Trip Report Our 2nd Anniversary DREAMy Boardwalk Adventure (Sept. 2015) COMPLETED

We have arrived home from our wonderful Disney vacation, and are ready to start our trip report! I say "our" because my husband has recently joined the forum as MRhappyplace, so he will add contributions (and corrections) as we go along.

We are Amber (age 36) and David (age 45). Our 2nd Anniversary was on August 31, and we honeymooned at Disney in October 2013, so it had been almost 2 years since our last trip. This is us:





Our trip began on Saturday, September 12th. I had to go to work for a few hours to train some staff, and while I was gone, DH took care of packing up the car, getting everything set up for our kitties, and cleaned out the fridge. All that fun stuff. I came home at around noon, and we did all the last-minute things and then we headed out for a couple of stops. We ultimately got on the real road (aka highway-driving from around 45 miles northeast of Atlanta) at around 2:15. Not too shabby.

We weren't heading into the bubble until the following day, Sunday. We added on a hotel stay in Bay Lake, Florida for this Saturday night, so that we could get to the World fairly early, and much less tired on Sunday. After a stop at Chick-fil-a for dinner around 5pm in Perry, GA, we got to the Country Inn & Suites at around 8pm. We were given Room 306, so were quite confused when we stepped off the elevator to this sign:



??? Turns out our room was just behind the elevator. Not a bad room at all, we would stay here again. We went to Steak n' Shake for dinner, then contemplated taking a dip in the indoor pool at the hotel, but there were three older women in there, singing at the top of their lungs, having a good ole time. We didn't feel it necessary to join them Went to bed.

Sunday, September 13th:
The continental breakfast was so-so the next morning, but we did have a bit, and were on our way.

We hit a bit of rain, and the skies were all gloomy as at 11:15, we saw in the distance, then passed under the Walt Disney World sign-no amount of rain was gonna bring me down; I did my slap-the-hubby's arm-squeal-clap-bounce thing in the passenger seat!





We pulled into the Boardwalk at 11:25!


Just a little teaser for tonight-will continue more tomorrow evening. Thanks for joining our thread!

 

[Mrhappyplace]

Buzz Lightyear bid me adieu as I walked out of Animators Palette.



I guess I hadn't had enough of the atrium yet.







Even the Guest Services area is impressive looking. Though we both wondered if the spiderweb pattern is year round or just during the Halloween time.







And I couldn't resist a couple more chandelier shots. Seriously that is one of the most beautiful man-made items I've ever seen.



And a close up.



I was starting to feel tired again and knew we would be docking in Nassau in a few hours and we wanted to eat breakfast in Enchanted Garden and ride the aquaduck so decided I'd head back to our stateroom and grab a couple more hours of sleep. The other glass elevator was waiting to be used so I got on it.



I regret now that I didn't go and check out Remy and Palo during my late night/early morning stroll but it never occurred to me at the time, while I felt like we had already explored a good amount of the ship in truth there is still many areas I don't think we ever saw and a few that we didn't pay enough attention to.

 

[Mrhappyplace]

It's Pepe the Prawn's room! I'll cover it soon in my TR if I can ever finish grading these midterms...

I will be waiting with bated breath good sir.

These picture ps you have are amazing! I love the non interrupted shots of everything. It's great how much more you see without all the people in the way. Thanks for waking up so early and capturing these images and then sharing it all with us.
My hubby is also a huge WallE fan...he has a 4 foot tall 3-D cardboard WallE sitting in our garage that he cannot part with. He snagged it from a retail store when they were about to throw it out.

You are welcome and it was a pleasure.

That sounds cool but yeah where do you put something like that, which I guess is why it is sitting in the garage.

 

[Mom@disney]

I will be waiting with bated breath good sir.



You are welcome and it was a pleasure.

That sounds cool but yeah where do you put something like that, which I guess is why it is sitting in the garage.

Exactly. At first he wanted it in the house, but as much as I love Disney, no way...it had to go in the garage lol

 

[cfry06]

I was on your same cruise and am loving reliving every moment and detail through your beautiful pictures! Seriously - that chandelier - gorgeous!!!! Was a wonderful time. Can't wait to read more!

Enjoyed following you through the parks too! Thank you for sharing!

 

[pirategal]

Thank you both so much for sharing this wonderful trip report! Love the pictures! The ones with the chandelier reflectin on the piano are fantastic! Ah, all these land and sea TRs have got me thinking about a future cruise.

 

[fractal]

great update - nice use of reflections in your shots!

I need to go on a cruise.

 

[FlaggNL]

Glad you are enjoying! You will have such a great time, I really liked the look of POFQ.

We are really curious about POFQ and off course the rest of the trip! Comming really close now

And off course still following your TR! Love the details in all your pics!

