5 kids, 7 grandchildren, 50 years of marriage & One Amazing Cruise on the Dream!

Teachr4Disney · Jul 11, 2011

Please excuse the multiple posts so close together. I meant to ask earlier about the details about the wave phone. I'm trying to figure out why I've never heard about them before since I love reading TRs especially of those cruising on The Dream. So, they're mobile? They're like cell phones?

erstwo · Jul 11, 2011

The reason the photos above are in that order? Because just as I was about to board the tram to the Adults Only beach (which I now see is called Serenity Bay :lol

I got a text saying my daughter wanted to be picked up from the Kids Club.

I was a little shocked, because she'd never wanted to be picked up before, but I figured she might be a little tired from the late nights/ early mornings and might need to go rest. So I sadly boarded the second tram toward Scuttles Cove.

We had to swing by the ship first. Hellooooooo Lovely!

erstwo · Jul 11, 2011

joanna71985 said:
I agree with others, your TR has me so excited for my cruise in Feb!!

Yay!!! :sohappy:

Teachr4Disney said:
From your mouth to my bank account! :lol: I SO hope we can go next year!

Wow, what a great deal! My DD would love that and with a matching dress for her doll, she'd be ecstatic! I need to check Marshall's more often!

Crossing my fingers for you (and your bank account! :lol

Teachr4Disney said:
I feel exactly the same! Oh, to dress up as a princess! We didn't have such things when I was a little girl.

I just have to say that I'm very impressed that you still ran the 5K with your head cold! I can't run because of a serious injury as a result of a car accident, but even if I could, I probably would've skipped it. But, then again, I'm a big baby when I'm sick! :lookaroun Hey, you can check it off your bucket list, right?

Still loving your TR! Looking forward to reading more. (Need to start working on mine! )

Well, believe me, with that cold I considered not running! AND even more than that - the route for the 5K has you turn left down the airstrip and then right down the bike loop, then right down the airstrip again and finally left onto the bike loop one last time. I was soooooooooooo tempted to just keep on running down that airstrip and act like I had already run the loop twice - the race leader was coming out as I approached, I could have shaved quite a few minutes off my time that way!

But I knew I would never be happy with that, so I kept on chugging away!

Teachr4Disney said:
Please excuse the multiple posts so close together. I meant to ask earlier about the details about the wave phone. I'm trying to figure out why I've never heard about them before since I love reading TRs especially of those cruising on The Dream. So, they're mobile? They're like cell phones?

No worries - post away! Yes, they are like 2 cellphones that work only on/ near the ship. I am unaware if they have some sort of 'repeater' on Castaway Cay that enables them to work there or if they just work because we were so close to the ship. I do know that when I was waiting at the 'transfer tram' stop, I had only 1 bar of service. I wondered if that was because I was so far from the ship. They might not work at all on Serenity Bay.

Each room comes with 2 phones so my husband could have one and I could have one and we could call each other. We could also call other rooms on the ship, guest services, etc. There is a $250 fee if you lose one, but they are free of charge with your room.

erstwo · Jul 11, 2011

We finally arrived at the Scuttles Cove stop and I went to pick up my daughter. Turns out my daughter had NO interest in leaving. :hammer: She'd just said that she wanted her mommy in a moment of weakness, but was now just fine playing with her friends.

At this point though, I was feeling worn out and the head cold was wearing me down. There was an ominous dark cloud approaching and I didn't want to schlep myself all the way over to Serenity Bay only to be soaked in a downpour and have to make my way back to the Kids Club and then the boat in the pouring rain. It was 12:50 and my husband was headed out with my son for the Stingray interaction thing at any minute, so I said the magic words to my daughter, "We can go to the Mickey pool." And she gladly followed me out of the Kids Club and over to the Stingrays to tell my husband where we were going. I figured I could grab a lounger up on the deck and watch her for a few minutes before convincing her to head back to the room for a shower and a nap.

The Pirate Party was coming up that night, and I knew we would never make the fireworks without a nap!

I grabbed the camera and the Wave phones and my magazines and headed back to the ship.

