Trip Report Halloween on the High Seas and Some Not So Scary Fun with Friends - All Just a *Dream* Away!

Well it's been a little over 24 hours since I've returned back from my adventures from the past week. It's a gloomy, chilly day here so I figured it's a great time to start my trip report.

First, let's introduce ourselves. Here are the four cruisers who together make up the awesome-ness that is known as "Table 65."

Left to right - Yours truly (Jessica), Shalon, Aurora and James. Just a little backstory - up until recently I spent the past 4 1/2 years as an agent for Kingdom Konsultant Travel. Unfortunately, life is a bit crazy right now and I needed to step out of it for a bit (but still remain close friends with my KK family!). Shalon was actually one of my very first clients I ever worked with in 2009. Since her trip, she relocated to the Orlando area and we have become close friends. Aurora and James are husband and wife, also living in Central Florida, who are good friends to Shalon. There would also be a few appearances by some other friends during the trip.

At the end of September Shalon texted me saying that there was an awesome FL resident rate out for the Dream, but she didn't want to go. I called my oh-so-wonderful husband and asked if he would mind, and he encouraged me to go (he's awesome-er than awesome, I tell ya). I texted Shalon and she got us booked and ready! And not long after we had two more cruisers join us - Aurora and James. They would be celebrating their anniversary during our cruise. When all was said and done, we had about 31 days to wait. Not too shabby of a countdown

We would be on a 4-night Bahamian on the Disney Dream, with stops in Nassau and Castaway Cay. Our actual sail dates were 10/27 - 10/31. I booked my air to fly in on the 26th. Originally I was set to fly home on the 31st. Then I decided that flying home on the 1st of November would be better. Then I discovered that some friends who I've known for a couple of years via social media would be in WDW and I really wanted to see them, so I decided to come home on November 2nd. The friends who would be making appearances would be Danielle, Nicole and Deb (aka @DisneyDebNJ ), as well as my friend Tommy and his family all the way from Canada!

So, after all was said and done, here is what my plan was:

10/26: Arrive in Orlando, some park time at MK, spend the night at Shalon's.
10/27 - 10/31: Disney Dream-ing!
10/31 - 11/2: WDW time!

This would be my first cruise after years of peer pressure from @Disneyfalcon to get my behind on a Disney cruise Totally kidding. Tammy's been telling me for years I would love it, but I was so afraid to tear away from my beloved WDW. I was nervous that I would end up regretting going on the cruise and feel like I wasted precious time that I could have spent in WDW. Now I laugh, because the only regret I had was not doing it earlier!

So I guess now's the time to stop rambling and get on with the show!

 

[Disney_Belle]

Woohoo! I'm back in the 21st century again! We're all moved in and have internet so now I can finish this report!

After my animation class I headed back to the stateroom to meet up with Shalon so we could go to our 4:00 Mixology class.

While waiting for Shalon, I stepped out on the verandah and found her family looking for her!

Nassau

Shalon showed up not long after me and we headed down to Skyline. Saw this on someone's stateroom door along the way:

So, Cards fans - how'd that work out for you? [Go Sox!]

Skyline!

We got to our class about 10 minutes early. Our bartender/teacher - Salami (from Turkey) - introduced himself to all of us. They shut and locked the doors to Skyline at 4:05. Ten minutes later a lady came in to our class huffing and puffing that she would've been there earlier had they not locked the doors on her. Um... maybe you should get here on time? Just an idea. She also proceeded to complain about the way the class was being run and how she's done umpteen of these classes and this so far was just not going well. Just being a Debbie Downer. Then she stormed out early because she had something else she had to go do. Who knows.

Anyways, so we were put into 4 groups of 3. It was Shalon, myself and Debbie Downer (how did we get so lucky?) and we were up first! We made the Caipirinha, which is a Brazilian drink basically made of rum, sugar and a muddled lime. This was one of my grandmother's favorite drinks. She passed away this past May and one of my favorite pictures of her she has this drink in her hand, so it was pretty cool that I got to make that drink

It was super dark in Skyline. I should have brought a different lens but oh well. Next time.

