We Survived! 9 days of land & sea - with a 3 year old! -9/1- NEW PIC I HAD TO SHARE!

[amandaw]

What a great CM you had at dinner keeping Reid occupied and happy.

He was truly great! I don't think he knows how much I appreciated him.

Love the creature on the bed too!

I was so happy when we walked into the room & saw it! It was so neat!

 

[amandaw]

We woke up at 8 am feeling very refreshed. The bed and the pillows on the Dream are unbelievable comfortable! If I could've figured out a way to get that bed off the boat & into my house, I would've done it! Even Ed loved it & he is picky about beds & pillows when we vacation.

The boat was docking in Nassau, so the first thing I wanted to do was step onto our veranda & enjoy the scenery. Would you like to see it?







When I stepped back into the room, Ed was reading the navigator for the day. He told me to come to the bed & look at something in it. He pointed to a certain character meet-n-greet that was going to be happening rather soon. My jaw dropped when I saw who it was because I knew Reid would FLIP OUT! So, we quickly got the 3 of us dressed & headed out to find this person.

We were nearly to our destination when I saw these chicks hanging out:



We continued on our way to line up for our meet-n-greet & were very excited to find that we were only the 2nd family in line! Now, we were on deck 4 (midship), so we were overlooking the main level of the atrium. We could see families with tons of girls lined up downstairs and knew they must be waiting on some princess(es). All of a sudden, trumpets sounded & a man began announcing the princesses. When a princess was announced, she would walk to the balcony on deck 4 & wave & then make her way down to the main level on deck 3. Since there are balconies on both sides of deck 4, there were 3 princesses on one side & 3 on the other. Here's a few pics I managed to snap.







I have to say that I thought it is really neat the way they do the princess meet-n-greets on the cruise. Basically, you stand in one line & get to meet all 6. They had Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Belle, Tiana & Ariel.

Watching the arrival of the princesses helped pass the time for us. And then, we finally saw who we'd been waiting for:



Reid was so excited when he saw him! The family in front us went & then it was Reid's turn. When Peter Pan saw Reid, he bent down to his level and said, "Do we have a lost boy here?" I thought that was so cute & said, "Oh no, Peter, he has a Mommy right here." So, then Peter looked at Reid's shirt which had a pirate ship on it & asked if he had come from the Jolly Roger. Reid was loving all this!



Peter got Reid to pose with him. This is probably my favorite picture from our entire vacation.



After meeting Peter Pan, we realized we had forgotten about breakfast & were all pretty hungry. We decided to head down to deck 2 & go to the breakfast buffet in the Enchanted Garden restaurant. On our way down there, we saw Pluto walking the halls. There were a few times during the cruise that we would see characters walking the halls. They walk very quickly & we never called out to them to try & stop them for pics or anything. Reid was just happy seeing them walking around. We arrived at Enchanted Garden and were seated very quickly. The buffet had lots of options including Mickey Waffles! I had read on the DIS that the Dream didn't have Mickey waffles, but they did on this day!

With our bellies full, we decided to head back to our room & decide how we wanted to spend our time before lunch. When we got into the room, I had to step onto the veranda to take more pics since we were actually docked in Nassau now.





UP NEXT: What will we do before it's time for lunch?

 

[lbuzz52]

That is a great picture of Reid with Peter! I love the way they have the princess meet and greet set up. It would be nice to knock them all out with one line!

 

[afwdwfan]

Once again, love the pictures from the veranda!

That's really cool how they do the character meets on the cruise. I love the idea of characters just walking the halls, kind of like it used to be in the parks. It looks like Reid had a great time meeting Peter Pan!

 

[amandaw]

That is a great picture of Reid with Peter! I love the way they have the princess meet and greet set up. It would be nice to knock them all out with one line!

Thank you! I thought that was really cool the way they had the princesses. And I loved their "royal" announcement! It really set the mood for them to be there.

Once again, love the pictures from the veranda!

Thank you! I could've stayed on that veranda the whole trip just taking pictures & I would've been happy. It really is peaceful.

That's really cool how they do the character meets on the cruise. I love the idea of characters just walking the halls, kind of like it used to be in the parks. It looks like Reid had a great time meeting Peter Pan!

I really liked how they did the character meets on the boats. We didn't do many since Reid has met most characters in the parks several times. But, since he had never met Peter, we HAD to meet him. He was so excited. I wish I could've gotten a picture of his face when he first saw him. He was grinning ear to ear. It was priceless! Seeing the characters walking the halls was so neat. It would just make all of us smile when we saw one near us.

 

[harleyquinn]

That picture with Peter is worth the price of the cruise! Well...okay maybe not THAT much, but wow!

 

[amandaw]

That picture with Peter is worth the price of the cruise! Well...okay maybe not THAT much, but wow!

I'll say that it is at least worth every penny I paid for it. In fact, Reid & I went to the store today to buy a frame for this picture. We got home & put it in the frame & it's now in his new bedroom. He was so excited! Ed came home to have lunch with us & that was the first thing he had to show his Daddy.

 

[PirateKate]

Love the picture with Peter Pan! How cool that Reid got to meet him. I think it would be really cool to just see Disney characters walking down the hall.

Landon has the pirate ship shirt, too. We must have similar taste in boy clothes.

Can't wait to see what you did in Nassau. I'm guessing Atlantis.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Back and All caught up!!!!! Your very detailed descriptions of the Dream are thrilling me. I can't wait to read more about it. It's a big contender for 2012

 

[CandleontheWater]

How exciting that Reid got to meet one of his favorite characters! I LOVE the photo of him and Peter and how perfect that he is wearing a pirate shirt!

All the Princesses look fun too, I love how they made a Royal entrance down the stairway!

 

[amandaw]

Love the picture with Peter Pan! How cool that Reid got to meet him. I think it would be really cool to just see Disney characters walking down the hall.

Landon has the pirate ship shirt, too. We must have similar taste in boy clothes.

Can't wait to see what you did in Nassau. I'm guessing Atlantis.

Thanks! I was so excited for Reid that he got to meet Peter. It really just put a smile on all 3 of our faces anytime we saw a character randomly walking around.

That's too funny that Landon has that shirt also. Great minds think alike! And isn't hard to find really cute boys clothing?

Back and All caught up!!!!! Your very detailed descriptions of the Dream are thrilling me. I can't wait to read more about it. It's a big contender for 2012

Glad to have you back! I'm so glad you're enjoying all the Dream details. I tried to do my best in journaling on the vacation to remember everything. I'm so afraid I'll forgot something important to tell y'all! I would definitely recommend checking it out! I can't wait until we can do another Disney cruise, although it'll be a few years.

How exciting that Reid got to meet one of his favorite characters! I LOVE the photo of him and Peter and how perfect that he is wearing a pirate shirt!

All the Princesses look fun too, I love how they made a Royal entrance down the stairway!

I had read online prior to our cruise that Peter Pan was on the boat, but you just never know for sure. So, I was really thrilled that Ed had looked at the navigator first thing that morning so we didn't miss him! I just framed his photo today & put it in his bedroom. He's so excited to have it in there!

I absolutely loved the way they announced the princesses & did their character meets. For anyone who has a daughter, I say the cruise is absolutely worth it if they love princesses!

 

[hstrickland]

Hi! Am I too late to join?! I actually found your TR while reading Emma's...I saw that yall did a Disney Cruise, so I was immediately drawn to it. We're doing one next summer. So...now I have to go back and play catch up!

Looking forward to more!
Heather

 

[amandaw]

Hi! Am I too late to join?! I actually found your TR while reading Emma's...I saw that yall did a Disney Cruise, so I was immediately drawn to it. We're doing one next summer. So...now I have to go back and play catch up!

Looking forward to more!
Heather

Welcome to my TR! If you ask me, it's never too late to join in on Disney story-telling fun. I'm glad you hopped on over to my TR from Emma's & I hope you find some helpful or, at least, interesting info on the cruise! I think your kids will absolutely love the cruise. Which ship are y'all going on next summer? I probably won't get to do another update until the end of the weekend, so get reading & catch up!

 

[pinkxray]

I love the picture of Reid with Peter Pan. He is so excited

 

[hstrickland]

Welcome to my TR! If you ask me, it's never too late to join in on Disney story-telling fun. I'm glad you hopped on over to my TR from Emma's & I hope you find some helpful or, at least, interesting info on the cruise! I think your kids will absolutely love the cruise. Which ship are y'all going on next summer? I probably won't get to do another update until the end of the weekend, so get reading & catch up!

We're going on the 5 day Dream with our entire family...it's my parents 45th Wedding Anniversary...my sister's family, too. It will be 11 total, so we're looking very forward to it.

Can't wait to see what you think about the WL CL...we've stayed at WL a couple of times, but not CL. DH loves that resort and would continue to stay there....I keep pulling him over to the monorail resorts though

Glad you're not getting to another update, yet! It will give me time to catch up! Not sure when I will update mine TR, either. I have a ton going on this weekend...maybe Sunday! Those things take time, don't they?!

Looking forward to more!
Heather

 

[hstrickland]

Just finished reading the entire TR! Love it! And great pictures, too! We would get along great...when at WDW, we always do Rope Drop. If I'm late, my entire day is thrown off!!!

I'm very excited to read your review about the Dream! We have Deck 7...Family Deluxe w/ veranda. Not sure if I could do a cruise without one...we are a family of 5, so we need the extra room! Glad to know check-in wasn't bad. I have read horror stories about the process. We plan on being there early to get in line...what do you think would be a decent time?? 11ish??

