A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes: A March 2011 Disney Wedding/Honeymoon Trip Report

It’s official! Brett and I are finally married and I couldn’t be more excited. We had the most perfect wedding day ever, at our most favorite place in the whole entire world. And of course, as expected, it went by all too quickly. I’m not going to lie, coming down off the high that was our Disney wedding/cruise/honeymoon has been tough. In fact, I'm hoping that writing up/posting this trip report will help me work through some of that. However, I’ve spent much of my spare time in the last few weeks staring at a blank word document... writer’s block? Never heard of it! :lol:

For the first time ever, in all my trip report writing, I did a pre-trip report. It lays out most of the wedding-related details, but for those of you out there who are like me and rarely read pre-trip reports, here’s a quick rundown of events:

Wednesday, March 16, 2011: Drive down, check in offsite for the night
Thursday, March 17, 2011: Check-in, Disney’s Polynesian Resort
Friday, March 18, 2011: Wedding Day, Sunset Pointe
Sunday, March 20, 2011: Board Disney Dream for a 4 night Bahamas cruise
Thursday, March 24, 2011: Check-in, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Sunday, March 27, 2011: Check out and head home

We kind of saw this trip as having three legs: Wedding/Cruise/Disney!

A look back at our Disney trip reports: September 2008 (Contemporary), December 2008 (Old Key West), January 2009 (Port Orleans Riverside & Disney Marathon), July 2009 (Wilderness Lodge Villas/Animal Kingdom Lodge), December 2009 (Beach Club Villas), March 2010 (Pop Century & Princess Half), June 2010 (Coronado Springs), August 2010 (Polynesian & Engagement), December 2010 (Kidani Village)

This was our first time on DCL, however, we’ve cruised a handful of times before. So if anyone is interested, those trip reports can be found here: May 2009 (Carnival Liberty), December 2009 (Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas), May 2010 (Emerald Princess), June 2010 (Norwegian Sky)

Oh dear. I feel like I’m embarking on what will be the longest trip report EVER (and I’ve written some long ones). My apologies in advance, as it will likely take awhile to get this report up in its entirety. The good news though, is that I’ve completed the text all the way up through the wedding, so we’ll get to that part fairly quickly!

With all that said, let the memories begin...

 

[maggiegrace1]

Jo...attend the goodbye party and you can get Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto and Chip& Dales pics and autographs all at the same time...it took us maybe 10 minutes to get them all..

Rad the Navigator and line up maybe 10 minutes before and you are good..

We got Donald and Daisy together when we boarded just randomly walking together..

 

[HollyBelle]

First off- I was sooooo happy to read that they set aside Hula TIme for you guys. My heart sank when I'd initially read that it was gone when you went into buy it. Love the virtual porthole and how the characters appear. THe part with Crush- HYSTERICAL!!!! :ROFLOL: Too bad that Brett was starting to feel sick. One of us always comes down with something on or just after vacation.

OK- now I want a margarita! Thinking I may need to sneak off to my fave Mexican restaurant at lunch tomorrow for a rita on the rocks! :lookaroun Can't wait to read more!!!

I know, I was sooooo excited that it hadn't been sold. It looks so good hanging on our wall. :sohappy:

I often get sick AFTER the vacation. In fact, it happened on this trip as well. I think it's because we push ourselves so much and we don't want to miss anything. When we return it all hits at once.

Mmm... margaritas. :slurp:

Awesome! Thank you so much for the info!


And I...can't...wait!!:sohappy::sohappy:

Anytime!!

We got Donald and Daisy together when we boarded just randomly walking together..

I LOVE this. Donald and Daisy walking along together enjoying their cruise. So awesome!

 

[HollyBelle]

Tuesday, March 22: Castaway Cay and Pirate Night!

We were up bright and early again on Tuesday. I was so excited, and I just couldn’t wait to set foot on Castaway Cay. Brett still wasn’t feeling well, which became more apparent as the day grew long, but he was a trooper and hung in there with me most of the day. It’s really unfortunate that he felt his worst the day we were at Castaway Cay, but we made the best of it. And, of course, we’ll just have to go back!

Up on Decks 11 and 12, we watched the sunrise as we backed into the dock at Castaway Cay!

Come to me Castaway Cay...

We waited around for Cabanas to start serving breakfast at 7:30am and grabbed a bite to eat. The place was practically deserted at that hour.

A table with a view!

 

[HollyBelle]

Not being ones to dawdle, we ate our breakfast quickly and headed back to the stateroom to prepare for Castaway Cay. Around 8:15am we headed down to Deck 1 and we were among the first to debark the ship when it was cleared at 8:30am.

