Memories of the DREAM come true .. 08/09 All 30 days done!

[annmarieda]

It sounds as though you make quite the friends on the ship. I bet after that long it was hard to say good bye to everyone! I know packing is always a challenge after a long stay. When we were trying to pack up after 11 nights at WL... I was at how spread out we had become and how much stuff we had accumulated. It took some time to get it all done. Your door... I am thinking that took a fair bit of time alone just to pack up!

 

[dizneeat]

It sounds as though you make quite the friends on the ship. I bet after that long it was hard to say good bye to everyone! I know packing is always a challenge after a long stay. When we were trying to pack up after 11 nights at WL... I was at how spread out we had become and how much stuff we had accumulated. It took some time to get it all done. Your door... I am thinking that took a fair bit of time alone just to pack up!

Staying on board for three cruises, they "all" seemed to know you, but we actually DID make a lot of friends on the ship - to the extent that they even recognized us when we were back in August!

Packing up after 11 nights was a LOT of things to cram into just a few suitcases.
Now imagine packing up after 4 weeks of vacation And we are only allowed to bring one suitcase each for free.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 20, September 1

Goodbye Disney DREAM - Part 1

Again, we woke up early. And our first walk was over to the veranda and yes, we had arrived at Port Canaveral

and it was time to say goodbye to our wonderful DREAM.
Then, after having taken showers we sat outside on the veranda watching the busy hustle and bustle below until it was time to head to head to the Enchanted Garden for breakfast. So, before leaving our room we checked every nook and cranny one more time,

so not to leave something in the room. We placed our present for Narciso the stateroom host on the bed, said one last sad goodbye to our room and off we went. When we arrived at the dining room, our new friends, the Fishermans were already there and we all had lots to talk about.

We all enjoyed our breakfast, Tom had ordered the

Route 66, scrambled eggs, bacon, grilled sausage, grilled ham and hash browns, while I just ordered a

ham and cheese omelette. Once we were done eating we wanted to take a few more photos of and with our servers and since we had always brought some candy for them, a lot of servers wanted to be in on the photo fun.

It went so far that other tables asked why we took so many photos with so many different servers. Then finally it was time to hug Ana and Sapto goodbye, wave back and get on our way.

At the entrance to the Enchanted Garden we met Zan, the headserver once again and again we hugged and thanked him for all he had done for us and told him that we were hoping to see him again when we would return to the Disney DREAM in February.
We joined the Fishermans on our way up to the Atrium, exchanged a few words with Captain Henry and it was time to sign off the ship.

It was time to say goodbye to our new friends, but we were all going to Walt Disney World, so we knew we would see them again. Down the escalator, we found a porter, who helped us with our luggage and walked us through the line, and out to the Hertz shuttle.
There were already some people in the shuttle and we had to crawl into the back, but we were off in just a few minutes. The drive over to Hertz doesn’t take long and in no time we were unloading our luggage. Before we entered the line we had to dig for our paperwork, then walked inside.
There were quite a few fun comments about all the cruise lines and how we were really showing our appreciation for OUR cruiseline. Not that we were wearing too many Disney Cruise Line clothes. Paperwork didn’t take long and they pointed us towards a white Chrysler 200 convertible. The only thing was that they still needed to fill up the gas, so we waited while one of the employees drove over to the nearest gas station to fill it up. After about 10 minutes we were able to load our stuff into the trunk and off we went towards Orlando.
But not without one last drive by the Disney DREAM.

We stopped for one more photo or two

and then it was finally time to get on our way.

The drive was uneventful and soon enough we arrived and drove under the well loved arch that says Walt Disney World.

We went straight to Old Key West,

and were greeted with a friendly Welcome Home

and sent on our way to the front desk to check in.


To be continued ..........

 

[annmarieda]

I still can't get over 4 weeks!!! And you plan to do it again this summer, yes?

Looks like a bitter sweet time leaving for Orlando...

 

[dizneeat]

I still can't get over 4 weeks!!! And you plan to do it again this summer, yes?

Looks like a bitter sweet time leaving for Orlando...

YES, another 4 weeks of Florida fun starting in exactly 8 weeks!

It was heartbreaking having to leave the DREAM after 11 nights and three cruises, but we still had a week at WDW to look forward to!

