Shaking Down the Fantasy and Three Encounters with a Dream!

When: March 21-26

Where: Coronado Springs for two nights and then a three night cruise on the Disney Fantasy

Why: This was a special cruise for agents from Disney Earmarked agencies. A shake down cruise if you will. It was preceded by a day of conference activities at WDW.

Here’s my cruise docs!

Who: My family came this time! If you've read any of my trip reports you know that m family can't always come. Ds is in high school, dd is in middle school and dh is in the Air Force. Not that people in the Air Force can't go on vacation, but he tends to be in really busy jobs that don't work well with the - "Hey, there's an awesome travel agent special in two weeks", or "I haven't been to Disneyland in 9 months and need to go this month to get caught back up" kind of trips.

But this one was too good to pass up! A preview cruise on the brand spanking new Disney Fantasy! Disney doesn't have any new ships in the works so this opportunity wasn't coming along again any time soon. We decided it was even worth taking the kids out of school this time.

It was. Really. No matter what their report cards say next week. :lookaroun

Even better, we had a room for 5 so ds brought a friend. You may recognize friend from my Alaska trip report this summer.

Here’s ds and friend in the Mr. and Mrs. Potato hats in Oceaneers Club:

Dd in the Oceaneer’s Club:

Dh and I heading to the beach. Check out what’s in the background!

You'll also see Pam - owner extraordinaire of Kingdom Konsultants and her family. Here’s Pam and her dh:

Here’s Pam’s dd on the right and her friend on the left:

And Missy (polymissy) who brought her hubby! They’re showing off the butter knives I was coveting:

Disclaimer – I took a lot of pictures of the Fantasy when I toured it in New York City back in February. I didn’t duplicate much, so here’s that report if you’re interested in more pictures of the ship:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=833556

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I had French onion soup and it was delicious:

Everyone had some funny orders tonight. Missy wanted some mac and cheese so she got that with her dinner:

For dinner I had beef tenderloin with shrimp on the side:

Here’s someone’s as it should look:

Oven baked salmon:

I think this was the boar:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Dessert Menu:

Our own personal models:

Almost everyone had two desserts tonight. I didn’t take a pictures of the inside of the menu for some reason, so I’m not sure what everything was! Crème brulee I think?:

Chocolate something:

Look at all the plates!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

One of the servers saw us scanning the windows on the far side and asked what we were looking for. We told him we were looking for the Dream and he said it would be a while so I relaxed a little.

A few minutes later I glanced behind me and saw it. So I took off!

I was afraid we were just going to pass her. I didn’t realize we were going to float next to her for a little. I think I yelled something fairly incomprehensible, like “I see it” over my shoulder as I was disappearing. It’s a miracle my family found me a few minutes later. :lol:

There she is!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

They found me!

We ran into Stacia Martin upstairs and she asked my ds to take her picture with the Dream in the background. She was super nice.

Dd - my little photobomber:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

The light was going quick!

Friend was getting quite confused at this point. We told him the first time it was a once in a lifetime kind of thing that the two ships would pass. Then we saw the Dream again! And again!

We started calling it a once in a lifetime thing that we happened to experience three times in 24 hours.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We had to have our bags ready by 10:30, so we went back to the room to pack before the show.

We could see the Dream from our verandah:

The show tonight was Believe which I have seen before, but it was excellent.

We made one last trip through the store and went back to the room. We also got a free 8x10 picture at Shutters so we went there to pick that out. That was the pirate picture of the kids I posted earlier.

There was a huge pile of Aqua Duck photos. I had no desire to dig through them all and I wasn’t real sure I wanted to see what I looked like while I was riding it.

We wanted to check out the clubs a little tonight. Missy and Levi said they were going down so we met them in the Tube. We only made it about 3 minutes in the Tube before we decided to switch to Skyline. It was crazy loud in the Tube!

The landscape scene in Skyline changes every 12 minutes and it’s not just a static picture. The cars move, people move and there are hidden gems all over. In Paris there’s a Gusteau’s restaurant. In Barcelona, the Magic is docked.

Really really neat! We found a couch in the back and sat down. When the waiter came I ordered a Shirley Temple and he clearly had no idea what that was, but I guess he asked someone. :lol: Missy asked him to put in a light up ice cube. :sohappy: Dh asked what the waiter would recommend for a non alcoholic drink. The waiter suggested a virgin mojito, so dh went with that.

We had a great time talking and laughing with Missy and her dh.

We really didn’t know what our bill would be, since most of the drinks were around $10 each. We cracked up when my Shirley Temple, with a light up ice cube (!), was $1.75. And the virgin Mojito was all of $3.95. Our poor bartenders automatic tip was 86 cents. :lol:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We said goodbye for the night and went back to our rooms. I grabbed the tripod and went to take some pictures. We were rocking a bit so I didn’t go all over, but I got some:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Shutters:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Here’s the chandelier from below:

Here’s Minnie!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Deck 4:

Dd and dh were sound asleep when I came in. I finally went to bed around 1 am again. The boys came in a little after 2 yet again.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Monday, March 26th - Flight Home

I hate the day we go home! Hate hate hate it.

