Trip Report-Disney Dream, BLT, Animation resort and SSR.

[kyl]

Hello all....well we are back landed on the 19th but has taken me a few days to get onto the Disboards. Having Disney withdrawals already
So here goes
DAY 1
Qantas flight QF7 flying economy. Two adults and three children. We bought the AA 30 day lounge pass. Got into the Qantas lounge at Sydney but the guy who let us in acted like he was doing us a favour. I had printed out the rules of the AA pass and pointed out to him but he said "yeah but I should only let you in and one guest". Although AA clearly states otherwise. What ever he let us in and was nice but thought he was doing me favour in doing so. So in we go glass of white lunch kids play area. It was worth the $100 just for that! Flight went well. At first we thought we had a spare seat but when we got onboard a very over weight man with a broken arm had taken itWe were squashed! I asked the flight attendant if he could make the man more comfortable by moving him to a spare seat. To my surprise he did! Yay we had a spare seat, this meant our son could lay down. Food onboard was alright, we were starving at one point must of been a meal time back home. Right then and there they handed out pizza slices these were yummy!. That was after our meal about three hours after. The food on the way over was much better than coming home. On the way home it was not near as nice nor near as much. So we landed in DWF. I love this airport compared to LAX! Way less busy and more organised, clean the list goes on. We had a four hour lay over so went to the AA lounge. I planned to have showeres during this time as we would land in MCO at 9.30pm. Asking for five towels was like trying to get blood out of a stone. The mexian lady I think she thought I wanted five all to myself who knows but she wasn't happy about handing them over. Lady at the front desk asked for our boarding passes before giving me the key to the showers. This was no Qantas lounge believe me. So we got our showers and were on time for the flight. The AA lounge I should mention has very little free food. Apples and pretzels. Coffee and water thats it!!! Kids section was o.k had a few computers for them to play on. We did have dinner at "Fridays" prior to boarding as the food in the AA lounge that was for purchase wasn't that nice looking. We found Fridays to be quite good though. Hubby got burger fries, two younger ones shared a kids meal of chicken bites and fries (it was big enough really for all three of them). DD13 and I had a salad each. With full bellys we got to our gate to find them boarding us. This flight was nothing it felt like a 5mins compared to the SYD to DFW leg. The AA aircraft was old outdated but it got us there in one piece so what more can I ask for. We got our luggage after landing and headed straight to MCO Hyatt. I was so glad I had booked this as we were so jet lagged by this time it was very nice to just roll into our beds. Nice hotel. I mentioned that we were Disney Cruise customers. We were given a note about what to do with our luggage. A nice gentleman came and picked our bags up out of our room at 8am. Next time we saw them was on the Cruise. Day 2 coming up

 

[kyl]

I know someone on here once told me but please help out a computer dummy....how do I post my photos on here?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hey Kyl. Welcome back.

Sounds like you've had a great time. Can't wait to read more.....and here's the link to the DisVideos. One of them should show you how to post pictures.




http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1947588

 

[alicia1506]

Hey kyl. Welcome back!! Subbing in

 

[Oz-kateer]

We're doing a similar thing next year - waiting for the next instalment with baited breath....

 

[kyl]

sek/USA2012182.jpg[/url]

 

[PrincessInOz]

Kyl - I hope you don't mind. I changed these so that we could see the pictures in this post.

If you've loaded these into Photobucket, just copy the entire string for the IMG Code (not the HTML code) and paste it into your post.



BTW - These pictures on board look great!

 

[kyl]

