Disney Dream {May 2019}

Posted in Travel by Kendra G.

In April, we decided to take advantage of a last minute deal on a 3 night cruise on the Disney Dream in departing in May. It had been just over two years since we last sailed on the Disney Dream. You can read about that experience here and here.

Since we knew what to expect, we did a couple things differently this time around. We booked the earliest boarding time possible which was awesome, but we did wait a little bit longer in the terminal this time.

As soon as we arrived on the ship, we headed to eat lunch and explore.

Our room was a bit smaller than last time and it really made is realize how spoiled we were last time. Overall, it wasn’t bad. The kids had bunk beds and there was a divider between the king bed and bunk beds so we could at least watch TV after they went to bed.

The kids were excited to get checked into kids camp and we were excited for drinks after dinner on the first night!

This time around, I booked the Frozen experience and the Princess gathering for the kids to meet all the princesses while we were on the ship. It was such an easy process with very minimal wait times since we booked it in advance. I highly recommend it!

Our first day was a port stop at Nassau. We didn’t get off the ship so it was a great pool day! As an added bonus, Kenley lost a tooth while standing in line for water slide! Greg and I also did the mixology class again where we got to make a variety of drinks and learned about mixing them.

We came fully prepared for Pirate Night again this time. We even brought back our light up cups that we purchased two years ago.

Between dinner and the fireworks show, the kids went to kids camp to do some fun pirate activities while Greg and I went to the PINK champagne bar for a drink. It’s one of my favorite spots on the ship!

The next morning, we docked at Castaway Cay! This island does not disappoint. With exception of a short rainstorm, the weather was gorgeous. The kids tried out kids camp on the island for the first time and really enjoyed it. It worked out that they were in camp while it was raining so we didn’t have to entertain them under an umbrella.

Crosby even took a nap, which should have been a warning about what was to come…

After Castaway Cay, we ate at Animator’s Palace for our last night. It’s still our favorite restaurant! Since we were docking the next morning, we planned for the kids to go to school, so we didn’t stay up too late on our last night on the ship.

Unfortunately, Crosby woke up sick on Monday morning, so he walked off the ship carrying the bucket we use for sand toys and didn’t get to go to school. I felt so bad for the poor guy.

We had such a great time, but the 3 night cruise is so short! We felt like it was such a big difference from the 4 night cruise we did over spring break. We didn’t see any of the shows in the evenings which was something I wish we would have done. I felt like our time was fully booked and there was still more we could have done! The extra day at sea does allow for a lot more activities and more relaxation during the cruise. I would love to check out the other DCL ships and possibly leave from a different port the next time. However, I don’t think we’ll ever beat the convenience of Port Canaveral. We were home and Kenley was at school by 8:30am on Monday morning!

We’re already looking forward to sailing again!

5May2017

Disney Dream Part II // March 2017

Posted in Travel by Kendra G.

I’m back for the continuation of our spring break cruise aboard the Disney Dream. On day three, we docked at Castaway Cay! We had breakfast then headed off the ship to explore Disney’s private island.

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The tram from the ship to different spots on the island, but we opted to walk. I wish I would have grabbed the Ergo before heading off the ship because it wasn’t long before the kids were “so tired” of walking. Luckily, we passed by a row of strollers and wagons which ended up being free to use!

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The entire morning was spent playing in the sand and in the water. The water was a little chilly at first, but not too bad. We had lunch at the BBQ buffet on the island. Greg took Crosby back to the ship for a nap while we bummed around for a little bit longer. On our way back to the ship, we stopped into the shops and Kenley got her hair braided!

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Once we were back on the ship, it was time to get ready for pirate night! Based on everything I read about pirate night, it was a big deal so we were prepared for a full night of festivities. At dinner, the kids got a light up cup which I put to good use the rest of the night.

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After dinner, the kids went to camp and the adults got to explore. We checked out the pirate party that was happening on the pool deck, then we headed to the show of the night, JUNKK. It was really good and I think the kids would have liked it, but they were having a lot of fun getting their face painted in camp.

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We had a couple of hours between the end of the show and the start of fireworks at 10:30pm! We weren’t sure what we were going to do or if we should even be staying up that late, but we decided that it was vacation, so we were going to do it. In our free time, we saw some of our favorite characters in their pirate gear!

