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We have stayed at Disney’s Contemporary Resort three times now, but unfortunately have not eaten at every restaurant, stayed in every room or experienced everything that the resort has to offer. However, I have lots of photos to share and even a video of some of the areas around and in the resort. I already did a little bit of a run-through of our room during our June Trip Report from last year, but I wanted to share a separate full review of the resort itself.

The Contemporary Resort is located right next to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida. It is a Deluxe Resort and is on the monorail loop and is known for how the monorail travels directly through the center of the main building!

The Magic Kingdom is within walking distance, and there is a nice trail to take between the two. The walk takes about 10-15 minutes at a normal pace. The check-in area is moderately large, but nothing compared to the Value resorts. However, I have never seen it very busy and there is also a little waiting area with a tv.

There are 3 restaurants and 1 counter service location. The California Grill is located on the 15th floor. We’ve never eaten there, but the menu looks fantastic and the views of the Magic Kingdom and fireworks even more so. There is a viewing deck located outside for anyone eating at the restaurant to step out onto and enjoy the view.

The Wave is located next to the check-in desks on the main floor. We haven’t eat here yet either.

Rounding out the trio of restaurants is Chef Mickey’s. It is a character buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We have eaten here twice and while we think the food is pretty standard, the character interaction is always fun and is a great way to meet the Big 4 characters: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald.

The quick service location is called Contempo Cafe. It is located to the right just before you reach the Chef Mickey check-in counter on the 4th floor. There are several ordering stations equipped with a touch screen and photos of all the menu items. You order on the screen and receive a number. There are beverages and dessert cases for you to choose from. Once you order and pick up any additional items, you check out with the cashier and either wait for your food, or you can get a number to have them bring it out to your table. You can also get your items to-go. The small seating area can get pretty full during peak hours. The Refillable Mug stations are located in this area, as well.

This area also contains a few shops and an arcade. I love that there are windows everywhere you look so you can have a nice view everywhere you turn. Also on this floor is a fireworks viewing deck. There are a few rows of benches and the music from Wishes will play during the show. The view is a bit off-center, but it’s definitely a great way to relax and see Wishes without the park crowds.

All three times we’ve stayed here, we had a room in a parking lot/main building view in the Garden Wing. The location may not have been great compared to a Theme Park view in the main tower, but the price was decent (the first time was free from a work conference and the other two times there were nice Florida Resident or AP discounts). In fact, depending on where your room is, you may even be able to catch a bit of Wishes and the Castle…a fireworks view for 1/3rd of the price!

We definitely enjoyed the extra space compared to our usual Value rooms…as did Trent!

When you first enter the room, there are two closets on the left with a little bar area in the middle…this is where the coffee machine, refrigerator and some extra drawers are.

There is a couch, cushioned chair, side table and dresser. There will either be one King bed or two Queen beds.

The TV area has a small ledge that wraps around and is great for setting small items on.

There is a large desk on one side of the room…which always turned into our “command center” with cameras, laptops, tablets and plenty of wires!

The bathroom has two nice large sinks, but they are very shallow. They look nice, but don’t leave much room for counter space to set your stuff on. We used the space below the sinks and then even put stuff in the one sink and kept the other one for both of us to use.

This may be totally random, but every time we use the shower or bath, the water is so fickle. You spend a minute getting the right temperature, then a minute later it’s too cold, then 2 minutes later it’s too hot…I spend half the shower adjusting the water temperature!

The toilet is located in a separate room with a sliding door. There is extra space in this room where we placed our hamper for dirty clothes.

Our view was also nice, as we were able to see the monorail zipping by throughout the day. Twice we were able to see parts of Wishes from our window! I’ll definitely take a fireworks view without having to pay for one!

As far as activities go, there definitely is no shortage. There is one pool with a water slide and a small “splash” zone. This splash zone is laughable compared to the one at Art of Animation, but at least they offer one. In that same area is the Sand Bar, where you can grab a bite to eat or a frosty drink.

There is a small beach located directly behind the pool that goes into Bay Lake. Next to that is the boat dock that has some seats at the end. There is a motor launch that runs in Bay Lake and services the Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness to and from the Magic Kingdom. You can also see the nightly Electrical Water Pageant on Bay Lake.

With the monorail, we have enjoyed numerous days of not even using our car (we drive to WDW and use our car instead of the buses). Not only can you take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, which saves a ton of time, but you can also go to the other resorts on the loop (great for meal reservations) and hop over to the EPCOT monorail. Since we are still in the stroller phase (and about to go to the double-stroller stage - yikes!) the convenience of being able to hop on and off the monorail without folding/unfolding a stroller was phenomenal…especially when I was by myself and Brett was already at a park. Dealing with the stroller can be a pain on trams. I also like the convenience of being able to walk, which is always helpful when you see the astronomically long line for the monorail to leave after the fireworks and you can choose to avoid it.

With all that being said, perhaps my favorite part of the Contemporary is being so close to the action. From the fireworks viewing decks to the monorail access to the short walking distance, being so close to the Magic Kingdom definitely makes the vacation a bit more magical. While the resort isn’t overly Disney-themed, which many, including me at first, might think takes away from the Disney feel, the close proximity to the park of all parks more than makes up for it.

During one of our trips, I took a stroll around the resort and filmed a bit of it to create a video for y’all. Enjoy!

While I won’t give The Contemporary Resort an overall rating, I will say that whether you like it depends on your preferences. Honestly, before we ever stayed here, Brett and I used to say we probably wouldn’t ever stay at this resort because it looked too plain…it lacked the Disney ambience. But then we stayed here once and have been hooked mostly because of one thing…convenience. So if you like being close to the Magic Kingdom and on the monorail loop, but want a bit of a better price than other monorail loop resorts, then choose the Contemporary.

