Travel

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

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• Disney Crafts, Recipes & More!

 

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!

 

 

Welcome to our trip report! To start reading from Day 1, click here!

Today was our first full day on the Disney Dream and our scheduled port of call was Nassau, Bahamas. We had debated on taking a trip to Atlantis or to a zoo, but we ultimately decided to just enjoy the ship this day.

Brett actually woke up early to get sunrise photos and photos from around the ship without many people around. Trent and I stayed in bed!

One of the great things the Disney cruise ships are known for are their amazing kids clubs. They have very strict rules when it comes to drop-off and pick-up, and I think the kids get bands to wear so that they can be kept track of. The price for the nursery is very reasonable at $6 an hour, and we considered dropping Trent off, but then decided against it. After all, the main reason we chose a Disney cruise was so Trent could have more to do and we wanted to enjoy our vacation WITH him. I’m not saying anything bad about parents that like to drop their kids off and go drink or whatever, and I may be singing a different tune when he’s older, but at least for now, we wanted to do activities with him and watch him have fun too.

So what we did instead was keep an eye out for Open House hours so that we can bring Trent into the kids areas and we can go in with him (adults can NOT go into the kids areas during non-Open House hours). Our first Open House was for the It’s a Small World Nursery, which is for kids Trent’s age.

We walked in to find absolutely no one else there.

So while it looked fun, we noticed that Trent already had many of the toys in there at home! He went to play with a few things, but we felt sad that there was no one else there for him to play with. A little boy and his parents came in a little while after, but he kept to himself. So we decided to leave and take advantage of the main reason we chose the Disney Dream…Nemo’s Reef!

Nemo’s Reef is a large, mostly enclosed area that’s basically a big splash pad with various water features. It is the one water-based activity on the ship that kids in swim diapers could enjoy. And enjoy it he did!

We were in there for well over an hour…I’m sure his feet were all wrinkly and everything. He just went from one activity to the next, running around and having a blast. We took a few videos on the GoPro, so be sure to watch our trip video that I’ll share after the last day of the trip report.

While Trent and I were in Nemo’s Reef, Brett took a brief trip to take photos from the top deck. There was a British Navy ship in port with us that he was pretty excited about.

Atlantis is in the background.

We were in port with two other Carnival Ships for most of the day.

After Brett came back, we were able to get Trent to leave the Nemo’s Reef (we may have tried to trick him some way - he did NOT want to leave), so Brett and Trent grabbed some ice cream while I took a ride on the AquaDuck.

I tried looking for them while I was riding, hence the extreme look of concentration…little did I know they were already watching me!

Our beautiful view for the day.

One benefit of staying onboard the ship while in port s that you basically have the ship to yourself. However, a lot more people stayed on the ship in this port compared to any other port we’ve been to. Even still, we took advantage and played some mini golf by ourselves!

I showed Trent what he had to do…

…then he became a pro!

He may have been slightly distracted by all the fun props around the mini golf course.

And he may have taken control over all of our golf balls.

What a picturesque time playing mini golf on a cruise ship with Atlantis in the background.

After we accomplished the mini golf course, we went back to the room to get out of our swimsuits and take a nap. But not before waving at our new neighbors as they were pulling into port!

We all took a nap and woke up at exactly 2pm. Why does that time matter? Because that is the exact time that Cabanas closes from lunch. We were so angry. That is definitely one of my gripes about this ship/cruise…the limited dining. On our RC cruise, their buffet was open almost all day long. And while the Dream has a couple of other options in addition to the buffet, like a pizza and burger window, those are only open during certain hours too. Plus, we really wanted to eat at the buffet again.

We decided to take an adventure and get off the ship in search of some nearby food. We walked through the Nassau Welcome Center only to find little shops for souvenirs and not anything really to eat. So we thought maybe there would be something just outside the Welcome Center. In our short walk (less than 2 minutes), I must have been asked if I wanted my hair braided by at least 20 people…and they were all sitting near each other! What makes one person think I’m going to say yes to them after I just said no to the person sitting next to them? I know they are trying to make a buck, but common sense people!

We reached the gate and didn’t see anything of interest (we didn’t realize that there was a Senor Frogs not too far down the road, but I’m not sure if we would have gone if we knew anyway). So we turned around and stood in line to get back through the Welcome Center and have our passports checked. I tell ya, we absolutely fail when we don’t have a plan at the ports. After getting past the passport check, Brett took some photos from the pier.

So now the question of the day is…”Where do we eat?”

We looked on the Navigator and saw that pizza was still being served for the next few minutes in Cabanas, so we rushed down there only to find an unmanned warming window with hours old pizza there. But seeing as we didn’t have any other options, that’s what we ate. Looking back, I wonder if we could have gotten room service or something, but we made the best of it and enjoyed an empty dining room.

After a quick peek at the Navigator, we saw that the Oceaneer Club was having Open House hours, so we took a trip there so Trent could play. They have really cool hand-washing stations at the Youth Clubs. You just stick your hands in there and it does all the washing and sanitizing for you.

The Oceaneer Club has some game stations to drive your own boat, which Trent enjoyed, even though we crashed a lot.

This club is meant for older kids, but Trent enjoyed playing with hula hoops for the first time. Other than that, there wasn’t much in there to do. I’m guessing the Oceaneer Club is more dependent on Cast Member-led activities.

As we walked out of the Oceaneer Club, we noticed that Mickey was going to be taking photos soon and there was barely a line, so we stood in line for the only character meet-n-greet of the entire trip. But it was well worth being the only one, because it was Sailor Mickey!

Trent was walking around in the area we were waiting in and noticed Mickey heading our way and proceeded to point at him the entire time he walked towards Trent and Mickey even pointed back. It was so cute.

As with most meet-n-greets, there was slight hesitation at first, and then he became fully immersed in interacting with Mickey.

After they posed for a photo and Brett was talking to the PhotoPass guy, Mickey gestured for a high five, which Trent knows how to do, but had never done with anyone but us before, and Trent gave him a high-five. I may have shed a tear because it was so cute and I was so proud that he was comfortable enough with Mickey to do it. Of course, Brett missed taking a photo of it and I already put the video camera away. But you know what? Sometimes it’s best to live in the moment and as much as I would have loved to have it as a photo or video, I am glad that it happened and that I saw it.

We were originally scheduled to stay at Nassau until the evening sometime, but that day they announced we would be staying until 2am. So while the other cruise ships made their way out, we stuck around much later.

Trent and I went back to the room to relax while Brett went back out to take more photos.

Enjoy some lovely sunset and Disney Dream photos.

We joined Brett a little bit later and hung out on a lounge chair for a while, which was actually set up next to the guy in the photo below. We left after a few minutes, and when Brett went back around that area, all the lounge chairs around the guy were gone and he woke up looking very confused at what had happened! That must have been a good nap!

Tonight’s dinner was at the Royal Palace. I had been looking forward to this night’s menu to try some new items that I had heard good things about.

Brett’s appetizer was the breaded and deep fried baked brie with an orange and cranberry chutney.

I had two appetizers: the first was Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp: White and Green Asparagus, Micro Greens and Lemon-dill dressing with Horseradish Cream. It was good, but rather small.

I wanted to try something new and it was between the escargot and the duck…I talked myself out of the escargot for the millionth time (I always say I’m going to try it at the Food & Wine Festival each year) and went for the duck confit instead. I wasn’t a fan and only ate a few bites

Brett’s chose the Farmhouse salad next.

Instead of salad, I opted for the Belle’s French Onion Soup with gruyere cheese crouton. I had enjoyed the French Onion Soup at Be Our Guest so much, so I had high hopes for this soup. Unfortunately, the taste was completely different. The onions were overwhelming and the soup was bitter. I ate the cheese and barely touched the rest.

For the main course, Brett had the Lobster Macaroni. He ate it all so it must have been good.

I had the Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak with crushed new potatoes and buttered green beans. I ate all of mine too, but the fact that I barely finished my first courses probably helped with that.

Trent started with a honeydew mellon boat with strawberries, then chicken fingers, fries and veggies again for dinner and 2 mini cupcakes for dessert.

For dessert, Brett had the Sweet Temptations: A trio of Peanut Butter Mousse, Mango Cheesecake, and Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brûlée.

I had the Grand Marnier Soufflé: Infused with fresh Orange Zest and served with Crème Anglaise. It was delicious and the highlight of the meal.

However, I was a bit disappointed seeing that I was looking forward to some specific items at this meal and they weren’t all that great.

The show tonight was Villains Tonight! We decided to skip actually going to the theater and watched it from our room tv instead, which was good because I think Trent would have been bored.

After the show, we took a short stroll around the decks to see the Dream in all it’s awesome nighttime glory. I love all the lights at night and the place was rather empty! We also hung out by the pool for a bit, since it was empty from everyone out partying in Nassau.

We arrived back at the room to our beds ready for us…complete with Navigators for the next day, chocolates and a towel animal.

The prior night, we all tried sleeping in the one bed, but it was a bit cramped, so Brett requested that the couch be turned into a bed for him to sleep there. This ended up being a terrible sleeping spot for me, which I will explain on Day 6 of the report, but it was ok for Brett. He did say it was a bit short, so it is definitely not meant for tall people!

I hope you enjoyed Day 4 of our trip report!

 

Click here to continue reading to Day 5: Castaway Cay!

 

In the meantime, click here to read some of our other fun Disney Trip Reports!

 

Welcome to our trip report! To start reading from day 1, click here!

Today’s the day! Squeeee! Embarkation day of our first Disney cruise!

I had been looking forward to going on a cruise again ever since our last cruise, and it was even more exciting since we figured we’d never go on a Disney cruise due to the cost. But here we were…

When I had done the online check-in, the earliest time available was 10:30 am. At first, I was a little disappointed, as I wanted to get on the ship as early as possible, but I figured we could just show up early and see how it goes.

Well, we slept in a bit later than we should have and then went and got breakfast at the Contempo Cafe. I don’t think we even got on the road until 10:30 and we still had about an hour’s drive to Port Canaveral. Here we are…late as usual.

We embarked at Port Canaveral on our last cruise and absolutely loved it and this was no different. Disney has their own cruise terminal there, so we just follow the signs right on in. We dropped our bags off at the porter and then parked in the garage.

We stood in the regular check-in line, but a Cast Member was asking people in line if they were concierge, so he could walk them over to the concierge line. When he asked us, I said “No, but it’s my birthday!” and he took us over to the concierge line.

I don’t think it was much shorter, but we waited less than 15 minutes.

It was open boarding, so there was no line to get on the ship after checking in…I guess that is one plus of arriving late. We took advantage of the emptiness and took some photos of the ship replica.

…and posed in front of the entrance. Trent obviously wasn’t paying attention.

We skipped right past the photos, because we had our bags and stuff and Trent in the stroller and we weren’t quite prepared for it, so we just walked right onto the ship. I’m glad we didn’t stop because we forgot to look at our photos from cruise anyway.

Staterooms were ready, so we walked right to ours to put our stuff away. We first took a few photos of the room before we messed it up with all of our stuff. I’ll just post one here, but you can see all the photos and our review of the room here.

Trent was a fan of the large portholes with seating…not for sitting, of course, but for running on and jumping from!

We then went to Cabanas, the buffet area, for lunch. We had a nice view at a table outside and enjoyed shrimp, crab legs (although not the kind I would have preferred) and a little bit of everything else. I’m glad we got to eat here this day, as we never got a chance to eat lunch there again the rest of the trip (more on that later).

We then went up to the top deck to take in the view and prepare for the Sail Away party.

Coincidentally, we were in port with the same ships as when we departed 2 years ago…some itty bitty Carnival ship…

And our favorite ship so far (yup, I said it!), the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas. I’m not gonna lie, as excited as I was about being on the Dream, I wanted to jump on over to the Freedom…we had such a fun time on that ship.

Here we go…bye bye land!

The Sail Away party had already begun, but I was lucky enough to squeeze Trent’s stroller in between two people that had left a gap. I could kinda see, but I was more concerned that he could see the characters when they came out. After all, isn’t that half the reason you take a Disney Cruise is to have access to characters too?

Well, after a few minutes of regular people (aka non-characters) dancing around to popular music that I’d never heard of before (I must be old), I look down and that boy is passed out asleep! Well, I wasn’t going to stand there barely able to see with him asleep, so I strolled over to the railing and waved at the people on land. I don’t know why, but I just love doing that…especially with my Mickey hand!

