Schemin' and Dreamin' - a July 2014 (4-night Bahamian/Dream) Trip Report!

[TinkyCheeks]

I'm so glad I found this TR!!! We are going on our first cruise this year, and your TR is making me so much more excited! I think we're "neighbors!" I worked at Sea World in high school and we fly out of Akron Canton. Nice to meet ya!

 

[disneyhorselover]

ahhh those alaskan cruise outfits....call the haunted mansion because I am also dead!

That show sounds super awkward just based on the description...thats disappointing

 

[Ariel484]

.We adored the Fantasy! So much so that it's seriously made me question if I should book a different ship for our next itinerary (I will, I know I will........but man will I miss our serving team!) Of course we didn't have a different ship to compare it to, or a different cruiseline, but we simply loved it. DH even said our next cruise should be a TA so we get more sea days! What itinerary have you booked? We did St Maarten/St Thomas (we got rained out of CC )

Okay, I'm glad to hear that!! I totally know what you mean about being nervous to sail a new ship...I've sailed the Dream twice now, and I'm sure I'll love the Fantasy since it's the same (I think?) layout. But I'd be nervous to try one of the classic ships. Especially the Wonder since it hasn't been re-imagined yet like the Magic has.

I'm with your husband on loving the Sea Days! That's something I did not expect!!

Husband and I are doing the Western Caribbean in July (Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Falmouth) and then in October I'll be doing the same Eastern one you did!

I'm so glad I found this TR!!! We are going on our first cruise this year, and your TR is making me so much more excited! I think we're "neighbors!" I worked at Sea World in high school and we fly out of Akron Canton. Nice to meet ya!

UM...HOWDY NEIGHBOR!! I too worked at Sea World in high school...

Which itinerary are you doing??

ahhh those alaskan cruise outfits....call the haunted mansion because I am also dead!

RIGHT?! I mean, I don't think I'd pick a certain itinerary just because of some character outfits...but COME ON!!

That show sounds super awkward just based on the description...thats disappointing

We definitely thought it was awkward! I know some people love it, but it's just not our cup of tea! Some of it was just downright cringe-worthy, in my opinion. And again, I'm talking strictly about the lines. The costumes, staging, and the actual performances themselves were good, especially considering that it was done on a moving ship. It was just the content...if that makes any sense.

 

[Ariel484]

Day 4: Tuesday, July 22, 2014, Part 1 (Castaway Cay 5K)


** NOTE: My intent here is not to dissuade anyone that wants to do this race from trying it...just my honest review. Which I have been scolded for in the past (really??)


This morning we were up a bit after 7AM. We changed into our running gear and sunscreen'd up. Our breakfast was delivered by 7:30 (wheat toast for me, bagel for Will, both with butter - I think I forgot to mention that we filled the card out before bed last night).

After eating breakfast, we headed down to Deck 4 to check in at Evolution for the Castaway Cay 5K at a little after 8AM.

This would be my second time running this race. The first time I ran it (in September 2013) I pretty much didn't like it at all (and not just because I didn't pay good enough attention to the course description, took a wrong turn and ended up running an extra 0.6 miles...ahem ). It's just so freaking hot and humid, and the course is nothing special at all - there are no characters (at least during the free fun run - I know it's different during the paid Castaway Cay 5K Challenge). But the fun run is free, I needed to get a 3-mile training run in, and Will was interested in doing it, so as I mentioned before, we signed up on embarkation day. He'd been training for it for a few weeks leading up to the cruise and was looking forward to it.

So there we were at Evolution. Lots of people kept coming in and not everyone had signed up beforehand. 8:15 came and went and I was fuming. Both the Day 1 and Day 2 Navigators had said that runners should sign up for the 5K ahead of time, so waiting for all of these people who had shown up that morning to sign up was really delaying things. I have heard that sometimes CMs don't allow race-day sign up (which I fully support - sorry, not sorry) but ours sure did. In fact, they even went back stage at one point to get extra medals and bibs for the late arrivals. I was SO annoyed that those of us that had read the Navigators and followed the rules by signing up ahead of time were getting delayed!

We were supposed to disembark by 8:30...I'm not sure exactly when we did disembark but it was definitely closer to 9. Not only was this cutting into my Castaway Cay time , I also felt like every second we sat there, the sun was rising higher and higher and it was just getting hotter and more humid outside. The CMs (regular DCL CMs as far as I could tell, not runDisney CMs) went over the course (I paid attention this time!), talked about the water stop, etc.