We visited the Mickey pool for a few minutes before lightning and thunder closed down all the pools and slides on deck. From the cover of the Deck 11 hot tubs, we watched as probably 3,000 people made the slow trek back to the boat in the POURING rain along the crowded walking path and via trams moving as fast as they could. SO GLAD we got out of there when we did!

And then we met the boys back at the room and it was nap time, glorious nap time!

When we woke up from our nap, we got all dressed up for Pirate Night! We visited some family members to see their costumes and share costume pieces - eyepatches, hats, etc. And then we returned to our room to see this sad sight:

Bye bye Castaway Cay!

So sad

At least we were sailing into sunnier skies!

erstwo · Jul 11, 2011

I think my son wanted to visit the Kids Clubs, so we went down to Deck 5, where we spotted Pirate Minnie! And Pirate Mickey!

Sadly, this was another of those times where we would only have time to see one character due to the long lines. We chose Minnie:

And then my husband (dressed in part of his Captain Hook costume) spotted Captain Hook and Smee on Deck 4 above us. Once again, long lines prevented us from meeting and greeting them, but we stood with all the others wanting to at least wave at them, and Captain Hook made a little show of grabbing at his sword as he passed my husband, which was fun!

Here they are, shaking the hands of others who wanted to meet them, but could not:

erstwo · Jul 11, 2011

We did some shopping on Deck 3

And then headed up to Deck 11

It was fun because my father in law and my husband were both very dressed up and people kept asking to take a picture with them. So either people were really impressed by their costumes, or there are a whole lot of people at home right now, showing their friends their vacations photos and saying, "And look at this yahoo on Pirate Night. Isn't it hysterical?" :lol:

Much more to come on the Pirate Party! But I think that's all for tonight!

Teachr4Disney · Jul 12, 2011

erstwo said:
Well, believe me, with that cold I considered not running! AND even more than that - the route for the 5K has you turn left down the airstrip and then right down the bike loop, then right down the airstrip again and finally left onto the bike loop one last time. I was soooooooooooo tempted to just keep on running down that airstrip and act like I had already run the loop twice - the race leader was coming out as I approached, I could have shaved quite a few minutes off my time that way! But I knew I would never be happy with that, so I kept on chugging away!

No worries - post away! Yes, they are like 2 cellphones that work only on/ near the ship. I am unaware if they have some sort of 'repeater' on Castaway Cay that enables them to work there or if they just work because we were so close to the ship. I do know that when I was waiting at the 'transfer tram' stop, I had only 1 bar of service. I wondered if that was because I was so far from the ship. They might not work at all on Serenity Bay.

Each room comes with 2 phones so my husband could have one and I could have one and we could call each other. We could also call other rooms on the ship, guest services, etc. There is a $250 fee if you lose one, but they are free of charge with your room.

I understand what you mean that you wouldn't have been happy shaving time off your run. I firmly believe: if I'm going to do it, (whatever IT might be) I'm going to do it 155%!

Thanks so much for the info about the wave phones. Just can't believe that I've never heard of 'em before. So, maybe this is a "DUH" question, but when you call others staying in a different room, it rings their wave phone or their stateroom? Is there a separate phone in the stateroom or is it just the wave phones? I'm asking because we're thinking about booking an extended family trip for next year that could include 4 staterooms. I'm wondering how easy it will be for us to communicate because we all have different interests (of course) and I have a feeling we'll be splitting up and meeting back up quite a bit! (Just let me know if I've gone into pest mode about this! :lookaroun

)

LOVING your pirate party pics so far! Great costumes!

Sarabell · Jul 12, 2011

Awesome trip report!! I´ve read so many report on the Disney Dream that it kinda makes me wanna plan a cruise. but my mom and sis are not into cruises and I guess going on a Disney cruise by myself wouldn´t be too much fun...

I love your pics and I can see you had a great time. I can´t wait for futher posts!

erstwo · Jul 12, 2011

Teachr4Disney said:
I understand what you mean that you wouldn't have been happy shaving time off your run. I firmly believe: if I'm going to do it, (whatever IT might be) I'm going to do it 155%!

