Trip Report Our First December Trip! A Bay Lake Tower/ Dream Cruise Land & Sea Report COMPLETED

prfctlyximprct · Dec 17, 2016

Your animal kingdom pictures are beautiful!!! Thank you for capturing everything in such a magical light! I love your Christmas picture- so cute!! And gimme those luluroe leggings!!! Perfect for the holidays!!! Finally all caught up, loving everything

myhappyplace · Dec 17, 2016

prfctlyximprct said:
Your animal kingdom pictures are beautiful!!! Thank you for capturing everything in such a magical light! I love your Christmas picture- so cute!! And gimme those luluroe leggings!!! Perfect for the holidays!!! Finally all caught up, loving everything

Thanks so much! I figured Disney was the perfect place to get photos taken of us together, as we don't get the opportunity to have our photos taken together all that often. The leggings were SO comfortable!!! They make it easy to create themed outfits since they have a multitude of patterns and colors. I took another pair on the cruise and they were so easy to put on for roaming the ship.

Thanks for reading along!

fractal · Dec 17, 2016

Never noticed the Barking Machine. Lol!

Love Kidani and Sanaa as well. Glad you enjoyed the meal there.

myhappyplace · Dec 17, 2016

fractal said:
Never noticed the Barking Machine. Lol!

Love Kidani and Sanaa as well. Glad you enjoyed the meal there.

We didn't notice it last trip either, when we visited Russell and Dug. Don't know if it wasn't there then, or if we just didn't see it. I know Dug doesn't meet there now anymore, just Russell, so maybe it was added then??

myhappyplace · Dec 17, 2016

And before long, we were at DHS! I was SO excited to see the decorations here, because I am always a sucker for the chinzy old hollywood decor-tinsel trees, etc.

We had a FP for the Frozen sing-a-long, which neither of us have done, but we missed it while still at Sanaa (we figured we probably would miss it, but had it in place just in case we made it). So, instead, we turned right onto Hollywood Blvd. My brother wanted me to look for an item in the Rock n' Roller Coaster shop (I didn't see what he wanted, but we did purchase a Wall E and Eve pin set for ourselves). We would be back in this area later for our ToT FP later in the afternoon/evening.

Love it, love it!

One thing we wanted to try then, was to trade with a Jawa. We had a Star Wars pin that we thought they might like. I think maybe we offered it too soon after the Jawa just beginning to meet, because the Jawa looked at the pin for a long time, shrugged, and offered a golf pencil. We said no thank you, then offered the pin to a little boy we saw in another room, maybe he would have luck trading it. It was cute though.

DH is blurry in this one, oops

After that, it was time for our Toy Story FP

Fun as always, though sad to say my score is on the left and DHs on the right...

We got turned around because of the construction (I always got confused in DHS anyway), so we took the long way around to Muppet Vision 3D, passing the Chinese theater on the way. DH hadn't ever seen the show. Still enjoyable, but I think this show needs an update.

All over the park that evening we had been seeing (and hearing

) members of a MASSIVE tour group, doing their stupid chants. When DH and I selected a row for the Muppets show, several members ran to get the row they wanted, and almost crashed into me and DH. I was fuming mad. So obnoxious.

Anyway, after that, it was time for our ToT FP, so we headed that way again.

When we got in our elevator, the woman next to DH asked if he typically held onto the handle on his armrest, and he said no, and she said that she would basically be grabbing it, and if his hand was there, they would basically be holding hands!! LOL. Several people in our car were snapchatting or facebooking live or whatever it is these people do, during the drops. We had an amazing sequence, I don't remember dropping that many times before!

After that, it was almost time to secure our seat for Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! We just had one more thing on our to-do list, and that was stop here:

for this. A peanut butter and jelly milkshake from the Tune-In Lounge. We both thought very highly of this and will return!

So then, we plopped down in the taped-off section they had right on the main drag. We had a little bit of a wait, but I'm glad we got there when we did, it filled in quickly after.

myhappyplace · Dec 17, 2016

My pictures of this are not good at all. So I'll only post a couple. Sure enough, as soon as the show started, all of the people ahead of us put their children on their shoulders.