Finally, we left Evolution and Will and I jumped into the District bathrooms for one last stop. As a group we disembarked and headed to the starting line at Pelican Point. The walk was longer than I remembered.

We only brought our KTTW cards and IDs with us (as adults you must take your ID whenever you disembark, but we never had to show it to anyone), but there was a box where we could have left other things if we'd wanted to. I'd debated about this for awhile - should we just bring our beach bags with us and stay on the island after the race? In the end we decided we'd head back to the ship for showers and a good breakfast...I was happy with this decision as it meant we wouldn't have to keep our sweaty clothes with us for the rest of the day.

I had my Garmin on me, so I can say for sure that we did not start running until 9:15AM. It's very informal - we had bibs we'd been given in Evolution, but there were no timing chips, so there is no official record of our times. One of the CMs just said "ready, set, go!" and we were off. Before the race began Will and I had agreed that we'd run together, doing run 4 minutes/walk 1 minute intervals, so I set those up in my watch.

As I said above, I was really not impressed that we left the ship so late. But the race itself was, I thought, decently organized. Again, it's very informal - there are no mile markers, but there is one "official" water stop that you run by twice, along with a couple other water stands that are located on the bike path (the circular portion of the course in the above screenshot) near the observation tower (marked "Z" in the above screenshot). There are no bathrooms on the course (I knew this from last year, which is why we made a stop in the District), but you pass a few on the walk to Pelican Point. The course itself is very flat - you run out into the bike path (again, the circular portion in the screenshot) and then out onto the airstrip. The "official" water stop is at the beginning of the airstrip, so you run past it once, to the end of the airstrip (near the entrance to Serenity Bay) and then turn around, passing the water stop a second time before re-entering the bike path. As I mentioned before, there are other water stands in the bike path.

The airstrip portion...from the picture you can see that the weather looked dicey that day, but we never got rained on. I think I would have welcomed it, honestly. When I did this race in September 2013 I got rained on for a portion of it, and I remember sort of liking the rain.

And here comes the truth bomb. Again, I don't mean to dissuade anyone that wants to run this race from doing it, but I have to be honest...

It sucked. It was miserable.

My poor husband - a non-runner - had been training for this race over the past few weeks and was feeling pretty good about it, but there was no training for that Castaway Cay weather. Great beach weather, awful running weather. We had been having a very mild (awesome) summer here in Ohio, and the heat and humidity of Castaway Cay were just too much. Sweat was pouring off of us and more than once I actually had trouble seeing what was in front of me because my eyes were filled with sweat. It buurrrrned. Will was incredibly discouraged ("Why did you bring me to this god-forsaken island?!" That is NOT what someone should be saying on their first visit to Castaway Cay!) and I think the race almost wrecked the both of us for the rest of the day. At the time I was running 15-20 miles per week regularly, and most of my runs are done on a treadmill at work in a veerrrrry stuffy cardio room, so I fared a bit better. But I had just run a 5K here at home in May, and the CC5K took me about 10 minutes longer than that May 5K did...so the weather slowed me down a lot. Speaking of the weather...per the Garmin data at race time it was 86 degrees out (with a "real feel" temperature of 99 - yes, 99 degrees!

), 79% humidity and periods of full sun.

So while the weather and start time are big parts of why I don't love this race (it should be as early in the day as possible, in my opinion - a 9:15 start time was way too late, though I'm not sure that's possible without docking the ship early like they did for the CC5K Challenges), beyond that I just don't think there's anything special about it. There are no characters and the course is BORING. During a lot of it, you're just surrounded by trees...and that tree/loop portion seems, to me, like it'll never end. The only somewhat interesting part of it is the airstrip (in the picture above), but even that is not much to look at. When I first ran the race I hadn't seen the course map ahead of time, so I thought we'd get to see a lot of the island...but you really don't.

But hey, it's flat and free (for now...I have an inkling they'll start charging for it since people paid $60 to do it race as part of a runDisney "Challenge" - I hope I'm wrong but you never know), and I think it's nice you get a medal - especially now that they have switched to the new rubber medallions (the one I got in September and for this one was the generic Disney Cruise Line plastic Mickey ears thing). Oh, and I didn't make a wrong turn this time! (I almost did though...I can be pretty dumb sometimes).

So there’s that.

Anyway, we did finish. You can see someone in the picture below wearing the plastic Mickey ears.