 

[myhappyplace]

I was on your same cruise and am loving reliving every moment and detail through your beautiful pictures! Seriously - that chandelier - gorgeous!!!! Was a wonderful time. Can't wait to read more!

Enjoyed following you through the parks too! Thank you for sharing!

So cool that you were there too! You are welcome, and thanks for reading along!

Thank you both so much for sharing this wonderful trip report! Love the pictures! The ones with the chandelier reflectin on the piano are fantastic! Ah, all these land and sea TRs have got me thinking about a future cruise.

We are quite enjoying reliving it! He did do a great job on those pics, didn't he? You should soooooo it!!

great update - nice use of reflections in your shots!

I need to go on a cruise.

Those are my favorite that he took!

Yes you do, I can't even imagine what your camera could capture!

We are really curious about POFQ and off course the rest of the trip! Comming really close now

And off course still following your TR! Love the details in all your pics!

I will anxiously await your trip report so I can see if POFQ lives up to what I am hoping it's like

 

[myhappyplace]

OK, more coming up tonight...now that I'm over my Pirates choking :/

 

[myhappyplace]

Saturday, September 19th

I did not take very good notes, or really ANY notes on our cruise, so DH and I just compared pictures and memories to come up with our timeline for this day.

We woke up fairly early, and at around 8, we went to Enchanted Garden to eat breakfast, since that would be the restaurant we would be missing in our rotation due to our Palo reservations, and we wanted to be sure to see it.





Our meals (it was buffet style)




We went back to our stateroom to change into our swimsuits-we had the Aquaduck on our minds!! From our verandah, we could see Nassau in the distance.



We were staying on the ship, but hoping plenty of people would be going on shore! We had the theory that it would be the best time to ride the Aquaduck. Spoiler alert: it was!

I don't have any pics of course, but it was so much fun! We were among the first in line, the clock inside the stack where it is located read 9:15. (all ashore for Nassau began at 9:30, and that's when the Aquaduck opened) There was one little boy who informed us that "most people that ride this never return". Good news-we made it!! The first time down, DH and I rode double, and then we felt brave enough to each take our own raft.

After our Aquaduck Adventure, we took a quick dip in the Adult pool. Then it was back to the room where I showered, and we quickly got ready to go meet our first character on the cruise ship...Dopey!

While I was in line in line for Dopey, DH went down to Guest Services to inquire about Mixology. Turns out they were not offering it on this trip, but they did suggest a tequila tasting later on.

From my point in line, I was able to watch the Princess Meet & Greet happening in the Atrium below. Meeting were: Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, and Rapunzel.

















And the jack o'lantern tree from above


Look who I spy looking for me:


Then it was time to meet this cutie


So then, we went to the theater on board-DH wanted to watch the first 20 minutes or so of Ant Man, which was airing. We got there a few minutes early, and I noticed that there was one chair that had its Mickey upside down


This is when I heard a giggle from DH. Turns out I had rushed him so much trying to get to Dopey's line on time, he quickly put on his shoes...2 different ones! So all that time he was walking around and down to Guest Services, he had 2 different shoes on! We had a good laugh at that.


We enjoyed the first 20 minutes, and then headed out. We liked it well enough that we wanted to see it in 3D, so that's why we didn't stay longer.

Off to lunch at Cabanas!

 

[Mrhappyplace]

I was on your same cruise and am loving reliving every moment and detail through your beautiful pictures! Seriously - that chandelier - gorgeous!!!! Was a wonderful time. Can't wait to read more!

Enjoyed following you through the parks too! Thank you for sharing!

I hope you had as good of a time on the cruise as we did!

Thank you both so much for sharing this wonderful trip report! Love the pictures! The ones with the chandelier reflectin on the piano are fantastic! Ah, all these land and sea TRs have got me thinking about a future cruise.

great update - nice use of reflections in your shots!

I need to go on a cruise.

Thanks to both of you. I think the reflection shots are my favorites that I took as well! And you both should do a cruise it is such a good time!

We are really curious about POFQ and off course the rest of the trip! Comming really close now

And off course still following your TR! Love the details in all your pics!

Have good trip!

We enjoyed the first 20 minutes, and then headed out. We liked it well enough that we wanted to see it in 3D, so that's why we didn't stay longer.

Actually I knew before the movie opened that I only wanted to see it in the 3D, I had seen the bathtub scene online and knew it would look great in 3D. When the movie was out in theaters we had a house guest and never got a chance to see it so I figured we would wait til the 3D blu-ray came out to see it. I didn't think watching a movie was a great use of our time on the cruise but figured 20 minutes was enough to hold me over until the home release.

 

[fractal]

Good tip on staying aboard to ride the aquaduck!

 

[myhappyplace]

After our movie preview, we went back to our stateroom so that DH could get correct shoes on...tee hee. I snapped a few pics off of our verandah of port in Nassau...I was really trying to convey the gorgeous color of the water, but I don't think I was able, it is gorgeous.







