The Goodys 1st Cruise! -TRIP REPORT Updated 2/17/12 Page 6

[Queenofallthings]

I am joining in and loving your TR!! You have a beautiful family and it looks and sounds like you're having a ball so far!!

 

[mommy2mb]

Joining in! Just found your report working on getting caught up.

 

[marhs]

I'm subbing too! Great report so far!

 

[stinksmom]

I just found your trip report and I love it! It's very similar to the trip we are taking for Spring Break. We have 4 nights at WL and then on the 5 night Dream cruise We did a 4 night cruise on the Dream in June and loved it. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

 

[dara00]

can't wait to read about the cruise!

 

[my2disneyboys]

Love your trip report so far....anxious to read about your cruise...i have been researching cruises lately and we are thinking about doing one next year. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge in October and I can't wait.....so excited

You are going to LOVE the Wilderness Lodge!!!!

I am joining in and loving your TR!! You have a beautiful family and it looks and sounds like you're having a ball so far!!

Awe- thank you so much!! We really were having such a blast!!!

Joining in! Just found your report working on getting caught up.

Welcome!!

I'm subbing too! Great report so far!

Thank you!!!

I just found your trip report and I love it! It's very similar to the trip we are taking for Spring Break. We have 4 nights at WL and then on the 5 night Dream cruise We did a 4 night cruise on the Dream in June and loved it. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

I am jealous!!! I want to be back there right now!!!!

can't wait to read about the cruise!

Welcome!!!

 

[my2disneyboys]

Day 4 Thursday February 2nd!!!!! The day we would go on our first ever cruise!!!!

Today I woke up early! I couldn't sleep.... just so anxious about the cruise. Would I get sick? Would I like it? Would the limo driver show up? I was so happy at The Wilderness Lodge and loving Disney and after only having 2 days I just DID NOT want to leave.

I decided to get up and go get some coffee, so I grabbed my camera and my phone and off I went. I normally wouldn't feel safe walking around a strange place, but the Wilderness Lodge felt so safe and comfortable to me.

Roaring Forks at 6AM

After getting my coffee, I went to sit on the rocking chairs and I gave my mom a call. I talk to her every day and I wouldnt be able to talk to her on the cruise so we talked for about 30 minutes and then I noticed the sun coming up so I decided to take some pictures. I can't believe how peaceful this place is. It is so beautiful!

So after my little photo shoot, I brought Wayne a coffee, and went back up to the room. They were just waking up and we went down to Roaring forks for some breakfast. This is the only thing I can think of as a negative about the Wilderness Lodge: Roaring Forks is TINY and they do not have much of a selection. What we did have was really good and they have seating right outside which was really nice.

After breakfast we took the kids to the gift shop (which was great) and we bought some gifts - the kids each got a chip and dale vinylmation with the glasses.... which Owen lost his glasses on the way back to the room and then I spent the next 30 minutes looking for a tiny pair of chipmunk glasses.... I found them though!! Wayne and I were both so excited and kept looking at eachother and saying, "we are going on a cruise today!!!"

So I was really nervous about the limo. I had read some great reviews about him on the DIS but I just had a feeling like he wasnt going to show up! At 9:45a.m. he gave us a ring and said he would be there on time at 10:00! PHEW! So at 10:00, we went down and he was out front.
hmmm..............................................................................................

The limo looked like it was from the 70's.... not exactly what I was expecting. The kids were a little excited, and then we were off heading to the cruise. The inside of the limo was a little scary. There was a zebra print pillow and the glasses all had lipstick on them... and their were strobe lights.... and the AC didn't work..... and the driver was scary! DIS...... you REALLY let me down here. The kids didn't really notice, and watched firehouse dog the whole way there. Well after they fought for 5 minutes over which movie they would watch!

We made a stop at the Liquor store and stocked up on 5 bottles of wine and a case of beer! We had to put this in our carry-on luggage..... and it was HEAVY!!!!

Ok so 45 minutes and we saw it........ OMG It was so pretty!!!!!!!!! I got total goosebumps!!! As we were pulling into the parking lot "Good Life - the song from all the Disney commercials and also my ringtone) came on!!! MAGIC!

Up Next: Getting on the DREAM!

 

[Marcy Mouse]

I'm going on the Fantasy in 3 months and your TR is getting me excited

 

[Queenofallthings]

I don't think there is anything better than getting up early at Disney and heading out! I can never sleep in a Disney so I usually do the same thing, wander around the resort taking pictures! It is so peaceful and I love the morning smells of Florida!

I told Jasmine about your TR so she was reading over my shoulder and she said that's exactly how she felt when she saw the Magic last February! She said she felt like crying she was so happy to be going!

 

[In Luv with Disney]

I am loving your Trip Report! I will be doing a similar trip in less than 2 months...yay!

We will be staying at Bay Lake Tower Easter weekend...we check in Saturday and we sail on our 5 night Dream cruise on Tuesday. We are ending the trip with our last night back at WDW...staying at Beach Club for the first time.

