Trip Report The lets take things a little slower this time trip report

Hello everyone. Long time trip report reader, 1st time trip report writer here. I'm hoping that anyone that decides to read along to this report doesn't find themselves bored to death or hoping for a long sleep when you're done.
Well, lets get down to business. The story is about 4(Me-DH, DW, DS, and DS) adventurous souls that decided to take a trip to the most magical place on earth. But before we do that we'll try something else first. Follow along and you see what that is.

We arrive at the airport anxious and excited to get the vacation going. We stop to pick up a few snacks and wait to board our flight. Next stop Charlotte en route to Orlando.

1st leg of the flight lasts about 45 minutes and is extremely uneventful. We arrive in Charlotte and decide to grab a bite to eat. Now when I say we decide to grab a bite to eat I mean my wife and I eat and our boys play video games.

After lunch we head over to our gate for 2nd leg of trip. Next stop Orlando, Fl.

 

[bow0303]

My kids are in college now and still remeber all of the times we got the Volcano at the Rain Forest Cafe. They still talk about it as we are planning future trips.

I think we will too.

 

[dancingtodisney]

OMG that desert

I WANT ONE!

 

[bow0303]

OMG that desert

I WANT ONE!

Me too. Would love to be back there now.

 

[dancingtodisney]

We went on our 2013 trip but we were just too full to get it!

 

[bow0303]

Here are a few more pics of LEGOLAND.

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for sharing! Great to see the pics from Legoland Florida. But I have to say that Legoland is not really my thing but please keep on posting!!

 

[bow0303]

Hello everyone. Hope you all are having a nice 4th of July so far.

Lets keep going. We left off on Friday where we had taken a swim in the pool. We grabbed some dinner and headed to bed. We wake up have breakfast and check out of the hotel. We didn't have any firm plans for the 1st part of the day besides lunch @ Trex. We talked about doing either DisneyQuest, Wonderworks or Ripley's Believe it or not. We head to the store to pick up a few supplies for the rest of the week. We decide to make one more stop to the Crocs outlet store to pick up some news crocs for my wife and youngest son. By the time, we leave we all have new crocs. LOL. That's how it goes I guess.

So we head toward Downtown Disney and our Trex ADR. We spend some time walking around and window shopping. Never took a lot of time to do that and thought this would be the perfect situation for it. Besides we did say we were going to slow down this trip. We have a good time just looking around and taking some pics.

We stopped in to Ghiradelli to check out the chocolate. I am a sweets eater and love my chocolate. We sampled some of the chocolate and looked around a little. We decided to head over to Goofy's candy company to see what treats they had. We had a really good time walking around and seeing some of the sweets they had. This was our 1st time there. Not sure why we never went there before. I know we'll being going back again.

We walked around a little more and it was time to head over to our ADR at Trex. We have gone there the last few visits as the boys really enjoy it.

We checked in and in no time we were being seated. We placed our order and decided to walk around and explore.

We always enjoy this restaurant. The atmosphere is great and the food is plentiful. We all enjoyed our lunch and made our way to the gift shop so the boys could buy their rocks. They sell these rooks where once they are paid for they stick in this box and break open. My boys are really into rocks and this was right up their alley. With rocks in hand we head out of TREX. We continue to look around and take some pictures.

My son wanted to visit the Lego store so we head there. They have races going on so both boys dig into the bins and start making their cars. After digging through the available legos and not finding the pieces he wants he just grabs some pieces and slaps together a car and enters the race. Some of the cars were quite intricate and I thought to myself "if he wins I will fall over". Well wouldn't you know his car won. So he enters the next race and he wins again. He races twice more and win 2 more times. All I can say is wow. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it. LOL. We look at the time and figure its time to leave. We have an hour drive or so to drop off the rental car. We are headed to cape Canaveral so the following day we can begin our 4 day cruise on the Disney Dream. This vacation started with the cruise and the other parts were added. I have been one one(not DCL) cruise but my wife and kids haven't been on any. So needless to say, this part of the trip was the most exciting part to all of us.

We head toward the cape excited for what tomorrow will bring. The drive was a little less than an hour's drive. In the distance we can faintly make out the shape of the funnels. The excitement begins to grow and before we know it the ship is very visible. Its a good looking ship for sure. We exit the highway and find our hotel but are not ready to check in so we continue and look for where to return the rental. We have some time to kill before our return time so we continue drive and check out the scenery. We see a dairy queen and my wife suggests we check it out. Being someone who doesn't need be asked twice, we park and head in. You know, its always a good time for ice cream. We enjoy our treat and head back to the hotel to check in. We stay at the Residence Inn Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach for the night. We return the car and make it back to the hotel mid afternoon. There was nothing really close to the hotel so that was really a downfall of staying where we did but we were close to the port for the following morning. We read that there are laundry services on the ship but not wanting to have to take time out of our cruise doing laundry we decided to iron our clothes and pack them so they stayed as crisp as possible. It really worked too. Got all of the clothes iron and suite cases packed and it was getting late. We grab a bite to eat and get ready for bed. Just a few more hours till our 1st and hopefully not last DCL cruise.