The first words out of our mouths were the ones I had been thinking pretty much since the race began: "Never Again." Seriously, in 2013 I ran the WDW Marathon as part of the Goofy Challenge (meaning I'd run the half the day before) during a heat advisory - I was way more miserable during the CC5K. Other runners were saying the same thing I was...even Florida runners were struggling. This race is no joke. I'd been fully expecting the race to suck, but I think it made Will feel better to hear other runners say that they'd had a tough time, too.

The icing on the cake was that after all of that, my Garmin indicated that we'd run 3.01 miles...so it wasn't even a *real* 5K. And while we'd paid careful attention to running the tangents so we wouldn't add to our overall distance (2 math nerds here!), we certainly didn't cut any corners. I guess this should not have surprised me for such an informal *fun run*...but still.

We collected our plastic finisher medals and headed into the nearby giftshop. Our #1 priority was to get out of the sun for awhile...but we also felt we deserved a bit of shopping for surviving the race. We each got a shirt…Will's is (gasp!) the mens' cut version and mine is the newer women's cut. I also grabbed two pins - a regular Castaway Cay pin and a CC5K pin. No pictures. Oops.

Really, I think a big part of why I didn't enjoy this race was because I felt terrible that Will felt so awful. Next time I'll do the race by myself - and yes, I will do it again. Probably as long as it's free, because I'll need to get the runs in anyway. And I need that new rubber finisher medallion.

If they go back to the plastic medal, I'll probably change my stance on the Castaway Cay 5K.

Continued in Next Post

 

[elphie101]

Sheesh! That sounds totally miserable. I really wanted to do the 5K on our cruise but DH put his foot down (he said he didn't want to run a race on his honeymoon!) As it turns out, it was about 65 and raining the whole day - so the weather might have been great for that! Can't wait for more

 

[Ariel484]

Sheesh! That sounds totally miserable. I really wanted to do the 5K on our cruise but DH put his foot down (he said he didn't want to run a race on his honeymoon!) As it turns out, it was about 65 and raining the whole day - so the weather might have been great for that! Can't wait for more

It was rough for sure! Of course now I'm thinking I'll definitely be doing it again in July, so it either wasn't that bad or I'm just starting to forget how bad it actually was! Or I just really, really want the new medallion...

 

[sager1969]

I have not run in two years due to foot issues that required surgery and then injuring the other foot. I am finally healing and was going to make the Castaway Cay 5K a goal for my cruise in August. I live in a Texas so I can train for the weather, but I am not sure I should have my first race be a killer like that. I miss running! I appreciate your honest review if it. I know it is a pretty boring course. I tend to only run outside here from February to May and then again October to December depending of course on the weather. Were you happy with your decision to not take your stuff with you to the beach? I am not sure my DS a can handle waiting that long for me to run and then go back to change and such. But, I would definitely want to eat after that. Something to ponder....Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ariel484]

I have not run in two years due to foot issues that required surgery and then injuring the other foot. I am finally healing and was going to make the Castaway Cay 5K a goal for my cruise in August. I live in a Texas so I can train for the weather, but I am not sure I should have my first race be a killer like that. I miss running! I appreciate your honest review if it. I know it is a pretty boring course. I tend to only run outside here from February to May and then again October to December depending of course on the weather. Were you happy with your decision to not take your stuff with you to the beach? I am not sure my DS a can handle waiting that long for me to run and then go back to change and such. But, I would definitely want to eat after that. Something to ponder....Thanks for sharing!

I would hate to deter you from doing it if you really want to! I think if you take it slower and really hydrate ahead of time it would be fine!

Yes, I was happy with our decision! I would have hated carting all of our sweaty clothes around, and it was nice to go back to the ship for a good breakfast.

 

[Ariel484]

Day 4: Tuesday, July 22, 2014, Part 2 (Castaway Cay!)

We were back on the Dream and basked in the wonderful, heavenly conditioned air. Originally I'd been hoping we could make it back to the room in time to shower and change before before Cabanas stopped serving breakfast (10:45) but thanks to the late CC5K start we were cutting it close, so we just headed up to eat. What can I say, I love me some breakfast food. Enjoy my stank, everyone else!

While navigating the stations I ran into our Head Server, the one we'd met for maybe 30 seconds on the first night of our cruise when I was cleaner, not drenched in sweat and was wearing make-up and normal clothes...and was surprised when he recognized me in my sweaty, make-up-less state.

"We missed you at dinner last night!" Seriously?! Is it a requirement that one must have an amazing memory to be on a DCL serving team? I was very impressed. We chatted about how Will and I went to Palo the night before, and how we would not be present for Pirate dinner tonight, and went our separate ways.