I can't wait to read more!

P.S. sorry about the Pats...from a Native New Yorker.

 

[markuehl]

Great report thank you! We are staying at the Wilderness lodge for two nights before our June 5 day Dream cruise glad to see we made a good choice!

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I'm enjoying your report!

We are going in June and have an 8:10 a.m. reservation at the Crystal Palace. We've never done one of the early ADRs and I"m wondering if there are photopass people in front of the castle that early? Thanks.

 

[Toria]

Lovin your TR! Especially since I am a Patriots fan tooo!

 

[my2disneyboys]

I'm going on the Fantasy in 3 months and your TR is getting me excited

YAY!!! Fantasy looks amazing!!!!

I don't think there is anything better than getting up early at Disney and heading out! I can never sleep in a Disney so I usually do the same thing, wander around the resort taking pictures! It is so peaceful and I love the morning smells of Florida!

I told Jasmine about your TR so she was reading over my shoulder and she said that's exactly how she felt when she saw the Magic last February! She said she felt like crying she was so happy to be going!

I miss it already!!! Isn't it so special sharing this with our kids!?

I am loving your Trip Report! I will be doing a similar trip in less than 2 months...yay!

We will be staying at Bay Lake Tower Easter weekend...we check in Saturday and we sail on our 5 night Dream cruise on Tuesday. We are ending the trip with our last night back at WDW...staying at Beach Club for the first time.

I can't wait to read more!

P.S. sorry about the Pats...from a Native New Yorker.

GO PATS! We have next year! I think it sound slike you have ana amzing trip planned. I wishe we had done a 5 night on the dream instead of the 3 night!!! It was WAY too crowded and I hear the longer ones are SO much nicer. If only I had known that before I went!!!

Great report thank you! We are staying at the Wilderness lodge for two nights before our June 5 day Dream cruise glad to see we made a good choice!

Luck you!!! Like I said above I iwsh I had done the 5 nights!!!

I'm enjoying your report!

We are going in June and have an 8:10 a.m. reservation at the Crystal Palace. We've never done one of the early ADRs and I"m wondering if there are photopass people in front of the castle that early? Thanks.

Thanks!! YES! They are out there for sure. You will love getting in the park early. It is soooo great!!

Lovin your TR! Especially since I am a Patriots fan tooo!

Love all the PATS fans on my thread!! Thanks!!

 

[JJBEAN]

Your TR is so much fun!! What a lovely family you have! I can't wait to hear all about your adventures on the Dream!

 

[my2disneyboys]

Your TR is so much fun!! What a lovely family you have! I can't wait to hear all about your adventures on the Dream!

Thank you so much! Very kind of you. YAY! First day on the Dream is coming right up!!

 

[KatMark]

Nic, sorry I'm behind (we were at the high school working a wrestling tournament all weekend).

I'm sorry you had such disappointing serve at LTT for your dinner. We've never done dinner, only lunch (I'm not a Thanksgiving dinner type of person so we chose lunch instead). However, there is no excuse for poor service for any reason.

Love the Wishes fireworks pictures.

And your photoshoot when you got up departure morning for the cruise are wonderfu. I really like the sunrise pictures.

 

[my2disneyboys]

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, The Disney song from One Republic ""Good Life" just came on the radio- Everyone in our limo was singing as we pulled up to the curb outisde the Dream Terminal.

I really wasn't too sure what would happen here. I was dreading bringing all our luggage into the terminal but guess what!? As soon as we pulled over, these guys came over and said leave your luggage here and checked to make sure it was all tagged with the Disney Cruise Line Tags they sent and we got into a small line to check in. We needed our cruise docs and our ID's. Then we proceeded into the terminal. We had said we would be there around 11:30 and it turned out we didn't arrive until noon so after waiting in a small line to check in and show our birth certificates and ID's, they told us that our boarding number had already been called so we could go ahead and board the ship!!! The problem for the kids was that they saw Mickey in the terminal. But I was too anxious to Board the ship and our bags were so heavy, so I convinced them that we would be seeing lot's of Mickey!!

So we went into another line and got our picture taken and then before you knew it we WERE BOARDING THE SHIP!!! It was SOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we stepped into the BEAUTIFUL lobby, our name was announced and we were directed to Cabanas for lunch. My first impression: It was stunning. But not as BIG as I pictured in my mind. I don't know why but I thought the lobby would be eight stories high or something, but it was only 3 (i think!?). Still, it was very beautiful!!

We decided to go to the Kid's Club to register the kiddos and get their bracelets. The kids were WIRED! They were like, "I want to go swimming!!" "I want to go to the kid's club", "I want to go on the Aqua Duck" 'I want to go to Nemos Reef" ...were all on overload.... the kids wanting to go everywhere, the masses of people everywhere... trying to figure out where we were going.... all while lugging all our HEAVY carry-on bags!!! It was stressful. After we got the kids all checked in we were told they could come back anytime after 6PM. While I sat in there and answered some questions about the boys, I could feel the boat rocking. It made me nervous because we were not even moving yet!!