We ran into our lens fogging issue again, and this time it seemed pretty bad I was worried my lens or camera was ruined...it seemed the fog was inside the lens. DH calmed me down-I was pretty upset- and told me that we will go eat lunch, and leave the lens there (I took the zoom lens and camera with me to lunch) and that when we got back, it would be fine. I was really worried I'd have no camera for Castaway Cay.

We even stopped at Shutters (the photography counter) but realized it wouldn't be open in port (stores on board are only open when out at sea). We were hoping there would be someone we could ask, or maybe we would spot a product on the shelves that would help with our issue, but no luck.

So, we headed up to Cabanas


I tried to capture the kites and decor on the ceiling, but it wasn't easy with just my zoom lens


I took this shot out of the window up there (hence the streak), looking at Atlantis in the distance


Our food (again, super-awkwardly taken with a zoom lens)




We then decided to get some soft-serve ice cream...which was REALLY soft




With lunch in our tummies, back to the room we went. Where, I was overjoyed to discover that my lens was fine!! WHEW! To celebrate, we napped! Relaxing is so tiring, ya know?!

When we woke, we discovered we were 15 minutes late for the art tour we had wanted to take, so we decided to do the tequila tasting. We were also about 5 minutes late for it but we figured that was ok. Turns out, they hadn't even started yet, because there were more people than the hostess expected, so she was still prepping. Also turns out, you were supposed to sign up....and pay. We thought it was free....oops. (we did pay at the end, don't worry) She was definitely overwhelmed because there were others like us who just showed up.

Once we got started, we were each given a board with 3 shot glasses. I am no tequila expert, so I can't recall what we were given, other than it was Patron. But we had a plate of limes and oranges (turns out I like orange better for chasing my shots). Our hostess talked about the age of each selection before sampling.





Then, volunteers were invited behind the bar to mix up the margaritas we would be tasting. The blonde lady in the strapless dress was sitting near DH and I; she and her sisters were cruising together...she is the one that made our drinks. You will recognize @lostpro9het in the pics. Hope it is okay that I post these.









And our drinks- I much prefer frozen margaritas to regular ones




Overall, it was a fun experience. And since DH and I do not drink much anymore, we were both feeling it a bit. He would say I was feeling it a lot more than he was, because I was giggly, but I contest I'm like that all the time.

He wanted to show me some of the places he'd visited in his late night wanderings, so as we walked that way, we spotted a costumed Goofy meeting in the atrium. I now notice in both of the shots I have of Goofy here (I only posted one), there seems to be a Fairy Godmother person in the background..not sure if this is actually the character or a guest dressed up as her, being that this was Halloween night on the ship?


I made a pit stop before going out on deck. It could be the tequila, but I was highly fascinated with this mirror

 

[myhappyplace]

Good tip on staying aboard to ride the aquaduck!

Yeah, we were glad that worked out (also DH didn't really have an interest in Nassau and I had been there before). We've heard its even less busy on Castaway Cay day, but I wasn't giving that up!!

 

[myhappyplace]

We went up to the top deck to look around. The Dream stood above and beyond any of the other cruise ships around! Later on that evening our Cruise Director would even make the comment "if you were out and about in Nassau, weren't you glad it was the Dream you were getting back aboard?!"











After all that tequila, I was wanting a drink of lemonade. Cabanas wasn't serving then, but you can always grab a drink. So we did. Then I thought it was the perfect time to get some shots of the Nemo mosaic I liked, but was hard to capture when people were always in front of it.











We did grab a burger and hot dog to split at Flo's, and took it back to our room, where we ordered some room service dessert. This beauty


Also, some cookies


Then, we felt us beginning to pull away from Nassau, so we went on the verandah to get some more pics










Looking back at the port

 

[lostpro9het]

You will recognize @lostpro9het in the pics. Hope it is okay that I post these.

Heck Yes! Post Away! I'm not a huge fan of tequila but this experience was a good substitute for the mixology class.

 

[MRGEFF]

We headed out into the rain-




I thought the wet wood of the Boardwalk looked so pretty, and the pastel buildings too!



We walked around the whole loop, by the Beach and Yacht Clubs, and back to the Boardwalk, all in the pouring rain. We were drenched, but it didn't bother us. It did mean I kept the camera put away for the most part, but we would have opportunity to revisit the Yacht and Beach Clubs for pics later.



We did some looking in shops and the art gallery. DH insisted we needed some of the huge dolphins in our living room. Pretty amazing stuff in there. In the shops, we were interested in pins. DH's stepmother came across a lanyard with some pins on it at the charity she works for, and bought them for us before our last trip. We never did anything with them, but thought we might see what pin trading was all about. Our goal is to stay at several different resorts, and we thought a resort-specific pin each trip might be a nice souvenier.