As an aside, our Head Server was a dead ringer for Ty Burrell/Phil Dunphy from Modern Family.

We stuffed our faces and headed back to the room to get cleaned up and ready for a day at the beach.

Back on the island! Hey buddy!

What a lovely lady.

You can't hide from me, Disney Dream!

Still need to re-hydrate from this morning's race!

Our view. Can't beat it.

We each got today's Drink of the Day - the Paradise Cocktail. MISTAKE! The bartender pulled out a rubber container with the drink pre-made and poured one for each of us. Should have waited and gone to Bon Voyage to get the drink freshly mixed later. Lesson learned - the drinks were watery and didn't have much flavor.

It was crazy, crazy windy out there. We both had hats on and they kept getting blown off of our heads.

Never did make it onto Pelican Plunge. Bummer.

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Day 4: Tuesday, July 22, 2014, Part 3 (Serenity Bay!)

After finishing our drinks, we hopped onto the tram that took us out to Serenity Bay.

Passed the turnaround for the 5K...blech.

And then we were at Serenity Bay. This was my first time there - during the girls cruise I took in September 2013 we had 3 Cabanas for our group on the Family Beach, and I didn't leave our Cabana or the small stretch of beach in front of it all day, except to get food and use the bathroom. And let me say, this morning while running the 5K, had we known what was beyond the turnaround point, we probably would have just kept running and bagged the rest of the race.

There's something back there...

...oh yeah, there it is. PARADISE.

This is the current background on my work computer. I WANT TO GO BAAAAACK

We found a pair of empty loungers, which was surprisingly easy. In reading other trip reports since then, I'm thinking this is the one plus of traveling in the summer - lots of kiddos, so most people were probably on the Family Beach. Serenity Bay wasn't crowded at all.

Ahhhh....

You can see the adult beach cabanas back there. I'd sort of half-heartedly searched for one leading up to our cruise but never found an open one - SHOCKING (except not at all shocking). Even if I did, I'm not sure I could have stomached dropping a few hundred bucks for one. I was worried I'd miss having one, but I really didn't. Maybe I would've felt differently if Serenity Bay had been really packed that day.

Basically we just lounged around all day (one thing we did NOT do? Re-apply sunscreen...). At one point a CM came around saying it was 2-for-1 drink specials. We each ordered a drink, thinking it was understood that we were paying for one of our drinks and getting the other free...NOPE. We were each brought two drinks.

Strawberry daquiri:

Terrible. I didn't even finish the first one. Will was smarter and got a Corona.

Speaking of Will...he kept dragging me out into the ocean. I was content to hang out in the chair but he kept wanting to swim. My husband, the one who doesn't like getting into the water at all, normally. Who is this person?! It's Disney Magic, I tell ya!

After finishing our drinks (and by "finishing" I mean...throwing out my first drink and giving our free drinks to other beachgoers ) we headed to the adult quick service area for lunch.

On our way:

The adult area bar:

I didn't take any pictures of our food, but I know we both had burgers and they were pretty good. Better than I remembered from my previous cruise. I had been talking up the couscous salad for a bit and we both really liked that as well. YUM!

The view from our table:

Back to the beach!

It was still pretty windy out, so excursions were canceled.

As much as we really, really didn't want to, we got our stuff together to leave a little after 3PM.

Good-bye, perfectly crystal clear water...

Good-bye, Serenity Bay...

Good-bye, adult area lunch place (does this place have a name? I forget)...

Seriously, so sad to leave this beautiful island. But at least we were getting back on the Dream!

"I love cruising!!"

Back in our stateroom...see ya real soon, Castaway Cay!

Continued in Next Post

 

[steph0808]

How did I not know you had another TR? Ahh! Glad I found it. Now it makes me want to go on a cruise!

 

[Ariel484]

How did I not know you had another TR? Ahh! Glad I found it. Now it makes me want to go on a cruise!

Because it's not a running report!

Honestly, I think DCL may be my favorite way to experience Disney (except for runDisney, of course).

 

[pxefig]

We live on planet duplo.

I can't think of Planet Duplo without thinking of the end of the Lego Movie " ... And we are here to destroy you!"

BUT - we're also adding a Universal day in beforehand! I NEED to see Diagon Alley in person, and we both NEED to see Springfield, so a Universal day is a must.

You NEED to get a park hopper for Universal. The Hogwarts Express is more than just a train ride. I won't say any more to keep the element of surprise. And you only can go on it with a park hopper!