Here's the drink I made:

I had about half of it, Shalon drank the rest.

I think this was called a Stingray? It had pineapple juice, cranberry juice and I forget what kind of alcohol. I don't drink much, but this didn't last very long. This drink I finished (probably because you couldn't taste the alcohol ).

Oh regardez, la Tour Eiffel!

Next up was a lemon drop martini. I had a sip or two. Okay, I mostly just liked the sugared rim, Shalon had the rest. After that this shot was being poured. I graciously declined and offered it to another mixology friend. My face was already warm and my brain was feeling fuzzy from the 1 1/2 drinks I had. I'm a cheap date, what can I say!

The Mixology class was SO much fun. And well worth the $15. I will definitely sign up for another on my next cruise. Aside from Debbie Downer, we had a blast. And thank you to Salami and all of our mixology friends for being so awesome!

Back at our stateroom, we were getting ready to pull out of Nassau and head to Castaway Cay!

 

[Disney_Belle]

We got ready to head down to the Walt Disney Theater. This evening's show was Villains Tonight!, which I was excited for. Once we got seated and the show began I really felt the rocking of the ship. I looked down and realized I'd forgotten my sea bands I've never gotten sea sick before, but there's a first time for everything and I didn't want to find out that I get sea sick in front of everyone in the theater. I told Shalon I was going to head up to the room and grab them and I'd be back. On my way to the room I saw this and had to run out on Deck 4 and grab a picture because it was just so pretty:

Back in the stateroom:

I ended up not making it back down to the show. The ship was swaying a bit, so when I got up to my room I took some Dramamine and put on my sea bands. By the time I got myself composed enough to go downstairs the show would be ending, so I just waited in the room until the girls and James got back from the show and we all got pirate-ed up! We had dinner at Animator's again (yay!). We weren't in the restaurant but 10 minutes and I just couldn't handle the swaying. It wasn't making me nauseous (at all), but dizzy. Almost like when you're on a plane and it makes a turn and you can feel a pressure pushing you into your seat. That's what I was feeling. I decided that being back in my room and ordering room service for dinner would be the way to go. I was sad, but I just could not get myself together to focus on the menu or ordering or anything. When Shalon, Rora and James got back, they told me a good amount of the people in the restaurant (including three tables near ours) actually left early because they were feeling dizzy. Glad I wasn't the only one! Next time I'll have to bring something for that. (And for the record I never once felt nauseous thankfully! Only dizzy!)

While waiting for the other three to come back, I ordered chicken wings, a Caesar salad and fries for dinner. It was so yummy haha! After dinner I went out on the verandah. I truly think this was one of my favorite parts of the cruise, just sitting on the verandah out on the ocean. It's relaxing, exciting and humbling all at once. Especially with no land in sight. In the distance I saw a couple of ships. Some farther, some closer. One particularly stood out to me. I saw two red funnels glowing on the horizon. I ran inside and grabbed my zoom lens to get a closer look.

Excuse the crappy photo, but there she was - the newly re-imagined Disney Magic! Hello big but little sister!

The other three showed up and I ran into the room that they had to hurry up and come out and see! I was so excited!

After our shrills and shrieks of seeing the Magic were done, Shalon and I went upstairs for the deck party for Pirate Night. Once I was walking around upstairs I barely felt any movement of the ship, which I was happy about. I didn't take any photos of the pirate night festivities. I decided to leave my camera in the room and just enjoy the moment. It was so much fun. And seeing fireworks at sea was kind of awesome, too. After the fireworks we stood on deck 13 at the forward of the ship and gazed out at the Magic (she was still in clear view). The wind was crazy strong up there, so we headed down to Cabanas for the crepe buffet and brought our plates back to our rooms. After we gobbled them down we all may or may not have complained of stomachaches With full bellies we decided to call it a night. Shalon and I put out our order for room service breakfast for the next day and passed out shortly after.

 

[Disney_Belle]

Wednesday, October 30 - Castaway Cay Day!

This was the day I was most excited for - Castaway Cay! Shalon was running the Castaway Cay 5k, and I wanted to get some pictures of the sunrise, we both woke up early. Like before 6:00 am early. Our breakfast we ordered from room service arrived shortly after. Shalon had a bagel and some fruit and a donut, I had a donut and some cereal (how's that for a nice sugary breakfast?!). I also ordered a fruit bowl, but I wanted to save it for later.

After breakfast, I booked it upstairs to deck 13. It was still pretty dark outside, and the moon was still smiling at us.

After waiting for a bit, the sky on the horizon finally started to glow:

I came back with a ton of sunrise photos, but I won't post every single one. So here they are:

Beautiful...

And one more for good luck

 

[plaz10]

Even with your warning at Palo lunch of "if you're hungry don't read" I continued to read and now I'm even more hungry!! I am loving your cruise TR. I can't wait to get back on the dream - and your TR is just making me miss the Dream that much more!

I love that you used room service. It's something I never did on my cruise in September. But it's absolutely something I plan to do on my next one! Something about eating breakfast or lunch out on my verandah just sounds like heaven!!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Disney_Belle]

Even with your warning at Palo lunch of "if you're hungry don't read" I continued to read and now I'm even more hungry!! I am loving your cruise TR. I can't wait to get back on the dream - and your TR is just making me miss the Dream that much more!

I love that you used room service. It's something I never did on my cruise in September. But it's absolutely something I plan to do on my next one! Something about eating breakfast or lunch out on my verandah just sounds like heaven!!

Can't wait to read more!

Room service was so nice. So nice. I felt like I was in my own little world on my verandah. It was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of everything!

I'm having some serious case of the Disney Dream Blues. I miss it. A lot.

 

[Disney_Belle]

I stayed on deck 13 while we were pulling in to port. I watched the lines get thrown out. It was really interesting to watch. I also wouldn't want to get hit by one. Ouch.

I went back to my stateroom to pack up my bag for the day before heading off the ship. I stepped off on to the verandah for a bit to get some pictures of Castaway Cay.

Hello there!

Yay! It was time to go explore the island! Some pictures on my way off the ship:

 

[Disney_Belle]

There's Shalon lining up for the 5k!

Photobombed!

It was still pretty early. Not many people had gotten off the ship yet, so I took advantage and went on a photo spree.

Ain't she pretty? She sure is! Which is why I have a bazillion photos of her!

That water!

 

[Disney_Belle]

Castaway Cay toeses for @Disneyfalcon !

 

[Disney_Belle]

And we're walking... to the tram to Serenity Bay, which is where I was parking my behind for the next several hours!

Mount Rustmore! It's like the Cinderella Castle of Castaway Cay - when you see it, you know you're finally there!

You will soon notice umbrellas became a focal point of many of my pictures. I was slightly obsessed with them.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Loving your pics from this trip!! What kind of zoom lens do you have? I just have the standard kit lens and also a 50mm I use for food pics. I need to invest in a nice zoom lens or maybe a wide angle lens. So many lens!!!

How can you not love mimosas?!? Those are my FAVORITE!! We ended up with 2 bottles of champagne in our room in September so we made mimosas every day!! I'm not a huge fan of them with OJ, I'd rather do pineapple juice. We used the POG juice on the ship though. SO GOOD!!

Castaway Cay.... the stuff dreams are made of!! I miss it sooo much right now! I'm super excited though that I can look at people's pictures from the Dream and CC and say "I recognize that! I've been there!!"

Glad you're in your new place now! I'm heading down your way tonight to visit family in RI til Saturday. Is it any warmer down there?!? hehe.

 

[Disney_Belle]

Loving your pics from this trip!! What kind of zoom lens do you have? I just have the standard kit lens and also a 50mm I use for food pics. I need to invest in a nice zoom lens or maybe a wide angle lens. So many lens!!!

How can you not love mimosas?!? Those are my FAVORITE!! We ended up with 2 bottles of champagne in our room in September so we made mimosas every day!! I'm not a huge fan of them with OJ, I'd rather do pineapple juice. We used the POG juice on the ship though. SO GOOD!!

Castaway Cay.... the stuff dreams are made of!! I miss it sooo much right now! I'm super excited though that I can look at people's pictures from the Dream and CC and say "I recognize that! I've been there!!"

Glad you're in your new place now! I'm heading down your way tonight to visit family in RI til Saturday. Is it any warmer down there?!? hehe.

For this trip I mostly used the 17-55mm I rented from Kingdom Camera Rentals. I should have used my 50mm f/1.4 more, but I didn't until MNSSHP the last night (in which I wish I had a different lens). I really loved the 10-22mm I rented in May, too.

Yeah I just didn't like them haha (the mimosas).

It's about 60 today, but it will be cold tomorrow

 

[Disney_Belle]

Being from New England, I had to get a picture of this:

More umbrellas:

I hopped on the tram to Serenity Bay (after first getting on the wrong tram and almost went back to the ship - rookie mistake).

On the ride over to Serenity Bay, we passed some Castaway Cay 5k participants. Hey look! It's Shalon!

There was a group at the back of the tram that were doing an excursion of some sort. When I yelled for Shalon, they woohoo'ed and yahoo'ed for her too.

 

[Disney_Belle]

It was time to get off the tram and go find Rora and James. They had arrived earlier than I did to get their favorite spot on the adult beach.

I found Rora and James and I parked my behind in a chair near them for the next couple of hours. This was my view:

Shalon joined us not long after.

We noticed a small gathering of people (mostly women) down the beach a bit. We weren't too surprised to discover the cause of the ruckus:

After the excitement of seeing Captain Jack himself strolling along the beach (seriously, it was really cool to see him in "his" element), we grabbed some lunch.

The ribs were great. I had a couple bites of the burger (it was rather dry) and the hotdog was good. I should have just gotten a plate of ribs.

More umbrellas!

After lunch, I headed back to my chair:

...and another umbrella

I don't think the weather could have been more gorgeous. It was about 80 degrees and barely a cloud in sight.

There were cabanas right behind us:

And umbrellas to the left. This was taken shortly after a lady about 40 feet away yelled out a four letter expletive starting with s and ending with t. Apparently a small snake slithered over her foot. I give her props for letting that be the only expletive that left her mouth given her situation!

Sigh.

 

[Disney_Belle]

Crystal clear waters...

We decided to pack up and make our way back to the ship. I think it was about 2:30/3:00 at this point. We wanted to do some shopping on the way back.

So long, Serenity Bay!

We stopped by Pelican Point for a mini photo shoot. Aurora loves her Orlando soccer team and wanted to show her pride!

Shalon showed off her 5k medal!

I didn't have anything to show off, so here's a picture of the Dream

I loved these water bottles. I ended up buying a Castway Cay Tervis which I use all the time now. It's the cutest with Mickey laying in a hammock on the beach. I don't have a picture of it though.

Sad...

 

[Disney_Belle]

Once back on the ship, I headed up to the room and freshened up a bit. I wanted to get some photos of Castaway Cay from our verandah before we left.

We all stood out on the deck and listened to horns blast as we departed. I was sad. I really fell in love with this beautiful island!

We all showered and changed and got dressed for "Believe", followed by our final dinner. No! I wasn't ready for our final dinner! It came too quickly! However, it was at Enchanted Garden, and I was really excited to eat there. Since seeing pictures and renderings before the Dream was even completed, Enchanted Garden has me intrigued.

"Believe" was great. I wasn't sure how I would feel about the story line of it, but I loved it. I kept finding myself gasping every time the next scene started. Seeing Mary Poppins float down from the sky was one of my favorite parts. And Baloo - I just love him. Such a great show. However I lost it when they sand "Baby Mine." That's always been that one song that I can't even think of without getting a tear in my eye.

After the show, Shalon and I saw some friends in the atrium lobby. Oh, and the Halloween Tree, too! It was the final night and there was a small event happening with it. Nothing too spectacular other than it came to "life" (and by life I mean the face lit up and it told a story). It was cute. We were watching from above:

Look! The most handsome guy on the ship!

Then we saw his other half:

Rora and James were already seated when we got to Enchanted Garden. It was so beautiful in there!

Dinner was great.

Dessert was fun. Rora and James were celebrating their anniversary, so they got a special dessert brought out to them. However when it came time for us to decide what we each wanted, we couldn't. So our servers (and a few others) came out with one of each dessert for us to try. There was NO room left on our table. We each picked our favorite and stuck with it. For me, it was the Warm Sticky Date Pudding. Even though ice cream hates me, I couldn't help myself

Though delicious, this was a very sad dinner. I was going to miss Roland and Cosimo so much. They hugged all of us a couple of times each. I held tears back as we walked out. I knew we'd see them again at breakfast the next morning, but something about the last dinner was sad!

 

[Disney_Belle]

We headed back to our rooms to get packed up so we could have our bags ready to be taken. Shalon, Rora and James were heading to trivia. I was going to meet up with them after I finished packing. Sadly, I never found them. They were in Evolution, only I didn't see them. I kept missing them while looking for them it seemed. Along my search, I took some pictures.

One more walk through Cabanas for this trip:

After strolling the ship one last time, I headed back to my room to get ready for bed. I was going to miss the sea rocking me to sleep every night!

 

[Disney_Belle]

Thursday, October 31st - Disembark, Hello Epcot! and Happy Halloween!

We woke up bright and early, got ourselves together and headed down to Enchanted Garden for our last breakfast. SO sad.

In case you were wondering, this is the most depressing menu ever.

I would like one of these in my house, please...

I don't remember what I had for breakfast, and of course I didn't write anything down that day. After talking to Roland and Cosimo, we say our see ya real soons before heading up to disembark. I wasn't prepared for this kind of sadness! But as soon as we were through customs and on the shuttle back to the lot where the car was parked, I got excited. I was heading back to WDW! Wahoo! We dropped Aurora and James off at their home and then Shalon brought me to Pop Century. Check in was easy breezy and I was on my way to my room (because thankfully, it was ready)! I believe one of the wheels on my suitcase is starting to give because I was having a heck of a time rolling it back to my room. And of course, I was in building #7, which is the farthest from the main building. I didn't make it too far before someone from luggage services swooped in to help. I told him I didn't have any cash on me (I really didn't) and that I had no money to tip him, but he insisted upon helping me anyway. I can't say I was too sad! He was however, impressed with how well I knew to get to my room haha.

Here's my room! #7252!

After dropping my bags, I unpacked a little bit (just toiletries and some clothes). I was going to Epcot to do some Food and Wine for dinner. At some point I laid on the bed for just a few minutes, which ended up turning into a two hour nap I was mad at myself when I woke up, but I must have needed the sleep! Who knew cruising could be so tiresome!? I stopped in the food court and grabbed some lunch before heading over to Epcot. Shalon was going to meet me later on, after she finished her nap, too

Waiting for the bus...

The bus is here! The bus is here!

Before I knew it, we were pulling in to Epcot. I have to admit, it didn't feel as magical as it usually does. I think my head was in a fog at this point. Like I was just on the ship, then I was at Pop and now I'm at Epcot. Almost like I couldn't process that I was actually there. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was only there for 2 nights, so I never fully unpacked. And then I took that longer than anticipated nap, and well... it never sank in.

Oh hey there, Spaceship Earth!

My first stop was a visit to thank the Phoenicians. Then I headed over to The Seas to see my favorite clown fish

It was beautiful out. Warm, a bit humid, but not bad.

In the biiig blueee world...

 

[Disney_Belle]

After visiting The Seas, it was time for one of my most favorite rides at Epcot - Living with the Land! I absolutely adore this ride. Not entirely sure why, but I just love it.

There was a really cute pumpkin display set out for Halloween by The Garden Grill:

There was no line for Living with the Land. I actually ended up in the front row of my very own boat. I felt special!

After Living with the Land it was time to make my way over to World Showcase.

I do love these balloons so much:

I skipped EO and JII this trip. My solo trips always consist of far less attractions and many more photos

I stopped in MouseGear to browse. Somehow I made it out without buying anything!

Shalon texted me that she had just woken up and was getting ready to head to Epcot. We decided to meet inside the Mexico Pavilion.

I had called my husband earlier in the day as soon as I could to make sure everyone was doing well after being without connection for four days. While waiting, I checked in with my mom to see how things were. Shalon showed up a little after.

 

[Disney_Belle]

Shalon and I were both feeling kind of groggy (I think the naps did us more harm than good), so we didn't actually visit into any of the pavilions, aside from America when we got our free sodas at the Chase Lounge. We stopped at some food booths for our dinners that night.

First stop - China, for Pot Stickers! They were delicious!

Germany!

Next, I got a cheese ravioli in Italy. I shouldn't be eating it, but it smelled so good. And for what it's worth, I scraped the cheese off the top

The Spin Doctors were playing the Eat to the Beat concert that night:

We poked in to the American Adventure for a bit to see if Voices of Liberty were performing, but they already had their last performance of the day. So with that, we headed up to the Chase Lounge.

We sat for a bit. Probably longer than we should have. We were moving slow that night. And swaying. A lot. I had a case of the sways for about 3 days after I got off of the ship.

Shalon got something in Japan, though I forget what it was.

The UK Pavilion is quickly becoming my favorite. I love it.

Oh that's right! It's Halloween!

Shalon and I kept forgetting it was Halloween. Once we remembered, it made much more sense as to why people were walking through Epcot in costumes. We stopped for our last snack at the Irish booth. I got a warm chocolate dessert and Shalon got a cheese plate.

It was about 7:30 and we decided to leave. Shalon looked exhausted, I was swaying and we were just done. As much as I wanted to stay and enjoy IllumiNations, I knew I had a long day the next day so I wanted to rest up as much as possible.

Walking through the gift shop on the way back to my room I took some pictures. I love reading the boxes of candy:

Pop also had a cute pumpkin contest display out designed by their Cast Members:

I headed back to my room, got ready for bed, and called it a day and fell asleep to the WDW information channel with Disney music playing in the background.

 

[Disney_Belle]

Friday, November 1st - New friends and a Not So Scary Halloween Party!

I woke up around 8:00 and got ready for the day ahead. It was a busy one. @DisneyDebNJ was a client of mine when I was an agent with KK, and she was flying in that morning. Originally I had intended on meeting her at Epcot, but it wasn't looking like it would happen that day, so I decided to head over to the Poly and surprise her after she checked in! I also had to meet Kingdom Camera Rentals and return my lens before heading to the Magic Kingdom. I arranged the pickup to be at the Poly so I could just take the monorail over to MK afterward.

I did some packing before heading out. I had a 5:25 am pickup the next morning with DME, and with MNSSHP later, I knew that when I got back to my room, packing would be the last thing I'd want to do.

I was going to go to MK and take a boat or monorail to the Poly, but the line was crazy long. A DHS bus showed up just as I walked out to the bus stop, so I hopped that bus and went to DHS to grab the Poly bus. The trip to DHS was quick. However the way for the bus to the Polynesian took some time.

Waiting...

The bus showed up finally, and I had it all to myself!

First stop was the Contemporary. I decided to hop off there and go look in Buena Vista Gifts. It's one of my favorite stores on property. Plus it gave me a good excuse to ride the monorail

After some browsing, I took the monorail over to the Polynesian.

Alooooooha!

As soon as I walked in, I saw Deb's son as he was heading over to Kona and said, "Hey! Where's your mom?" He looked at me so confused. Then I introduced myself and it all made sense haha. He said she was still checking in, so with that I walked downstairs and grabbed a seat by the fountain. Deb started walking my way and I said, "Do you know where you are going?!" Her face was priceless. We chatted for some time and I got to meet her husband, Ron. They were meeting some family for breakfast at Kona. They headed upstairs and I made my way to Captain Cook's for a late breakfast.

It was also the most delicious breakfast :