With plans to buy a Boardwalk pin later in the week (and we did), we continued our walk and finally found the pool.



Finally between 2 and 2:30, we got the text that our room was ready-we were in 3235, Boardwalk view.

Here was our view:

The BW is a great resort even in the rain and just like being at an east coast seashore hotel, you never let the rain stop you. We're not pin
traders but we do have a great collection that we put on a foam board and hung it up. We also have a collection from all the resorts
we stayed in so far ( just a couple more to go ) that we have displayed in a shadow box. Really enjoying your photos.

 

[myhappyplace]

Heck Yes! Post Away! I'm not a huge fan of tequila but this experience was a good substitute for the mixology class.

Cool. Me either, on the rare occasion that I drink anymore, I would just rather have a beer, but yes, this was our substitution for Mixology.

The BW is a great resort even in the rain and just like being at an east coast seashore hotel, you never let the rain stop you. We're not pin
traders but we do have a great collection that we put on a foam board and hung it up. We also have a collection from all the resorts
we stayed in so far ( just a couple more to go ) that we have displayed in a shadow box. Really enjoying your photos.

That's a great idea with the pins. I'm thinking we might do something similar, cover a corkboard with some fabric and display the pins we know we don't want to trade.

Thanks for reading!!

 

[myhappyplace]

The show tonight was Villains Tonight, which was our least favorite of the three. After it, we went back to the stateroom to get ready...we had Palo tonight! We came back to this


We finally found Palo, and we're pushing it to get there on time. Oops. Not a problem, though, we still had to wait about 10 minutes in the nearby bar. We overheard a man sitting at the bar, chatting with the bartender and another coupke. He was from GA, judging by his UGA clothes. We heard him say that he just cruises all the time, and uses the data package to run his business from the ship. Must be the life!

We were then called, and sat next to the window. When we boarded the ship, DH had interest in moving our time a little earlier so that we could catch the sunset, but I never did it. I wish I would have now, cause we didn't really have anything to look out at-just darkenss.







Our servers name is failing me right now, but I believe he was from Romania.

We started with bread service




And then he brought out the antipasto cart, and fixed us up a plate, which was good.




Horrible pictures, but there was a violinist walking around the restaurant


For appetizers, I had the mozzarella caprese, which you can never go wrong with


And DH had the fritto di calamari


For our pasta dish, I had the wild mushroom risotto, half-portion. This was SO good.


And DH had the half-portion of the chianti braised beef ravioli, which he liked so well, he wished he'd have gotten the full portion.


For our meat course, I selected the beef tenderloin, and DH said he wanted the scallops. Our server, though, told him that in his opinion, the beans served with the scallops overpower the flavor of the scallops, and that he could "do better", so DH chose the rack of lamb, which our server said was a better choice.

My tenderloin


DH'S rack of lamb


Turns out, DH didn't care for his lamb. It was too fatty, and too hard to cut/ chew for his liking. Our server could tell that he wasn't loving it, and offered to bring out the scallops, which DH said yes to. He didn't loooove them either, our server had been correct about the overpowering beans, but they were better than the lamb. Our server passed along the opinion to the chef.

The scallops


By this time, we were getting close to fireworks time (it was Pirate Night), and we didn't want to miss them, so while DH finished his scallops and we waited on dessert, I walked around and took some pics because Palo was emptying out.





Another server asked me if I had heard of "table #99", and I said I had not. He led me to a table in the next room, and he told me that if I take a picture of a mosaic behind it with my flash on, it looks like a window. Here it is, it was so pretty. I wish I would have thought to take a pic without the flash to compare.

 

[myhappyplace]

Our desserts arrived, and our eyes were bigger than our stomachs for sure. We split a chocolate souffle, the amaretto indulgence with cannoli, and I think it was tiramisu.







Then our server brought a congratulatory plate...though it wasn't our 1st anniversary, it was our 2nd...we didn't correct him.


Somewhere during dinner, a ship photographer came and took our photo. He said "ooh, I like your tee shirt" to me, which sort of offended DH because I was wearing a nice dress, while the man in the couple next to us was wearing a Polo shirt, not to mention a couple other guys we saw that night. We tried really hard to stick to the dress code, and then he called it a tee shirt. It did sort of let us down...I thought we looked nice.



Not a tee shirt, right?

The Venetian glass above the entrance way was just beautiful




We didnt really have time to go any further than the deck off of the bar we waited in before dinner, but the CM out there said we would be able to see the fireworks, there were already a few people out there, but not many. The CM was chatting with a group, and I overheard her say that she was a Penn State graduate, and I chimed in "me too", and then the older gentleman next to me said "me too!"...small world eh? We chatted for a few minutes about football, then the fireworks began







Pretty awesome to see fireworks in the middle of the ocean. Then it was back to the stateroom and to bed for us, to rest up for Castaway Cay the following day!