 

[DisSplash]

Woo-hoo! A family cruise! We did our first Disney Cruise (on the Dream!) back in January and we absolutely LOVED it! (it didn't hurt that it was snowing back home!) I can tell you for sure that it will not be our last cruise. I sure hope you booked your next cruise onboard, because we really missed that boat ... we waited too long and by the time we were ready to take the plunge and rebook (our last night), the line was impossible. But I can assure you that we won't let that happen again! So far we have nothing booked yet, but mark my words it will happen soon!

I cannot wait to hear about your family's experience on that gorgeous ship, and whether and what excursions you tried out! I think next time, if we dock in Nassau, we may just stay on the boat so the kids can get their fill of the Aquaduck, as we toured Atlantis and saw some of the island already, and I hear that the ship is not so crowded then.

Trex also looks fun. That's something we have never done and probably should!

Loved the pics of your boys in the Ratatouille hats!

 

[bow0303]

Woo-hoo! A family cruise! We did our first Disney Cruise (on the Dream!) back in January and we absolutely LOVED it! (it didn't hurt that it was snowing back home!) I can tell you for sure that it will not be our last cruise. I sure hope you booked your next cruise onboard, because we really missed that boat ... we waited too long and by the time we were ready to take the plunge and rebook (our last night), the line was impossible. But I can assure you that we won't let that happen again! So far we have nothing booked yet, but mark my words it will happen soon!



I cannot wait to hear about your family's experience on that gorgeous ship, and whether and what excursions you tried out! I think next time, if we dock in Nassau, we may just stay on the boat so the kids can get their fill of the Aquaduck, as we toured Atlantis and saw some of the island already, and I hear that the ship is not so crowded then.

Trex also looks fun. That's something we have never done and probably should!

Loved the pics of your boys in the Ratatouille hats!

We were excited too. We had a ball and cant wait to go back. We did book our next cruise. Wish it were sooner.

 

[bow0303]

We left off having gotten practically everything repacked for our cruise the next morning. We got a good nights sleep and woke up ready to begin the next portion of our vacation. The hotel offered a shuttle but it was leaving later than we wanted so we scheduled a taxi to pick us up. We woke up and started getting ready. Once we were all showered and dressed it was time for breakfast. We were all hungry and wanted to eat but didn't want to eat too much and ruin our lunch. That roughly 2 hours between breakfast and the time the taxi picked us up seemed to be the longest two hours in recent memory. We took the time to make sure we had all the documents we needed and were easily accessible and got our carryon's ready.

It was now about 10:30am and time meet the taxi and head to the port. We grabbed our bags and leave the room. After check out we grab a quick photo while we wait for taxi.

The taxi arrived and we load up and on our way. The drive from the hotel to the port was less than 10 minutes. I'm glad we had a short ride as the excitement was building for our 1st family cruise onboard Disney Cruise lines. A nice porter is there to greet us. He takes our luggage while chatting with us. He asks us if we have ever cruised DCL before and we tell him no. He then gives a nice piece of advice. The lines are moderately long at this point (we thought we were getting there quite early but next time we'll arrive even earlier) so he suggests heading across the street and to take the elevator to the top of the parking garage for some nice photos. I think he was so right. Here is how they came out.

We then head down to get into line. We were on the bridge from the garage to the terminal and it started to rain slightly. This would be only the 1st of two times that it would rain for the entire vacation. We were covered so it didn't bother us at all. While waiting in line we take a few more photos.

Couple of selfies.

 

[bow0303]

We're now through security and head to the check in line. It was pretty quick and painless. If I recall we were boarding zone #4. We head up the gangway to board the ship. Before we do we stop for the photos.

Finally we're ready to board the Disney Dream. I really like the little details that Disney offers.

 

[bow0303]

So when I left you we had just boarded the ship. We looked at videos and pictures leading up to the cruise, but they didn't do it any justice. The ship was great and we were happy to finally be on board. We are hungry at this point and head up to Cabanas for lunch. I really liked the selection of food at Cabana's and all of it was good. We wanted to explore the ship and check out the oceaneers lab so we decided to finish up and leave. We take a walk up to the pool deck so we see the aquaduck in person. We didn't plan on riding today but the boys wanted to size it up. We walked around deck 13 and checked out the views. We were docked next to a Carnival ship and boy could you tell a difference. The carnival funnel looked like it had never been cleaned and was completely covered in soot. I cruised carnival over 10 years ago and don't remember it being bad. What a difference 10 years can make. We continued to explore the ship and came across the Vista Gallery. They have a lot of good art. I saw one that a family member would have loved.

