Trip Report The “More SunPass than the average Florida resident/Can you believe this is happening?” Trip Report.

*****Disclaimer*****​

This is my first trip using a GoPro as my primary form of image capturing. With this comes some trial and error that I learned along the way so I do apologize for the occasional fuzzy picture as well as the excessive amount of pictures I am about to bombard you with. Additionally, I am not known for my wordsmithing as I favor the 1’s and 0’s over the A’s and B’s so I apologize ahead of time for the inevitable grammar and spelling typos that will surely come your way. That said, I do hope you enjoy the following!

So here we are, Surf ‘n Turf trip number four! For all the funtivities about the who/what/when/etc have yourself a nice read here:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/18-years-of-marital-bliss-means-it’s-time-for-some-surf-n-turf-action…-again.915877/

So after about five and half hours of sleep I was up bright and early at 04:00 with the DW soon up to follow. The DMIL, who was staying over to watch the DD, saw us off and we ended up pulling out of the house around 04:40 to avoid the madness that is Atlanta traffic. We had to make a quick stop to fuel up first:

We chose to avoid eating until we got through downtown because I didn’t want to risk getting caught in anything the ATL could conjure up. Soon we were on the south side and ready for some breakfast. We passed a sign for Truett’s grill, Chick-fil-A founder, and thought this sounded good, I love me some spicy chicken biscuit action! We took the exit and made our way to the grill only to find out that they didn’t open for breakfast until 06:00!! Alas, it was only 05:45 and I was on a mission to not waste time so we hopped back on I-75 and made our way south. We ended up dining at a Chick-fil-A in Macon only to learn that the spicy chicken biscuit has now become a regional item!! I pressed the server to make sure she knew what state we were still in and that the idea of a spicy chicken biscuit not being available in Truett’s home state was just plain nuts! So the DW and I settled for a pair of chicken biscuits but had the fortune that a Dunkin Donuts was right across the street so we were able to secure some good coffee for the trip.
[TangetTime]

True story: I actually met Honey Boo Boo at this very Dunkin Donuts during the state wrestling tournament about three years ago. Now aren’t you jealous!!!

[/TangentTime]

We would only stop one more time for fuel and restroom access during our travels. We did, however, pass a most entertaining car fire as we entered into Florida. I felt a bit bad for the folks watching their car crisp up and even worse when we eventually passed the FD traveling north about 5 minutes later. What, amazingly, felt like a short seven-hour ride, we had arrived!

We navigated our way from Western Way to MK’s main gate. Needless to say I was ready to get to the Poly. Here the DW nabbed a pic of me without knowing, it wouldn’t be the last she would get of me.

Soon we were in the Poly’s lobby talking in the wonderful sights and smells.

We made our way to the front desk to learn our room was not ready. We anticipated this and packed our bathing suits and some libations in a tote for an afternoon poolside before our early evening fastpasses. We made for our car and moved it to the DVC parking lot when we got the call…

 

[lostpro9het]

YIKES!!! 9 days til our next trip, I need to wrap this TR up!!

So after our last selfie I grabbed a few more pics of the hull because I am still amazed at how well maintained DCL keeps their ships. Along the way we bumped into Stitch interacting with some fans.

We made our way back to the room and as you can see the weather and water were still just beautiful.

We decided before this trip that we would make it a point to go see Believe while on the boat. Laura and the DD really enjoyed it on the last cruise and said I needed to see it. We were still a couple hours out so we decided to lazily make our way to Cove Café again for a few drinks. We did this via Vanellope’s

As I’ve mentioned before, there is food everywhere but I never stop to really take a picture of the other options the Dream offers, mostly it is because Im usually too full to take advantage of them. Here are two pool side options that are open all day. You want it, they probably got it! Burgers, chicken, pizza, hot dogs, salads, sandwiches, and more!

We finally made it to Cove Café and enjoyed some drinks and sweets. We still had some time to kill so we sipped slow and relaxed for a while.

Still to come: Believe, trivia ownage, and Royal palace.

