids to herself!

Paddy (my little brother) - 25, he is a full-time youth minister and also enjoys photography, running ultra-marathons, and roasting his own coffee. He and his wife will celebrate their 4th anniversary on embarkation day. They've been together since they were 16!

Lissa (my SIL) - 25, she works at an architect firm, and loves interior design. Lissa is our own personal Martha Stewart, but much cuter and way more fun. She grew up going to Disney on vacation A LOT, but has never been on a cruise! Lissa is our "picky eater" - just point her in the direct of a chicken biscuit and she'll be happy.

Mike (my "littler" brother) - 22, currently lives with our mom (Nana). Mike is a "drifter," he has many hobbies and talents and isn't quite sure what to do with them right now. He enjoys computers, philosophy, debate (arguing about anything with anyone), music, coffee (notice a trend??), and being "Uncle Mike."



So it all started last Easter. I was about 28 weeks pregnant with Judah (he didn't have a name yet), when my mom told me she had a surprise. My mom lives close enough to visit a couple of times a month, and she told me on the phone she wanted to tell me about something in person. On Easter Sunday she told us, our Christmas present that year was going to be a Disney cruise!!

Even though we can go to Disney whenever we want, we had not been on a "real" family vacation since 2005, and a vacation is long overdue! I immediately got on the cruise boards and started reading. I am an expert in the parks, but a cruise is completely uncharted territory! One thing that definitely interested all of us (except Lissa) was the FOOD! We knew we wouldn't get any specifics until the Dream's Maiden Voyage, so in the mean time we just waited...

Easter 2010

At the same time we were waiting on Judah! Sometime in May, Judah finally got a name. He was due 7/2, but 7/2 came and went and no baby. Katherine was born 4 days past her due date, so I was not surprised. In fact I always thought it would be more fun if he was born on the 4th. We always brave the heat and the crowds at Epcot on the 4th, listen to the summer concert, and watch the fireworks from Japan. I thought maybe the fireworks would scare him out, but nope, nothing. I won't bore you with the details of prodromal labor for almost two weeks, or the race to the birth center at 4:00 am in transition (unless someone asks!). But Judah made a very unforgettable entrance into the world on July 14. Of course one of the first things I did after getting home from the birth center was email the travel agent so she could add his birthday to our information!

He's here!!!

Katherine's third birthday was in September, and we celebrated with a character breakfast at Cape May with Nana. In late September we went to MNSSHP (we do this every year but 2010 was our earliest party). Katherine was Ariel and Judah was a Chick-Fil-A cow. Also in September, Paddy and Lissa took a vacation to Washington, DC and they had a blast! There is a story involving Paddy getting escorted away from the White House by secret service - apparently they did not appreciate him setting his camera on the rail!

One of Paddy's awesome shots of the Capitol.

Every year since we have been in FL my whole family comes to our house for Thanksgiving. All of "us kids" are big Harry Potter fans (not so much my mom and DH), so we had sort of a HP-themed Thanksgiving in mind. We all read the books, except DH, but he has seen all of the movies. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we spent the day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Driving through Orlando, you can see Hogwarts from the highway, and we had been watching it go up for about a year, and couldn't wait to go. It was insanely crowded, but the crowds were worth it if only for butterbeer! Honestly, I am considering buying Universal annual passes just so I can get my butterbeer fix whenever I want! Thursday we grilled a turkey (the absolute best way to do it!), and watched Harry Potter 5 & 6. Friday "us kids" went to Downtown Disney to see HP7 while Nana stayed home with the grandbabies. My brothers and I had all promised not to see it until we could all go together, but Lissa couldn't wait and had gone with her brother the week before. DH was so impressed with the movie that he decided to finally read the books so he could know how it ends! Saturday we went to Hollywood Studios to see the lights (our Thanksgiving tradition), and Sunday we rested!

Lissa sees Hogwarts!

Grilled turkey - if you have never done it, you should!

You know where this is!