Here’s a copy of the map and schedule for the island if anyone is interested:

Woohoo... Castaway Cay here we come!

The tram, better known as Castaway Air, was available, but we’re walkers. So we took off down the walking path on the left hand side of the tram lane.

 

[HollyBelle]

It was shaping up to be a gorgeous day!

Other than the 5K runners, I believe the sum total of folks who beat us off the ship can be seen in front of us in that last shot.

Did you know the early bird gets the umbrella?

And the hammock!

 

[HollyBelle]

We couldn’t decide which loungers to claim for our own. These are the tough choices in life, I tell you. :lol: Eventually, we decided to grab a couple out on Pelican Pointe, not too far from the Head’s Up Bar. Priorities, right!? We didn’t plan on swimming a bunch, so the rocky area in front of our chairs wasn’t a problem, plus the view of the Dream couldn’t be beat!

 

[HollyBelle]

An early morning drink in hand, we decided to go explore.

We had it on good authority that everybody’s faaaaaaaaaaavorite party animal would be making an appearance at Mt. Rustmore! I was sad to see that Pluto wasn’t wearing his life vest. But with a welcome like this, how can you be upset for long?

His pal, Mickey, was nearby...

Talk about a great photo backdrop! If they ever start putting up those awful sets around Castaway Cay that are scattered throughout the parks now, I’ll be furious!

I know I keep commenting on this, but the character lines are nothing compared to those in the parks. Sometimes we would have to wait, but really not long at all. Granted, we timed a lot of them right, but even when we didn’t, the lines moved quickly.

 

[HollyBelle]

We hadn’t planned on going all the way back towards the ship when we set out to explore (so my apologies for our attire or lack thereof), but we found ourselves drawn towards the dunes... Jack Sparrow, excuse me, Captain Jack Sparrow was out!

And Daisy was out strutting her stuff:

Back at Mt. Rustmore the characters were swapping out. Pluto decided to get up close and personal with Ginger as he was leaving:

Goofy was great; he kept messing with Brett and trying to get him to do the “swim.” And then, as soon as Brett caved, Goofy pointed at him and laughed! Classic.

Cutest shoes ever...

...for the cutest mouse ever!

Just like everything Disney does, Castaway Cay was themed to perfection...

 

[HollyBelle]

It was turning out to be the most beautiful day. The sun was starting to warm things up so we decided to put Pelican’s Plunge on the agenda before everyone else got off the ship.

I thought it was interesting how you had to “swim” out to the platform. I’m sure it’s built like that to account for multiple things. But I think it’s good because it helps ensure that kids going down the slide are relatively unafraid of the water. Unfortunately, once you slide down it you have to make your way all the way back out to the beach and then back around to the platform again. That’s a lot of work!

I almost missed getting a picture of Brett as he flew out of the tube, because the slide was so fast:

 

[HollyBelle]

Back in our loungers, we settled in for some relaxation. Brett was fighting off the cold/flu symptoms as best he could, but Pelican Plunge pretty much wiped him out.

After a mid morning nap, all it took was a quick check of the Navigator to find more characters!

This time we took the tram back to the gangway...

They’d cut off the line for Hook and Smee just before we got there. But that didn’t stop Hook from trying to take me off Brett’s hands. As he was walking back to the ship, he grabbed my hand and kissed it, then he pointed at Brett, and slowly grabbed my hand and kissed it again... as if he was challenging him! He was rivaling Jack for the most flirtatious Captain aboard the ship!

Speaking of Jack, he commandeered a golf cart to get back to the dunes. It was funny because the driver accidentally threw the cart in reverse and Jack came close to falling off. He recovered nicely and stayed in character the whole time, complaining about how it was hard to find a decent first mate.

 

[HollyBelle]

We took some pictures as we were waiting for the Admiral to come out. It’s too bad they don’t have an Admiral Duck outfit... that would be awesome!

We hopped on the tram again to get back to our loungers at Pelican Pointe and passed by these guys:

We got off at the second stop for Pelican Pointe and stopped in at Buy the Seashore to pick up another plush for the tree... Goofy was a riot when we met him earlier, so we figured he was a good choice!

He hung out with Panchito Beakman for the rest of the afternoon.

 

[HollyBelle]

I think we may have gotten another mini-nap in about this time. This is the way to live life, I’m telling you!

