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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!

 

On Saturday, we decided to try a new beach…Grayton Beach State Park. It was about 2.5 hours away, which is only about 10 minutes more than the beach we normally go to, but the drive back allowed us to stop at Pier Park in Panama City Beach to enjoy some Red Robin and shopping. We went with some family members and we must bring a lot of stuff because we each had our own “cargo” to carry to the beach.

Even the pregnant woman had to pull 45+ pounds in the Radio Flyer wagon with a 30 pound toddler on my shoulders. The things us moms do!

After all was said and done, this was our little home on the beach for a few hours. That canopy was such an improvement over our umbrella…we had lots of shade. Perfect for a red-haired toddler to play under.

The two times we brought Trent to the beach last year (here and here), he was absolutely NOT a fan of the sand or the ocean. But since he did really well at Castaway Cay in the Bahamas during our cruise, we had high hopes for him being much better this year…and he was! He was trying to get me to put him down as soon as we found our spot! After the mandatory sunscreen application process, he immediately started playing with all of his beach toys.

Brett kept busy by building a sand replica of Main Street USA and Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom!

And then we let Trent destroy it.

Another new item this beach trip was this inflatable beach pool. We had seen and tried a version of this from Pinterest last year using a shower curtain, but we bought this from Zulily a few months ago and it is much easier to set up and hardly gets any sand in it. (They also have it on Amazon)

The ocean water was a little chilly, so when we first got there, we set up this pool, poured the water in it and let it warm up a little. Trent had his own little pool and he loved it.

Then it was time to head down to the water.

I walked him down to the ocean, but let him stand on his own to figure out whether he liked it or not.

We think it definitely helped for him to have water shoes on…it was easier for him to run around and not have to think about the sand or seashells touching his feet, which he didn’t like last year.

He would stand back and watch for a few seconds, then run towards the water and then run back. Back and forth…he did a lot of running while we were there and he was definitely much braver!

Jessi was a tad happy…can you tell?

Delicious zero calorie sparkling flavored water…yum.

After a few hours, it was nap time, so we set up the umbrella to block any wind and sun with a little spot for Trent. He fell right asleep…I wanted to join him!

After Trent woke up, we packed up our temporary home and headed towards Pier Park in Panama City Beach to enjoy a tasty dinner at Red Robin. Trent was well-rested and quite rambunctious during our meal.

A must have at every visit to Red Robin…freckled lemonade with free refills!

I had a Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Burger with fries. It was good, but I could have used a little more BBQ sauce on it, as it was a little bland.

Brett had a fried chicken sandwich with cheese.

I love how the sides at Red Robin are endless…endless fries, endless broccoli, endless salad. Too bad I don’t think I’ve ever taken advantage of the “endless” benefit.

After dinner, we walked around the shops for a bit and enjoyed the nice afternoon/early evening.

We ended the day with some ice cream and Starbucks. Trent was a fan of the peanut butter and chocolate ice cream Brett picked out.

Can’t you tell?

I was so glad that Trent enjoyed this beach this time and we are so excited to take him more often. In fact, he slept so well the rest of the weekend…and THAT is a darn good reason to go back, as well!!

I hope your weekend was just as great!

 

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Welcome to Day 2 of our trip report! To read from Day 1, just click here!

Day 2 started bright and early because we had a very special appointment to get to at the Magic Kingdom…for Trent’s very first haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop! I’ll just share one photo here, as I have already done a full review (read it here!). We arrived at MK about 15 minutes before the scheduled opening at 9am, knowing we could get let in early before the crowds…but they opened the gates at the same time we arrived, so we walked in with everyone else. The haircut was definitely an experience, one that if I think about it too long, I may start to cry because it’s just another one of those indications that my sweet baby is becoming a little man.

And even though we were both sick and stuffy and red, he sure looked handsome with his new ‘do. He even got a My 1st Haircut set of Mickey Ears.

Brett can’t pass a container of horse poo without taking a photo of it apparently.

After Trent’s haircut, we caught the Main Street Trolley show as we were walking along.

Just look at everyone in their jackets on and hands in their pockets. It was still cold, but definitely not as cold as the night before.

Our first ride of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean. We always make a left at the Hub if we get there around opening, as most people go right…leaving a bunch of rides for us to just walk on and enjoy without a wait.