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This was the first time of the trip meeting Mickey and Minnie and I was happy we crossed it off our list that night. I didn’t feel like we had to make a point to see them on our last day. By the end of our character visits, we were rushing up to see the fireworks. After being so worried about all of our free time, we almost missed the fireworks show! We headed to the back of the ship and didn’t see any of the show leading up to the fireworks, but it was still really cool!

We headed right to bed after the fireworks show and were up early the next day for our day at sea! We didn’t have much planned for our last day, so the kids went to camp in the morning and the adults went to the adults only area of the ship. We had our fair share of ice cream cones, did some shopping, and continued to explore the ship.

My parents met us at dinner after winning at trivia. Our last night of dinner was in the Animator’s Palate, which was our favorite restaurant. We were lucky enough to sit by the interactive screen and the kids got to talk to Crush from Finding Nemo. It was really neat!

After dinner, the kids went back to camp for the last time and we headed to the pub to watch some March Madness basketball. The waves were crazy so we were swaying all over the place. After a couple of drinks, we got the kids and headed to the show, Disney’s Believe. I won’t share much about the show other than it was amazing! Everyone sat so nice and just loved it.

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The next morning, we headed back to Animator’s Palate for a very early breakfast and disembarked the ship. We were back home in Orlando by 8:30am and everyone was ready for a nap.

While there were certainly rocky moments and a couple attitude problems during the week, we had such a great time. We’re already looking forward to our next Disney cruise.

12Apr2017

Disney Dream // March 2017

Posted in Travel by Kendra G.

Over spring break, we headed over to Port Canaveral to finally embark on the Disney Dream! We originally booked our trip for October 2016 but didn’t board the ship due to Hurricane Matthew. We opted to re-book for spring break since the kids would be off school, so we waited another five months to set sail. For the whole month of March, I spent a lot of time on Pinterest reading all about the ship, what to do, what not to do, etc. and I still didn’t feel prepared for what was to come.

We drove over to the ship on Monday morning. The embarkation process was super quick and easy. We got checked in and right on the ship. I carried Crosby on my back in the Ergo so we didn’t have to worry about him wandering off. It worked out great for getting on and off the ship.

Once we were on the ship, we scoped it all out, had some lunch, and went to our rooms. We had connecting rooms with my parents and the rooms were huge! We lucked out when we re-booked and these rooms must have just opened up. They were twice the size of the other rooms on the ship and we had two windows! We are certainly spoiled for future cruises. I didn’t ever get a picture of it, but the couch turned into a bed and the top bunk came down from the ceiling. The kids took turns sleeping in the top bunk which was big fun for both of them.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Nemo’s Reef splash pad and the pool until it was time for our muster drill. After that was over, we headed up for the sail away party and waved goodbye to Florida for the week.

Dinner the first night was at the Enchanted Garden. We didn’t end up seeing the show the first night because the kids (and adults) were already exhausted, so we figured we wouldn’t push our luck on the first night.

On Tuesday, we docked at Nassau, Bahamas, but we decided to stay on the ship. We took advantage of all of the fun activities planned throughout the day. The daily schedule was action-packed! The kids went to the Oceaneer Lab and Oceaneer Club, which we referred to as “kids camp”. They absolutely loved it! Crosby’s favorite part was Andy’s Room and Kenley liked Pixie Hallow.

One of my favorite things throughout the week were the random character sightings. We saw so many characters, but some of them were by happenstance and those were way more fun! On the way to breakfast on the first morning, we ran into Pluto and Goofy! We also saw Stitch, but weren’t able to snap a photo with him.

After naps, the kids were off to kids camp again and the adults headed to a mixology class. We made a variety of drinks and it was very informative. We ended up back in the same bar that night to order one of the drinks we made.

We also did some swimming on Tuesday and enjoyed shorter lines on the AquaDuck since some passengers were still at the port. I was surprised that we didn’t do more swimming throughout the week, but we rode the slides as often as we could. The Mickey pool was shallow for the kids, but there was also no jumping allowed, so Crosby got called out a few times (I know that doesn’t surprise you!).

Kenley got to meet Belle before we had dinner in the Royal Palace on Tuesday night. Dinner each night was amazing!

Instead of seeing the villains show, the kids went to camp for a little while after dinner and we headed to the Pink Wine & Champagne Bar and Skyline for some after dinner drinks.