So we all woke up at 7am after our lovely sleep in our beds at MCO Hyatt. I decided to order breaky from room service. It wasn't cheap but it was nice! We had eggs (free range) toast, cereal yogart with fruit. It was alot of food cost $65. Not to bad as we were all so tired still and wanted to have showers etc taking our time before going down stairs to the DCL desk.
We were a little confused by the note the night prior about our luggage so DH went to the Hyatt desk just to check. They said just leave it in your room but make sure you have your luggage tags on from DCL. But at 8am or maybe it was 8.30am we got a knock at the door. It was the bellman coming to get our bags. We never saw them again until that night, it was nice not to worry about them! I did have a couple of carry ons. As I had our swimmers packed ready for the pool when we boardered. We were one of the first to the DCL desk that morning. It was 9am and we were ready, with bags under our eyes but excited and ready never the less!
We were told that they could not give us our boarding passes as we were international travellers and would need to check in at port. Ahhhh bummer as the others got group 1 to board. Oh well we were on the first bus so that was something. The bus left MCO at about 10ish. It took about 50mins to get to port canveral. What a breath taking view it was as we sat in the Mickey coach and pulled into see the three big cruises at port. Of course the Dream was the best looking of them all All those months of planning and internet searching had paid off! She is something else....my word we were in for a good time.
We lined up for all of five minutes once pass customs at port to be given our boarding passes and told we were group number 4. After this we got DD9 and DS5 wrist bands and registration for the kids club. These stayed on them the whole time we cruised. It was an easy way to "sign" them into the oceaners club through out the trip. They also must have some sort of tracking device on them as each time I picked the kids up the childcare worker would check on her computer and tell me which room each one was in. Very cleaver and very disney.
Anyway getting of topic a little. So they call group four up 15 minutes after calling the first three groups. Not to bad I thought. We had our photo taken prior to getting onboard. Yes they welcomed us with our family name onto the ship but I don't know it was kinda a bit lame....only a hand full of people there clapping you in. Looks on some faces like "how many times will be doing this today". Others looked happy enough...either way we were on. A lovely young girl came over to us as we walked in and told us the Cabanas was open on level 11 for lunch. She directed us to the lift. It was magic going in that lift. Just a beautiful ship to say the least. Lift doors open more disney staff at the lift to assist us and direct us to lunch. O.k but did I just see cocktails....yes I did so over I go. It was all pretty and ohhhh nice and strong. It was "drink of the day". Cost $13 for the first one then refils each day were only $4.95. The cup was a plastic cocktail cup with a disney cruise line logo. I have to say each day the "drink of the day" was nice...maybe a little to nice
So we find a table at the Cabanas to sit at. Drinks were at the soft drink station so it was a help your self situation. The food was buffet style. Saying that it was lovely food! If you couldn't find something to eat there then you would have to have something wrong! We had prawns, crab salad etc. Kids had nuggets, chips vegies. Then desert bar, wow it was nice. Only down fall was the prawns. Whilst nice you could tell they had been frozen. Not like our prawns from Austalia were you can taste the fresh sea water. But they were nice don't get me wrong.
DD13 wanted to check out vibe, the tween club for children ages 11yrs-13yrs. She was a little worried about going but out of all the three she connected best with other children from the kids club. This is not usually the case with here as she is rather shy. Anyway the guy up in Vibe assured me of her safety and that she could contact me anytime or leave when she wanted to. He explained how she should really go to the first night as this is when they ask the kids what activites that would like to do on the cruise. After we did this we meet DH down at the pool, swimmers on kids in pool so Hubby and DD9 decide they want to ride the aqua duck. Well they rode it alright, they got stuck on it and the ride was shut down for 30mins after thisAlthough I was disappointed for DD9 as this was enough to turn her off the ride for the entire cruise
Anyway once it got going again DD13 and I went on it. Wow it was FAST at first and I thought wow did not expect that. I am not a ride person so to others this ride would be a walk in the park but for me I was shaking when I got off. I liked it but I was happy to of done it and that be it. DD13 did say later on that the time we rode was much faster than any of the other times she had rode. Maybe there was a problem with it as it had only been 30mins since they had it working again after my DH got stuck.
So after about an hour it was 2.30pm ish we decided to go and check out our cabin...so exciting. We would of done this first but you can not get into your cabins until 1.30pm. Whilst small for five people we never felt squashed? Maybe because our beds were always made up in the morning and folded away? Our room attendant indroduced himself his name Katut. We had a little laugh as we always joke about that add with Katut and Ronda. When he walked out my DH said oh you have very nice broken foot. It was funny. He was lovely and nothing was ever a problem for him. Would even run ahead of me if he saw my hands full and open the cabin door. He was a true gentleman and I take my hat of to disney for employing such people who know how to give such good customer service.
We got showered and dressed. Decided to check out the Oceaners club for DD9 and DS5. Looked like fun. Lots of computers etc. My only complaint about the Oceaners club was that DD9 found it boaring at times. They didn't really encourage interaction with kids between them. If that makes sense. Like maybe a little getting to know you game or something might of been nice. DS5 couldn't of cared less about that he was all for the computers! But I know we would have to almost bribe DD9 to go
I had joined a Facebook group for this cruise and we had a meet at 3pm in the family lounge. This was a flop....and a disappointment. It was one of those awakward moments when you just want to leave but you don't want to be rude. In the end we just left....this was our holiday to be enjoyed.
We walked around the ship a bit attended the safety drill at 4pm which took 30mins. Then had coffee with double shots at the coffee shop. DS5 just couldn't take it anymore and he feel asleep. Bless his little sole he was well worn out. But alas we were on a disney cruise and this was no time for sleep!
We got ready for dinner and headed back up to Deck 11 for the sailing away party. Well we made it for the last song! Another "drink of the day" was needed! Dinner reservations that night were at Animators plate.....to be continued.