Well so far this PTR is not really about the cruise....but trust me, the anticipation was building! I had started watching the webcam at the shipyard, watching the Dream being put together. I watched her leave the shipyard and begin her trip across the Atlantic, and I watched her arrive in Port Canaveral! Couldn't convince DH we needed to drive 1 1/2 hours to the coast just to watch our ship come in! In January I also got serious about losing weight. In the past 6 months I had only lost 20 lbs of baby weight, and 9 of that was the baby! So I changed my diet, started going ot the gym regularly, and started seeing some really good results. Pre-Judah weight by cruise time looked like it really would happen! As of now I have 8 weeks to cruise time and only 3 lbs to go!

I meant to apply for our passports in February, but it slipped my mind. Finally last week I was scrambling to find a passport office with an opening and a day DH could take off work and come (since we both had to go for the kids). I was a bit obsessive filling out the forms online and making sure I had the right kind of birth certificates. I know you can cruise without passports, but I was (am) paranoid about doing something wrong and being denied!

So, that is the PTR up to this point. I hope you don't mind reading about my boring life! Next on the trip-planning calendar is getting our passports back, SHOPPING, and Lissa making magnets for our doors.

Edit: Sorry the pics are so big, if I figure out how to make them smaller I will.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Booking and Preliminary Plans - 3/26/11
Cruise Documents Are Here - 5/6/11
Trip Report Begins! - 6/2/11
Boarding - 6/2/11
Day 1 Aboard the Dream - 6/2/11
Animator's Palate - 6/6/11

 

[dawne98]

that is so great! THat your mom is doing this for your family

 

[Cheryl726]

Sounds like a great start!

 

[Conservative Hippie]

While we all got to hear about our wonderful Christmas present in April, my mom had waited to book so she and I could discuss our options. She had already picked the cruise - a 3-night on the Dream, 5/26-5/29. This cruise was chosen for several reasons. My SIL loves her job, but they give her very little time off. This cruise would require her to take off 3 days, and have an additional 3 days over the long Memorial Day weekend. As a youth minister, my brother Paddy is expected to be available for camps, mission trips, and various other activities for most of the summer when the kids are out of school. Mike was in college last year and we expected (or rather hoped and prayed with our fingers crossed) that he would still be in college this year, so the cruise had to be after finals (he ended up not returning to school). My mother teaches at a special math school on the weekends, and she wanted to minimize her time off, so she wanted the cruise to be after they let out for summer, too. We also thought a 3-night would be best since this is the first cruise for all of us.

We chose 2 Deluxe Family Oceanview rooms (cat. 8B). 6 adults and 2 kids in 2 rooms may sound like a tight fit, but we will be ok. We have registered 4 in each room, but we have yet to settle the sleeping arrangements. It might end up being girls in one room and boys in the other. 2 Verandahs were going to be too expensive, and we did ask about 1 Oceanview and 1 Verandah, but they would not have been connecting. I didn't think about 1 Veranda and 1 Inside across the hall until several months later. I have a friend I met online a few years ago who is a AAA Disney travel agent, so we booked through her. We got the $25 OBC per room for booking online, and $50 OBC per room for booking with a Disney Visa. We'll also get some "gifts" from AAA but I don't recall what they are right now.

Our TA got to go on the preview and another earmarked conference aboard the Dream in January, and she sent me several pictures:

Disney Dream atrium

Deluxe Family Oceanview room (cat. 8)

Showing me how big the porthole is

After the earmarked conference we got to meet at Magic Kingdom (we had met in person one other time, before Judah was born) and she showed us the Navigators.

At this point, we have a preliminary plan. Google Maps tells me the port is 84 miles from my house and should take us 1 1/2 hours. Nana and Mike will drive up from S FL on Tuesday (or maybe Monday). Paddy and Lissa have a flight to MCO that will get in on Wednesday afternoon. After picking them up at the airport, we are heading straight to a photographer we use and getting family portraits done. I have to teach Bible class on Wednesday night. We will make sure we are all packed and ready to go on Wednesday night.

Now, a word about my family...they are all serious night owls and seriously hard to get going in the morning! I used to be the same way, but DH likes to go to bed no later than 10 and get up bright and early, so I have changed a little bit. Plus with 2 little ones you don't have the option to NOT be a morning person! So, I am a little concerned that we will not get out the door as early as I would like on Thursday morning. And I would like us to get out the door at 8:00!