This is my, "yay, I didn't step in vomit!" face!

Seriously, who *hasn't* practiced this face in the mirror? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Because it's not a running report!

Honestly, I think DCL may be my favorite way to experience Disney (except for runDisney, of course).

Yeah, I missed the start of this, but I'm here now!
I LOVE the Disney horse theme! It's probably a good thing I haven't stayed at SSR, because those throw pillows would somehow end up in my suitcase!
For future reference, the Outlook is where weddings and stuff are held, but when it's not being used for a special event, it's just a regular bar that anyone can go to. And it's usually deserted because NO ONE knows this. And the bar tenders are very bored and very grateful when someone is up there. When I was on the Dream in 2011 we made great friends with the bartender that four years later we still are friends on Facebook and keep in touch.

 

[Ariel484]

I can't think of Planet Duplo without thinking of the end of the Lego Movie " ... And we are here to destroy you!"

I loved that movie...way more than I expected to.

You NEED to get a park hopper for Universal. The Hogwarts Express is more than just a train ride. I won't say any more to keep the element of surprise. And you only can go on it with a park hopper!

Oh man, really?? I didn't know that...I've purposely been trying to avoid any and all info on the Harry Potter area because I want to be surprised!! Thanks for telling me!

Seriously, who *hasn't* practiced this face in the mirror? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Yeah, I missed the start of this, but I'm here now!

Hooray!!

I LOVE the Disney horse theme! It's probably a good thing I haven't stayed at SSR, because those throw pillows would somehow end up in my suitcase!

They had the horse stuff everywhere! I mean, it was subtle, but it was the kind of thing that if you were paying attention, you noticed it in the rooms, Carriage House, etc. I thought it was so cool.

For future reference, the Outlook is where weddings and stuff are held, but when it's not being used for a special event, it's just a regular bar that anyone can go to. And it's usually deserted because NO ONE knows this. And the bar tenders are very bored and very grateful when someone is up there. When I was on the Dream in 2011 we made great friends with the bartender that four years later we still are friends on Facebook and keep in touch.

Awesome, thanks! I'll definitely keep that in mind for future cruises. We definitely liked finding under-the-radar spots.

 

[Ariel484]

Day 4: Tuesday, July 22, 2014, Part 4 (Remy Dinner, Part 1)

Back in the room, we took showers. This is when we realized that we hadn't re-applied sunscreen while out on the island - MISTAKE. We were both FRIED.

Once we were clean, we relaxed a bit by putting on a movie and ordering a snack from room service.

Getting into the spirit for dinner...

Yum!

One final farewell to Castaway Cay...

Eventually we decided it was time to don our finery for dinner. You know what's not fun? Stuffing one's self into a cocktail dress with slightly thicker fabric after a few days of eating cruise food and a day on the beach that resulted in a sunburn. Seriously, after our day at Castaway we both just felt a bit overheated. I can only imagine how poor Will felt in a suit.

We headed out into the atrium. Real talk: in general I think it's a little weird when people take photos of other people's children, but little Rapunzel heading into Royal Palace here is pretty adorable. Plus, you can't see her face, so I don't feel like a creep posting this.

Waiting in line...

We're the fanciest pirates around!

We broke the stair rule and took the elevator to Deck 12. Oops. But at least we got a mirror shot out of it!

Time for adult dining experience #2 (the schemin' continues) - Remy!

We checked in, and I think we were the only party in the dining room at the point. As we were led to an awesome water-view booth (!!) our server took great delight in pointing out all of the Ratatouille-inspired details throughout the dining room. I was loving it and totally regret not getting more pictures of the interior of the dining room. Definitely on my to-do list for this year's cruise.

Of course, since I didn't take any notes, I don't remember the name of our server OR of the sommelier who helped us out during dinner but they were awesome.

We started off with the complimentary Colette cocktail (inspired by the character from Ratatouille), which was made right at our table - 1 raspberry, 1 dried apricot, 1 mint leaf, champagne and pear-infused vodka. Yum!!

Will at our awesome booth enjoying his cocktail. I don't remember noticing it at the time, but in looking at this picture I can see how red his face is from the sun. Poor guy.

The Remy menu was pretty confusing to me, and since I didn't take notes I think I might have a hard time coming up with who ate what and what course it was. We did tell our server right away that neither of us like seafood, and he was very patient in helping us put something together.

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Day 4: Tuesday, July 22, 2014, Part 5 (Remy Dinner, Part 2)

To start, we were served an amuse-bouche - deep fried tomato soup!