I was a little excited that we were actually going to the early breakfast. We normally take a late flight out and spend the day at Downtown Disney. The breakfast is always so early when you’re on early seating so we normally skip it and go to Cabanas. This time, however, we were on Disney transfers and our flight left at 11:38. Breakfast was at 7:15 which worked perfectly.

We were up at 6:30 to start cycling through the showers. We left the room at 7:10 and people were already disembarking.

Our breakfast was at Royal court. I’ve heard that last mornings breakfast can feel very rushed and hectic. Like your servers are trying to push you out the door. We didn’t get that feeling at all! Ours were great.

Here was our menu:

I think our servers were thrilled that they found a meal that ds liked to eat. Breakfast is his favorite meal. He likes cereal, donuts, pancakes, waffles, bacon, etc. When he ordered several things off the main menu they were excited. Instead of one donut they brought him 3! :lol:

They also had muffins and pastries for everyone:

Here was our table number:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Light fixture:

Awesome bread basket one last time:

After breakfast, we said our goodbyes in the lobby and were off to catch our shuttle.

Goodbye you beautiful ship!! I have got to find a way to get back on you ASAP!

From a timing perspective here’s what we did. We disembarked a little after 8, rode the bus to the airport, waited for friend to check in, stopped by Chick Fil A to confirm that they still didn’t have Chicken Minis (it’s criminal!), bought a couple of books, went through security and were at our gate by 9:50.

No problem!

Final Thoughts:

So that was it, our vacation was over. We were sad but we had such a great time. I was so glad we took the kids out of school, it was completely worth it. Because of the new rules for high school seniors who have turned 18, this was probably the last time in the clubs for ds. He’s going to miss them. He asked if there was any way we could squeeze in a transatlantic of Panama Canal crossing before January when he turns 18. He was thinking long cruises!

And while the Panama Canal crossing in December is relatively affordable and VERY tempting, two weeks out of school for a high school senior is a bit over the top. Even for me.

I absolutely loved the Fantasy, there were even a few things I liked more than the Dream. Animators is better because you get both shows, Royal Court is prettier than Royal Palace, the Muppets are great, Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boutique is adorable, and the new water features are excellent additions.

Not to mention the biggest factor – the cruises are longer on the Fantasy. :sohappy:

Ours however was way too short! 3 night cruises are NOT long enough. I’m not a fan. By the time you start to settle in, it’s time to get off. There’s so many things you don’t have time to do. Are 3 night cruises better than nothing? Absolutely! But definitely not my first choice.

But I realize the irony when I say “it was too short” to people who didn’t get to go. It was awesome and I am so glad I got the opportunity to go. Thank you to Pam for taking us!!

 

[Mrs.Skellington]

Awesome TR Tammy. I can't wait until the day in September 2013 when I finally get my butt on board a ship. It is going to be so much fun!!!

I am sorry your report is over though. I love looking at all your beautiful pictures.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Awesome TR Tammy. I can't wait until the day in September 2013 when I finally get my butt on board a ship. It is going to be so much fun!!!

I am sorry your report is over though. I love looking at all your beautiful pictures.

It is going to be so much fun!! I can't wait for that one!

Thanks for reading, Stephanie!

 

[C.FERNIE]

Thank you for the report it was awesome! My wife does not really want to get on a ship... was it bumpy at anytime? i am not so bothered but she is worried about sea sickness lol :wave:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Thank you for the report it was awesome! My wife does not really want to get on a ship... was it bumpy at anytime? i am not so bothered but she is worried about sea sickness lol :wave:

Thanks, C.Fernie!

This cruise wasn't bumpy until the last night on our way home, but even that wasn't bad. I get motion sickness so I take a Non Drowsy Dramamine every morning I'm on a cruise just as a preventative measure.

I've been on some super smooth cruises and I've been on some with a couple of periods of huge waves and I've never had any real problems.

 

[PRNCSAurora]

I loved your TR. It makes me really want to go on a cruise soon. It will probably be a good five years before we can get on a Disney cruise; if not longer

 

[joanna71985]

Great TR! Thank you so much for sharing

 

[Billy6]

Excellent stuff as always, Tammy....September cannot come soon enough! Heather and I are looking forward to the Fantasy even moRe now after reading this...

 

[DAKOTADISNEY]

So much fun to travel vicariously through you and your family. Thank you! The pictures of Castaway Cay were the best. Hopefully we can get back there some day.

I was wondering what the cruises are like for the 18-21 age group. If we go again chances are our soon to be 17 year old daughter will be over 18. Like your son she will be too old for the Vibe. I saw that they had a few planned activities for that age group but didn't know if many went to them. Her senior year is making it hard for us to plan any sort of vacation too.