Trip Reports

Welcome to our May trip report! Otherwise known as the last trip as a family of 3….how exciting and scary at the same time!

So, just like most of our Disney trip reports, it appears that it took us about 3 months to start sharing the trip report after returning from the trip. I guess that means we’re right on time then, right?

Leave it to us to never have any set ritual as far as when we leave, which park we visit first, etc. It’s always random and always changed at the last minute, but it’s always fun for sure.

As I said in our pre-trip report, there were a few reasons for this trip:

-Rock Your Disney Side 24 hour event at Magic Kingdom. Brett had the ambitious goal of staying in MK the entire 24 hours. Me, I planned to be lazy and show up a bit later. You’ll have to stay tuned to see if he made it (those of you that follow us on Facebook and Instagram may already know the answer!)

-Star Wars Weekend

-Last trip before our annual passes expire and we don’t go back until December (maybe). Usually that doesn’t mean anything because we always just renew in a few months anyway, but with Baby #2 on the way and the hot summer months, we’ll be taking a bit of a break and then going back to celebrate the retirement of our friend Carl (over at Dad’s Guide to WDW and WDW Magazine) in December.

 

Where we stayed:

Contemporary Resort for the first 2 nights, Pop Century for the remainder of the trip. The Contemporary was booked last minute so we could get to MK faster and more easily for the 24 hour event. I just posted a review of the Contemporary Resort with a bunch of photos and a video, go check it out!

 

We chose to leave on a Thursday. One of my coworkers was out of the office all week, so I had to push it later in the month, but this also allowed me to take advantage of a 3 day weekend and us to attend 2 special events at the parks.

Another note: Since I had my new camera with me, many of these photos will be from my camera or phone, with a few of Brett’s sprinkled in. Trust me, you’ll be able to tell whose photos came from whom. If you want to see more of Brett’s photos from this trip (there are a TON!) and every other trip we’ve taken, he shares at least one photo a day over on his Disney Photo Snapper Facebook page…go give him a like to see an amazing Disney photo in your feed every day! He also has an amazing giveaway going on now to win a large canvas print of one of his photos

 

So without further ado, let’s start with Day 1 - Thursday!

 

We woke up at 4am. And by we I mean I woke at 4 and then Brett and Trent woke up about 20 minutes later. Yes, Trent woke up just after 4 am after falling asleep at 11:30 the night before. It wasn’t even a cranky wake up either…he popped up and was happy and running around on the bed. We were confused too, but at least we didn’t have to tip-toe around to get ready and we had hoped this would translate to a nap in the car.

We left the driveway at 5:28…not bad.

We skipped getting breakfast right away since Trent had his chocolate milk (aka Ovaltine) and we weren’t that hungry yet. Instead, we stopped at Krystal’s about an hour into the drive. Nothing fancy here, just a place we normally stop at since we don’t have one at home and it’s different.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 9:45am and we got a pretty decent parking spot.

After entering, we took the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch so Trent could see and pet the goats.

As soon as we got off the train, Trent already started complaining because he wanted to walk instead of being held or sitting in his stroller, so we let him walk, which led to many “This way, Trent” or “Follow Daddy, Trent” phrases being said….those were said many times throughout the trip because he wanted to be Mr. Independent and walk on his own…both a good and bad thing at the same time.

Near the entrance, Chip and Dale were taking photos with hardly anyone in line, so we got in line, but when it was our turn, Trent got super shy all of a sudden. Then, after us, Chip and Dale left and Trent looked sad….that’s kind of how it happened the entire trip: he would be shy for most of the interaction, then he would be sad when they left.

Also, note to WDW: this is a terrible spot for character photos…look at the awful lighting!

Once inside, we handed Trent a brush to use on the goats and he thought that was great! He stayed in this one little area where there were about 4-5 goats laying down in the shade and he would walk around and brush each one for a few minutes then go to the next one.

Hidden Mickey!