 

[kyl]

Thanks princess in Oz!

 

[aussietravellers]

Welcome Home Kyl!

Loving the report so far and looking forward to reading more

 

[Travel Mum]

Ooohh Kyl, your TR -how exciting!!! Welcome home and I hope you had a great trip. I look forward to hearing all about it

 

[australiankaren]

great to hear about the cruise from a family point of view....and yes some of the airline clubs are a tad sad...and that why they call them "lounge dragons" the people at the front desk......some can be downright nasty....

 

[DizOz]

Don't worry Kyl I have had that done to me as well and I have been a Qantas Club member for over 10 years. Person at the door tried to tell me I could only bring in 1 guest. My DD aged 3 and 6 at the time weren't allowed in as they needed the space.

Finally got inside with entire family and the QC was empty we were the only ones in there. I'll give them one point it did get crowded later but no one missed out.

Sometimes they just don't get it. Customer service is about the little things, that is what customers appreciate.

I am so jealous as I loved our Disney Cruise but DW doesn't want to go on our next trip.

Can't wait for the rest of your TR.

 

[5ofus]

Loving this report. We'll be a family of five on a Disney cruise in a few years so looking forward to hearing more

 

[kyl]

Dinner at Animators was nice. We were welcomed in and sat with another family. It didn't occur to me that we would be sitting with others as we are a family of five. I thought that would mean a table to ourselves.
But I am so glad we meet this family. Lovely lovely couple who had a 13yr old daughter! Just what our DD13 needed. These two spend the whole cruise together and they formed such a friendship in only four days it is amazing. I have to say we too bonded with her parents straight away. Sometimes in life you just click with others and this was one of those times. They are now planning a trip to visit us next year. Of which we are all very excited And of course we are all planning the next Disney Cruise for 2014! Wish Disney would bring out the dates for 2014. Anyway as I had already had two "drinks of the day" I was well happy. The ship was quite rocky this night, I didn't know at first if it was me in my "happy" state or it was the ship. However a trip to the bathroom assured me that the ship was moving quite a bit. As I stubbled to the bathroom it was full of guest throwing up
Now this might sound really mean but I was happy as I didn't feel sea sick. I really was worried that I would as we have never sailed before. But I was fine. I mean you are talking to someone who had to stay in hospital for 3 weeks on a drip because I had morning sickness so bad with my third! So sea sickness was a concern. I did however use Shhhh advice and had pressure on all our wrist with ECG stickers. A cheap alternative to sea bands, but hey it worked for all
As we were all very jet lagged after dinner we went to our room. DD13 went to vibe with her new best friend. She took a wave phone with her so that she could call us if needed. I have to say we all feel asleep. At 11pm in rocks DD13 We had told her to call us and we would walk her back to the cabin. But we soon learnt that she was fine as long as she stayed in a group and had the wave phone. We did lay down the rules of letting us know where she was if she moved with the group around the ship. She would call us and say "we are going to see a movie" etc. It was great for her.....gone all day and we would see her and her friend both turn up for dinner. The other two did do kids club but not as often as I would of liked! The ship is beautiful and I have to say we slept well that night. With full bellys it was nice coming back to our room after dinner to find it all made up with chocolates and a navigator explaining what was happening the next day. Anyway I best be off to work now as I need to start saving for the next trip Coming up DAY 3! Nassau......

 

[5ofus]

Super lucky that you dined with a good family. It's always worried me on cruises that I'll be sat next to somebody incomparable, but so far so good.

What are the wave phones?

 

[Travel Mum]

What are the wave phones?

Yes, what are they? I've never heard of them and wonder if the are DCL thing?

 

[Travel Mum]

Yes, what are they? I've never heard of them and wonder if the are DCL thing?

I just Googled it and I get it now

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Kyl - I am so loving your trip report. So much wonderful information and it just sounds like you are in such an awesome frame of mind for your trip.

Can't wait to hear more.

 

[kyl]

Thanks guys. The wave phones are in your cabin. You get two of them. They look just like a portable phone really. But you can use them on the ship for free, only to call others on the ship that is. So its kinda like a mobile phone on the ship. As you get two, we would take one with us and give one to DD13. That way we could contact each other where ever we were onboard. It also worked at Castaway Cay! They were very handy thats for sure!