Can't wait to read more!
Heather

 

[amandaw]

I love the picture of Reid with Peter Pan. He is so excited

Thanks! I was so happy for him that he got to meet one of his favorite characters that he had never met before.

 

[amandaw]

We're going on the 5 day Dream with our entire family...it's my parents 45th Wedding Anniversary...my sister's family, too. It will be 11 total, so we're looking very forward to it.

How exciting! I think y'all will have an absolute blast! I wish I could do a Disney cruise with my whole family. But my family doesn't like doing Disney-related vacations with me. They don't understand why I feel the need to plan ahead for everything. So, they get aggravated with my planning & I get aggravated with their non-planning. So, we don't do Disney together anymore, just vacations like the beach.

Can't wait to see what you think about the WL CL...we've stayed at WL a couple of times, but not CL. DH loves that resort and would continue to stay there....I keep pulling him over to the monorail resorts though

CL was nice, although we probably didn't get our money's worth. But, we kinda figured that would be the case so we weren't disappointed. I really liked the convenience of having breakfast readily available since we're early risers & not big breakfast eaters. I don't know if I would do CL again. I would have to have another 40% pin that's for sure! I did like WL but I want to try some of the monorail resorts in the future. Well, I'd like to try each deluxe at least once!

Glad you're not getting to another update, yet! It will give me time to catch up! Not sure when I will update mine TR, either. I have a ton going on this weekend...maybe Sunday! Those things take time, don't they?!

Looking forward to more!
Heather

We have a busy weekend also. I'm also hoping to do an update on Sunday. And I saw the link to your TR in your post, so I want to hop on over there & read yours. I have a family lunch & get-together today that I'm not looking forward to. But, once that's done, I'll probably hop back on here to unwind.

Just finished reading the entire TR! Love it! And great pictures, too! We would get along great...when at WDW, we always do Rope Drop. If I'm late, my entire day is thrown off!!!

I'm glad you made it through the TR! I'm so glad you've enjoyed it! It definitely sounds like we would do well at WDW together! I can't stand to NOT start my day bright & early when I'm there. There's just so much to be done, there's no way I could just lay in bed. Thankfully, Ed just does whatever I want & Reid is an early riser!

I'm very excited to read your review about the Dream! We have Deck 7...Family Deluxe w/ veranda. Not sure if I could do a cruise without one...we are a family of 5, so we need the extra room! Glad to know check-in wasn't bad. I have read horror stories about the process. We plan on being there early to get in line...what do you think would be a decent time?? 11ish??

I think y'all will love Deck 7. I liked Deck 6, but do think 7 would be better. You're still not far from the kids clubs & pool decks, but shouldn't hear any noise from clubs, etc. After having a veranda on the Dream, I don't think I would want to cruise without one. It was just nice stepping out there for fresh air. And I also sat out there one afternoon to do some journaling. We got to the port at 11:30 & had absolutely no problems with check-in. I think 11 would be fine. And I would definitely do your online registration on the very first day it's available for you. Some people say the sooner you get that done, that it helps get you an earlier boarding number. I have absolutely no idea as to how you are assigned boarding numbers. But, I do know we had 16 & then the check-in lady gave us 5. And I had done our online registration very early in the morning on the day it become available to me. Not sure if that's what helped me or not, but it's definitely worth doing. And don't forget to go ahead & register kids online for the club. It's easier to do it online than waiting in line at the terminal to get it done! Feel free to ask any questions you may have!

 

[emma212010]

I'm back!!! Finally! Great updates! It sounds like you all are having so much fun!!! Reid is absolutely adorable!!

Oh my, your dinner made me drool!!! It sounded soooo good! That is too cute about your server cutting Reid's chicken and giving him ketchup in a mickey head shape!

It must be about 4 years ago now, my Dad's family and I went on a Carnival cruise, and it was so much fun! The dinners are always a great atmosphere, and the servers are so nice! I do remember one night when the boat was really rocking! It was hard to walk, and that was during formal night! So my best friend and I in our heels were trying to walk to the bathroom during dinner, but all of a sudden there was a big lunge in the boat, and there she goes down into some guy's lap who was innocently sitting there enjoying his dinner! That was all I could do! and ! It was bad! But, my point is that I totally understand the whole boat rocking thing! My brother got sick that night too! But he was fine the next day!

How cute!!! I saw Reid and Peter Pan's picture, and I just called to my mom to come see! That was too cute not to share!!!

I'm glad your having such a good time! I totally understand the not behaving at dinner thing! My brother (4 at the time of our cruise) would act up at the dinners too! I think the day was just so full for them that they were tired by the time dinner came along! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Meg1884]

Great report! I'm loving all of your pics and your view at the Wilderness Lodge is making me want to stay there for our next trip.