When he handed me the brush after a while, we took the opportunity to leave and head back to the train. Of course, with Trent walking on his own, we made plenty of stops along the way!

Next up was the Pangani walking trail in Africa…and look who finally sat in the stroller! I think he was hot!

You know it’s hot when you see this…

It was about lunch time, but we weren’t too hungry yet but knew Trent should eat too, so we decided to split a meal at the Yak & Yeti counter service.

We got the Honey Chicken and a chicken tenders kids meal. Trent ate the grapes and some tenders, and that was it, so we took the extra chicken from the kids meal and mixed it in with the honey chicken and it turned out to be a good enough amount to split…something Brett and I never do because we always want to eat something different (and we’re both fatties at Disney World).

We had found a nice shaded table in the back corner. It was a good place to relax and enjoy our food.

We then did the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

Oooooh yeah…so up until this point in my pregnancy, I had zero swelling, but the running around the house like crazy to get ready combined with the 3.5 hour car ride must have caused some serious swelling. Wanna see?

Whoa there! Luckily, it went down the next day and then was completely gone for the rest of the trip, but wow. Looks lovely, huh?

When we noticed that the regular line for Expedition Everest was only 10 minutes, Brett jumped into the single rider line while Trent and I went to Dinoland to ride Triceratop Spin.

Triceratop Spin had no wait, so we rode it twice. Trent did really well waiting in line for the next ride. I was very proud of him.

Unfortunately, it’s in complete direct sun, so we were twice as hot and sweaty after riding it than we were before! But at least we got one ride in at the park before leaving…

Trent = Selfie-hater

At this point, it was a good time to escape the heat and go check in at the Contemporary.

Check in took quite long with them using gift cards for the balance and then checking to make sure our Passholder Magic Bands were valid and could be used. Even though I requested 1^st floor (since I wanted to not have to walk or use the elevator as much – you know, being pregnant and all), we got the 3^rd floor AND the main elevator was broken. I also requested late check out on Saturday so Brett could sleep a couple extra hours after being at the 24 hour event until 6am, but they denied that request. I guess you have to be concierge or a celebrity to have your requests granted at the Deluxe resorts…

Now that I’ve gotten that rant out of the way, since Trent slept while I checked in, he awoke as soon as I took him out of the car to go walk into the room, which I was kind of disappointed at because after waking up at 4am, I was kind of hoping for a nap too. The plan was to go to Epcot later in the evening, so I laid down with Trent to try to force him to go back to sleep and Brett hopped on the monorail over to Magic Kingdom, where he caught the Festival of Fantasy parade! Unfortunately, I never got to see this parade, but Brett saw it three times and absolutely loved it. So many colors and all the expressions from the characters make for fantastic photos.

Brett also strolled back to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to see if they were letting people ride it. They were, but it wasn’t long before they had to stop for an extremely long time…all because someone’s hat flew off and landed directly on their sensors!

Trent ended up not sleeping, and after an hour or so, Brett texted to say he was on his way back, so I started getting us ready. I looked up the available dining reservations at Epcot and snagged a Garden Grill reservation.

We jumped on the monorail to the TTC and then the Epcot monorail…so convenient!

This lady is either really smart…or not so much. Sure, she is in a nice relaxing position, but she is directly in the sun! Maybe she was in the shade when she first got there and moved away from her. Have you ever wished someone would push you around in a stroller? I have!

Our first stop was the Character Meeting Spot – which we had Fastpasses for, but they weren’t needed at all, as there was almost no line. Trent got excited when he saw each character, but then got shy when it was his turn. If you’ve never been in the character meeting spot, it’s really neat how you can jump from one character to the next in line…Mickey, Goofy, Minnie and Donald too sometimes (I think).

Kisses from Mickey.

I think Trent prefers high-fives over kisses.

Hugs from Goofy.

But thumbs-up are much better too!

We had a Fastpass for The Seas with Nemo & Friends for later on, but there was no wait when we walked by, so we decided just to do that since we had some time until our Garden Grill reservation.

