"I'm NOT a Princess, I'm Izzy!" - May '15 Land/Sea ~ Updated 6/4: Link to Disneyland TR!!!

[Imagineer5]

Love the nursery, it doesn't seem too babyish and nice that they had bathrooms too (I was wondering about this since 2 year olds can be potty trained). the rate really isn't that bad (did you tip on top of that). And umm...that Mr (Mrs?) Potato head looks a little inappropriate!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Kids club is so neat, fun to see how different it is from ship to ship. We did love the one on the Wonder too. If we cruise again before Maya turns 3 (Not sure on this, but would love to) it would at least give Aria some "big kid" time in the kid's club while Maya goes to the nursery when we need her to. The kids club is so nice with the easy drop off and not needing reservations, though. Is it ever possible to just drop off in the nursery?

Looking forward to hearing about meal times!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The nursery looks pretty fun. But nothing like the kids club which is super cool - and now they even have the Star Wars stuff. We definitely want to wait until Emma is 3 to do a Disney cruise as she won't want to not be with the big kids in the kids club. Glad it seemed like the nursery worked out well for you and had enough hours, etc.

And umm...that Mr (Mrs?) Potato head looks a little inappropriate!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, glad I am not the only one that thought of that as well

 

[BlvInMagic]

Awe the nursery and Andy's Room looks so adorable! Kids are so lucky these days! I find myself saying, more and more recently, "in my day, we never had (this) or (that)" ... lol

 

[DVC-Cassie]

Chewie Hugs!

We made it to the front of Chewie’s line and Chewie himself came over to greet Dug :



Then it was Izzy’s turn to greet the Ewok (Wicket):





She even was brave enough to give Chewie a little hug too:



I think they like her:



The Ewok trying to lure her in:







Dug joined in to encourage Izzy to come up for a picture:



There we go:



After that, Dug got his Chewie hug that he’d been dreaming of – look at the excitement on his face :





Here’s a nice Photopass shot of them all together:



And some cute ones of Izzy and the Ewok:







And, finally, I joined in at the end for a family shot:



And if you were wondering about how glamorous it all looked in real time , enjoy the video. You can see us posing for photos and the cast member even turns my camera sideways, pretty exciting:

(click to watch)

After getting that fun meet out of the way, it was time to use my Fast Pass+ for Star Tours. We headed over there and got Dug a Rider Swap. I was actually holding Izzy as I walked up and they asked me to set her down to measure her. I had to tell them she wasn’t riding and I just needed to get the Rider Swap, then hand her over to Dug (I knew she was definitely not tall enough – still not close). She was NOT happy to leave me and have to stay with Dug after that – probably thought she was going to ride too. Poor kid. I headed in at 8:50am:





It was a good ride and I guess my Rebel Spy days are over (I was the Rebel Spy a few trips back). I was leaving by 9:04am, following these cool ears:



Oh, and I had to stop and try on the obligatory SWW hat in the gift shop:



I met up with Dug and took Izzy while he went to ride. And take photos and selfies, apparently:





I decided to just wander with Izzy and we ended up over at the Indiana Jones area. Recognize this?



How about now?



So, like any good parent, I taught Izzy how to disobey signs :



We actually did this a bunch of times, as nobody else was around. There are a whole bunch of different sayings and sound effects it cycles through each time you pull the rope.

I have to say that I was surprised at how many people were in line for the Indiana Jones show that early in the day. Never knew it was so popular.

We went to the empty prop area so that Izzy could run around a bit:









That was fun to take a look at everything. And Izzy had a good time, just enjoying her freedom to run.

After a bit of time had passed, I decided to head to the Star Tours gift shop to meet Dug. On the way, I took a stealthy picture of another guest:



I love all the fun people-watching there is at SWW!

Once in the shop, we just browsed around. I was tempted to get one of these for Dug for Father’s Day, but decided against it:





(I actually got him a grill instead, in case you were wondering).

Izzy demonstrated her genius by putting a Yoda hat on Yoda:



A clever kid, she is!

Dug came out around 9:30am and actually still had his Rider Swap ticket, as they didn’t collect it for some reason. We stashed it away for a later use. Our next stop was my FP+ for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster!

Up next: Boarding a different roller coaster than I was expecting.

The meeet and greet with Chewi and the Ewook looked super fun! It defiantly looked like a moment you'd remember for a long time!

 

[pkondz]

Thanks, it was definitely a rough time. Worked out okay, but not much fun in the moment.

It never is. But it does get better with time.

I miss her too! Wow, she's been away from here for far too long.

I know!!

I can’t remember if I mentioned this already, but the nursery is for kids under 3 years old and they charge a fairly reasonable rate – I think it was $9/hour.

That's not bad at all.

While I got her signed up for additional time slots, Dug and Izzy explored the place:

Pretty cool place.
I can't imagine anyone would do a nursery better than Disney.

The Cast Members there were always very friendly and helpful.

Even before I read that, I was looking at the pictures of the two CMs and thinking just that.

You can see the nap area in that last picture with all the cribs.

I didn't even notice! I was busy looking at you two!

My favorite thing was Andy’s room from Toy Story:

That place is awesome!

Izzy made a little racecar friend:

Awww...

There was another room that was a Tinker Bell setting with movies and games:

Place is huge! All these different rooms!

Cute stateroom doors:

Gotta admit. That's pretty darned creative.

Up next: Time to meet our table-mates and servers and enjoy some dinner!

Can't wait!

 

[hokieinpa]

This is making me want to take a Disney Cruise so badly! I'm pricing one out right now. I'm thinking maybe early 2018?

It looks like both the nursery and kids club are so much fun! Did the kids club ever fill up or did you need reservations?

Excited to hear about your first dinner!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

This is making me want to take a Disney Cruise so badly! I'm pricing one out right now. I'm thinking maybe early 2018?

It looks like both the nursery and kids club are so much fun! Did the kids club ever fill up or did you need reservations?

Excited to hear about your first dinner!

The kids club can handle all kids on board. There are no reservations for the kids club. Once the kids clubs have reached capacity for each age group you are no longer able to book kids that age into the ship.

Also DCL is amazing we have been on 3 Disney cruises pre-kid and I can't wait to take another one!

 

[khertz]

The nursery & kids club look amazing! DS has been asking and asking to do a Disney cruise. Maaaaaaybe your TR will convince me to take the plunge and book that over a WDW trip.

 

[Dugette]

The Kids Club looks and sounds really cute! Glad you were able to utilize it during your cruise!

I'm glad we were able to get to the open house so that we could all see the Kids Club. And the nursery worked out great for our needs - I think being left w/o us in the Kids Club at the time would have been too much for Izzy at that age (which is why 3 is the minimum age, I'd imagine).

Love the nursery, it doesn't seem too babyish and nice that they had bathrooms too (I was wondering about this since 2 year olds can be potty trained). the rate really isn't that bad (did you tip on top of that).

Nope, didn't seem too baby-ish at all. Toddler-ish, I guess. The little bathroom was tiny and adorable. And that rate wasn't bad at all, especially considering that her fare was quite a bit less at 2.5 than it would have been at 3 years old. No tips - they just charged the rate to our room.

And umm...that Mr (Mrs?) Potato head looks a little inappropriate!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shows how much I scrutinize the pictures I post.

The Kids club is so neat, fun to see how different it is from ship to ship. We did love the one on the Wonder too. If we cruise again before Maya turns 3 (Not sure on this, but would love to) it would at least give Aria some "big kid" time in the kid's club while Maya goes to the nursery when we need her to. The kids club is so nice with the easy drop off and not needing reservations, though. Is it ever possible to just drop off in the nursery?

I hope we get to cruise again sometime in the next few years as well. The Dream now has a Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) area in the club - Izzy would love that! The nursery never seemed terribly packed while we were there, so I'm sure that you can do unscheduled drop offs most of the time. We just knew when we wanted it, so we reserved the things we needed, but I do think we modified some times on the fly and it was fine.

Looking forward to hearing about meal times!

Coming up!

The nursery looks pretty fun. But nothing like the kids club which is super cool - and now they even have the Star Wars stuff. We definitely want to wait until Emma is 3 to do a Disney cruise as she won't want to not be with the big kids in the kids club. Glad it seemed like the nursery worked out well for you and had enough hours, etc.

Yeah, with two older siblings, she would have plenty of fun in the Kids Club. With Izzy just being on her own, I think it would have been a bit harder for her to get comfortable in that very open/free-roaming environment. But, at 3, she did great at Aulani, which is a similar set-up.

Ok, glad I am not the only one that thought of that as well

You guys.

Awe the nursery and Andy's Room looks so adorable! Kids are so lucky these days! I find myself saying, more and more recently, "in my day, we never had (this) or (that)" ... lol

In my day, we didn't have no stinkin' Disney Cruise ships. We just had to ride on an old pontoon and daydream about Mickey!

The meeet and greet with Chewi and the Ewook looked super fun! It defiantly looked like a moment you'd remember for a long time!

Thanks - so glad we got the ewok in that one too!

 

[Dugette]

It never is. But it does get better with time.

I know!!

That's not bad at all.

It really wasn't. Especially since her fare was quite a bit less as a 2-year-old than it would have been as a 3-year-old.

Pretty cool place.
I can't imagine anyone would do a nursery better than Disney.

Exactly - one of our selling points for doing a Disney cruise while she was young!

Even before I read that, I was looking at the pictures of the two CMs and thinking just that.

Yep, that pictures was what reminded me of it.

I didn't even notice! I was busy looking at you two!

Well, that's why I pointed it out.

That place is awesome!

It really is! I was super excited to see it in person (had seen in other TRs) and it is so cool. I love all the details.

Awww...

I love watching her make little friends. It's great when you're little and the fact that you are both kids in the same place is enough to become instant friends.

Place is huge! All these different rooms!

It really was! I was surprised how much there was to it!

Gotta admit. That's pretty darned creative.

I actually saw some things like that on Etsy when I was shopping for our Fish Extender. I was tempted to get some, but I'm too cheap.

Can't wait!

Coming right up!

This is making me want to take a Disney Cruise so badly! I'm pricing one out right now. I'm thinking maybe early 2018?

Yeah, just read a few more DCL reports and you'll be ready to board in no time. It really is a unique and enjoyable way to do Disney. I would think early 2018 would be good - I believe that you get the best rates booking when dates are first released.

It looks like both the nursery and kids club are so much fun! Did the kids club ever fill up or did you need reservations?

I think the nursery would have accepted walk-ins too, but we just reserved since we knew what we needed (when we had Palo, Mixology, etc.)

Excited to hear about your first dinner!

Coming up!

The kids club can handle all kids on board. There are no reservations for the kids club. Once the kids clubs have reached capacity for each age group you are no longer able to book kids that age into the ship.

Also DCL is amazing we have been on 3 Disney cruises pre-kid and I can't wait to take another one!

Thank you for addressing that! I didn't realize they stopped booking certain ages when they filled up. I hope you get to take your little guy on one soon! DCL is pretty awesome and we definitely want to take another sometime.

The nursery & kids club look amazing! DS has been asking and asking to do a Disney cruise. Maaaaaaybe your TR will convince me to take the plunge and book that over a WDW trip.

You should! Nice change of pace and think of all the amazing pictures your DH could get. Hey, maybe with all these posts wanting to go on a Disney cruise, we should all coordinate something. (Kinda kidding, since we have no clue when we'll go again, but wouldn't that be cool?! A DIS TR-family cruise!)

 

[Dugette]

Enchanted Garden Dinner

I met up with Dug and Izzy, dining tickets in hand, and we made our way over to the Enchanted Garden entrance. We all sanitized our hands (they hand you wipes as you approach) and the host took our tickets and led us to our table, letting us know which table number we’d have throughout the cruise. We were seated with another family and they were great table-mates throughout the cruise. It was a little boy (Cash) who was about a month older than Izzy, his mom (Danielle), and her mom (Sherry). They had just flown in that morning, so it had been a crazy and exhausting travel day for them by the time we all sat down to dinner at 5:45pm (first seating, by the way).

Izzy immediately discovered the serving platter of butter and went to town :



We had to remove the butter from her reach every night at dinner, as she just couldn’t get enough and was trying to eat all of it.

She got a personalized cup of water:



We were smart enough to take a picture of the menu:



Yep, just that. No pictures of the actual inside of the menu. Thank goodness for the internet and other people who have posted the menu, as I no longer could remember what all these food pictures were of.

Don’t be fooled into thinking Izzy was eating bread in this picture:



She was merely using it as a butter delivery device. She’d lick it off and ask us to butter it again.

Dug understood the concept of bread and butter a little better than Izzy did:



Our waiter came over:



Our server and assistant server were both very nice (they follow you to the other dining rooms on the other nights too). I cannot remember names now (guess I should have written them down, but it’s been over a year!), but we were very happy with both of them.

On to the food. So, according to a blog I found, I apparently started with this appetizer:

Applewood Smoked Bacon Wild Mushroom Tart with Creamy Leeks

My tart:



I think I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Dug chose to start with this one:

Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower with Crispy Noodles and Wasabi Dressing

Here it is:



I think he also enjoyed this.

The servers are smart and they brought out the kids’ full meals at the same time as our appetizers. Worked well for us, at least, since it kept Izzy occupied and she tends to graze for a long time at dinner:



No surprise that she picked mac and cheese, if you’ve been reading the WDW part of this TR. We’ll have to see as we go on, but I think she had mac and cheese every night on the cruise. Cash, however, had a more varied palate. You can see his hamburger in the background there (and that he seems to be feasting on the bun).

In my pre-trip planning, I’d gotten it in my head that we’d breeze through boarding and such and I would be enjoying the Drink of the Day at the sail away party (vs. scrambling around and barely finding a spot in time). So, instead, I ordered the Drink of the Day at dinner, which was a Bahama Mama:



It was very good! (And that beer in the picture was a table-mate’s beer, by the way).

Next up, we had choices of soups and salads. I played it safe and went with comfort food:

Heirloom Tomato Soup with Sour Cream and Basil

Yummy:



Dug was slightly more adventurous and went with:

Cream of Green Asparagus with Crabmeat and Asparagus Tips

His soup:



He thinks he liked it (neither of us has lots of memories of the food anymore, sorry!)

Izzy began to grow a broccoli tree out of her mouth :



I guess Dug was on an asparagus kick, as he ordered this for his main course:

Caramelized Sea Scallops with Roasted Asparagus, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Pearl Pasta, Garnished with Caramelized Leeks and Veal Jus Reduction

His pretty food:



He thinks he enjoyed this a lot, as he loves scallops.

I stuck to the non-adventurous part of the menu and ordered (I think this was it):

Grilled NY Strip Steak, Thyme Roasted Vegetables, Double-Baked Potato with Handmade Herb Butter

My dinner:



I think I enjoyed it, but got full pretty quickly and couldn’t finish.

Then it was time for dessert. Izzy got this Mickey bar covered in sprinkles:



Naturally, she loved that!

I believe these were a freebie (non-menu) dessert thing:



They were little bite-sized treats and we enjoyed them. Ooh, I just ran across a description of what these were: Chocolate Fudge and Mango Turkish Delights.

Izzy showing off her Mickey Bar:



Dug also decided to order some type of dessert drink:



Not sure, but looking at a menu online, it could be the Nutty Chocolate? Vanilla Vodka, Crème de Cacao White, Bailey’s Galliano, Vanilla Mix. That’s my best guess.

My notes actually say that this drink was really good! Izzy approved of her dessert too:



I think we shared a couple of the desserts:

Sweet Temptations – A trio of Esterhazy Cake (Almond Meringue soaked in Maraschino Liqueur and Layered Pastry Cream), Strawberry Cheesecake, and Chocolate Silk Mousse

“Sacher” Chocolate Torte with Apricot Sauce

Our treats:





We enjoyed both of these.

Izzy’s progress on that Mickey bar:



Our table-mates had headed out as soon as they’d finished, since they had been up very early that morning to catch their flight and were wiped out. They were great to talk with, though, and we enjoyed dining with them during our cruise.

As we were finishing up, our waiter came over to entertain us. He knew some magic tricks. He did some tricks with cups and water – you can see the cup stuck to his hand here:



I don’t really remember what all he did, but it was impressive and Izzy got a kick out of it:



He also took the kids menu sheet and made it into “Nemo” for her:



She loved that!



We headed out from dinner at 7:20pm:



We had made it a priority to get to Minnie’s meet that night, given the slight Izzy had gotten before boarding the Dream. We got in line and Izzy amused us with her new fishy friend:



These little princesses were adorable:



We waited about 20 minutes. More than I like to wait, but worth it to get that all-important Minnie meet in for Izzy.

Up next: Minnie! And our first Fish Extender gifts!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Izzy immediately discovered the serving platter of butter and went to town :

Lol too funny. I have never heard of a kid liking butter so much! Does she still like it as much now? Also I love her Ariel shirt!

She was merely using it as a butter delivery device. She’d lick it off and ask us to butter it again.

Smart girl!

Applewood Smoked Bacon Wild Mushroom Tart with Creamy Leeks

Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower with Crispy Noodles and Wasabi Dressing

These appetizers plus your meals look and sound amazing! Sounds like a great dinner!

 

[annie170]

Glad you got good tablemates. I imagine not so good ones could put a damper on things.

That's interesting that your server follows you to all the different restaurants. Do you have control over where and which day you eat at the different places? What if your tablemates had different plans?

Izzy reminds me of my little granddaughter who can sit and eat butter out of the wrapper like that!

That mushroom tart looked great! Everything looked really good.

 

[hokieinpa]

Dinner sound and looks delicious! I'm not remembering the food overload on a cruise. Glad you had good tablemates - that makes meals so much more pleasant!

Izzy certainly enjoyed her Mickey bar!

Glad she got to meet Minnie at last!

 

[Leshaface]

3.) Izzy should be tall enough to ride all the 40" rides for the first time! And she is a little thrill-seeker, so I think she will love them! And what better way to ride them than with a little friend! Right now, she's 39" without shoes, so I think she can manage to get to 40" with shoes in 6 months.

She'll definitely make it!

I only have one day left of Hawaii, but then a whole second HI trip to cover.

Yeah, i'll need you to get on that 2nd HI TR now. Please and thank you! I have, I believe, 2 more days until I pre-register Calvin for Aunty's 90 days came up quick.

Then, save up the rest of 2017 and all of 2018's travel budget to get to France (and Disneyland Paris, of course). There are still so many other trips we want to take, but hopefully that will be enough to satisfy our travel appetite (and it certainly will be enough to write about ).

So does that mean no WDW at all for 2017/2018?

My favorite thing was Andy’s room from Toy Story:

This room looks AWESOME! Like, I wouldn't mind playing in there.

Amazing.

These are way too cute to put on the doors. I'd afraid they'd get stolen. I remember researching for our first cruise over on the Cruise boards and people were talking about how lots of teenagers (or possibly even adults!) stealing the cool magnets. So I purposefully made more personalized magnets because who wants a 'Leshaface' magnet!

he was merely using it as a butter delivery device. She’d lick it off and ask us to butter it again.

Calvin uses a guacamole delivery service with his tortilla chip

The servers are smart and they brought out the kids’ full meals at the same time as our appetizers.

Brilliant! They are seriously so smart.

He thinks he liked it (neither of us has lots of memories of the food anymore, sorry!)

Since the food on the cruises are pretty darn good, let's just say that you both enjoyed your food

 

[pkondz]

Exactly - one of our selling points for doing a Disney cruise while she was young!

I totally get that. If we'd been into cruising when our DDs were that age, I would've picked Disney for that alone.

Well, that's why I pointed it out.

I love watching her make little friends. It's great when you're little and the fact that you are both kids in the same place is enough to become instant friends.

Try that as an adult.
"Hi! Want to be my friend?"
"What the &#*^$ is wrong with you????"

We all sanitized our hands (they hand you wipes as you approach)

I wonder if this is because of all the bad press about viruses on cruise ships?

letting us know which table number we’d have throughout the cruise.

Oh! I didn't know you got the same table throughout.
What if you get stuck with horrible table mates???

Izzy immediately discovered the serving platter of butter and went to town :

She got a personalized cup of water:

Did she like that? Or even notice it?

Yep, just that. No pictures of the actual inside of the menu.

That's okay. We forgive you.

Don’t be fooled into thinking Izzy was eating bread in this picture:

Sure looks like it though.

Sneaky.

She was merely using it as a butter delivery device. She’d lick it off and ask us to butter it again.

The servers are smart and they brought out the kids’ full meals at the same time as our appetizers. Worked well for us, at least, since it kept Izzy occupied and she tends to graze for a long time at dinner:

This ain't their first rodeo.

No surprise that she picked mac and cheese

Heck. Looks good. I'd pick it!

Izzy began to grow a broccoli tree out of her mouth :

Easily treatable. Not to worry.

Not sure, but looking at a menu online, it could be the Nutty Chocolate? Vanilla Vodka, Crème de Cacao White, Bailey’s Galliano, Vanilla Mix. That’s my best guess.

My notes actually say that this drink was really good!

This kills me!
You have all this food and know exactly what it is.... but don't remember if you liked it or not.
But the one thing you don't know.... you say it was really good!

“Sacher” Chocolate Torte with Apricot Sauce

My Sister went to the Hotel Sacher and stayed there, just to have a Sacher torte there.
She had one shipped to our parents as well.

As we were finishing up, our waiter came over to entertain us. He knew some magic tricks.

Cool!

He also took the kids menu sheet and made it into “Nemo” for her:

Aww....

These little princesses were adorable:

Love the pose.

 

[amazingact21]

You should! Nice change of pace and think of all the amazing pictures your DH could get. Hey, maybe with all these posts wanting to go on a Disney cruise, we should all coordinate something. (Kinda kidding, since we have no clue when we'll go again, but wouldn't that be cool?! A DIS TR-family cruise!)

Okay, I'm just going to say, if this is a thing, I'm totally on board! I'll make the trip over from Germany to do a DISer TRer cruise!
Could you imagine Paxton, Izzy, and Landon hanging out together? It'd be awesome!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This is making me want to take a Disney Cruise so badly! I'm pricing one out right now. I'm thinking maybe early 2018?

We are targeting presidents week in February 2018

 

[hokieinpa]

We are targeting presidents week in February 2018

That's our tentative plan too! Land and sea with a cruise and then a few park days.

 

[cindianne320]

We have a placeholder to use before June 2018 ,