We went back to the room and unpacked our bags, which were waiting for us outside of our room, then we got ready for dinner.

We had originally chosen the late seating, but remembered how we missed every single sunset on our last cruise because of the timing. We also thought it would be better for Trent to eat earlier and then be able to have some more fun after dinner before going to bed.

Disney does rotational dining among their three dining rooms. Each night you, along with your servers, eat at a different restaurant with a different theme…in addition to eating at one place twice on the Pirate night. Tonight, our designated location was the Enchanted Garden.

When we arrived, there was hardly anyone there yet, but Trent already has his own kiddie cup of water with his name and a Mickey head on the lid.

Mickey heads on the cup!

Trent started out with a fruit bowl with strawberry syrup drizzled on top. He doesn’t typically like the kind of fruit they put in there, but he ate far more than we expected and we assume it’s because of the strawberry drizzle. I wonder if we can get him to eat pasta if we drizzle strawberry syrup on top???

We both started out with North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli with Roasted Garlic and Sweet Basil in a light Tomato Broth. I think my favorite part was all the big chunks of garlic! The rest of the dish was kind of plain, but still decent.

Brett then had a Romaine Wedge: Fresh Crisp Romaine topped with a Creamy Romano Dressing and Homemade Spiced Croutons. I tried some and it was delicious. I liked his better than mine!

My salad was a Baby Spinach Salad: Tender Spinach tossed with fresh sliced Raspberries, Toasted Pine Nuts and Crumbled Gorgonzola.

For dinner, Trent had chicken tenders, french fries and veggies. He ate the fries but hardly anything else. He was in a super picky stage and some foods were very hit or miss.

Brett had the Marjoram Scented Organic Chicken: Half a Chicken served with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Sautéed Baby Spinach. I had a bite of his and it was delicious. Brett was much better than me at picking out dishes so far…

I had the Grilled NY Strip Steak with Thyme Roasted Vegetables, Double-baked Potato topped with handmade Herb Butter. I’m not sure it came out the way I would have liked, but I ate most of it.

Trent watched Toy Story 3 at each meal, which was necessary to keep him entertained since the dining room meals take so long on cruises.

The waiter brought out a special plate of desserts…I think 1 was passion fruit, but I can’t remember the other one. I didn’t really like them and I was too full to waste stomach space on something I didn’t 100% want, so I only took a bite of each one to try it.

For dessert, Brett had the Sweet Temptations: A trio of Esterhazy Cake, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Chocolate Silk Mousse.

I had the Banana Foster Sundae: Rum-glazed Bananas, Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped Cream, and Caramel Sauce.

And as if I wasn’t full enough, we told the waiters we were on the cruise to celebrate my birthday (when we first sat down), so they brought out a chocolate cake and had several waiters sing Happy Birthday. I felt bad but I could only eat a few bites…I was about to explode!

The Enchanted Garden is a nice restaurant, but there really isn’t a Disney theme to it. In fact, this Mickey statue on top of the fountain in the center of the room was about the only Disney thing we remember seeing.

After dinner, it was time for us to go watch the show for that night, The Golden Mickeys! We were a little iffy on whether we should go to the shows. We wanted to see the shows, but we also wondered just how interesting they would be to a 1.5 year old..and also to Brett, seeing as he fell asleep during one of the shows during our last cruise. There were times during the Golden Mickeys that were interesting to Trent, like when Toy Story characters came out (since he knows them), but the rest of it left him bored and trying to get out of his seat and run around. There was a part when a bunch of bubbles dropped from the ceiling, but non of them ever reached our seat and I know he really wanted them too, so I was pretty sad for him about that. After the show, we decided that if we were going to watch the shows the rest of the cruise, we would watch them on the tv in our stateroom, a benefit that Disney provides.

After the show, we went back to the room to relax and head to bed. It was an exciting day and we couldn’t wait to explore the Disney Dream even more the next day!

Our first stop for the entire next day was in Nassau, Bahamas, so click here to continue reading to day 4!

 

In the meantime, you can read some of our other trip reports by visiting our Disney trip report page!