Trip Report What time is it? MICKEY TIME. August 2014

Is it entirely possible to have two extremely amazing Disney trips in a row? One would think the first trip’s fun and happiness could not be duplicated again…


Unfortunately, I am home. Real home. Not my Disney World bubble. Getting over this harsh reality is like a kick straight to the stomach, after eating a really gigantic meal. What is this life I live? Why am I not waking up on property? Oh the harsh truths we must face when exiting that bubble! Writing a trip report will help cure my Disney depression, it’s a statement I keep uttering to myself while I slowly grip the fact that my trip is OVER. WHAT?! Months of planning and excitement and poof! DONE. GONE. Is it time to go back yet? PLEASE?! Peeling the magicband off my wrist was painful.. PAINFUL I TELL YOU!!

My name’s Nicole and I am a Disney freak. (I’m the girl on the left.) If there ever is a rehab program for people who are overly obsessed with Disney, you can bet some of my friends, my boyfriend, and my family would check me right in. I love the little mermaid, and change my favorite park depending on the day. I don’t know what my favorite ride is, some days it’s Soarin’, some days it’s Splash, sometimes it’s even Tower of Terror. Whatever is the last ride I’ve been on, that’s the one I will probably tell you. Ugh, I’m indecisive!

For those who didn’t follow along on my pre-trip report, here’s a quick recap. I flew to Disney World August 17th, and stayed at the Wilderness Lodge until August 21st. The lovely people of WDWmagic convinced us to upgrade from Art of Animation since we had a pin code. From there it was off to Port Canaveral, for my first ever Disney cruise, let alone cruise. Had three nights on the Disney Dream, and then back to Orlando for a day at Downtown Disney. I came home late August 24th, which gave me 8 full days immersed in Disney. This trip was the second trip with my best friend; we went last July for 10 days and had a wonderful, unforgettable time. We knew Disney missed us.



Originally, we were supposed to go in June and stay at Art of Animation, then go on the Dream, but due to massive amounts of snowstorms in lovely New Jersey this past winter, we had to postpone to August. Now everyone was warning me about the heat, and let me just tell you all, YOU WERE RIGHT. It may have been the hottest, sweatiest (sorry!) trip of my life, but it was one that I will never forget.


Shall I begin?


It all started not too long ago, at the wee hours in the morning.

I slept at my friend’s house so her parents could take us to the airport for our flight at 5:59 in the morning. We would be in Disney at 8:30 A.M. Who needs sleep?


Made it though security fairly quickly, and decided it was perfectly acceptable to eat our first meal of the day at 4:30 A.M.


First food picture of the trip! LOL.. and it’s in bags.. Big fail, Nicole.

Probably not a good idea to drink iced coffee when you are aiming to sleep on the flight down, but with all that excitement I guess it didn’t matter! Do you guys remember the commercial with the little boy who says, “I’m too excited to sleep!” Yep, that’s me in a nutshell on Disney eve.


We took so long eating, we didn’t realize our plane had already boarded and as we were walking to the gate, we heard them announce the final boarding call. We booked it! Could you imagine if we missed our flight? Oh the horror! I don’t know why we didn’t realize that you’d need to be on the plane prior to 5:59 in order for it to take off. Hey, it was early. I’m using that excuse

We made it on and were off! My friend slept for maybe 20 minutes, I didn’t sleep at all. Too much excitement! We read and chatted about what was yet to come.


We landed early (YESS!!!), and navigated our way like champs to the B side of the airport. Last year we got lost…this year we were pros. Haha.

We scanned our matching pink magic bands at the magical express counter, saw that first mickey head light up green, and we’re off! It was time for our first Disney ride of the trip…a bus ride!

Wilderness Lodge, get ready for us!!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I loved that detail so much, that I bought 2 of those paintbrush knives from the gift shop during our cruise last January!! My kids love to use them at home ...

Atlantis certainly was beautiful ... we only did the tour of Atlantis. My son was not impressed with the casino and all of the smoke in there, but the grounds were simply breathtaking and very much the picture of paradise! I ran into a woman who was staying there for three weeks and she never wanted her trip to end. Who does, when you are in "palm tree paradise," as my daughter calls it.

Loved your pirate costumes - you both looked like you had fun dressing up! I also love those food pics!! Soooo hungry right now ...

I'm soooo hungry too! Haha looking at my food pictures kills me! My friend bought one of the knives.. it's so cute! Wish I would have gotten one too.. guess I need to go on another cruise!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I'm going to be so sad when your TR comes to an end…haha

Me too

 

[prfctlyximprct]

If you don't mind me asking, how much was your vacation?

With Disney and the cruise it came to around 1900 bucks.. worth every penny though!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Your pirates outfits are awesome! This cruise sounds amazing. My extended family are currently talking about booking a family trip to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary...I think I'm going to have to convince them on a Disney Cruise. Unlimited Mickey bars....I think so!

Thank you! And you must convince them.. it's awesome!! Everyone will have a great time

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Cruise day 3!

