A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream

Hello all! We just got back from a fabulous “Dream” trip on the Disney Dream, along with a stay at Residence Inn, Cape Canaveral, Pop Century at WDW, and Residence Inn near Sea World, with a few park visits to Magic Kingdom, Sea World and Epcot!

The dates of this trip were March 30th to April 6th.

Let’s get started with the introductions of who was SUPPOSED to go on this trip.

Me~ Jennifer~ The mom of 3 LOVELY Children (though they are not always lovely at the same time…or even all the time) I am a very BIG Disney fan and am always trying to think of a way to get there!

Skip~ My Wonderful husband of almost 9 years. He is a good dad, and he even puts up with my passion for Disney…though usually with a lot of eye rolling.

Claire~ a 6 year old girl who loves Disney very much and was very excited to take her first Cruise, as well as seeing and dressing like the Princesses.

My 2 other children are now adults and did not travel with us nor really want to for the most part. They are Michael and Paige.

As the title will tell you, we had a few mishaps, and there was a cast change…more on that in a bit.

Now for a little background info…….history. It is a little long, but I promise, I have a ton of pictures to post after all of this!

This is one of those trips that I thought just never would happen…I know, you’ve heard it all before, but HONESTLY, it really took a LONG time to get to this point.

We have gone to Disney with Claire in March of 2007, 2008 and 2009. I really wanted to go again in 2010. Skip had had a hip replacement in late 2009 and just was not ready to go back in early 2010. But believe me, I tried to convince him all the same. Claire and I then came up with the plan that we should go for her 6th birthday in December. Skip said he would think about it. Through out the year, we got a lot of “some days”, “we’ll sees”, and “maybes”.
In the mean time, Skip was still having troubles with his hip and had been sent to several different Drs…all of them claiming to have no clue what was wrong with him.
In Oct Skip started talking more about a possible Dec. trip. We had dates set, and places we want to go, etc.
Then he threw a wrench in my plans. “How much does a Disney cruise cost?”…. I was shocked! I had tried to convince him to do this in 2009 for my 40th birthday, but when it came down to it, he decided he would rather go to WDW. He had worries about a cruise with a little one with us.
I did some quick pricing, and the price for 3 nights on the Wonder, along with a few nights at WDW were almost the same as 7 nights at WDW. Before making it a done deal, Skip had one more Dr’s appointment he wanted to attend and see what was determined. This was with his hip Dr. who had claimed all year long that nothing was wrong with the hip.
Things totally changed this day. The Dr found that the implant had never adhered to the bone and the replacement was going to need to be replaced. It was scheduled for Dec 6th….2 days before we had planned to leave for our vacation.
Plans then were postponed and we decided we would go in March and still be able to catch the free dining. (I must note that even though we agreed on this, Skip sometimes doesn’t listen to me and just agrees anyways).
Mid January rolls around, Skip seems to be healing well, and I mention that we have to have Disney paid for soon to be able to get the free dining. Skip goes in panic mode and says, he doesn’t care about saving money (yeah right) and he would rather go in May now, but he WOULD NOT commit to any dates. Let’s just say that I wasn’t happy, and for a few days there wasn’t much talking going on at all in our house.

A few days later, Skip mentions he has called a Travel Agent and has looked at possibly going on the Disney Dream or going to Disneyland in CA. My job then, was to spend lots of hours on the computer pricing several scenarios, we chose the 3 night Dream, with a few added park days.
FINALLY a trip is booked!

 

[fractal]

I'm really enjoying this TR and your wonderful pictures. :sohappy:

 

[HollyBelle]

Fabulous report and great pictures! The shots of Castaway Cay make me want to pack my bags, drive down to Port Canaveral, and beg them to let me back on the ship!

 

[jenseib]

I'm really enjoying this TR and your wonderful pictures. :sohappy:

Thanks

Fabulous report and great pictures! The shots of Castaway Cay make me want to pack my bags, drive down to Port Canaveral, and beg them to let me back on the ship!

I hear you on that. I would love to go back again

 

[ESL teacher]

I just found your report today and really enjoyed reading it so far. I am anxiously waiting for more.

 

[jenseib]

I just found your report today and really enjoyed reading it so far. I am anxiously waiting for more.

Thanks for joining. It was such a fantastic trip.

 

[jenseib]

I snapped a few pictures as we tried to figure out how to get to Cookies Too.

We end up going into Spring a Leak later on in the day, but those photos are on the lost card.

We found a Cast Member and asked how to get to Cookies Too. It just seemed confusing on the map to us….maybe it was that lack of sleep kicking in.

She pointed us down the bike trail and told us where to turn. I don’t think she really had a clue, and I would NOT suggest going this way. The Bikers don’t seem to realize that people also walk on this at times and I saw many times near collisions. There is one spot where there is a LOT of people in the area and the bike trail goes right though and the bikers didn’t seem to realize it. Especially the kids on bikes. And the people crossing the trail didn’t realize they needed to look for bikers coming through as well.