I recalled Tammy talking about the soft serve cookie dough ice cream at Castaway Cay and I was dying to try some, so we headed over to Cookies, Too for a midmorning snack. I scoured the place, and even asked a few CMs about the cookie dough ice cream, but we couldn’t find it. Is it gone?!

I had gotten Brett’s hopes up talking about it for months on end leading up to the cruise... and they were dashed within seconds. :lol: Sooooo sad.

I’m not sure who’s bright idea it was, but we decided to walk out to Serenity Bay, to check out the adult’s only beach. Holy hell, that’s a LONG walk. Who knew?! Take it from us: the tram (or maybe a bike) is the way to go if you want to get to Serenity Bay. We didn’t have a clue how far it really was until we started walking it, and by that point, we couldn’t hop on a tram, they just kept whizzing past us. :lol:

 

[HollyBelle]

It was so quiet and peaceful out there, but we really didn’t stay long. I actually prefer having more to watch/look at/listen to as I’m lounging. But I did capture one of my favorite shots from the island while we were there:

We had learned our lesson... this time we took the tram! And it was much more pleasant than walking on the hot asphalt.

Back in the Pelican Pointe area we grabbed some lunch at Cookie’s, Too.

It was your typical cruise line private island fare: burgers, hot dogs, and all the usual things that come with them. It was okay. And on par with what other cruise line’s serve on their private islands.

The best part about Cookie’s, Too though, was the cookies, of course!

 

[HollyBelle]

Shortly after lunch we ran into my favorite chipmunks...

The 5K they host in the morning starts around this area, and the sign is pretty easy to spot. We’ll likely do this next time we visit.

Brett went back to our chairs while I grabbed a margarita at the Head’s Up Bar.

Pelican Plunge may have taken the first good swing at Brett, but I believe it was the trek out to Serenity Bay that really knocked him out. It was high time for a nap in the cool darkness of an inside stateroom, so we made our way back to the ship.

Favorite!

Brett might have felt bad, but he didn’t let that stop him from a quick ride on the Aquaduck (there was absolutely no line) before going back to the stateroom for a nap. I, on the other hand, switched lenses and headed back out to take more pictures of the island!

 

[HollyBelle]

I hopped on the tram and rode it out to Castaway Beach (the stop near Pelican Pointe) and then walked back from there, taking pictures along the way.

The merch set up outside Buy the Seashore:

For whatever reason, I’ve got a million shots of the Pelican Pointe signage. I swear I must’ve taken a shot every time I walked by that thing.

For those of you wanting to take pictures of your kids on Pelican Plunge, there is a great little overlook set up just for you:

Another favorite:

 

[HollyBelle]

Our umbrella was still unoccupied so settled in for another brief siesta!

This is as close as I could get to taking pictures of the cabanas. The whole beach area was reserved for the folks who choose to rent them.

On my way back to the ship I found a vacant hammock. Ahhh... bliss!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Castaway Cay is BEAUTIFUL!!!! So sorry Brett wasn't feeling well... What a trooper he is though!

Do they have any dolphin encounters on the island? I'd love to do something like that if we ever do the Dream

 

[HollyBelle]

The beach closest to the ship had all the water toys at it:

After visiting Stingray City in Grand Cayman, where you actually get a chance to swim with rays in the *wild*, I have no desire to spend the money to wade out into the water with them off the edge of a shoreline. Something tells me the experience just won’t add up to the awesomeness that is the Stingray City Sandbar! Although, I do think something like this is great for introducing younger kids to the rays.

Eventually I found myself leaving the beach behind and heading across that last pathway back to the ship. It was around 3pm when I got back on board.

Up next... Pirate Night! ARrrgggGhh.

 

[DisGal]

Hi Holly! Just wanted to say I'm still enjoying your report - its really giving me a much needed Disney fix. This is the first year in at least 15 years I won't be heading to WDW. Your pictures of Castaway Cay are fabulous - the theming really looks top notch. The first couple pictures of Serenity Bay....aaahhhhh...

 

[HollyBelle]

Castaway Cay is BEAUTIFUL!!!! So sorry Brett wasn't feeling well... What a trooper he is though!

Do they have any dolphin encounters on the island? I'd love to do something like that if we ever do the Dream

It really is the most gorgeous place ever! I can't wait to go back.

I don't know exactly what they offer by way of excursions on the island, but I know they don't have a dolphin encounter/enclosure set up. There are a lot of other ports that offer this though, so depending on what itinerary you decide on, it may be an option somewhere else. And that way you'd be able to just lounge around and soak up all the glory that is Castaway Cay when you're there.