It's crazy to believe that you can eat until your heart's content at dinner, and still wake up ravenous! We hurriedly got ready, and headed down to Cabana's. We needed to eat a big meal before our big day on Castaway Cay!

Made our way off the ship, and spotted an old friend! Why hello Olaf! So nice of you to travel from Hollywood Studios to Castaway Cay with us

We waved good-bye to our traveling home, we'd see ya later!

We figured out our room is right above the first yellow life boat on deck 9, we had been trying to locate our room from outside for the trip entirety haha.

Hopped on the tram, and took off for Serenity Bay. Serenity Bay is the adults only private beach, and they might as well just call it heaven. I felt like I had died and gone straight there.

Blue, blue, everywhere. HELLO GORGEOUS. Was this really my life? This is paradise. There's no more up from here, this is the best it can possibly be.

I was so surprised to see beach chairs, lounge chairs, umbrellas, hammocks, all provided by Disney. It never even crossed my mind that they would have this all at the beach. I was prepared to sprawl out on my beach towel all day!

It was so clear! The water was so blue, and you could see straight down to your toes. Nothing like the water at the Jersey shore..

We thought we were dreaming. Although, I don't think I could conjure up such beauty in my mind. Even now that I'm home, I will try to explain how gorgeous it was to my parents, friends, and boyfriend, and I cannot find the words.

My friend snapped this shot of me staring out at the horizon. What I would give to be sitting here right now!

We relaxed, swam, relaxed, swam... repeat. We were thankful we didn't plan anything for today, it was nice to just soak up some rays and stare out at the blue water. Our whole trip so far had been planned out to the extreme, and this just gave us a nice relaxing break. We didn't know what day it was, what time it was.. it was pure perfection. This is what vacation is all about.

Look who found us on the beach! We thanked him for a wonderful firework show last night, and he kept asking us where the rum was! Not sure about the rum, but we had a fridge full of margaritas! Haha!

Life just DOES NOT get any better than this. Castaway Cay is hands down the most beautiful place I have been to in my entire life. I know I'm young, and want to travel everywhere, but I don't think anything will ever surpass the sheer magnificence of this paradise. The views are forever engrained in my brain. I sometimes find myself closing my eyes and picturing myself sitting on the beach while the waves roll over my toes and the warm sun beats down on my skin.

Disney World has always been my own little happy place, my own little slice of heaven. And now, here that bubble was expanding. The Disney cruise line destinations are now added on that list. Not many places can make you exude happiness from your bones, but Disney manages to do that wherever you may travel with them.

 

[joshsprincess921]

Now that is a gorgeous stretch of beach! Wow! Beautiful!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I had my waterproof camera with me, and am super happy I did! These pictures, to me, are the greatest. When I think this was all a dream, these pictures give me proof that I was there.

“we take pictures because we know we will forget. we will forget the week, the day, the hour. We will forget when we were the happiest. we fear that we will die and others will not know that we lived.."

We were able to capture ourselves in the most stunning water I had ever stepped foot in!

The water was warm, but not gross bath water warm. It was still cool enough to be refreshing! We must have swam in the water for a good two to three hours!

We both were pretty speechless, and would just make eye contact with each other and burst into giggles. There were no words to explain all our feelings!

Look at this awesome shot I took! I think my best friend looks like Ariel's long lost mermaid sister! HAHA!

Before I went under!

And after!

Could not resist a Serenity Bay water selfie!

And this may be the best photo of me all trip!

..at the beach, life is different. time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. we live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun

Best day of my life right there.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Ahhhhh, Castaway...... absolutely gorgeous!! My favorite place on earth! Having a cabana makes it 100 times better (if that's even possible! lol) We don't have a cabana for our trip in November so this will be our first cruise without one. I was so spoiled by the cabanas I don't know if I'll survive without one

 

[prfctlyximprct]

You could walk out sooooo far, and still stand! It was surreal!

I could have floated in the water and watch the clouds roll by until I was a shriveled prune!

Thirst called me back to shore, and I ordered a pina-colava! They have waiters and waitresses coming back and forth from the bar, bringing you what ever your heart desires. The view made this the best drink I've ever tasted. And Jack Sparrow, I've found the rum!

"Your life is a canvas, make sure you paint yourself a whole lot of colorful days."

We relaxed some more in our lounge chairs, and then went for a stroll. We snapped some more photos on our way, because we wanted to remember every detail!

Our stomachs were growling, so we headed to Cookie's BBQ which was right at the entrance to our beach. They were grilling up lunch, and had all the necessary BBQ staples!

I recently just discovered my love for pickles, so I piled those babies up! YUM.

And a Disney meal is not complete without dessert! Fruit, for starters, cookies, cakes, banana bread, and I even got some ice cream. Forgot to take a picture of it

This will have to suffice! Man, I eat a lot! LOL

While we were eating, a rain storm rolled through. We were both feeling pretty burned at this point, so we did not get too upset! It was almost 3PM, so we decided to go do some shopping.

We took the tram over to the family beach.

The clouds were looking pretty dark, and soon enough it was raining again! Guess we couldn't ask for the whole day to be perfect!