Thanks so much for the info about the wave phones. Just can't believe that I've never heard of 'em before. So, maybe this is a "DUH" question, but when you call others staying in a different room, it rings their wave phone or their stateroom? Is there a separate phone in the stateroom or is it just the wave phones? I'm asking because we're thinking about booking an extended family trip for next year that could include 4 staterooms. I'm wondering how easy it will be for us to communicate because we all have different interests (of course) and I have a feeling we'll be splitting up and meeting back up quite a bit! (Just let me know if I've gone into pest mode about this! :lookaroun)

LOVING your pirate party pics so far! Great costumes!

I think you can do both. There is an actual 'in room' phone too. Even though there are 2 phones per room, each phone has it's own number - like we were room 9604 and in order to call my husband I had to dial "96042" because he had phone #2 and for him to call me, he had to dial "96041" because I had phone number 1. In order to call other Wave Phones, I had to dial 41 + the room number (not sure how it decided which one to call, #1 or #2 or if it rang both phones) and I do think I could have called the in room phone, but I'm not sure how that worked.

The hardest part is that the phones don't ring, just vibrate. Which was smart, so that you don't have a bunch of ringing phones on the ship, but is hard if you don't have the phone right in your hand when someone calls. But you can see/ listen to their messages very easily. It really made getting together as a group much easier. We also used the whiteboards on our door as suggested by Tammy. That was awesome too!

Sarabell said:
Awesome trip report!! I´ve read so many report on the Disney Dream that it kinda makes me wanna plan a cruise. but my mom and sis are not into cruises and I guess going on a Disney cruise by myself wouldn´t be too much fun...

I love your pics and I can see you had a great time. I can´t wait for futher posts!

You know, I'm not a cruise person either, but maybe your mom and sis will change their minds one day! This is certainly worth a 'once in a lifetime' experience!
Thanks for reading.

erstwo · Jul 12, 2011

The Pirate Party was short. Planned for 'between dinner seatings'. I think it was from 7:40 to 8:05. Short, but fun:

I found my little pirate princess hiding out:

But then the games began!

And once again they got everyone involved - even those on the 12 deck:

erstwo · Jul 12, 2011

PolynesianPrincess · Jul 12, 2011

Bandwidth exceeded!!! I can't see the pictures

switts · Jul 12, 2011

derelicte19 said:
Bandwidth exceeded!!! I can't see the pictures

same here

erstwo · Jul 12, 2011

Well Boo! There may be nothing I can do except repost from Flikr. Hmmm...... Never done a report this long before! I'll see what I can do and get back!

erstwo · Jul 12, 2011

Right about then I spotted one of the coolest camera straps I've ever seen! It was vintage - purchased off of Ebay, of course. This sweet lady and I chatted for a little bit about camera straps and such, while my kids played the games.

And then it was time for dinner! Dinner tonight was at the Enchanted Garden. Sadly, I have no pictures, but it was a fun pirate menu and all of our waitstaff was dressed up as pirates as well! So neat how everyone who works on the ship has a pirate outfit!

When we finished with dinner, both Tinkerbell and Pirate Stitch were out in the lobby. We had tried to get a photo with Tinkerbell earlier, but the line was so long, it had already been cut off. We got into line about 15 minutes early and the line was cut off almost as soon as she got there, because there were so many people in line to see her!

My son decided he would rather meet Stitch, so he and my husband got in that line, while I waited with my daughter.

The Tinkerbell line took for-evah, but we were finally there with the fairy herself! And she was great - totally in character and so cute!

And then it was time for the Fireworks!!!

I have to say, I thought the fireworks were amazing. My mother in law said that she was so disappointed, that they were way too short, but I thought they were nothing short of perfection (maybe it's just my Disney rose colored goggles?) I think my mother in law was just flustered because she couldn't find the rest of our group before the fireworks started. They were short by Disney LAND standards, but considering we are on a boat in the middle of the ocean, I thought they were the perfect length. I also loved how well they were 'themed' to Pirate Night. I don't want to give too much away, but it was typical Disney magic in that some of the fireworks were for show, and then some were more to tell the 'story' that went with the fireworks.