We finally found it and went in for some grub.

I had a little encounter with a rude lady. We were waiting in line with our trays. The line we were in went to the right, but to my left was a fruit area. The lady behind me wanted fruit, and just took the plate off my tray? I was amazed at this and I say “Uh, no, this is my plate” and I took it back. She then got a little snotty and said “Well can you GET me a plate then”…I guess she was too good to wait. I just handed her one and she’s lucky I didn’t bash her on the head with it! LOL!

 

[jenseib]

My favorite Cookies. These were so good and they had them on the ship too.

I swear I had taken pictures of our plates, so if I did, they are on the lost card. The food was just OK. Nothing great, but edible. Skip would like it, as he loves buffets, but I wasn’t too impressed. This was probably my least favorite meal of the whole cruise.
We got some dessert too, which again was just OK. Disney needs to getter a better brand of ice-cream. Though I think the island version was better than the ships version…which I had also tried at one time, but I don’t remember when. LOL!

After we ate, I think we used the bathrooms…which I didn’t think were too magical either, and headed for a spot on the beach. I think this was a trash can outside the bathroom and when I was taking the picture, someone gave me a weird look, and Mom told them I take pictures of everything. LOL!

After settling in to a spot on the beach, Mom decided it was time to head back for her excursion. We agreed just to meet up later on the ship.

Claire wanted a tube for the water, so we went over to the rental place and got one. Only $6 for the day, and it was worth it for the fun she had with it.

We then made our way to the water for some fun!

 

[joanna71985]

I just spent the morning reading your TR, and am loving it! It's getting me so excited for my own cruise in Feb

 

[jenseib]

I just spent the morning reading your TR, and am loving it! It's getting me so excited for my own cruise in Feb

Thanks so much for reading. I am happy that you are enjoying it. I love writing it and reliving it!

 

[jenseib]

Now for some fun with the tube.

While Claire was doing tube tricks, I also would randomly shot things I could see. I went in about knee deep. The water in this area was pretty shallow far out. I also found out that this areas sand was not the nice stuff. It was more gravelly. (I’m sure that’s not a real word, but it is now) I kept getting little stones inside my water shoes, but I am so glad I wore them, as I think it would’ve hurt my feet. I heard a few others complain about it as well.

You can see the Cabana’s area over there.

 

[jenseib]

I had to continually keep taking my shoes off to empty the stones out of them. This part of beach and water was not as pleasant at all on the feet.

 

[jenseib]

And more of the Cabanas.

As soon as I took that picture, I noticed Claire’s mouth was near the tube and quickly told her to get it away! LOL!

And this is my last picture I have for Castaway Cay. Everything else is on the lost card.

I do have one short video. I totally hate my voice in this. I sound all nasally. And I have such a goofy laugh.



After the fun in the water, Claire and I went to Spring a Leak water play area. Claire loved this and played for quite some time. She squealed and ran, and played with many other children. After awhile I told her we had to go, but that stinker kept ignoring me. She just would look at me and give me the devil grin. Finally I acted like I was walking out and leaving her, and she joined me.

We headed to Pelican Plunge next. I was NOT about to swim out there and go down the slides, but I told Claire she could and I would wait on the beach. So we went through the Queue, got her lifejacket on and out she swam. The lines were pretty long for this. I was waiting with a few other parents and we would chit chat here and there. Claire made it to the top and made the plunge down! Then swam back to me…..”I want to try the other slide”. Um, I was hot and it was a long wait, but I said OK, one last slide and then we were heading back. So she went back out and did the same slide again. I’m not sure why, as she wanted to do the other, and I really never got an explanation on why she changed her mind.
By the time she got back from her second plunge, I felt like I was thoroughly baked. We had been applying sunscreen all afternoon, but I think we both still were a little crispy.
We had one towel with us, but it was pretty wet, so we went back to our chair to get a dry one, dropping the wet towel off in the bin on the way….and they were gone! The tube was still at the chair, but our dang towel was gone. I was not real happy about that. It was getting later in the day, but many people were still swimming in the area, so I’m not sure why they started the clean up already.
We just air dried then, we had no choice. We returned the tube and headed for the trolley, which was packed! We took a not so relaxing ride back to the ship. Not so relaxing because the row we were in had what looked like a seat facing us, but it wasn’t. I don’t know what it was, but it had marked on it clearly that it was not for passengers and not to put stuff on it…but a whole family sat on it anyways. And there was no leg room for any of us and the one kid actually stood on the ledge thing on way back.
Claire knew it wasn’t for passengers because we had talked about it before, and she kept asking why they were sitting there. I said I don’t know…and they had to have heard us. But I also wondered why no CM’s had said anything before taking off too.

Anyway…We got back to the ship and headed back to our room to freshen up and Mom was there too. She said her Glass Bottom boat tour was wonderful and she was so glad she went. She also said the CM had told them that today had been the 1st real nice day at CC since the Dream had started sailing there, and many of the CM’s were enjoying it just as much as the guests.

