We spent Wednesday night in the Country Inn and Suites in Port Canaveral so that had a free spot to park during the cruise and so that it would be an easy trip to the boat in the morning. We were all super excited for the cruise so we were up early for breakfast. We could see the boat from the hotel.
Of course the dream is pretty big so this pic may have been taken from Orlando.
By 9:30 we were outside of the hotel waiting for our shuttle to the boat. I was surprised by the number of people already waiting for the bus. Mom used the time take some pictures of the kids.
In an effort to directly contradict myself, here is a picture that obviously mom did not take.
We had arranged everything months ahead of time so we had our seats reserved on the 10 am bus and we were in the 10 am boarding group too. We been reading stories of people getting there early in the morning and still being in Boarding Group 10, so we really weren’t sure what to expect. We arrived at the terminal by 10:05 and were through security in a couple of minutes. We headed up the escalator and got our first view of the terminal.
There were only 10 or so families in line to check in before us. We wound up getting boarding group 3. Hurray! We then hurried and got in line to register our kids for the kids club. Disney needs to rent those "GPS locators you strap to the kids" at the parks. That an a "track my kid" app would certainly cut down on lost kids. The line seemed long when we got in it but it only took about 15 minutes or so. Later that morning the line was or 3 times as long. All check in stuff done we found a spot to sit and relax and wait for boarding time.
Apparently the "stay off your device" rule doesn’t apply to family members.
While we were waiting Mickey walked infront of the model ship and we hurried and got in line to get our picture taken.
The Pook’s took this opportunity to plan their remake of Speed 2: Cruise Control.
Hmmm “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”
We waited a little bit more and soon it was time to board. We got our picture taken and a few seconds later we were being announced as we walked on board. I tried to think of a funny name for them to announce but blanked. (Please show me how creative you are by putting awesome names in the comments) That didn’t matter though, because we were immediately blown away by the atrium.
After a solid 10 or 15 seconds of awe we realized atrium was just a fancy word for lobby and, it was time for lunch. Our options were either the Enchanted Garden or Cabanas. We tried the Enchanted Garden first, but there was already a long line to check in. We took the elevator to deck 10 and walked to Cabanas. On the walk we got to see the pools, the Aquaduck and this random dude.
Cabanas was a great choice. We grabbed a table by the window and then head off in search of food.
Huzzah! We found food.
It was amazing. While there was tons of food, the salmon wrapped in prosciutto (mmm fancy Bacon) and the peel and eat shrimp were my favorites. I did have a bunch of the crab claws but the meat was really tough.
Every dining room should have that view. Yes that is my mmmmm shrimp! face.
We finished at Cabanas and there was still about an hour before our room would be ready so we decided to explore the boat. The kids really wanted to see the Oceaneer Club and Lab so we headed that way. The kids had seen information on the clubs online, but even knowing what to expect we were gobsmacked.
Before you go into the clubs you need to wash your hands. Most places would have foaming hand sanitizer or a sink, but this is a Disney boat so even hand washing must be awesome. They had these “automatic car washes” only awesomer for your hands. I’m sure lots of people are going to tell me that these are passé and they have them at their schools or church but I had never seen anything like it (even in Japan where they have remote control toilets). So here you go hand washing pictures. Yes, this is an entire paragraph on how awesome it is to wash your hands on the Dream.
The Oceaneer Club was really neat. Sis had a blast playing in Andy’s room and I may have wound up playing with the Giant Mr Potato head.
When we got to the fairy art section Sis was in heaven. We could have left her there for the rest of the trip.
We continued on though to the Lab. Bros’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head looking at all the different screens and different types of games.
At one point there may have been several dads all in a line playing the ship simulator.
Hey we love our kids and want to make sure that it gets the Dad seal o’ approval. Mom had fun playing the music simulator game.
Mom is the DJ Jazzy Jeff to my Fresh Prince. ( Back when Jeff got bigger billing)
Eventually we knew our room was ready so we had to drag the kids out of there.
We meandered back to our room. While we were meandering we literally ran into Chip and Dale. (We may meander quicker than most) Mom almost knocked Dale over. It didn’t seem to bother Dale much as he quickly grabbed mom for a kiss. (little known fact: Chipmunk kissing makes you jaundiced)
Hey watch it buddy she’s married. I was lucky we didn’t bump into Flynn Rider, there’s no way I could have competed with that, he’s got Superhuman good looks and a frying pan.
The kids also got some quality hugs from Chip.
Fortunately I was carrying my camera (a hand me down from mom) so I could snap a couple shots while this was all going down. Sweet a character meet and great and I there wasn’t a line. This spontaneous character interaction was one of the best parts of the cruise
One our way back to our room we ducked into the Buena Vista Theatre. It was empty so the kids took the opportunity to get up on stage, and then perform a little dance routine for us.
We left the theater and continued to our room. (I know your thinking how long does it take you to get to your room). As we rounded the corner to get in the elevator who should we find but Sailor Pluto. (Disney your messing with my head, first Goofy is an anthropomorphic dog and Pluto is a dog dog, but now the dog dog is dressing up. That’s messed up)
This is the last picture we snapped and you can see a crowd had started to form. We left Pluto and finally made it to our room.
Coming up Swimming, the Sail Away Party, dinner at the royal palace and a show.
She's already trying to impress the boys??? Looks like you've got a long 14 years or so ahead of you.
<sniff>