We spent a few minutes looking at fish, but Trent was more interested in running around, so we let him run right out and to Garden Grill. But not before failing miserably at getting a photo in Bruce.

As a reminder, here is our adorably cute 1 year old Trent in Bruce during our trip last June…a little blurry, but still cute.

And now here is our stubborn 2 year old!

He was trying to get down so bad that I couldn’t even move out of the way for the photo! But wait, maybe a glimpse of a smile?

Nope, that’s all we got this time. Maybe next time.

While Garden Grill isn’t a place you’ve heard us rave about, they have consistently good food that Brett and I both enjoy. Plus, we tend to choose buffets or family-style places with Trent now since he can eat free. Their honey butter and warm rolls are delicious and I really like the beef and mashed potatoes.

Trent got his own special plate with sweet potato fries, macaroni and cheese, broccoli and a chicken leg.

He ate some sweet potato fries and actually took a few bites of macaroni and cheese. We were absolutely shocked, as he has never wanted mac and cheese. It was probably because there were goldfish on top lol.

Dessert.

Trent also gets his own special dessert, which he is definitely a fan of…a chocolate cupcake cone!

This night, the restaurant wasn’t spinning, so here was our view the entire time.

More particularly, here was MY view.

Phones everywhere!

Another plus of Garden Grill is the character interaction. The restaurant was basically empty, so each character ended up passing by us at least 3 times!

We originally planned on watching Illuminations that night, but decided the smarter choice would be to go back to the hotel so Brett could get to sleep a bit earlier. After all, he had an early EARLY wake up the next morning for the 24 hour Rock Your Disney Side Event!

One of the best things about Disney is that Disney Junior is on 24/7, so no matter what time it is, Trent can watch Disney Junior shows. We got back to the hotel, did the whole bath routine and then relaxed while watching Disney Junior. We all fell asleep about 11-11:30.

I hope you enjoyed reading Day 1 of our trip report. Sorry it took so long to get up…life has been quite hectic over here preparing for baby #2!

 

In the meantime, you can read more of our Disney posts here:

• Disney Trip Reports

• Disney Reviews

• Disney Crafts, Recipes & More!

 

Remember the last time I did a pre-trip report before Trent’s first Disney World trip and how 90% of it got changed once we were there due to weather?

I even said I wouldn’t make another pre-trip report at the fear of jinxing ourselves again.

But isn’t the planning and anticipation half the fun?!

So I’m going to be brave and give a little bit of a pre-trip report for our trip that starts tomorrow…as much as one can give knowing that a toddler is coming along, I’m pregnant and things can change at any moment due to naps, hunger, tantrums, swollen feet, and of course, weather.

After how sick I felt during our January trip, I can honestly say I wasn’t itching to go back on a trip any time during this pregnancy. But Brett couldn’t let a special event or our passes expire without another visit to the house of mouse. So as soon as he heard about the 24 hour event, he immediately started pressuring for us to book a hotel.

We also plan on doing some maternity photos like we did with Trent. I won’t be as far along as I was with him, but I will probably look just as large

At first, we debated doing it big for our last trip on these annual passes (we probably won’t go again until December) and looked at renting points to stay at Bay Lake Tower. But Brett preferred a longer trip over a more expensive hotel, so we opted for Pop Century…

…especially after we discussed how I wanted to relax with Trent at the pool a few times and seeing this little splash pad/pool area that we think Trent will love. How had we never even known this was there?

Source

However, after hearing Brett wish that he were closer to Magic Kingdom so he wouldn’t have to wake up so early to get to the 24 hour event at 6 am, I switched the first 2 nights to the Contemporary.

I told him Happy Birthday and sent him the confirmation email.

We were a little disappointed that we would be missing out on the Flower & Garden Festival, which ended last weekend, but I had to be at work at that time and didn’t want to extend the trip that long…saving for maternity leave is a PITA.

One exciting note for this trip is I now have 1) a new camera and 2) a new phone with a good camera…so I will TRY to take more photos myself in order to create most of the trip report myself and hopefully get that to you much sooner. Brett plans on taking a ton of photos still, but I think it will be a nice change to share a trip report with photos from me this time. You might actually see Brett in a photo at WDW!

Given that I will be taking more photos, I will also try to share more on Facebook and Instagram in real time. Of course, this is all dependent on Trent letting me!

So here is a little bit of a schedule…as always, there will be a trip report when we get back, so we’ll be able to compare what plans we actually stick to!

 

Thursday: Leave early in the morning, start at Animal Kingdom, then check in at the Contemporary at some point and then hop on the monorail over to Epcot for the rest of the evening.

Friday: The 24 hour event starts at 6 am at Magic Kingdom, so Brett will be getting up super early to be there before it starts and will stay there all the way to 6 am Saturday morning. I’ve been saying this since he decided to do it, but he is crazy. Trent and I will wake up at a normal person time, eat breakfast, play in the pool area and then meet Brett a little later - probably mid-afternoon or so.

Saturday: Brett will be recuperating from getting back to the hotel after the 24 hour event, so we’ll see if he eats breakfast with us or not. We may go to the pool if he decides to sleep late, then Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekend events.

Sunday: We have breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace at 8:15am (we finally snagged one last night!). It is way super early, but we wanted at least one opportunity to get into the park early for some photos. We’ll spend some time at MK after breakfast, then the rest of the day at Hollywood Studios, where we’ll end the night with a Star Wars buffet dinner at Hollywood & Vine (our first time there) and the special Star Wars fireworks.

Monday: Magic Kingdom at night. We haven’t decided whether to hang out at the hotel in the morning, go to MK and take a break, or start out at another park.

Tuesday: Animal Kingdom and then maybe Epcot at night.

Wednesday: Opening day of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Magic Kingdom! We originally thought we’d take it easy this last day, but we now have Fastpasses for the Mine Train at 930am, so an early wake-up will be necessary. We’ll make a trip to IKEA to pick up a toddler bed for Trent (so exciting!) and then drive home.

Thursday: I’ll be asleep at my desk at work while Brett and Trent get to sleep in.

Note: Even over the past few days while writing this, we have changed our plans a few times….this ought to be interesting! Stay Tuned!

 

Be sure to follow along on my social media (mostly Facebook and Instagram) as I will post live (or close to it) during our trip. If you want to see EVEN MORE Disney fun, follow Brett’s Facebook and Instagram, as he will probably post even more than I will!

 

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For this trip, we decided to split up our trip into 2 videos…1 for the WDW portion and 1 for the cruise portion.

I wanted to record so much more (as I always do) but between it being cold in WDW, an umbrella stroller that required two hands to push, feeling icky and carrying a toddler…I felt like I would have needed about 3 more arms in order to accomplish any more video recording.

However, we got over 17 minutes worth of video for you after making some cuts….and that’s in addition to the Snorkeling Video I already posted. Not too bad!

 

As always, thanks so much for watching and following along on our adventures. I hope you enjoyed this trip report (except for that last day…yuck!) and if you haven’t already, you can read our trip report starting at Day 1 here!

Stay tuned for our May trip…Brett will be tackling the 24 hour event at Magic Kingdom and we’ll be attending Star Wars Weekend!

 

Welcome to our trip report! Click here to start reading from Day 1!

Today was our last full day on the Disney Dream and also our day at sea. We didn’t really have any plans, but we started with a delicious breakfast at Cabanas. I sure could get used to pancakes with strawberries & whipped cream and bacon every day.

After breakfast, we took Trent to Nemo’s Reef for some more splash pad fun. After a little while, we brought him to go down the little slide in there. Oh my goodness, that thing is fast! The kids were flying down it. Trent got a little freaked out and from then on he was kinda cranky and not really playing with much, so we decided to head back to the room for an early nap…for all of us!

Well, at first we were just going to let Trent nap on his own, but he was being a little stubborn, so I laid down with him on Brett’s small bed since that’s where Trent already was and Brett laid on the big bed. Maybe it’s because the bed was sideways and not the normal direction of the beds, but I couldn’t fall asleep and after a little bit, I started to feel sick…and had to run to the bathroom as fast as I could. And THAT was the beginning of a very long day…a day I will never forget because it was absolutely awful.

It must have just been a perfect storm of morning sickness, getting out of whack from laying sideways and the upcoming rough seas (it started storming that night, so I must have felt it sooner than everyone else)…because I was sick all day and could eat absolutely nothing. Everything I ate came back up and even when I didn’t eat anything I threw up. So I just laid in bed all day absolutely miserable. I felt even worse for Brett and Trent, they left the room a few times, but there just wasn’t much for Trent to do on the ship. So they basically stayed cooped up in the room going stir crazy. Brett brought me a few items of food, but after throwing it all up, he ended the day with a can of ginger ale he found in one of the stores. That helped a little but I basically just had to ride it out until we got back to Port Canaveral early the next morning. I hate to sound dramatic, but this was probably one of the worst days of my life.

At one point, Brett took Trent to get our newly purchased Disney Dream replica ornament to the Captain to get signed.

 

While Trent was laying in bed with me a little later in the evening, Brett took one last opportunity to take photos around the ship. He said most of the ship was empty, as it was around dinner time and it was raining out with rough seas. Here are some of the photos he took.

The Walt Disney Theatre.

Walking towards the bar/lounge/club areas.

An empty, wet deck. Brett said he had the hardest time staying upright with the boat rocking back and forth.

I was really sad that being sick meant we didn’t get to enjoy Cabanas for lunch one more time (since we slept through it on the first full day) or enjoy the restaurant we were looking forward to the most, Animator’s Palate. We thought Trent would really enjoy Animator’s Palate way more than the other two restaurants that were mostly unthemed.

So that was our day. Interesting, huh?

I think if I wasn’t pregnant, I could have taken stronger medicine, or maybe I wouldn’t have even felt sick, since I had never been sick on a cruise ship before. While I may be nervous to go on a cruise again, it won’t stop me. It will have to be on a bigger ship, maybe in a mid-ship room, and on a ship with more for Trent to do…and I will get medicine beforehand to take…and I won’t be pregnant!!!

 

Day 7:

Day 7 was Disembarkation day. We had left our luggage outside the room the night before, so we just had to gather the last few things and then headed to breakfast. Breakfast on the last day is at the restaurant you had dinner the night before. We were glad we would at least be able to experience Animator’s Palate, even though the screens that supposedly play Crush, just displayed the logo. Our table was right next to a screen, so we were even more disappointed that we missed dinner because Trent would have had a front row view of the action.

Even the table and dinnerware were more fun.

I was able to eat a little bit, but kept it light because I still wasn’t feeling so great. Breakfast service was rather slow and we heard our waiter yelling at his assistant for not giving us menus and being slow. :-/

After breakfast, we got in line to disembark, which was backed up into the lobby. I felt like we were getting off with the entire rest of the ship all at the same time. It was so crowded and cramped and we even stopped moving for like 15 minutes. I felt so hot and dizzy and felt like I was going to both pass out and throw up and even had to kneel down a few times. There must have been some issue that caused us to stop, because once we started moving, we flew through the line.

When we reached the luggage room, there was a line of porters waiting to assist you. On our last cruises, we had opted just to get our luggage ourselves and not get help. But after reading someone in a forum prior to the cruise say to make sure you utilize a porter and to tip them very well because they will take good care of you, that’s exactly what we did…especially because we had a toddler with his this time. The first guy to ask us if we needed help got our business…and he looked like the tallest, most built man there…so double score for us! He found our luggage (which wasn’t difficult) but then loaded EVERYTHING onto his dolly, even the bags off of our backs, except for Brett’s camera bag because he never gives that to anyone. The porter got us right in line and conversed with Brett the entire time, and got us into the fast line to go through customs and we were out so quickly. He loaded everything in our car, got his tip and headed back to do it all over again for someone else. That was money well spent on our part and I highly recommend it if you have more than one bag with you.