 

[Tiggerish]

9 days?? You're killin' me, Smalls!!

I have to wait until March for my next trip, returning to the Magic because we had SUCH a good time on our Canada cruise, this time out of Miami.

Still waiting for the trivia...if I ever get around to a TR for my last Magic cruise, I could tell the story about a pub quiz and an unsatisfactory Guinness.

 

[lostpro9het]

9 days?? You're killin' me, Smalls!!

No boat this time, though, but it will be a 2bdrm savanna view in Kidani.

9 days??
I have to wait until March for my next trip, returning to the Magic because we had SUCH a good time on our Canada cruise, this time out of Miami..

How exciting! What itinerary? Haven't enjoyed the Magic yet, got the Wonder in our sights in February

Still waiting for the trivia...if I ever get around to a TR for my last Magic cruise, I could tell the story about a pub quiz and an unsatisfactory Guinness.

Get on it then, share the joy! It was interesting how heated the trivia got when scores were released. The real story, though, might have come during the 80s trivia...lets just say there are some videos that will never be made public.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I love your report! I am sorry for the abundance of likes this morning, was on a reading roll! So happy I am all caught up! Holy geez bungalow! Can I live your life???? And I PROMISE to try Jiko or Sanaa my next trip.

I love all your pictures. Truly feels like I'm on vacation right now

 

[Mrhappyplace]

I love your report! I am sorry for the abundance of likes this morning, was on a reading roll! So happy I am all caught up! Holy geez bungalow! Can I live your life???? And I PROMISE to try Jiko or Sanaa my next trip.

I love all your pictures. Truly feels like I'm on vacation right now

I do about 85% of my trip report reading at work while not logged in, then during the weekends go through them quickly clicking the like button on posts with photos so if anybody notices me giving them a bunch of likes in a short amount of time I did actually read the whole report and didn't just scroll to the like buttons and click.

 

[lostpro9het]

So we were well caffeinated and fed and it was getting close to time for Believe. I decided to make my way down to 687 before the show to get something to sip on during the entertainment. As I mentioned to @prfctlyximprct , I am a fan of La Fin Du Monde and recommend you try it if you find yourself in the Canada pavilion at EC or at the Brown Derby at HS. I would call it a Golden Monkey with even higher octane! It has great flavor and kick to boot!#canadatalk.

The weather, my god, was still so beautiful so we couldn’t miss a chance for another selfie on the way to the theater.

So we arrived at the theater and Laura was adamant about us getting a balcony seat stage left or right. So we split up so each of us could enter on either side of the theater and whoever got the balcony would stake a claim while the other came over. Turns out I lost the balcony game as the four people ahead of me were also on a mission for those seats. I made may across the theater and sat next to my bride when, if I didn’t know any better, the Clampetts pulled up behind us fresh off their wagon. Now, living in rural North Georgia you see all kinds of wonder at our local mall, WalMart, so I am pretty desensitized to the ways of the redneck. Let’s just say the Clampetts pulled out all the stops and left me in awe. I mean, does it get any better than kicking off the old moccasins and propping your feet up on the balcony during a theater performance? Anyhow, the show was fantastic despite have feet in my peripheral and would absolutely see it again. FWIW, there was no photography allowed during the show so I do not have any pics of the show itself.

After Believe we made our way back down to 687 for the 90’s trivia game that was about to start. Despite the bar buzzing with NFL watchers we were able to find an open table in the middle of the scene in no time. Of course, 687 means more beer! Im 99% sure I went with another La Trappe and Laura either had a 687 or a Loose Cannon.

So the game got underway. We were to get into our own teams, I think four was the max, and the host would play a very brief, 5ish seconds, snippet of a 90’s song and you had to make a note of BOTH artist and song. He repeated this process 27 times then we went through the songs to tally up the points; one point for artist name and one point for song name. As he was playing the songs I thought for sure everyone was getting them because they seemed so easy! It wasn’t until we started going over the answers that I thought we had a chance, many folks didn’t know many of the songs. Soon it was time to see who won and to our surprise our 51/54 was tops for the night! DCL key chains to the victors! The next closest tally was 45/54. Let’s just say that the team that had 45 cried foul a bit claiming we couldn’t have scored so high. I kindly told them what they could do with their claims and reminded them who was holding the victorious key chains!