See? A hot mess. Which sadly is also what we kinda thought of the show as a whole. It just didn't feel magical or Christmasy. We were a little disappointed but nothing major.

After the show, we made our exit. We enjoyed our walk out, as snow was falling! I told Dave to put his hand on my back and guide me so I didn't run into anyone, because I was going to be looking through a camera. This is a little blurry, but I kind of like it.

Under the conditions (walking, dark, fake snow), my phone actually did a better job at capturing a photo:

Coming up, a post overloaded with Holiday Wishes photos!

myhappyplace · Dec 17, 2016

We got back to our resort, and watched 2/3 of The Walking Dead (we didn't know it was going to be an extended episode, and knew we wanted to go down to the walkway between Bay Lake Tower and the Contemporary to watch the fireworks). Get ready for picture overload, we were pleased with some of these!

And those were our last photos of the WDW portion of our trip. Sad, yes, but I will be back in February for a short weekend, and then we'll both be back in May (yay AP passes!). Plus, we had a CRUISE to get to the next day!!

myhappyplace · Dec 17, 2016

Day 5: Monday, December 5th- Disney Dream Day!

One last pic as we pulled out of the parking lot:

Soon enough, we could spot this:

Our port arrival time was one of the earliest. I know we were sitting in the waiting area by 9:38am, having already parked, gone through security, and checked in. We were boarding group #2. The terminal was quite empty when we arrived, but of course filled up quickly.

This is usually covered by people, so I was glad I could catch a clear shot

Christmas decorations in the terminal too, of course!

We found the model of the ship quite cool. Last time we couldn't see it as much because of the people in the way.

The terminal ceiling reminds us of Soarin'

They announce your family name(s) when you board; it makes you feel like such a celebrity! Both times now, I've had tears in my eyes at this point.

Once aboard, we went straight to Guest Services, as we had a couple of missions: one was to book MIxology if available, and the other was to book the Gingerbread House making they offer on Merrytime sailings. Mixology was offered, but it conflicted with our port adventure on Nassau day. They did offer a whisky tasting, which is DH's drink of choice. I am NOT a whisky drinker really, but I thought it would be interesting, so we signed up for that. $25 a person. Stay tuned for that in the report! We did get the Gingerbread House making course, which is free. You just need to get a ticket for your family because space is limited.

Then, it was time to enjoy a mostly-empty-for-now atrium! All decorated beautifully!

And, walking around

epcotisbest · Dec 17, 2016

Have not done a cruise yet...one of these days maybe. That model ship looks amazing. Looking forward to more wonderful photos from both of you.

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

epcotisbest said:
Have not done a cruise yet...one of these days maybe. That model ship looks amazing. Looking forward to more wonderful photos from both of you.

You should!! Cruising is very relaxing, and the ship is fascinating to learn about. Thanks!

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

Continuing on, as we explore a mostly-empty as yet ship. We're feeling pretty darn confident, too, because we actually for the most part know where we are, and how to get where we want to go, having been on the same ship last year.

As we walk along, we see one of my favorite characters with maybe one other person in line...Rapunzel!! So we can't turn that opportunity down!

Shortly after our cruise last year, which was in September, the Dream made a few refurbishments. One thing they upgraded/changed was the "Disney Vacation Planning" center. Last year, the area where we booked this current cruise, while onboard THAT cruise, was basically in a hallway. Hard to walk through if there were other people there, confusing, and loud. Now the Dream has a dedicated room with a counter for booking future cruises, a counter for planning a stay at WDW, and a counter for DVC. Made it much nicer.

Another new addition was Vanellope's Sweet Shop, based on Vanellope from Wreck-it Ralph. This shop was FULL of every sweet treat you could think of, but the best thing is made-there-on-the-ship gelatto!

This guy. This guy gave us a sample of almost EVERY SINGLE FLAVOR! (he actually thought he'd given them all to us, it was only because we didn't point out the couple he forgot, or he would have given those to us too, he was very enthusiastic!!) He was giving us little spoons left and right, faster than we could manage almost! And each flavor was so yummy, though we definitely had our favorites. I really enjoyed the pistachio and red velvet. We weren't ready for gelatto just yet (we wanted to eat lunch first), and told him we'd be back (we really intended to...spoiler alert, we never did

)

As I said, we had lunch on our mind. Buffet at Cabanas, of course.