Trent’s gone on this ride several times, including once at 10 months old. There is a drop in the dark a few minutes in, not Splash Mountain drop level, but enough to make you hold on a bit, and during his first few rides, Trent didn’t seem bothered by it. But as the months pass by, he holds onto me a little tighter each time we ride. I hope this doesn’t mean he is becoming scared, but rather just cautious of what is happening. After all, Daddy needs someone to ride Tower of Terror with him eventually!

As much as I love how Trent is becoming a little independent man, that also means he does not want to be in the stroller…he wants to walk everywhere himself. And while that slows us down or forces us to deal with an outburst when we pick him up, it also provides moments like this…

I thought it would be funny to try some shooting, but Trent didn’t care for touching the rifle, so Daddy took over and shot a bunch of stuff nearby so Trent could see.

Then, we finally were able to capture an “after” photo of one of our maternity photos! We had tried during Trent’s first trip (I think) but he started to fall off the chair and I apparently suck at taking photos with Brett’s camera, so it didn’t work out. But this one turned out great!

Here is the maternity picture that is the “before” photo.

Then, we started to head towards Fantasyland.

Do you know what this brown walkway signifies? If you did, you would probably pick on us for walking on it! Eww!

For those that have never seen or used them, Disney added a bunch of charging stations by the Tangled bathroom area. It’s nice to be able to give your phone a little boost if you need it (but we have started using an external battery anyway).

Up next, a failed attempt at a nice photo (there were puddles on the ground that he wanted to play in).

Time for Peter Pan’s Flight! Which we will only do with a FastPass+!

Outside of Peter Pan after the ride, a Cast Member was out making bubbles and Trent immediately started playing. It was basically just them two playing with bubbles. I just love Disney like that…a million people around and this cast member is playing bubbles with Trent. Sometimes you just need to slow down and not go a hundred miles an hour from ride to ride and take in all the extras. He was a happy boy.

Better luck with the sword next time, Trent.

Next, we rode the carousel and Trent enjoyed being on his own horse.

He would not look at the camera, he just wanted to look all around at everything going on.

After the carousel ride, it was time for our FastPass at Be Our Guest for Lunch. You can read my full review with lots more photos here, but I will share the next couple of photos to show you how magnificent the inside looks.

After lunch, Trent fell asleep, so we slowly made our way out of Magic Kingdom and back to the hotel for a nap and to relax a bit. We both got a chicken caesar salad from the Contempo Cafe as a snack since our dinner wasn’t until late that night. I don’t typically order just a salad, but we both agreed that these salads were pretty good!

After Trent woke up, we headed to Animal Kingdom.

Our first stop was Dinoland USA, an area of the park that never really held my interest for very long until I had Trent with us. He likes the Triceratop Spin.

Shenanigans while waiting line.

I look like I’m having more fun than him in this next photo.

This is what he does when he doesn’t want to hold your hand…he basically makes it very difficult.

Uh oh! Baby in the front seat!

Trent had a blast in the Boneyard Playground area. Most of the area is meant for kids a little bit older, but off to the right side after you enter, there is a little open area with 3 slides, making it easy for them to climb up either on their own or with a parent.

Up and down. Up and down. Over and over again. I guess the tongue means he’s excited.

Me: “Trent, what’s that? What does he say?”

Trent: “Rrroooaaaarrrghhh!”

Trent made some new friends. The friendship quickly ended when Trent wouldn’t give them any of his snack.

Animal Kingdom recently started staying open later in the evening, most likely to prep for all the changes about to occur there. All of the animal attractions are closed around 5 though, so that cuts out a few attractions, but it really is a fun place to take photos of at night…in fact, we ran into some other Disney photographers we know online and had never met before!

Trent and I rode Triceratop Spin again while Brett took some more photos.

Animal Kingdom was quite empty by the time we strolled out of the park. It was a nice relaxing end the evening and we were so thankful it wasn’t nearly as cold as the night before. We headed to the hotel and then jumped on the monorail over to the Polynesian for our dinner at ‘Ohana…which is always delicious.

We oh so conveniently jumped back on the monorail back to the Contemporary, packed up some items in order to have a little less to do in the morning, and then called it a night!

I hope you enjoyed Day 2 of our January trip report!

Click here to continue reading to Day 3 of our trip report!