Shifted my camera to the side a bit to get some of the plate detail:

Not alone in the dining room anymore:

We were also served butter, sea salt...

...and bread.

There was an optional wine pairing, but instead of going that route the sommelier suggested that we have a white for our first couple of courses, and then a red for our entrée. This ended up being perfect - when we ate at Victoria & Albert's last January we both got the wine pairing (wine with all 7 courses) which was awesome, and something I'd definitely do again, but we were totally sloshed by the end. I can't imagine we would have fared well with that much wine after a day out in the sun and heat. 2 glasses + the Colette was perfect - enough to get the experience (and a little buzz), but not too much. I'll definitely do this again when we eat at Remy in July on the Fantasy. We told the sommelier what kinds of wines we liked and he made great picks for us.

First course - ratatouille! The solid stuff on top looks like butter, but it's actually olive oil!

Part of the second course...and our wine!

The wider glasses are wine. The skinnier flutes (I guess you would call them) are actually filled with tomato juice! And the other glasses are water (probably what we should have stuck to after Castaway fried us!).

This goes along with our tomato appetizer:

This was the one course that neither of us really loved - makes sense because we aren't huge tomato fans. I remember enjoying the portion on the plate and trying to choke down the juice part...eventually I just gave up. I'll definitely try something else for this course next time.

Next course - quail. I knew I'd like this because I'd just tried it for the first time at Victoria & Albert's earlier that year. Yum!

Main course - Kobe beef (with red wine)! The green cubes are actually pureed spinach and the other cubes are potatoes! Yum yum yum!

I think this is the point in the meal where Will was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable. I felt bad for him - I was in a sleeveless dress, so I'd cooled down by then and was thoroughly enjoying dinner. In his suit (with undershirt, long-sleeved button-down, tie and jacket) Will felt hot, stuffy and full, so his memories of this dinner are not as fond as mine are. Lesson learned - save Remy dinner for an at sea day (which is what we plan on doing in July).

To my surprise, our server seemed confident that he could pick dessert for us.

Will's...some sort of chocolate mousse:

I tried it and this was so, so good. Definitely what I would have picked for myself.

My dessert was some sort of chocolate thing with raspberry. Ugh. I'm not a fan of raspberry flavor so I would not have chosen this for myself.

It was good, but next time I'm picking my own dessert, darn it!

Joyeux Anniversaire de Mariage!

Coffee...

...candy...

...a rose for the lady...

...and more candy! Way better than the stuff Victoria & Albert's gave us.

We settled our bill, added a tip for our servers and headed out. Overall I really, really enjoyed this meal a lot, but poor Will couldn't relax because he felt so uncomfortable the entire time. Initially after this trip ended we both agreed that Remy was a one-time thing for us, but as time went on I was leaning toward trying it again - especially since I don't think Will fully enjoyed it as much as he could have. After some gentle prodding he agree, so as I mentioned above, we'll be dining at Remy on the Fantasy this summer. Yay!!

Continued in Next Post

 

[FFigawi]

I love the V&A dinner and wine pairing. It's something we always do when we're at Disney, and we try for a table in the Queen Victoria room. Great way to celebrate the end of marathon week, for example.

 

[steph0808]

Because it's not a running report!

Honestly, I think DCL may be my favorite way to experience Disney (except for runDisney, of course).

I don't care - I think you write the best TRs!

I think I might be a stalker...

 

[ZellyB]

Hey!! I also missed out that you had a new TR going. I never look in the Cruise forums so I missed it. I'm caught up now, but only a portion of your awesome pictures are showing up for me on this computer. I'll have to go back and look later on a different PC to see if they show up there.

The trip looks amazing so far. I'm so glad that your schemin' seems to have worked and that Will is a cruise convert.

We love V&A and also did the full wine pairing when we went. We were hammered by the end of it. LOL. But it was a great night and amazing meal. I think we may try to go again when we are there to run the Wine and Dine. Even though we swore after paying that bill the first time that it was a "one and done" thing. HA! I seem to remember saying that after I ran my first marathon too.

Can't wait to read more and so happy I found this TR.

 

[pierresgirl]

Love it! I'm with you on the Med cruise being my Dream. Your pictures are wonderful! I got boarding group 4 and thought that was good, #2? Looks like you had a similar day on CC weather wise as I did! Sorry about the 5K experience. Love the Remy and Rainforest pics and review.mind you, not much can go wrong!