Myles gave us a litle clue here and begged us if he could stay... but he couldnt because it wasnt open until 6.... Later I would find out that my child wanted NOTHING to do with his family on this trip and ONLY wanted to be in the Kid's Club.

After leaving the kids club we saw Goofy walking down the hall! The boys ran up and gave him a hug and it was great that we had already got to hug one of our favorite characters!!

So we headed up to Cabanas to get lunch. The entire deck 11 was INSANE. We stopped by the pool deck and freaked out a little because the scene was so crazy. The pools were JAMMED PACKED. Like you almost couldnt even see water, just heads! There were kids running, and slipping (the deck was so slippery) and falling all over the place. There were no available chairs on deck 11. The line for the Aquaduck was crazy long. Didn't I read on here that the best time to ride the Aquaduck was when you first get on the ship!!??

I can tell you one thing.... it looked NOTHING like this!

I WISH I took a picture of what it did look. I was WAY crazed to even think of taking a picture.

We found a spot in Cabanas and sat down and took a deep breath. We took turns getting up to get some lunch. The food was pretty good. To be honest, I couldnt even eat though. I was WAY too stressed. While I was sitting there, atleast 12 people came up to me asking if I wanted a drink! We all had drinks!! GAH, I was SO STRESSED!!!!! After lunch we decided to brave the insanity and put on our suits. We waited in lines at the restrooms for a bout 10 minutes or so... I got to chat with some other women who all shared the same feelings of "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON OUT THERE!!!!". So, there were no available seats on deck 11 so we went up to deck 12. Away from the masses of people and screaming children. We put all our bags down and got a drink. Our room would be ready in 30 minutes. Wayne took Myles to ride the Aquaduck (it took them the full 30 minutes) and I took Owen to Nemo's Reef. Nemo's Reef was insane. The kids in there with no parents anywhere in sight were all running and slipping- I was afraid for Owen so I actually went into Nemo's reef with him to make sure the big kids (that shouldnt have even been in there) didn't plow him over. I can't even tell you how many times while I was in there I saw kids geting knocked out or hitting their heads on the slides and stuff.

My TIP to anyone going on a 3 day Cruise- NEVER, EVER head to Deck 11 before the rooms are available at 1:30! I wish we had just gone to Enchanted Garden for the sit down lunch and waited for our rooms to be ready.

My poor friend Laura. She had never done Disney anything before. She was in shock at what she saw. She was really scared how the rest of the cruise would be. I was pretty afraid too. We were both already missing the peaceful and beautiful Wilderness Lodge!!

Finally it was 1:30 and we all met and got our bags together and headed to our rooms. Well we tried.... 3 elevators went by and we just decided to take the stairs... bags and all.

As soon as we got into our room things changed. Our room was AMAZING. It was beautiful. I LOVED the verandah. We spent the next hour or so unpacking and then sat on the verandah with some wine. :cloud9

Our view when we looked up were of the glass bottom hot tubs - Also known as the "Butt Tubs" to our kids Everytime we would look up someone was sitting in there, we had a great view of their butt's! The kids cracked up everytime they went on the verandah!

We had adjoining rooms with our friends so the kids would pop between the two rooms and our verandah was open between the two rooms- so it was REALLY nice!!

Before you knew it, it was time for the Muster Drill.

It was confusing... we were not sure exactly where to go... it just said "E" What the heck does "E" mean!? We asked our room service attendant (Nicole- who was quite lovely) and she told us it was Buena Vista Theatre. So the muster drill was pretty quick- it was VERY hard to hear what she was saying though and people kept yelling "shh" there wasnt any seats available when we got down there oh and the elevator was full again so we walked the stairs!

When that was over, we stopped by the shuffleboard courts for the boys first lessons.

Then we headed up to deck 11 for the sail away party. WRONG! Deck 11 was full to capacity and we were directed to deck 12. So we watched from deck 12 which was fine with me. We had plenty of room up there and the kids could actually dance along and they were able to get up close to the railing and watch it on the Big Screen!

We had brought some wine and enjoyed our wine and watching our kids. The weather was beautiful and despite the craziness, we all started to relax a little and got SO excited when we heard the boat horns go off and the boat start to move!!!! I just can't even describe that feeling!! Our family back home was watching on the Port Canaveral Web Cam so we waved goodbye to them and hung out on the 12th deck for a bit while the boat sailed out into the sunset!!!

Up Next:
Dinner and our first night on the Dream!!

 

[KatMark]

STOP STOP STOP! You are the second TR I am responding to today that as I'm responding you are posting another update.

The ship's lobby is beautiful -- stunning actually. I'm sorry about the mob scene and you getting stressed out. If I had little ones, I would be stressed out too. Actually, even without little ones, that sight might have stressed me out.

The kids club looks cool and I can see why your son wanted to spend all his time there.

 

[dara00]

I think most cruise first days and last days are kind of crazy. with so many kids on board it must have been worse! (I've done 3 days cruises on Carnival). Sounds stressful though!