Port Canaveral was rainy and cold…definitely not welcoming weather. We had even heard that parts of the highway we needed to travel on was closed due to ice…IN FLORIDA! What on Earth were we coming back to?! Luckily, by the time we got to that portion of the highway, they had reopened and we didn’t have any issues getting back.

As for how I was feeling, it definitely took a few days for me to get back to normal. I kept my eating light, but nutritious. I just don’t know how other pregnant women do it that have morning sickness much worse than I do…I would never want to be pregnant every again!

 

Ok, so here’s our little round-up of opinions on the entire trip. Remember, this is just our opinion based on one trip. Not everyone will agree, and that’s ok, but we want to share a little bit about how we feel about the cruise itself.

Overall, we were glad to have experienced a Disney cruise, especially the Dream, and we were glad to have taken a cruise, since we didn’t think we’d do that for a few years. We had some fun moments and absolutely loved our day at Castaway Cay and getting away from the cold weather for a few days. I love that I got to celebrate my birthday with a fun trip.

But with all that being said, we probably won’t do a Disney cruise again in the near future. The ship was clean and beautiful, but I think there was much left to be desired. We didn’t enjoy the food as much as we were expecting or the limited options and hours…I should be able to eat at any hour of the day on a cruise without having to rely on room service. The lines for characters were still long and Disney wasn’t as present throughout the ship as we would have liked, so Trent didn’t really benefit from that aspect of it. There just wasn’t enough for Trent to do…it would have been nice if there was an open playground that didn’t require you to check him in and leave him. The service was mediocre…in both our stateroom and in the dining rooms. There were also things we couldn’t take advantage of, like the new movies in the theater or the pools, because Trent was too young. For the price, we could have had a 7 day cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship with much more to do. Many people reading this may have only experienced Disney cruise line, and that is why they may be shocked, as people tend to be loyal to theither first cruise line…but we have tried 3 so far, so we are able to compare. Of course, every trip, no matter where to, can be extremely different than the next when it comes to having a toddler along…and being pregnant. Yikes, what a combination, eh?!

However, we do recommend you try Disney Cruise Line if you’ve ever thought about wanting to. Why not, right?

Keep in mind, this is just our opinion, as shocking as it may be considering how much we love anything Disney. Maybe I will work on posting a more detailed review of our thoughts on the cruise, and maybe even a comparison breakdown for a future post.

I’m glad you stopped by to read our trip report and we hope you enjoyed it!

 

Click here to watch our videos from the trip…there’s 3!!

 

You can read our other Disney trip reports, our other cruise trip report, or our other travel adventures!

 

Welcome to our trip report! Click here to start reading from Day 1!

Today was the day we were looking forward to the most, our day at Disney’s private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay…and it did not disappoint! This was such a fun day and I can’t wait to tell you about it…and there’s a video too!

We started the day like every other…with breakfast in Cabanas. Each day, I enjoyed pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries, eggs, bacon and potatoes. Trent would have cereal and fruit.

After breakfast, we got off the ship and made our way to the beach.

On the walk to the beach, there were several characters taking photos. Even though we were not the first ones off the ship, there were plenty of available lounge chairs. We decided to set up shop on the first family beach under an umbrella, so that we would be nearest to the snorkeling area…since Brett would be snorkeling for a while.

Brett brought his snorkeling gear, along with the GoPro and GoPro scuba mask, so that he could film his snorkeling adventures. The videos turned out so great! They were so clear and you could see everything he was seeing…I had a difficult time narrowing it down, but managed to get it under 10 minutes. Watch the snorkeling video below!

As I’ve mentioned before, Trent did not like the beach last year, so we got him water shoes and hoped for the best. And he loved it! I was so happy. In fact, once I saw he was ok with playing in the sand, I immediately walked to one of the shops and got a really cute duffle bag with multi-colored sand toys in it for him to play with. It was very reasonably priced and he played with every single toy that came in it.