So after I have bribed them all with a trip through the Starbucks drive-thru, hopefully we will arrive at the port around 10:00. After reading the benefits of arriving early vs. the benefits of arriving late, I decided we need to start our vacation ASAP. We'll hang out in the terminal, watch the ships, and jump up and down with excitement! Then upon boarding (hopefully in one of the early groups) we'll head to lunch and proceed to completely stuff ourselves.

Sound like a good plan so far??

 

[Redheadmom]

We will also be on your cruise. This is our first disney cruise. Can't wait.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

We will also be on your cruise. This is our first disney cruise. Can't wait.

Cool! We have decided to sit out FE on this one since we're already a little overwhelmed, but my SIL is going to try her hand at making magnets.

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

Congratulations on the new baby, I LOVED your pregnancy picture with the little one.

I am happy to read about your cruise..and well done on your weight loss. That's awesome, if I loose 25lbs before mine I will be so happy!

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Cruise documents arrived today!! However we are still waiting on DH's passport! We applied for passports on 3/25 - new passports for each of the kids, and mailed in renewals for DH and I. My passport came in the mail first, about 3 weeks after we mailed them. Perfect, I thought, they will all be here in plenty of time! About two weeks later both of the kids' passports came. But today makes 6 weeks and we still don't have DH's which means I can't finish online check-in, which means we're going to get a horribly late "arrival time" for the terminal and I still don't even know if I should go by that or stick to the original plan I made before I learned that they were doing "arrival times!" But on the bright side, I bought a pack of swim diapers for Judah, ordered a new swimsuit for myself that looks great, and ordered a swim cover for myself and a surf shirt for DH (he won't swim "topless"), and I can't wait to start packing!

We've also had quite a bit of car drama around here. DH and I have been married for almost 8 years and we have always shared a car. I am 29 years old have never ever had my own car! We've been talking for a while about finally buying a second car, a "new to us" minivan, and I've been checking out craigslist, cars.com, autotrader, carmax, and just about every website for months. I even test drove a few and narrowed down which makes/models I preferred. Then finally mid-April I came across an ad that looked like a fantastic deal. DH and I went to see it one Saturday, test drove it, and we decided to buy it. I am so excited to finally have my first car!! It's a white 2006 Nissan Quest, and I love it. Eeeeeee!!!!! BUT, buying a car this close to the cruise has sort of shaken up our finances and I hope we are still able to do everything we wanted and not stress about the cost.

A mommymobile to call my own!

Second bit of drama: My mom's A/C on her car completely died. Living in South FL, going without A/C is just not an option! She's had lots of A/C trouble with this car, and finally this time it will cost almost as much to get it fixed as her car is worth for a trade-in. So she is shopping for a new-to-her car. And finally on Wednesday my littlest brother "Uncle Mike" was sideswiped by an 80 year old man driving a pick-up truck. He is fine, but his car is no longer driveable. The accident was 100% the other guy's fault, so hopefully he will be able to get some insurance payout.

Update 5/9: DH's passport arrived today!! I finished the online check-in and my earliest port arrival time option was 1:00. So...no haters please, but I think we will stick to our original plan of arriving at 10:00, and if our boarding time is still 1:00 then we'll go to the beach or something.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

We're back!! It was great...wonderful....and I can't wait to do it again! I am tearing myself away from watching the Casey Anthony trial to start the trip report....

Our story begins two days (Tuesday) before our embarkation day (Thursday). Nana and Uncle Mike drove up from South Florida, and to get in the Disney spirit we decided to go to Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks. We got to MK at around 7:00pm, ate hot dogs at Casey's, and then went over to Adventureland to ride the flying carpets and Pirates. Then we had pineapple floats, and found a spot on the hub to watch the new castle projection show (forget the name) and fireworks. The projection show is awesome! Really cool, really impressive! Then after the fireworks we joined the mob to make our way out of MK and onto the monorail, and arrived home just before midnight.