 

[annmarieda]

YES, another 4 weeks of Florida fun starting in exactly 8 weeks!

It was heartbreaking having to leave the DREAM after 11 nights and three cruises, but we still had a week at WDW to look forward to!

That is amazing! Just 8weeks? I really really wish that we were not going to miss you. So close to being there the same time...

 

[dizneeat]

That is amazing! Just 8weeks? I really really wish that we were not going to miss you. So close to being there the same time...

Only 56 more days to count down!
We would love to see you in September, Ann, but we both need to be back at work by the time you arrive.
BUT .... I am still hopeful we are going to finally meet in February!

 

[pinkxray]

The cabanas look wonderful They seem to be very hard to get though, so I doubt we'll ever get one with our lowely status.

The ribs on Castaway Cay were amazing. I wasn't expecting much since the rest was pretty typical buffet food, but they were perfect. Mmmm, I could go for some right now.

I can't believe that you had to miss dinner to pack. That is too bad. I had a hard time packing and we were only there for 3 nights. I can't imagine trying to pack after your trip.

 

[debsters41]

Hello again Karin! I had to laugh about your packing... I had a similar dilemma. My cruise was at the end of a 6 week vacation (3 weeks family, 2 weeks Orlando and 1 week cruise) and I had to have my suitcases ready for the flights back to Greece! I must have called Guest services to come and weigh my bags at least 5 times!

I am looking forward to hearing more

 

[HowieHowie]

Noooo, our cruise is over! We had an amazing time, we met some wonderful people and we made some longlasting friendships. It was nice reliving the cruise with you!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin! Sounds like you had a wonderful send-off! It must have been hard to drive away from your "home" after so many days.

It's nice you didn't have to rush to the airport, but can enjoy time at your other "home."

 

[dizneeat]

The cabanas look wonderful They seem to be very hard to get though, so I doubt we'll ever get one with our lowely status.

The ribs on Castaway Cay were amazing. I wasn't expecting much since the rest was pretty typical buffet food, but they were perfect. Mmmm, I could go for some right now.

I can't believe that you had to miss dinner to pack. That is too bad. I had a hard time packing and we were only there for 3 nights. I can't imagine trying to pack after your trip.

Diane, they are just heavenly!
Yes, they are in high demand, but when I tried for 2011 I was able to secure a Cabana for every one of our three cruises. Because of the price I let go of two of them, but I have booked one for every one of our three CC days this summer. So worth the money!

Missing dinner wasn't a big deal, we had been through it twice before. The only thing that really was sad, was to miss dinner with the Fishermans. They were such nice people.

Hello again Karin! I had to laugh about your packing... I had a similar dilemma. My cruise was at the end of a 6 week vacation (3 weeks family, 2 weeks Orlando and 1 week cruise) and I had to have my suitcases ready for the flights back to Greece! I must have called Guest services to come and weigh my bags at least 5 times!

I am looking forward to hearing more

Debbie, I can soooooooo relate to having to pack up after 6 weeks of vacation. I never can figure out how we ended up with so much stuff to take home.
And since the airlines started enforcing weight limits we carry two suitcase scales. NO, I am not paying for access baggage.

Noooo, our cruise is over! We had an amazing time, we met some wonderful people and we made some longlasting friendships. It was nice reliving the cruise with you!

Yes, even our triple cruise came to an end. So not fair.
And like you we made so many wonderful new friends ... some of which we will meet again this summer!

Hi Karin! Sounds like you had a wonderful send-off! It must have been hard to drive away from your "home" after so many days.

It's nice you didn't have to rush to the airport, but can enjoy time at your other "home."

It was sad to have to say goodbye to the Dream, but we were looking forward to OKW and spending a few more days at the parks ... and we had a few more DISmeets to look forward to.

 

[Teri1]

Karin, I enjoyed your report on the 3 back to back cruises on the Dream! It sure has gotten me excited for my upcoming cruise, but of course you will have sailed 2 more times on the Dream before I go. I would love to do a CC double dip cruise since going to CC is our favorite part.
I can't wait to hear about the latter part of your trip since it will include our visit! Unfortunately we didn't get pictures, but we will make sure we don't forget next time.