 

[jenseib]

We got showered and ready for the nights show. We also did our packing as it was our last night. I went to start a load of laundry. We wanted some things to wear again later in the trip. I found the machines very confusing. They are small front loaders. I don’t have a front loader myself, so it took me a bit to figure out what to do. I swiped my card for payment ($2) and it did nothing, so I swiped again and that time I was able to get it to work. I later found out I was charged for both swipes, but I never had it adjusted. I didn’t want to wait in line for $2.

I think at this time, Claire and Mom also finished up the 2nd Detective Agency Mission. Something that Claire was NOT going to forget about.
Claire and I went up on deck to get a drink. At first I was just going to get a lemonade, but then I decided to go for it and get a Frozen Mango Margarita. It was really good, so I ordered one for Mom as well. We also decided to get a virgin Raspberry/Strawberry daiquiri for Claire. We got them all in souvenir cups. I think with an extra tip added (the guy was really helpful and nice) the bill came to almost $40 for 3 drinks!!!
Claire and I took the drinks back to the room and sipped on them while finishing up packing and getting ready for the show.
I also moved the laundry to the dryer at some point and time, and Mom had checked it once and added another cycle as one didn’t quite dry them fully. She said she had the same problem and had to swipe twice as well.
Here is another reason I didn’t care for our room steward. We had been left 1 customs form, but we needed 2 since we were two different families, so at some point and time we had to go down and get another one, which actually turned into 2 times because I misplaced the one Mom went and got…only to find it later on. LOL!
Before we knew it, it was time to go to the show.

We again sat in the Balcony, in the same area we had for the two previous shows. Tonight’s show was called Believe.

It was a nice show, but again, I still liked Golden Mickeys better.

The guy who played Genie also was the same guy who had played Hades the night before. He was pretty funny again in this role.

As you can imagine, the Mary Poppins portion was one of my favorites!

This picture is awful, but it was so cool how the chimney sweeps came out of the chimney.

 

[jenseib]

The Princess and the Frog segment was really good as well.

 

[jenseib]

 

[jenseib]

 

[jenseib]

On to the Finale!

 

[jenseib]

We were sad that this was our last show of the trip. We had really enjoyed seeing them, and Disney puts on such great productions and the costumes are just amazing.
We headed back to our room again. We had to be sure every last thing was packed and we had what we needed till tomorrow morning and then set the suitcases outside our door.
We took a different route back to the room. One area that I don’t believe I had been through as of yet.

Did you know that there is not enough life “boats” for everyone? They also have life “Rafts”. I learned this on a past cruise. I guess they can’t carry enough big sized life boats, so they have the rafts too…I don’t know all the “real, technical” info on why though.

We went to walk in a side door and came across this cute area. I mentioned that I never had seen it before, and Mom told us that she has sat there the day before and read her book for awhile. I took a couple of pictures, the first wasn’t so great,… but at least Claire’s eyes are open. I would really like the 2nd one IF Claire’s eyes were open!

When we got back to the room I found something that really made me NOT like our Cabin steward.
For those who don’t know, as you walk in your room there is a little slot on the wall. You put your KTTW in it and it will then activate the use of the lights and all electronic ports. This is a pain, as you need you KTTW card every time you leave the room. I had learned on Dis that you could use any type of magnetic stripped card in the slot. That way, if you have something charging, or whatever, you can keep it going when you leave the room. So the 1st day I had put a Gift card in the slot and we left it there. The 2nd day I had used some of my gift cards towards my onboard account, so I switched it out to a used card. Thank goodness I did that.
When we came back to the room that evening, my gift card was gone. Mom said a few times she had come back to the room to find it had been lifted so it wasn’t activating anything, but never moved. We did a quick look around the room and it was just NOT anywhere. Now it was used, so I didn’t worry about, but it did IRK me. He didn’t know if it was used or not. I don’t know if he had to use his own card in the slot and removed ours and forgot to put it back, or if he just plain out stole it. I kept meaning to report it, but I never did have the time. And though it did make me mad, it wasn’t like I was thinking about it at all times either. We had so much going on that I soon forgot about it, actually. But it left a bad taste in my mouth…if you know what I mean?

I decided to do a quick run up to the top decks. I wanted to get a picture of Donald’s rear end…and I hadn’t done it yet, so I thought I should before I forgot to.
Here is a Deck 7 directory.

 

[jenseib]

And there he is in all his glory! LOL!

Our last sunset at sea.

And a walk through Cabanas to get back to my room.

Not long after I got back to the room we got a knock. I opened the door and was handed back our pillowcase and tote bag that I had dropped off the 1st day for signatures. I had totally forgotten about them. They turned out FANTASTIC!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

The pillowcase and bag came out sooo cute!! I love it!!

Mary Poppins is one of my all time favorite movies so I have to say that'd probably be my favorite part of the show as well. I love Claire's dress she had on that night! Super adorable!!