The next day, Nana and I left Uncle Mike home with the kids (DH was at work), and we went to Michael's to pick up the photo mats to get signed, then got pedicures, then picked up Paddy and Lissa from the airport. That night went went to Bahama Breeze for dinner, then to church. We got home at around 9:00, and although we knew we had to be up early, I think we were all too excited to sleep!

 

[dawne98]

I can not wait to hear more

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Finally embarkation day was here!! Thursday morning we got up and all started doing our last minute preparations. Paddy and Lissa had matching t-shirts made for us (that Lissa designed) to wear to the port. We were running a little bit behind schedule, but finally at about 8:30 we went outside to start loading up the vehicles, and got a surprise...

My mom's car had a flat tire! Paddy and Mike (with supervision from Katherine) put the spare on, and drove to Wal-Mart, about 2 miles away. The rest of us stayed at the house (and watched How To Train Your Dragon on Netflix), just in case we had to figure out how to pile all 8 of us and the luggage into my minivan. Fortunately it was easily patched, they got back to the house a little after 10:00, and we were finally on the road!

Goofing off while we wait for the guys. This is me, my DH, and our kids.

We arrived at Port Canaveral at about noon.

Our arrival time according to our online check-in was 1:00pm, so I am glad we had planned to leave earlier, otherwise the flat tire might have made us miss the boat! I knew from this board to try to park on level 3, and that worked out great. I am also really really glad we decided NOT to try to save a few dollars by parking at the Radisson and taking their shuttle. The convenience of parking at the port was definitely worth it. They were boarding groups 1-11 when we arrived, and we were given boarding group 27. After getting checked in, we got in line to meet Minnie Mouse!

BTW, we did purchase our photos on CD from Shutters, so some of these are the Disney photographers (like these two), and some of them are our's.

There was no line at the Youth Activities desk, so I went over there and was told their computer was down, and they wanted me to fill out paperwork for DD again, just in case their computer was not up by the time we left port. Some people were arguing and really upset about this, but I just filled out the paperwork. A while later, I heard a cast member saying that the computer was back up, so I joined the short line and got DD's bracelet.

Waiting at the Port

It was really easy for us to stay together due to our blue shirts! However another group had a similar color shirt, and we were asked a few times if we were part of "Kyle's birthday."

Finally our number was called at about 1:30 and we boarded!

 

[cforsythe]

Great start...I am all in. We leave for WDW Sunday and board the Dream on Tuesday. Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

 

[mousetravel]

Can't wait to hear more! We're leaving next Wednesday for WDW, then Sunday on the Dream!! Love the pics! Keep 'em coming!!

 

[Conservative Hippie]

We were so excited to finally be onboard! The first thing we did was stop at Guest Services to drop off the photo mats and sheet of paper to get signed (Paddy wanted a sheet of paper he could scan and use in the photo book he is planning to make). So glad I learned about this from this board! We included with each item a bag of assorted candy, I hope that was appreciated. People were crowded around the midship elevator, so we walked past the shops and took the forward elevator up to deck 9 to our rooms!

We are not DVC members, but we had the magnets anyway. We just left them there, since I completely flaked on making door magnets!

Katherine loved the window seat!

We had fruit baskets waiting in our rooms from AAA. I know a lot of people say that "free food" on a cruise where there is an abundance of food is no big deal, but since some of us were starving while we waited for everyone to get ready to go to Cabana's for lunch, the fruit was appreciated! We got to Cabana's at around 2:00, and although the pools and surrounding areas seemed to be an absolute madhouse, Cabana's wasn't too bad. We found our own table (I had thought someone would direct us to a table) easily enough. Since dinner was in just 4 hours, I decided to eat light and just tried a really good mushroom pasta and a slice of key lime pie. I love key lime pie, but this ended up being the only piece I had all trip! My mom and SIL enjoyed the crab legs (the declawer thingy was in the basket with the silverware). DH loved the lamb and cold cuts, and the kids both enjoyed the cheeses. At 3:00 I went to take a tour of the spa and put my name in for the raffle. I was really looking forward to using the spa and it looked sooooo good! I was undecided about buying a pass to the Rainforest Room, but I decided I definitely would for the following day. Sadly, I did not win anything at the spa raffle! But I did get to meet Nicole, who explained to me the different types of body treatments, and I decided to book the Bliss Fatgirlslim body wrap for the next day. I went back to the rooms, and soon after we heard the announcement for the drill. We had muster station H, on deck 4. After the drill, Nana and the kids and I headed to deck 5 to take a tour of the Oceaneer's Club and Small World Nursery.

