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!
Things were done a little differently this time around. Instead of paying after we were finished, a lady came around and collected payment from you during it. Also, our goodie bag contained less and was not as fancy looking. I can’t remember what all we didn’t get compared to last trip, but I do know there was only 1 nail polish, instead of 2, like they used to give out.
I gave some money to Claire to give our girl as a tip. I think I had her sign our autograph book as well.
The photopass girl asked if I knew about the photo shoot, and I assured her I did and that would be our next stop.
We headed out the door and I gave my parents a call. My phone was low on battery, so I wanted to be sure they would find us in case it died. They were on the monorail over and said they would be there shortly….now I should’ve really listened to that clue. I have never transferred from park to park, so I didn’t realize (I knew it in the back of my head, but never thought about it) that the park buses drop you off at the TTC. If I had thought about that, I could’ve told my parents where the resort bus stop was. I didn’t, and lets just say…when they left the park later that evening they had quite a time getting back to Pop. LOL!
Claire and I went and got in line for the photo shoot then. There were a few families in front of us, so we had to wait.
I tired to take a few pictures while we waited, but I kept getting people walking in front of me, so I just gave up.
As Claire was finishing up I got a call from Mom. She and Dad were outside the shop waiting for us. I let her know we would be right out. This was kind of nice, because I grabbed Claire while talking and headed out. I didn’t have to have any pressure sales on buying a package. LOL!
We found Mom and Dad, and Claire ran up to them to show off her beauty.
We headed off to CRT then to check and see if we could get in early. Tasha was at the desk…and she recognized me right away. I was impressed. She looked to see if she could fit us in early. While she was looking, Dad kept asking…”can she get us in…do we have to wait…how long before we get in?” UGH!!! I just gave him a look. I had no more of a clue about it than he did. She was looking and I was waiting to see. Luckily she could get us right in. We came in at the perfect time. They were wrapping up the seating for that dinner session.
She told us to walk right in…and we did!
For those who have been there, you know you see Cinderella in the lobby first. Since we were just making it to that seating, we didn’t have to wait for Cinderella at all.
Claire went right up to her long lost sister.
We then headed upstairs and were seated at the last table in the line up…right next to the doorway.
We had Gustuvo again. (sp?) He was very friendly, but I think he was a bit more forgetful this time. He did seem really busy too.
We made our orders.
Dad wasn’t too hungry for some reason, but he still ordered something too.
The appetizers came out pretty fast.
Soon it was time for the wishing ceremony. They did not do this last time we were here. I don’t know if that was the norm back then when they used to have the Fairy Godmother for dinner or if we were in just so late that they didn’t do it.
Claire took her wishing seriously
Snow White was near us and danced a little during the ceremony.
Soon after the ceremony Snow White made it to our table. We were very UN impressed with her. She talked a very high pitched baby talk. I have met a few Snow Whites in the past…and NONE talked like this. My Mom was about to start laughing right then and there and I was holding back my chuckles.
Claire liked her though because she kissed her autograph book and made big red lips in it.
Ariel was next. She had a baby voice too, but not nearly as bad. But I still found it weird.
So let me just say I LOVE the pics from BBB that reflect Claire in the mirror. Her face is just priceless!! I also love the pics with her and Cinderella... and the pics of her wishing are just too cute!!
So let me just say I LOVE the pics from BBB that reflect Claire in the mirror. Her face is just priceless!! I also love the pics with her and Cinderella... and the pics of her wishing are just too cute!!
Thanks so much. I really need to try and get this finished up. I am slacking. LOL! I leave to go back to Disney in 30 days. I know I won't be done, but I hope to be close to done.
Thanks so much. I really need to try and get this finished up. I am slacking. LOL! I leave to go back to Disney in 30 days. I know I won't be done, but I hope to be close to done.
Aurora actually forgot to sign Claire’s book. Since we were the last table I gave it to a CM and she ran it back to her to sign. We still had time before the next character.
Our food then arrived.
This was Moms and she said it was absolutely horrid. I think she only took about 2 bites of it.
Over all it was a disappointing meal. Dad’s was probably the best, and Mom ended up kind of sharing with him. Mine was just OK. The sauce was weird tasting to me. Claire’s was pretty good though.
Dad was amazed at Claire’s hair. He kept asking how her hair got so blonde. I kept telling him it’s normally blonde…but finally we realized he didn’t know there was a hair piece in it. LOL!
This was also Mom and Dads first character meal. I think they weren’t sure exactly how it worked…especially Dad. But they got the hang of it and were getting excited as each new princess arrived.
Finally Belle arrived. Claire has 2 favorite princesses, Ariel and Belle, though I think Belle might be slightly higher ranked.
Dessert then arrived. It was good, but not great….why wasn’t it great? ….. Because they no longer serve the Chocolate Buckle! Which has to be one of my most favorite desserts of all time…. I am so disappointed that they stopped serving this. I have tried to find a recipe for this to try to make it at home, but no such luck.