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Star Wars Weekends is an annual event, occurring each weekend in late spring (May-June) for several weeks at Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World. Hollywood Studios is filled with Costumes Star Wars characters and special Star Wars themed events, not to mention all the guests that dress up in costume too.

To be honest, I can’t remember if we have actually been to Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekends before, but Brett was pretty excited about it now that he shares his photos online with more than just our family.

One thing he really wanted us to do was one of the new Star Wars character meals. They were a new offering for this year and people kinda went a little berserk for them…I water on the phone over an hour on the first morning reservations opened up! We debated on which to reserve and ultimately decided on Jedi Mickey’s Star Wars Dinner at Hollywood and Vine for a few reasons. We thought it would be fun to see the Disney characters in Star Wars attire. We also thought Trent would like it better since he would still know who the characters were.

Also, the lighting in Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater is terrible. It provides great ambiance, but is a nightmare to take photos in, especially character photos. Since we had never been to Hollywood & Vine, we were a bit excited about that choice because we could experience a new place. Plus, it’s a buffet and Trent eats free!

However, as exciting as it seems that Trent eats free, the price of the meal was no joke…$55.99 for adults and $33.99 for kids ages 3-9. You are definitely paying a premium to meet the characters without standing in line. You also get a keepsake photo download.

We headed to Hollywood Studios just in time to make our 7:05 pm reservation. With dark clouds overhead, we knew it would storm at any moment…and with our luck, that moment would be when we pulled the car into our parking spot. So we had to quickly get our stuff together, put Trent in the stroller and walk as fast as we could inside the park. Needless to say, we were hot, exhausted and covered in sweat and rain by the time we got there…pretty nice right?

We parked the stroller, covered it with a poncho and then checked in…baking in the humidity and overabundance of people standing in the small area. Once you give the hostess your name, you stand in a short line to wait to have your photo taken with Chip and Dale. The photo set-up is right in the front as you enter Hollywood & Vine. I didn’t care where it was, as long as it was in the air-conditioning. I would have taken the photo in the bathroom if they made me.

Another cast member takes your bags and waits while you take the photo. Of course, she questioned what the heck Brett was carrying in his camera bag for it to be so heavy. I don’t know how he carries that thing all day.

You are given a special Photopass card with Jedi Mickey on it so you can view/download your photo online later.

We were pretty much expecting to look terrible in the photo, especially since Trent hasn’t been the best at posing for photos lately, but when I looked online afterward, I was surprised at how great it turned out. I am happy it was a free download, so Brett could Photoshop it to perfection…we may actually have a decent family photo!

We requested a booth and they were able to give us one thankfully. From check in to sit down took us no more than 10 minutes, including the time it took for the photo. Not bad.

Within a few minutes of being seated, our waitress took our drink order and then Brett went to fix Trent’s plate. Always bring the baby his food first (even though he’ll only eat 1/10 of it!)!

We took turns going up to the buffet and we enjoyed many of the options. My favorite choices were the Skywalker Ranch Chicken and the C3PO’s Cream Corn Spoon Bread.

I like how they named each food item with a Star Wars Theme…here are a bunch of photos from the buffet area.

Breads and rolls. Just to the right of this photo, they had butter and apple butter. I combined both on one piece of bread and it was delicious. I’m not one to fill my stomach with bread before a buffet, but I had to have two pieces with the apple butter.

Soups.

Salad and fruit salad.

Now I’ll let the signs do that talking. The photos of the signs are before each photo of the corresponding foods.

Create your own pasta.

Kids station.

So while we enjoyed our dinner, we also waited for each character to come around! Luckily, we were in a spot that we could see the characters coming to us, so I could pick Trent up and prepare for the interaction and photo.

Jedi Mickey!

Him and Minnie were perhaps the least interactive out of the 4 characters. They didn’t stay very long and immediately posed for the photo as soon as they got to us. Donald and Goofy interacted for at least a few seconds before turning for the photo.

Stormtrooper Donald!

Darth Goofy!

Princess Minnie!

As you can see, Trent would not turn to the camera for us. He just wanted to look at the characters, even with Brett yelling “Trent!” and making weird whistling sounds and all. Stubborn toddler - good thing we didn’t wait in a line for any of these!

But we can not forget about Dessert! There was a large dessert station with various small desserts, some themed towards the Darks Side (Red) or the Light Side (Blue).

Which side would you choose?

When we first sat down, our table had paper lightsabers that had blue on one side and red on the other, so you could roll them up and have a fun lightsaber to play with. At $55.99 a person, I would have liked to see something a little more useful, as these didn’t stay rolled up if you weren’t holding them.

But, since Trent had already chosen his side with his shirt, we rolled his up to create a red lightsaber…Dark Side it is!

So I chose the blue lightsaber and we battled it out until the death!

Watch as Mommy and Trent fight each other - see who wins!

Of course, in this scenario, death equals eventual sharing of C3PO-shaped cookies.

I wonder if that’s an alternate ending to the movies…

Overall, this was a fun event that was nice to say we did once. At this price, we won’t go rushing back and would probably opt to try one of the other special Star Wars character meals just to experience something different. I always like buffets, since we have 2 picky eaters in the family (not I!), so it was nice to get out of the rain and humidity and enjoy a themed buffet dinner with fun characters!

 

Stay tuned for our full trip report from this trip! In the meantime, if you’d like to enjoy our other Disney Trip Reports, you can find them here!

 

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!