 

[dizneeat]

Karin, I enjoyed your report on the 3 back to back cruises on the Dream! It sure has gotten me excited for my upcoming cruise, but of course you will have sailed 2 more times on the Dream before I go. I would love to do a CC double dip cruise since going to CC is our favorite part.
I can't wait to hear about the latter part of your trip since it will include our visit! Unfortunately we didn't get pictures, but we will make sure we don't forget next time.

Teresa, I am glad you enjoyed our cruises, but the ones in 2013 will be most exciting as we will be sailing together!
It's such a shame we never took any photos that day! but we are determined to change that this summer!!!!!!!!!!
I still have the photo of all of us on the Wonder though!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 20, September 1

Goodbye Disney DREAM - Part 2

We went straight to Old Key West, and were greeted with a friendly Welcome Home and sent on our way to the front desk to check in.
It was now shortly before noon and we did not expect our room to be ready. We got in line and very soon were called to the desk to check in. I had done the online check in, so the actual process was short and sweet and again we were asked about our experiences with Disney Cruise Line.
Once everything was sorted out, we could not believe our luck when the Cast Member announced that our room was indeed ready and we were free to drive over to Miller Road and check it out. We headed back to the car and drove over to Miller Road, found our building and went up to the third floor to check out our villa. It was beautiful, with a great view of the resort, a body of water and the golf course.
So we hauled our stuff upstairs and then decided to go shopping for groceries right away. You cannot leave such a nice huge fridge empty for too long. We drove to Publix and spent quite some time shopping, then back to Old Key West we went to unpack. We had thought about driving to Downtown Disney for lunch but instead decided to have a nice picnic in our villa.

There were so many yummy things on the table that we kept on nibbling. By early afternoon we saw the dark clouds rolling in and so I unpacked some more and put the washing machine to good use, while Tom took a nice dip in the Jacuzzi.
Around 3pm the clouds opened up and it started to pour down.

It rained hard for the best part of the afternoon and we enjoyed just sitting out on the balcony watching the rain, only interrupted to load and unload the washer and dryer. We got a lot of our laundry done while we were just relaxing. By 5pm we got the computer up and running and watched our beautiful home for the last 11 nights, the Disney DREAM, sail out of Port Canaveral once again.

At around 6pm we decided to head over to Downtown Disney to go window shopping at the World of Disney. When we arrived at the parking lot, it was full and it was really hard to find a spot to park the car.
Once we had done so we headed to the World of Disney to do some shopping. There were lots of new fun things they had added, some actually already for Halloween. We took a long time to check everything out, picked up a few things and went to the register to pay for them. Since we were already at Downtown Disney we went over to Wolfgang Puck’s Express for dinner.
When we arrived there, the line was way out the door and we didn’t want to get in it and then wait for a table. So we strolled back through all the stores and headed back to our car to go back to our villa.
At Old Key West we stopped at the Hospitality House and checked out their new merchandise. We picked up a few souvenirs and then finally drove over to our villa. When we arrived there, we had more of our picnic food for dinner as well. We love all those salads and cold meats and the very soft bread, so we didn’t mind eating the same for lunch and dinner.
We watched a little TV, had some adult drinks and enjoyed a quiet evening, reminiscing our fantastic cruise adventure, before heading to bad early.


To be continued ..........

 

[jedijill]

I'm surprised you guys don't have a VIP pass at WPE. You are their best customers and the best advertisement for them!

OKW!

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

I'm surprised you guys don't have a VIP pass at WPE. You are their best customers and the best advertisement for them!

OKW!

Jill in CO

A VIP pass for WPE sounds like a good idea to me!

OKW feels like our second home, we love it there!

 

[KatMark]

Karin, I've not had time to comment (dealing with Mark's ill mom), but I'm following along and enjoying.

 

[dizneeat]

Karin, I've not had time to comment (dealing with Mark's ill mom), but I'm following along and enjoying.

No problem, Kathy, I hope Mark's mom is doing okay and will react positively to treatment.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin! I just thought I would send this link your way - new D&B to come for WDW!!!
http://www.disunplugged.com/2012/06/18/dooney-and-bourke-release-for-disney-world-fans/