Here’s a copy of the kids menu.
And the picture we received as part of the package.
This meal was not worth the price at all. I don’t think we will be going back soon unless they change the menu…or my little one gives me big puppy dog eyes!
I was getting pretty chilly sitting in there. I only had my tank top one and didn’t bring a sweatshirt because I had planned to buy a new on in the park.
So we headed off to shop. That was a bit trickier than I had thought. The sidewalks were lined up with people waiting for the parade. We weaved our way through and finally made it to the stores. I could NOT find a 2011 sweatshirt. I asked a couple of people and no one seemed to know, or they would send me to a spot that didn’t have any. I did finally find one, but it wasn’t to my liking. It was very similar to my 2007 one, and that is the least favorite one I own…gray and the year wasn’t anything fancy.
I asked about the pink one I had seen online, and they told me it had been discontinued in the adult size, but no one knew why.
Dad stepped outside and decided to watch the parade while we shopped. Claire quickly found a baby Marie and HAD to have it, so we purchased that for her and sent her out with Dad. ( I don’t think she really knew who Marie was at that point, but it was really cute)
I finally settled on a pink tie dye sweatshirt. It was cute. It didn’t have the year, but I guess I could live with it.
Mom picked a blue one very similar to it.
Mom and Dad decided to head back to Pop. They told me I could bring Claire back at any time if I wanted to and then go back. I handed my bag to my Mom and just kept the bare essentials on me. The bag was getting annoying. But not as annoying as the camera bag, but I had to keep that with me.
Dad didn’t want to leave till the parade was over, so they finished watching it and then left.
We found out the next day that they had taken the monorail over to the TTC. Since they arrived there from AK, that’s where they thought they were supposed to go. They asked someone where to go and they got a rude CM who basically did NOT tell them where to go. So they found someone else who was much more helpful and finally made it back.
Claire and I headed over towards Pirates. She wanted to ride it again. Of course I totally forgot about the new castle show…which I had wanted to see…and totally missed.
We had a lot of fun and continued on our way to Adventureland.
Claire wanted to go on Pirates again!
I think this lantern is from somewhere in the Pirates cue…..or outside the building.
The posted wait was 5 minutes, but we soon came to a stop and noticed the boats were going through empty. A CM made an announcement that the ride was down temporarily. I asked him if he had a guestimate time and he wasn’t sure. It could be 5 minutes or 10 or more. He wasn’t sure what was wrong, but mentioned the mist could possibly not be working, or one of the animatronics’ malfunctioning.
Claire and I decide to jump out of line and go to BTMR and then come back to Pirates.
We came out of Pirates to see that Wishes had started. This is when I realized that I had wanted to see the Castle show prior to Wishes and totally forgot about it. I took a couple quick, on the move, shots as we walked towards BMTR to use our FP’s.
We headed over to BMTR and the FP line had basically NO wait. The regular line was almost just as fast. I did not take a single picture here…..sorry.
Claire and I got the 1st row again. It was fun and fast, but I could tell it might’ve been too much for Claire. I asked her when we were done if she liked it and she said not really, it was too fast. 2 guys behind us started laughing. I then asked, so you still want to try Space Mountain? And she quickly said yes….And the guys behind us really cracked up then.
We decided to check if pirates was running again and then make our way towards Space Mountain.
It was!
We found that they must not have fixed the problems that had shut it down earlier. The mist was NOT there. Claire noticed that right away. And the part where you have pirates chasing around in circles…those we not moving at all. And the last scene with Captain Jack was completely lit up. I should’ve taken a picture then, as that would’ve been a perfect opportunity to get a better shot with more light.
It was still fun and unless you really know the ride you probably wouldn’t have noticed the differences.
We decided to walk over towards Space Mountain and let Claire look at it.
We got to the hub and Claire put the breaks on. She did NOT want to try Space Mtn. I tried a bit to convince her to try, but at that time it was a big no. I noticed they were putting up the ropes for the next parade, so I told Claire we would watch that instead. Again, she said no, she had already watched it earlier. I told her she only got to see part of it and it was from far away, behind people. This time we would have a front row seat…and besides I didn’t see it and that is what we were going to do!
She grumbled a bit, but sat down and then was thankful for the rest time.
Claire jabbered a mile a minute while I took pictures and went through my camera cards.
As you can tell I was trying to get every color of the castle lights.
Almost 11!
I really debated actually seeing this parade before coming down. I LOVE Spectro Magic. It’s my all time favorite parade. I LOVE the music…and just everything about it. I looked at videos of MSEP on You Tube and thought YUCK! The music was horrid. Once the hours were extended for MK that night, and extra parade was added, and I figured I would play it by ear, but would most likely give it a try.
I’m glad I did. I actually kind of liked it. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t care for the music, but it was better than I thought it would be and the floats themselves were great. Spetro will still be number 1 in my eyes though.