Andy's Room

Katherine immediately found the dress-up closet!

A bathroom just her size

Dipo from Indonesia in the nursery quickly became Judah's best friend

The Sail Away party started while we were on deck 5, and by the time we got back up to 11 the crowds had thinned out.

Katherine found a little stage to dance on

Leaving Port Canaveral

Only myself, my mom, and DH knew about the DCL ships' "special" horns, so the first time the Dream blew "A dream is a wish your heart makes..." both of my brothers just started cracking up! Then we heard "When you wish upon a star" and they loved it! Poor Paddy would end up always missing the rest of the horn blasts and he ended up looking up Youtube videos on the way home from the port.

Next up is Animator's Palate for dinner...

 

[Toria]

Enjoying the TR! Looking forward to the rest.

 

[ppan77]

We leave in 3 weeks!! Love the pics!

 

[gfly]

very nice start...hoping to hear about your rainforest/spa experiences.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Dinner our first night was at Animator's Palate. I had intended to be a good DISer and take pics of all the food, but you will notice we took fewer food pics as the cruise went on!

My SIL draws a good Mickey!

Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes

Wild Mushroom Risotto and Porcini Twist - Probably my favorite "savory" dish of the whole cruise (I had 2!). DH makes mushroom risotto at home and even he agreed this was much better than his!

Vine-Ripened Tomato Salad

Marinated Angus Beef Tenderloin

White Shrimp Pennette Pasta - Paddy and Lissa both ordered the same thing for every single course every single night of the cruise!

Entrees not pictured - DH had the Trio of Veal and he loved it. I had the Pacific Cod and I loved it!

Katherine's Macaroni and Cheese. Slightly disappointed that she learned how to pronounce macaroni before the cruise. A few months ago she would ask for mac-ee-oni and cheese and it was way cute!

Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake

Thursday was Paddy and Lissa's 4th anniversary, and mine and Josh's 8th anniversary was the following week (tomorrow, actually!). My mom apparently mentioned our anniversaries at Guest Services, and we were treated to little anniversary cakes! We ended up taking both of them back to the rooms to eat later.

Back to the rooms after dinner...

After dinner we took Katherine to the Oceaneer's Club for the first time and she loved it! Then Nana sat in the room with sleeping Judah, and the rest of us went to ride the Aquaduck. There was pretty much no line at all, but it was COLD! All the way up at the top the wind was really strong, and after one ride down, we jumped in the hot tub! Josh and I went to check on Katherine after she had been in the club for 2 hours and she didn't want to leave. Finally at 11:00 we went back and she was tired enough to leave willingly!

So....that night. Hm. Well, Judah is normally a pretty good sleeper. He is a breastfed baby, and typically nurses once or twice in the middle of the night still. We sort of co-co-sleep - he is used to falling asleep in his crib, and then sleeping with us for part of the night and then back to his crib (he likes his space!). So I thought he'd be fine in the travel crib. He slept in the travel crib ok to begin with, but then he would not settle back down. He was fussy all night! Didn't want to sleep in the crib, didn't want to sleep in the bed, I even held him and sat in the chair and he wouldn't sleep. Finally at about 3:00am I was afraid his fussing would wake up my daughter so I took him out into the hall and I walked the length of deck 9 a few times. I got him back to sleep, then went back to the room and tried to put him down...and he woke up again. That was at about 4:30, and my mom apparently heard the fussing and got up and volunteered to keep him so I could try to get a couple hours of sleep. Thank you Nana!

 

[marcemc]

Sounds like you had an amazing time.

waiting for more pics & fun times' stories.