We got some great shots of the Dream, sitting pretty in the rain.

It didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon, so we decided to head back on board. We were both soaked, and chilled to the bone! Who would think the rain in the Bahamas would be so cold! Luckily, the crew was handing out warms towels as were arrived! Oh such bliss!

We started making our way back to our cabin, but couldn't resist a pit stop at Flo's Cafe for pizza! We brought it back to our room to eat, on our wonderful balcony!

Mmm!

We both realized we were pretty red, but we had had the most wonderful day so a little sunburn was worth it! We stayed on our balcony until the rain let up, and then decided to walk around the Dream! We danced up on the adult deck for a bit and then decided to see if we could catch a ride on the Aquaduck!

The line wasn't long, and we were excited! While we were in line, the Disney horns blared announcing departure, and it was time to say goodbye to the Bahamas. We didn't have time to get upset, because it was our turn! As we got into the tube, and were whisked out over the ocean, and around the whole entirety of the Dream. I still can't believe such a water slide exists, on a freaking cruise ship! It really is like a roller coaster, there are ups and downs and powerful blasts of water moving you alond. We screamed and waved, and managed to flip our tube as we came out at the bottom! I don't know how the heck we did that! We cracked up and were helped to stand, no harm done. I think we may have been rocking our tube back and forth too much there at the end!

No big deal, off to rest in the hot tub!

We didn't like the fact that the Dream was heading back towards Florida, but we were determined to make the most of our last night on board! Why do dreams have to end?!

 

[ginadee]

OMG I cant wait. This looks absolutely gorgeous. 6 more days! Were many dressed up for pirate night? Ive got a full pirate costume Im planning on wearing.

 

[gaga4disney]

Can you do another trip again...real soon, so i can read another one of your reports.

 

[Ariel1986]

This post actually made my day! Seriously, lifted my mood and helped me to focus on what some saving and working towards something could/will be. I needed that this dreary monday!! So thank you!!

That island really does look like a place of dreams.

 

[Ariel1986]

Second post because I actually have to say once more you just capture the moment/feelings of Disney and your adventures so well! It really helps transport us there with you! Love it. You're staying in Disney for another month after this cruise right... so there's lots more report to come? Right??! Pleeeeeeeeease??

 

[Rach&Eric]

Reading your TR's is so fun. I love your pics and how you both enjoy yourselves so much...that's what a vacation should be!

 

[angieandtrevor]

Isn't Castaway the most amazing spot you have ever been to?!?! We have cruised a lot and been to a lot of different islands, all of which have had their own beauty but nothing even comes close to the gorgeousness that is CC......I want to go back right now On our first trip there we had our 2 year old so we hung out at the family beach for the morning (which was great) but we took him to the nursery for a nap in the afternoon and we headed back to Serenity Bay.....OMGoodness, it's like a completely different world. We were literally the last 2 people on the beach when we left, I look back at my pictures and still can't believe that we got to see those amazing views with our own eyes. So happy to be following along, your review has been a great break from the busy work day.....thanks again for sharing !!

 

[angieandtrevor]

Ahhhhh, Castaway...... absolutely gorgeous!! My favorite place on earth! Having a cabana makes it 100 times better (if that's even possible! lol) We don't have a cabana for our trip in November so this will be our first cruise without one. I was so spoiled by the cabanas I don't know if I'll survive without one

The one perk with not having a cabana is that you will find yourself actually exploring the island a little more. When you are in a cabana you hate to leave it because it is so amazing but being on one of the regular beaches will give you the time to see all of the amazing details that is on this island. You'll probably survive but maybe just barely, haha

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

The one perk with not having a cabana is that you will find yourself actually exploring the island a little more. When you are in a cabana you hate to leave it because it is so amazing but being on one of the regular beaches will give you the time to see all of the amazing details that is on this island. You'll probably survive but maybe just barely, haha

haha, very true! And I definitely want to explore a bit because CC is photogenic and I'll have my DSLR with me (which is another reason I love the cabanas - I can lock it in the safe when I'm not using it!)

 

[Doc Disney]

your Atlantis adventures inspired me to go back and watch Holiday in the Sun…what a Mary Kate and Ashley classic

 

[DisSplash]

You got some gorgeous photos of your day in the ocean at Castaway Cay -- it's so hard to believe those came from a water camera!! Wow! I love all of those beautiful blue ocean shots, but I especially love the one of your friend just floating on the top of the ocean. There is absolutely nothing more relaxing than floating around in paradise! That photo just screams "no worries" to me. Too bad about the rain later on, but it seems like it didn't even matter as you guys really made the most of your day in the island.

I am getting so sad that your trip report is almost over tho! It's almost like I am on my way back home to FL from the most magical Disney adventure ever ... I can just feel the melancholy creeping in. And I am just sitting here my computer!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Wow I've just caught up on your cruise posts and it sounds absolutely amazing.... You really know how to get the feeling Disney gives us all across in your trip report, I honestly never really considered a cruise but after reading this I REALLY want to go on one!!! Seriously Disney should be bringing you back for free to write more reports like this!!!