Not only did I get a spot with 2 lounge chairs, but there were two regular beach chairs right in front of the lounge chairs. These were easier to sit in to be closer to Trent and play with him without having to actually sit in the sand. There were so many open spots that I didn’t feel bad taking up 4 chairs.

I also brought my chair down to the water (like quite a few other people) so Trent could play in the water and sand down there too.

And look! No water shoes. I took them off to see if they needed to have sand dumped out and since he kept on playing while they were off, I just left them off.

There were two little sisters playing next to us and Trent kept going up to them and trying to interact, but they didn’t know how to react, so they just kind of played near each other for a little while. There was another little girl that showed up with her family that sat next to us and she kept playing with Trent. He was a little ladies’ man

{sorry for the blur}

Playing at the beach sure is tiring!

It was so relaxing lounging under the umbrella. While Trent slept, I just took in the scenery and relished in the fact that it was in the forties and raining back at home and I was in the seventies without a drop of rain sight. Perfection.

Yes, even without a margarita…

Brett came back to us after snorkeling and since Trent was still sleeping, he brought all of his snorkeling gear back onto the ship, showered and changed, and grabbed his camera gear to take photos the rest of the afternoon.

Shortly after Brett got back, Trent woke up and it was time for lunch! Our beach spot was very conveniently located directly across from the one of the lunch pavilions. They serve BBQ type food, ice cream and soda and it’s all free!

After eating way too much, we took a stroll to the splash pad area for Trent to play in and then we went back to our spot on the beach to gather our things up. We had left our non-expensive items there knowing we’d only be a short walk away for a short amount of time. I didn’t have any worries about it…since there was hardly anyone near our spot. When I was packing up Trent’s sand toys, I noticed his blue bucket was missing. I was so sad! He had held and used that bucket the entire time he was playing on the beach, so I was disappointed that it was gone…but I don’t give up so easily! I scanned around and noticed that a family by the water with only one child had two blue buckets just sitting in the sand near them not being played with. Even though I felt extremely awkward, I went up to the mom and told her we were missing a blue bucket and wondered if both were hers. I don’t remember my exact words, but I tried so hard not be rude about it. Turns out, only one was hers! I didn’t even ask how it happened, I just took one and was thankful I had gotten his bucket back. I know this may sound ridiculous to some of you, as Trent wouldn’t even remember the blue bucket or know it was gone, but if I have opportunity to get something back that belongs to him, then I’m taking it…and I’m glad I did.

So the moral of the story is, only leave items at the beach that you are ok if it “wanders off”. I’m not saying someone stole a blue beach bucket, but most kids don’t know boundaries and think anything they see on the beach is for everyone.

After we gathered everything up, which luckily wasn’t much, we walked a bit to the bike rentals, so we could ride bikes to the observation tower on the other side of the island. Trent had never been on a bike before, so he was a bit freaked out, especially because there were a thousand people all in that little area buying bikes, returning them, etc. and the employee that was helping us was like right in Trent’s face and then we had to put a helmet on him…he was not happy! So we quickly strapped him in the child seat, put his helmet on and rode a bit down the road to get away from all the people…then we stopped to adjust the helmet and make sure everything was secure, and then we were on our way.

The bike ride was about 10 minutes and was so leisurely and fun! I recorded Trent…but for some reason I had the hardest time steering straight while recording! I guess it’s like a pat your belly and rub your tummy thing. You’ll have to stay tuned for our trip video to see the fun

Once we arrived at the observation tower, we parked our bikes and climbed to the top…and enjoyed the view!

I spy with my little eye…2 hidden not-so-hidden Mickeys!

There are some props scattered around the area to look at, but it’s mostly a rocky, marshy area.

We then rode around a bit more, parked our bikes at the Serenity Bay bike return and took the Tram to the 2nd Family Beach, which has a fun slide/play area! If we ever come back, I bet Trent will love it. Oh, who am I kidding, can I go on too???