Here is DH's lunch

And mine

And don't forget the mushroom soup!

Didn't mean to cut this nice gentleman's face off, but they had meat carving stations available.

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

Next up, was something we didn't get a chance to do last time. I'm in the child care profession, and so wanted to see the Kid's Clubs, and for a few hours after boarding, they are available to tour during their Open House, while they enroll.

I was especially excited to see the "it's a small world" club, which is for the 0-3 crowd, my peeps! (I teach the 1 year old Toddler Class at my school, and have been teaching that age group for 15 years) I thought it was very well done.

Changing/ toileting area (there is a little potty through the door there)

Area for art activities

Sleeping area

I mostly took this because I spotted the water table behind the chairs, and love that they do water activities with the littles, as I do.

Storage

They had several changing stations (smart)

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

Next up was the Oceaneer's Lab. I was excited to see this space, for (potty trained) 3-12 year olds, because my sister has expressed interest in cruising one day with 2 of my nephews, and I think they would love it in here. Of course they group the ages together further within the space-the 3 year olds aren't doing the same activities as the 12 year olds.

A stage where I think they put on plays for and with the children. Also characters visit from time to time (as you'll see in a few)

This is the Pixie Hollow section

And of course, Star Wars, which is something new added during that refurbishment I mentioned earlier

You can drive the Millenium Falcon...my nephews would love this (they are 6 and 4)

An area for science experiments

An art studio

Craft studio

Tink in lights, above the dance floor

And, as we were looking at the Tink lights, who should appear? Donald! He decided to give hula-hooping a try

But didn't account for the hoop possibly not fitting over his belly and tail...

It took him a minute to get out of his mess

They have a whole section with every Disney Infinity figure, that the kids can ask for

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

Andy's Room

Overall, we were very impressed! We've heard people say that their kids didn't want to leave the clubs, and now we got to see why!!

Next, on our wanderings, we decided to go up and tour Remy and Palo. First, this is the bar, called Meridian, behind the checkin for those restaurants. We would be back here later for our whisky tasting. It would also be the starting point for another walking tour we would take on our at sea day. Nice details in here, more on that later.

The entrance to Remy (again, we would visit here more in depth during that later tour, but this was just us peeking in ourselves, which you are allowed to do anytime they are not serving, fyi)

Chef Remy himself!

Love the details

We wanted to visit Palo (even though we've seen it before, and would later) but the door was locked. So we ventured outside to check out the new adult satellite pool, which was another new feature since our last trip. I didn't take a pic of that, but here is Goofy's mini golf course!

View

Aquaduck

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

Then, the staterooms were ready! We entered our room #6076, and discovered our Castaway Club tote bag on our bed! (I forgot to mention, after one sailing, you become a member of the Castaway Club, and get a bag on your next cruise, as well as a lanyard-which we found very handy)

We were above the lifeboats

We decided to go on a walking tour of the ship that they were offering. We weren't sure if it would really be worth our while, and it basically wasn't, because it just went over the basic locations. I guess we were hoping for some in-depth stuff, but it makes sense that it was basic. But we did get introduced to our Cruise Activities staff who we would see at plenty of events, including Matt and Dustin. There was an older woman named Janet, who allowed Matt to use her Key to the World card as an example of how to find your dining rotations in front of everyone. So for the rest of the cruise, everyone always said hello to Janet when they saw her. We commented several times how funny we thought it was, that you'd see the same people over and over, even though there are roughly 5500 people on board (cast and guests).

After the tour, we walked around again on our own. We went past the Walt Disney Theater, where they perform all of the nightly shows

They had a gingerbread house off of the Atrium, as well

Around now, it was time for the mandatory muster drill. It really didn't take very long. Afterwards we headed back to our room, and before long, we could see that we were moving!

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

The shows were the same on this sailing, as our last sailing, so we opted not to see tonight's viewing of Villains Tonight. It was our least favorite of the three. Between the early and late showtimes, however, we did attend the Tree Lighting ceremony in the Atrium.