We walk up to deck 5 to the oceaneers lab to check in. We registered the boys online but needed to get their bands and let them go in and check it out. The place is extremely cool. They have so many fun things for the kids to do.

My son would kill me if he knew I posted this video of him

 

[bow0303]

We are able to convince the boys to leave but only after promising to bring them back. Its time to see if the rooms are ready. Leaving the Oceaneers lab we wash ours hand in those "special handwashing stations". All I can say is very cool. We ended having a small wait for the cabins to be ready but not too long. We finally get to our cabin and enter.

Here are a few shots of our cabin.

I really like the split bathrooms. Its so much better than a single bathroom. Now its time to head to our designated muster station then on to the sail away party. The sail away party was great. Love the music, dancing and just the overall feel of it. Thinking about it again, I wish were there all over again. Knowing that we have 4 days to look forward to.

We After heading back to the room we head to dinner. Tonight we dine @ Royal palace. Our waiter is Arvin and asst. waiter is Marte. The food was fabulous. We didn't get any pictures but believe me we cleaned our plates. We did try the escargot and while it wouldn't be anything I would ever have to heat, it wasn't bad. After dinner we drop the boys off at the Oceaneers lab and decide to see a show.

 

[Raven66]

I'm enjoying your trip report and pictures. I didn't fall asleep once!! You have a lovely family. Can't wait to read the rest!!

 

[bow0303]

I'm enjoying your trip report and pictures. I didn't fall asleep once!! You have a lovely family. Can't wait to read the rest!!

Thanks for reading. I must admit I'm a really lucky guy as far as my family.

 

[bow0303]

A few more pics I left out.

Playing basketball.

Playing the Midship Detective agency.

Trying the treats from the vista café. Love that place.

 

[bow0303]

After dropping the boys off in the boys in the Oceaneers lab we know we want to see the Golden Mickey's but it doesn't start until 8:15 so we look for something else to do in the meantime. We're on deck five and come across D Lounge and decide to go in. What have we found? Why yes, Diamond jackpot Bingo. We decide to play. I have played some bingo in my time but I will tell you this is a lot of fun. The folks that host it are very entertaining. I just almost here the phrase "shake em up Betty" right now. We got close one game but didn't win but still had a good time. We promised each other that we would come back before the cruise was over. Its now time to head down to the Walt Disney Theater for The Golden Mickey's. It was a great show. I would highly recommend to anyone on a Disney Cruise. The only thing that could have made it better was the ocean. Yeah, it was a pretty rough ride that 1st night. I have since read that the seas are out of port Canaveral and returning there. I believe it too. That night was really bad. I get bad motion sickness and had taken a 24 Dramamine. Its helped me to not get sick but I didn't have my sea legs yet. We managed to make it out of the theater and back upstairs. It was tough to keep our balance but we did it. We got the kids and returned to our room. We had a long but fun day and was ready to turn in. But before we did, we had to order room service. Yep you guessed it. Mickey bars, chocolate chip cookies and milk. We endulged while watching a movie. We all feel asleep stuffed and happy and excited about the next day. Next stop Nassau, Bahamas.

 

[bow0303]

After a rough night of sleep we wake up ready for our next adventure. The seas were very rough for a better part of the night. I could hear the hangers in the closet banging together almost all night. I was pretty rough but by the time we awakened it had calmed down a lot. We get up and dressed and head down to breakfast. We decided to do breakfast @ the Royal Palace instead of Cabanas. We enjoyed the breakfast and all of the waiters and assistant waiters. As we were eating breakfast we pulled into port at Nassau, Bahamas.

We booked a excursion for Discover Atlantis so after breakfast we disembarked the ship and headed towards the bussed to Atlantis. We were driven around the downtown area first. Got a chance to see the "queens staircase and Fort Fincastle. The driver was really funny. We enjoyed our bus ride. Once we arrived at Atlantis we get off the bus and meet our tour guide for the next 2 hours.

 

[bow0303]

Some artwork in Atlantis

We enjoyed the tour but don't believe we'll do that again. We walked around the hotel on our own before heading back to the bus. It was a short ride back to the port. Our way back to the ship we walked through the straw market. Didn't see anything we had to take home with us so we kept walking. I wanted to make a stop at the ship's doctors office to see if I could get something for motion sickness. It was closed but they had some pills right outside the door so I took a couple. They really seemed to help. It was about time for lunch so we went back to the room to freshen up a bit before lunch.

 

[DisSplash]

We did the same tour and had the same reaction. Nice enough one time, but no need to repeat it. Next time we go, we plan to just stay on the ship and ride the Aquaduck.

Hope your seasickness subsided!