While we were walking, I noticed a few beach wagons parked in a small area off to the side of the walkway, so I grabbed one, put Trent and our stuff in it and pulled that instead of carrying it all! So much better! These are in several spots on the island and are free to use if any are available, with the unspoken request that you return them to a designated spot when you are finished..

{You can see the container of those duffel bags with the beach toys in them in the background. They were everywhere and like 50% of the kids on the beach had one lol}

Before getting on the Tram to be dropped off at the closest stop by the ship, we took some more photos by the recreational rentals.

These look fun!

That’s a big tire!

Hush mom!

So beautiful.

The lines to get back on the ship were pretty long. There were two but we still probably waited in line at least 15 minutes.

After we got back on the ship, we quickly changed and brought Trent to the Open House hours at the final Youth Club we hadn’t visited…the Oceaneers Lab! This was where the Toy Story room was…and where Trent had the most fun out of the three Youth Clubs.

I mean, how fun is this room?!

There was also a Monsters Inc room.

When we got back to the room, Toy Story was on the tv…how convenient! Just a boy and his sheep watching tv in the Caribbean.

Tonight was Pirate Night! Of course, we couldn’t attend a theme night without dressing up too! Trent as the adorable, swashbuckling matey and me as the pregnant wench lol.

For dinner on Pirate night, you go to the restaurant that you attended the night before, which for us was the Royal Palace. No matter which restaurant you’re at, everyone gets the same Pirate menu.

Unfortunately, we had the hardest time choosing our dishes tonight…nothing really stood out.

For Trent’s appetizer, we asked the head waiter if we could get just a bowl of strawberries, since that is what he had been eating the most of at the time. We were a bit shocked when we were told “maybe” and that he would check. What?! The HEAD WAITER needs to see if he can grab a bowl of some strawberries for a toddler on a cruise ship that serves them at all the bars with alcoholic drinks that don’t get sold because everyone brings their own alcohol on board??? (Say that three times fast) You have to search the ship for some strawberries? Sorry, but we would never have heard that on the Royal Caribbean boat. He ended up bringing a small bowl with not nearly as many as we would have liked, but at least we got some…and Trent ate them all.

We both started with The Buccaneer’s Sun-Ripened Pineapple - fresh island pineapple with a coconut covered banana and orange glaze.

Brett got the Jerk Chicken Salad - jerk-seasoned chicken strips over fresh crispy greens with a citrus dressing and plantain chips.

I got the Mr. Smee’s Bibb Lettuce Salad with bibb lettuce, baby greens, chicory, tomatoes, toasted pine nuts and raspberry vinaigrette

For dinner, Brett had the Treasures of the Seas Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops - served on strings of pasta and fresh creamy tomato sauce.

I had the Captain Hook’s Macadamia Nut-dusted Mahi Mahi - Jasmine rice and sautéed pineapple on a mild curry sauce.

Trent had pizza for dinner and for dessert, had the chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.

Brett had the Floating Island - crisp meringue, vanilla anglaise and marinated fruits.

I chose the Banana-Chocolate Crepe - with mango coulis and coconut. I was expecting something like the crepes at the France pavilion in Epcot, but instead got a banana wrapped in a tortilla…like a children’s snack. Blech.

Overall, we were not really impressed with any of the dishes.

Before dinner, we attended the Pirate Party on the deck, but it was only just a short little play…like only 15 minutes. We were disappointed that we had dressed up for such a short event…in fact the entire “Theme night” wasn’t as much as it’s hyped up to be and we were expecting much more.

Luckily, the fireworks were awesome. I had asked a cast member where they would appear in the sky and we found a great spot that wasn’t crowded one bit. It was so neat that we were watching fireworks in the middle of the Caribbean.

After the fireworks, we called it a night and looked forward to our day at sea the next day…little did I know what the day would end up being like for me…

 

Click here to continue reading to Days 6& 7!