Either way, it was magic!

I was feeling 100% worn out, but still hadn't ridden the Aquaduck! My son was begging and I figured the next day (July 4), our day at sea, would see the line for the Aquaduck at epic lengths, so I went downstairs and changed into my swimsuit. After a 40 minute wait and a good soaking, I was an official Aquaduckie!

My husband and children decided to stay on Deck 11 and watch the pirate movie, but I was D-O-N-E for the night and headed off to bed.

My husband snapped this pic of Cabanas all decorated for July 4th on the way to our room:

Next up: July 4th on the Dream!
__________________

erstwo · Jul 12, 2011

Got the hubster to work on it - is it fixed????

Yay??? Nay????

Can you see the photos? Can you hear me?

Bueller? Bueller?

WDW_Emily · Jul 12, 2011

erstwo said:
Got the hubster to work on it - is it fixed????

Yay??? Nay????

Can you see the photos? Can you hear me?

Bueller? Bueller?

Pictures are working fine for me now:sohappy:

erstwo · Jul 13, 2011

Oh good!

Onward then!

July 4 - Sea Day and 4th of July!

At about 8:00 the next morning the whole ship was awakened to some kind of emergency announcement. Not sure what it was about, but it went something like, "Attention, attention. Bright Star, Bright Star. Deck 13 Goofy's Sports Deck, starboard side. Attention, attention. Bright Star, Bright Star. Deck 13 Goofy's Sports Deck, starboard side." Never did figure out what it was about!

After that, the whole family was up (the whole ship really,) so after some phone calls, we decided to go to breakfast together.

Well, the next morning we dined again at The Royal Palace. We were pretty much in love with that place!

The second we were finished with breakfast, my daughter asked to go to the Kids Clubs. So we headed up stairs to the 5th floor and I spied Aladdin on the 4th floor:

The princesses were also meeting and greeting this day. Soooooooooo glad we got in their line the first day (Nassau day) because the line was twice as long now!

But aren't they lovely? One funny thing about being on that boat - you will see several of the princesses 'friends' out of character. I had seen Ariel in her bathing suit on the tram the day before. :lol:

We dropped off my daughter at the Oceaneers Club and it looked like they were having just a little fun:

Then it was off to meet Aladdin!

I had never seen him out in his dressy white outfit before, so I am so glad we got this!

Then we went out onto the open deck on Deck 4. Other than the muster drill, we hadn't visited this outside Deck at all! Guess that's what Sea Days are for - exploring.

Our captain had explained the night before that we were only about 127 miles from Port Canaveral, so we were cruising home at a speed of only about 4 miles an hour. At one point in the day, I'm pretty sure we just sat still for a while.

erstwo · Jul 13, 2011

After some exploring, we decided to head to Deck 13 for some Mini Golf.

On our way:

These maps are located at every elevator and are so helpful!

Goofy's Sport's Deck!

There were so many people playing that there were no balls left!

There really wasn't a lot to do at that time, so I think everyone had the same idea we did - try out the mini golf that we hadn't had time for before. We checked the 'end' of the course - no luck, no extra balls or balls from people who were done.

We didn't want to rush anyone along and we didn't want to stand in the long line that formed while the boys were playing table soccer:

So we gave in and headed back to the room for a little R&R.

Ahhhhhhhhh......... so peaceful!

erstwo · Jul 13, 2011

I snapped this pic too. This is just SO Disney. The two rooms next to us were adjoining - grandparents in one room, kids and grandkids in another. The Dream has these panels on the Verandah's that can move and even make the verandah adjoining - can you see it? How cool is that???

Eventually my son wanted to head to the Oceaneers Lab. We dropped him off and picked up my daughter because the character dance party was coming up soon, and I knew my daughter would love it.

We headed to the Atrium and waited. The head nightclub guy was there to get us all pumped up:

We danced along with our cousins and soon:

Look who showed up.

My daughter got to dance with Mickey:

Eventually, they had to say goodbye: