Trip Report Marriage is a DREAM!

blreinsel · Jul 20, 2019

Sunday, July 7

We returned to our room to change our clothes before heading to the Rainforest. We spent about an hour there and it was glorious! We tried each of the saunas and showers before spending some time on the heated chairs and sitting in the jacuzzis. The jacuzzis were awesome because they're on an open air outdoor deck. They were a great alternative to the options overflowing with people in the family and adult areas by the pools.

When you check in at the front desk, your Key to the World card is kept on file and you're given a green MagicBand type bracelet that opens the doors into the Rainforest area. You're also given a comfy robe to wear after changing into your bathing suit.

There are changing rooms available right across the hallway, complete with lockers to store your belongings. There are also flip flops in various sizes that can be worn into the spa. When you're finished in the Rainforest, there are showers in the changing area, as well as various hygiene products (lotion, deodorant, hairspray, hair gel, etc.) They're the Disney brand that we all know and love, so you can bet I was using that stuff every time we visited the spa.

We left the spa and stopped by the pool bar for some libations. As expensive as alcoholic beverages typically are at Disney, DCL actually has some pretty decent deals. Dylan purchased a beer mug for about $15 and got $6 refills for the remainder of the week. The mug held (I think) 21 oz., but he paid the small beer price for it. When he finished his beer, he could trade it in for a card rather than having to carry a dirty mug around everywhere. So the next time he wanted a drink, he would simply hand the bartender the card and he got the $6 deal. At the end of the week, he traded in his card for a clean glass mug to bring home as a souvenir! As for me, they also offer a "Drink of the Day" cocktail that was around $5. I didn't write down today's drink, but I do have some of the others from throughout the week so I'll share those as we go along.

That's Sean in the background.. he was one of our favorite bartenders.

We sat on the lounge chairs nearby and watched the ocean pass by, chatting about our trip thus far. We both agree that this was one of our favorite moments all week long.. we were together, drinks in hand, feeling extremely thankful for the opportunity to be where we were!

We stayed on our chairs for as long as we could, but eventually had to leave to get ready for dinner. We said hello to Nigel on our way! :joyfull:

There was a beautiful Finding Nemo mural on the wall in Cabana's, but I never did get a picture of it. I loved looking at all of the details each time we walked by, and I noticed something new every time I looked at it! There were also sand castle murals (?) on one of the walls in Cabana's, one of each Disney castle from around the world. It was super cool!

When we got back to our room, Taew had already turned down our room for the evening. She said that she had somehow gotten our dinner rotation time wrong.. we assured her that it was no big deal! She adjusted and didn't turn down our room until later in the evening the rest of the week.

All cleaned up and ready to go!

As I mentioned, we had the 8:15pm dinner time and it was perfect for us. First up on our rotation: Enchanted Garden! We met our table mates for the week- a young couple and two ladies that are work friends. They all happened to be CMs as well.

We also met our incredible servers, Jude and Marta. I still think about them daily and miss carrying on with them so much!

blreinsel · Jul 20, 2019

Sunday, July 7

We were really excited about being able to try new things without any fear of not liking it.. if that happens, just order something else! :joyfull:

Up first- appetizers!

I had the Applewood Smoked Bacon Wild Mushroom Tart with Creamy Leeks - it was tasty!

Dylan had the Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower with Crispy Noodles and Wasabi Dressing - he really liked it! I tried a bite and though I wouldn't want an entire serving of it, it wasn't bad! I'm not a seafood person AT. ALL., so this was a big step for me.

Next up- entrees!

I had the Seared Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Rosti Potatoes, Collard Greens, and a Morel Cognac Sour Cream Sauce - it was very good! I didn't really care for the potatoes, but the meat was fantastic!

Dylan started with the Caramelized Sea Scallops with Roasted Asparagus, Sun-Dried Tomato Cous-Cous, Caramelized Leeks, and Red Wine Veal Jus - he liked them, and the bite I had wasn't bad.

It wasn't at all what I expected, but I didn't hate it.

He was still hungry, so decided to order a second entree. He went with the Slow Roasted Prime Rib carved and served with Thyme-Roasted Vegetables, Double-Baked Potato, Natural Jus, and Horseradish - he really liked it!

blreinsel · Jul 20, 2019

Sunday, July 7

And finally- dessert! :joyfull:

We decided to start off with a bang and ordered 3 to share.

They were all very good!

Chocolate brownie sundae

Chocolate Garden Torte

Orange Yogurt Cake

A few pictures of the restaurant. The back wall changed from dusk to darkness over the course of our meal.. it was a cool effect!

We had a fantastic first meal! We would have had dinner here a second time later in the week, but we had made other dinner plans so this was a one and done for this trip.

The CUTEST painting outside of the restaurant that I wish I could have had!

blreinsel · Jul 20, 2019

Sunday, July 7

After we left Enchanted Garden, we went to hop in line to meet Mickey and waited about 10 minutes. He looked adorable in his outfit!

We had been chatting with the character attendant while we waited and mentioned that we were on our honeymoon, so she told Mickey when it was our turn to say hello. He was very excited and immediately reached for my hand to look at my rings. He held his hands out and motioned for us to put our hands on top of his. I wish the CM would have taken an up close picture of this.

As we were snapping these pictures, Mickey had another idea! :joyfull:

He wanted to take a picture of us making a heart around him, but what he didn't realize is that I am Mickey sized and you wouldn't be able to see the heart.

It's still a cute picture!

We said goodbye to Mickey and I went to get in line for Chip and Dale. While I was waiting, Dylan noticed this happening nearby.

I got in line right before Belle finished meeting, so I only waited about 5 minutes once Chip and Dale actually came out. While I was waiting, an obnoxious man that was first in line said to the CM, "Are we next?" in a very entitled tone. Chip and Dale hadn't even come out yet... who else would be next if you're the first person in line?

Anyway, soon it was my turn and I was welcomed by two big hugs! I told them that when I had seen them in their 4th of July outfits, I hadn't thought that they could get any cuter. But now here they were in their adorable sailor outfits and I was mistaken. :joyfull:

I asked them if they were behaving because when I had seen them a few days earlier, Chip had been naughty and was picking on Dale to the point that he was in tears! Dale covered his eyes and pretended to cry, but Chip didn't have much remorse.

I told them that we had solved the problem by giving Dale 2 pieces of acorn pie while Chip had only gotten 1 (you can imagine the reactions). I told them that I was glad to hear that they were behaving today and because they were working so hard, they could both have 2 pieces of pie. I said that I had stuffed myself at dinner, so it was only fair that they get the stuff themselves too! They were overjoyed and pretended to eat pie, and Chip held his shirt out, pretending to fill it with acorns lol. Before I left, I told him to behave for the rest of the night and they pinky promised that they would.

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

We went and grabbed some drinks to enjoy while we walked around the top decks exploring, allowing me to get a little more acclimated.

We eventually returned to our room and watched Beauty and the Beast until we fell asleep. Our honeymoon was off to a fantastic start! :joyfull:

myhappyplace · Jul 20, 2019

Loving it all! Thanks for bringing back good memories of the Dream!!

blreinsel · Jul 20, 2019

myhappyplace said:
Loving it all! Thanks for bringing back good memories of the Dream!!

For you and me both!

blreinsel · Jul 20, 2019

Monday, July 8

If you thought Mondays in Disney were great, you should try Mondays on the Dream.

We woke up to the ship pulling into port at Castaway Cay and it was very easy to hop out of bed! I was surprised at how much we could feel the ship docking and how noisy it was, but I didn't care... today I got to experience Castaway Cay for the very first time! :joyfull:

We got up and around and headed to Cabana's for breakfast. The fact that I could have Mickey waffles everyday for the entire week is not something that I took lightly.

Also- POG JUICE.

We finished our breakfast and headed downstairs to disembark at 8:30am- right on schedule! We had to wait for all of the 5K folks to get off the ship first, but it was a quick process once we got moving.

All of these landmarks that I've seen in TRs over the years and here I was, FINALLY seeing them for myself! :joyfull:

We continued on and to our disappointment, it started to rain almost immediately after we arrived to the family beach. We just kind of stood there for a few minutes, trying to decided what we wanted to do. The longer we stood there, the harder it rained and the stronger the wind got. We were getting destroyed by sand and it was not pleasant. We walked around a bit and looked in one of the shops, hoping it would let up, but it continued to get worse. We decided to head back to the ship around 9:30am and try to come back later when the weather (hopefully) let up a bit. I was sad, but I was trying to stay optimistic!

We dropped our stuff off in our stateroom and then headed to the Rainforest. This little surprise was waiting when we got to our room! We couldn't combine this with the $50 certificate I had already won, but we could use it on two separate massages. Stay tuned.

We spent about an hour in the Rainforest, relaxing on the heated chairs and reading. We met an older couple while we were there, Dan & Debbie, and we really enjoyed talking to them! Dan was the epitome of a social butterfly, and we cracked up every time we saw him throughout the rest of the week because he was ALWAYS making friends with somebody while Debbie relaxed or napped nearby.

They were really nice people and I'm glad we got to meet them!

We finished up at the spa and then went to Cabana's for some lunch. I wasn't overly impressed, but my expectations weren't that high either. I really wanted to eat on the island, but the weather still looked questionable and I wasn't willing to fight it.

We went back to our room for a bit and decided that we would try to venture back out onto the island around 12:30pm. Immediately after stepping off the ship, we could tell that it was warmer and the wind and rain had stopped. Hooray!

blreinsel · Jul 21, 2019

Monday, July 8

We went and picked up our snorkeling gear before claiming some chairs on the family beach. We got all suited up and headed out into the water! Dylan was busy entertaining himself while I got ready.

Ready to go!

We swam around for awhile and made it pretty far out into the water, but the wind was starting to pick back up, making the water super choppy and difficult to navigate. We did see a few fish, but we eventually decided to give up and try again on Wednesday when we returned. Right after we decided to head in, we saw lightning off in the distance and the lifeguards started herding everybody in anyway. I really wanted to make it all the way out to the sunken ship, but the water just was not cooperating and we didn't have the energy to fight it. We made it back to shore and just sat in the sand for a little while before finally heading back to the ship at 2:30pm.

I forgot to include these earlier, but I took pictures of the pins to look at over the next few days to help myself decide which ones I couldn't go home without.

Back on the ship, we attempted to get into the adult only hot tub, but it was packed full. We went to the pool bar instead and stayed there until it was time to go back and get ready for dinner. #vacation

Today's drink of the day:

I finished a couple of these and decided that I wanted something different. I ordered a Pina Colada and Sean said, "I have something better for you. It has raspberry." I'm fairly certain that I actually squealed.. "YOU HAVE PINA COLAVAS HERE!?" :joyfull:

I was so excited.. Dylan just shook his head.

blreinsel · Jul 21, 2019

Monday, July 8

We were going to see a show before dinner tonight, but we had a bit of time so I wanted to start getting some ideas for souvenirs before we went and found seats. I wanted all of these mugs, but Dylan says I already have too many... the rule is that if I buy a new mug, I have to get rid of two that I already have.

I decided to just take a picture instead.

I didn't buy anything because I didn't want to have to carry it to the show or dinner, but I would return.

We made our way to the theater so we could get good seats.

We ended up with great seats right in the center of the theater! What show were we seeing?

They treated it like a real awards show and stopped kids coming in for "interviews" about things like their favorite Disney character, who they hoped to see in the show, etc. They would periodically put the interviews up on the screen as pre-show entertainment, so that was a fun touch! I didn't take any pictures during any of the shows throughout the week, and it was nice to just sit back and enjoy the show (with wine in hand

).

We absolutely LOVED The Golden Mickeys! We saw some rare characters showcased including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, and Mulan (I realize you can meet ⅔ of those regularly, but they aren't usually included in shows). I absolutely loved the Little Mermaid part and I'm very confused about why they haven't updated the show at Studios to something similar. If they can do it on a cruise ship, they can certainly do it on a stage in the park. There was tons of impressive dancing, gymnastics, and Ariel "swam" in by being suspended high above the stage (I cannot think of what this is called... the same concept as the blue bird in Festival of the Lion King.. WHAT is it called!?) The Ursula performance was also really cool - her body was the main animatronic and her tentacles were a softer material that allowed them to wave all around when air is blown into them. They came the whole way over the side of the stage and were actually hitting people in the front row.

It was an incredible performance overall and we both left the theater saying, "Wow!" Even Dylan was genuinely impressed!

We had a small amount of time between the show and dinner, so we looked around in some of the other shops and listened to the band playing in the atrium. We also got to officially meet and chat with our cruise director, Carly and our captain, Andy. Carly had asked that anytime guests saw her on the ship that they fist bump her and give her a Baymax greeting. Dylan thought it was hilarious and obliged several times over the course of the week.

blreinsel · Jul 21, 2019

Monday, July 8

It was time for dinner and luckily we didn't have far to go! Night 2 in our dining rotation was Royal Palace! The restaurant was beautiful and I loved all of the princess decor. :joyfull:

All of our table mates were dining at Palo tonight, so we were lucky enough to get the whole table to ourselves! It was fun because our servers really "let their hair down" with us since they had time to actually talk to us and get to know us a little better.

Such a cute bread basket! Had it been Belle and Beast, it would absolutely have gone missing.

The bread that we weren't entirely sure how to approach.

First up- appetizers!

There was no question about what I was having... French Onion Soup.

It was VERY good!

Dylan had the Duck Confit - Slow Cooked Duck Leg pulled and Garnished with Craisins and Walnuts. He seemed to like it, and the taste that I had was pretty good.

And now for entrees!

We both ended up ordering the Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak- it came with crushed New Potatoes with Shallots, Buttered Green Beans, Red Wine Jus, and a Bearnaise Sauce on the side. Dylan raved about it.. I thought it was really good, but not as good as he did lol.

Over the course of the meal, our assistant server, Marta, really talked to us a lot and we realized how funny she was! She had been really quiet the first night, so we were caught off guard with her humor. She asked about our plans for the Bahamas the next day and warned us about what we would encounter when we first got off the ship. "Don't be afraid of the Bahamians. A lot of people will be yelling at you about taking a taxi.. just tell them no and they'll leave you alone."

blreinsel · Jul 21, 2019

Monday, July 8

Jude gave us our dessert menu and we decided to go a little easier on ordering than we had the previous night.

I had the Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brûlée with Almond Biscotti. It was good but the top tasted a little burnt.

Dylan had the Apple Tart Tatin - Caramelized Baked Apple with Vanilla Ice Cream. I didn't try this one but it looked and smelled very good!

Jude had apparently not forgotten about our (my) love of sweets, because he brought us an additional option without us asking.

This was the Grand Marnier Souffle and it. was. INCREDIBLE. I'm so glad that he brought it because we both LOVED it!

While we were enjoying our dessert, Marta discovered that we were on our honeymoon and passed the information along to Jude. Before we knew it, another plate arrived to the table.

Marta was cracking up and scolded Jude for giving us even more to eat. She ended up putting a metal cover on it and wrapped up some silverware so we could take it back to our room for later. Our stateroom hostess ended up mistakenly taking it before we'd had a chance to eat it, but I think we made up for it with our sweets intake the rest of the week. :angelic:

We finished up and said goodnight to Jude and Marta. Some pictures of the restaurant on our way out!

We stopped a teenager for these less than ideal pictures before continuing on to our next activity for the evening.

heatherhy01 · Jul 22, 2019

The food looks delicious!! I might have to see if I can swing a cruise with just me & hubby...leave the kids behind

DisneyJeff · Jul 22, 2019

blreinsel said:
Hi and welcome to our honeymoon TR! Most of you know me by now, but I'll do some quick introductions for any newcomers!

I'm Brittany and this is my husband (EEK! ), Dylan. We are from Pennsylvania, but moved to Florida 2 years ago for jobs, sunshine, and Disney! We are teachers in the same district.. I teach 1st grade and Dylan teaches high school (US History and AP US History), but when we first moved here Dylan worked full time at the Disney Palm & Magnolia golf courses. He still works there part time, mostly to maintain his golf and Disney CM perks. We got engaged in the Magic Kingdom just before moving to FL, and it was only fitting that our wedding be Disney themed as well. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the most perfect day ever!
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Prior to moving to FL, I always imagined that my honeymoon would be at WDW. That didn't make much sense seeing as we can go whenever we want, so we thought, "Why not a Disney cruise?" It got us away, I could get my Disney fix, and most importantly, we could RELAX! A little while after we had made that decision, we discovered that Dylan gets a discounted rate on cruises... I'm talking 50% off discounts. Disney offers these discounts to CM's in an effort to fill the staterooms that weren't booked by regular guests. We couldn't believe it, but we were thrilled! The only drawback is that to get the discounted rate, we would have to wait until the last minute to book, which meant we wouldn't know anything about our destination, length of cruise, which ship, sail dates, NADA until it was nearly time to sail. We officially booked our cruise about a month before our sail date. So where are we going?

July 7-12, 2019
Disney Dream
5-Day Cruise: Nassau, 2 stops at Castaway Cay, and a day at sea

We arrived at Port Canaveral around 1pm for our 1:45pm boarding time. There were CM's stationed at each "checkpoint" to guide us and tell us where to go next.. everybody was super friendly and helpful and it was an extremely smooth process! We were advised by friends over in the DCL forum to just park at the port since it was our first cruise and we wouldn't save that much money by parking elsewhere. The convenience of parking at the port did prove to be worth the price!

Helloooooo beautiful!
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We entered the terminal at got in line for check in. We had a bit of a wait, but there were a ton of CM's working at the desk and they were pretty efficient at moving guests through the line. Soon we were all checked in and sent to board the ship immediately!

We asked an older woman in front of us to take our picture here, and she seemed very annoyed by the request. She also did a poor job of actually capturing what we wanted a picture of. I tried not to let it bother me, but I wasn't completely successful lol. I would just like to think that if I saw a young couple wearing shirts indicating that they were on their honeymoon, I would be eager to put my own needs aside for just a few moments to capture an important memory for them. It's not a huge deal, we still have the picture.. but I was still bothered.
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I decided to say "Hakuna Matata" and move on... we were about to go on a Disney cruise! We continued along and stopped for our pre-boarding picture. We decided against paying for the expensive photo package.. I feel as if this is probably frowned upon but I took pictures of all of the PhotoPass pictures on my phone.

A quick sidebar about the cruise PhotoPass - There are large bookshelves on Deck 4 of the ship that contain folders disguised as books. You scan your Key to the World card and it tells you what color, character, and number your photos can be found in and then you locate that "book" on the shelf. For example, ours was yellow Donald Duck 16. Inside the books, you'll find printed copies of all of the PP pictures you've had taken in varying sizes. We were a little confused about this for a few reasons. Isn't it a waste of money to print pictures for people that didn't purchase the package? And how do they prevent people who didn't purchase the pictures from taking them anyway? These are the questions that haunt me! Lol.

Another thing about cruise PP - the CM's will not take pictures on your phone. We asked at Castaway and she said that she's not allowed, so we had to have another guest take it for us. I thought that this was super odd considering the PP photographers at WDW are able to take pictures on phones? The character attendants were able to take pictures at meet and greets, but the photographers would not.
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Anyway, moving on! We walked onto the ship and were announced as the Reinsel family. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that! We stepped into the atrium and though it was stunning, I was surprised at how small it was! I pictured it being much more grand, but it was beautiful all the same!
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We stopped to say hello to Donald before continuing on to explore the rest of the ship! View attachment 390223

I finally have a chance to check out your honeymoon trip report. I can't wait to hear all about it. I think we are taking the exact same cruise next June, 5 nights on the Dream, with a stop in Nassau and two stops at Castaway Cay.

dizfan917 · Jul 22, 2019

Have you had Creme Brulee before? :geek:

John park hopper · Jul 22, 2019

Congratulations and may your Disney honeymoon be the start of a long and great life together. Disney honeymoons are magic. We honeymooned at the Contemporary in 1977, 42 years have sure flown by for us. Great trip report

DisneyJeff · Jul 22, 2019

blreinsel said:
Dylan purchased a beer mug for about $15 and got $6 refills for the remainder of the week. The mug held (I think) 21 oz., but he paid the small beer price for it. When he finished his beer, he could trade it in for a card rather than having to carry a dirty mug around everywhere. So the next time he wanted a drink, he would simply hand the bartender the card and he got the $6 deal. At the end of the week, he traded in his card for a clean glass mug to bring home as a souvenir!

That's good to know about the beer mug. I was worried that I would have to take out a loan just to pay for beverages on the cruise, but this isn't a bad deal!!

myhappyplace · Jul 22, 2019

The Grand Marnier souffle is always a must-do for me!!

Doc Disney · Jul 22, 2019

OMG....so much food!! Ah...I did not think I would want to do a Disney Cruise but it does look amazing

joshsprincess921 · Jul 23, 2019

Enjoying this so much! Has me looking forward to my cruise even more!
I love your nails! So cute!

blreinsel · Jul 23, 2019

heatherhy01 said:
The food looks delicious!! I might have to see if I can swing a cruise with just me & hubby...leave the kids behind

I told Dylan that when we eventually have kids, they'll be staying at home when we cruise.

DisneyJeff said:
I finally have a chance to check out your honeymoon trip report. I can't wait to hear all about it. I think we are taking the exact same cruise next June, 5 nights on the Dream, with a stop in Nassau and two stops at Castaway Cay.

DisneyJeff said:
That's good to know about the beer mug. I was worried that I would have to take out a loan just to pay for beverages on the cruise, but this isn't a bad deal!!

It was the perfect cruise! I'm really glad we got to go to Castaway Cay twice, especially because of the weather on our first day. The beer mug really was a good deal, especially for Disney!

dizfan917 said:
Have you had Creme Brulee before?

Only at Cali Grill and one of the festivals.

John park hopper said:
Congratulations and may your Disney honeymoon be the start of a long and great life together. Disney honeymoons are magic. We honeymooned at the Contemporary in 1977, 42 years have sure flown by for us. Great trip report

Thank you!

42 years is amazing! I'm sure we'll be celebrating that many years in the blink of an eye.

myhappyplace said:
The Grand Marnier souffle is always a must-do for me!!

I wish it was a WDW option because it was amazing!

Doc Disney said:
OMG....so much food!! Ah...I did not think I would want to do a Disney Cruise but it does look amazing

Oh you DEFINITELY want to do a cruise. :joyfull:

joshsprincess921 said:
Enjoying this so much! Has me looking forward to my cruise even more!
I love your nails! So cute!

Yay! I'm jealous that you have a cruise to look forward to! And thank you!

Trip Report Marriage is a DREAM!

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