The main mice in their Christmas finery!

And Santa Goofy!

Reindeer Pluto (sorry about the obstruction)

A family had been chosen to spread the pixie dust to light the tree (again sorry about the obstruction-it was crowded in there!)

I was surprised Donald wasn't there!

Next up, dinner!

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

Tonight's dinner was:

Last year, we were sat by ourselves. This year, we had tablemates -Brian and Darcy, and Wanetta and Larry. It wasn't really as awkward as you might think, and by the final night, we all ended up going to 80s trivia together and having a blast. Don't be afraid! Though I think if you really really want to dine alone, that's something you can always go to Guest Services about when you board the ship.

My appetizer tonight was the Thyme and Garlic Brioche Tart with mushrooms and leek cream sauce

I also had the tomato soup

DH went with the lobster ravioli

And a romaine wedge salad

For mains, DH had the scallops

and I had the prime rib

For dessert, DH went with a date pudding

and I had the Esterhazy cake

That evening, we had our Whisky Tasting! DH drinks Crown Royal most often, I don't really drink whisky. We arrived at Meridian, and each sat down at a table with 5 glasses.

This was Nur, our whisky guru.

Many of the people in there seemed to be well-seasoned whisky drinkers, but I didn't really feel intimidated. It was interesting to learn all about what made different whiskys different- the barrel, what it was made from, etc. He also showed us how to look at the "legs" of a whisky, which is when you swirl your glass of whisky, and can notice the line that lasts on the glass (I'm sure some of you know that, but I didn't). All I know is almost every single one of them burned my nose when I sniffed it. I did taste all of them, and I did...well I wouldn't say "like" one of them more than the rest. DH really enjoyed this. For 5 drinks of whisky for $25, we thought it was a really good value. Nur also brought out a whisky that DH asked about, because he had seen on the Enchanted Garden menu for something like $140 a glass. It was Johnnie Walker Odyssey, and it came in a box that looked like a compass, and the bottle turned round within the box like a compass needle. We didn't get to sample that

Here is DH finishing up what I left in the glass!

We arrived back at our stateroom, where we were greeted by a towel animal from our stateroom host Norman

And that was the end of that night...or was it???

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

You might recall, if you read our report from last September, that DH doesn't always sleep all the way through the night. This trip would be no different, and sure enough, when I woke up at 6ish, he was not in the room. I fell back asleep, and he came in sometime later, with these photos:

Notice the woman polishing the piano...he likes to make use of that shiny surface in his photos coming up!

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

Then he ventured up and outside to catch the sunrise. He said he waited for hours for the sunrise!! Crazy man.

He said this chair was sliding all around the deck in the wind. He said it was crazy windy, and he was worried that he stretched out his hat, pulling it down on his head to keep it on

myhappyplace · Dec 18, 2016

Day 6: Tuesday, December 6th- Disney Dream & Nassau

We decided to breakfast at Royal Palace, which offered full service dining. (Fyi: one restaurant will offer a breakfast buffet, Cabanas is always open for breakfast, and then one restaurant will offer full service breakfast). We were there just minutes before it opened, so of course some pictures.

This is the Guest Services counter (we like the map in the background)

Two helpful souls who didn't mind if I took their picture

I started with some oatmeal (I like a little oatmeal with my brown sugar) and a donut

DH started with some fruit

I had the eggs benedict, which were delicious!! And that charred tomato, I could have eaten a ton of those.

DH had a french toast with fried pineapple on top, which he loved!

And also the Express Breakfast

After breakfast, we went back to the room to get ready for our port adventure in Nassau. As we were in the room, DH took pics of us pulling into Nassau

Where would we be going today?? If you'll recall from last time, we stayed on the ship in Nassau. This time, we had a bit of onboard credit, and thought we'd go ashore...

Trip Report Our First December Trip! A Bay Lake Tower/ Dream Cruise Land & Sea Report ***COMPLETED***

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Trip Report Our First December Trip! A Bay Lake Tower/ Dream Cruise Land & Sea Report COMPLETED