It was a lot of fun and got us motivated to try and sweep the trivia events for the night and agreed we would do the 80’s trivia after dinner.

Still to come: Dinner, Tom Cruise I am not, and heading to AKL.

 

[lostpro9het]

So high on our 90’s triva win we made our way to The Royal Palace for dinner. Ivan and Oral greeted us and quickly had us seated.

We were handed our menus and water while being told of the favorite items our serving team felt we would like. We informed Oral that we had a half bottle of wine sent down from Palo and would like to have that with dinner. A few minutes later our wine and bread were at our table.

For appetizers, Laura went with the fried Brie and I had the duck confit. I had the duck on a previous cruise as well at the HBD and really enjoyed it. Tonight’s duck was just as good as previous dining experiences. I also went with a mixed greens salad.

For our mains, Laura went with the shrimp pasta and I went with the rack of lamb. The lamb, while a little pink for my liking, was very good.

Dinner was excellent but wasn’t complete, for me anyway. Dessert menus were presented but Laura tapped out but I wne with the apple tart and coffee, it was excellent.

After dinner we went back to the room to freshen up real quick before the 80’s trivia challenge. We had this little guy waiting on us when we returned.

Still to come: No shorts, no shoes, no problem!

 

[lostpro9het]

We parted ways with our service crew letting them know we would see them again in the morning for breakfast before disembarking. We made our way to the photo area of the ship to see if there were any pictures we may be interested in. We may have had about 6 pictures in our folder but nothing looked worthwhile so we passed. We then made for Evolution for the trivia challenge. We arrived a little early but the room was starting to fill up. We had to bring our A-game so that meant…you guessed, it:

We settled down and waited for the game action when we learned this would be a team competition where the room was split into two teams. It would be Team My Little Ponies vs. Team Cabbage Patch., MLP 4 life! This trivia contest had a few different challenges. There was either a team question, physical challenge, or a beat the buzzer question. We started out with a few team questions where I had to educate MLP that E.T. was in fact the highest grossing movie of the 1980’s. The emcee mixed in a few physical challenges which included the best dance ensemble, I sat that one out. This was followed by a few more questions followed by a physical challenge. This time the physical challenge was who could do the best “Worm”. Team MLP went silent; I could not believe NO ONE would step up. So I stepped up and did my best worm impression. Let’s just say, it was horrible. We then moved on to the buzzer beater questions where we would hear a snippet of a song and have to race up to grab out idol to answer the question. I’m happy to say I nailed Queen’s another one bites the dust and Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5!

Finally…the moment came. The final physical challenge was announced. To win the trivia portion of the 80’s trivia challenge each team would need to recreate their best “Risky Business” scene. Bonus points would be awarded for being most authentic….Again, crickets from Team MLP. I was pushing others hard to get up there and perform as I had already embarrassed myself plenty with my lack of The Worm skills. Once again NOBODY would step up! Well I’m too competitive to not go for it. SO…I had to represent The Risky which meant the shorts went down and the shoes came off! While I was doing this a lady behind me slapped some sunglasses on my face and cheered. Well, I went for it and thanks to the sunglasses and me disrobing Team My Little Ponies won! Proof below is just how far I will go to win!

Spoiler: Disney Dream Magic, yes its safe for work...but still, open at your own risk

We had an awesome time but it was approaching midnight and we were tuckered out! We made for our cabin and called it a night.

Morning came fast and it was time to wake for breakfast. We had already arrived at port and the weather was still looking wonderful. We had set our luggage out the night before so the staff had taken it to customs for us already and all we would need to take to breakfast was our carry-ons.

One nice thing about the dining rotations is whatever restaurant you dine in on your last night is the same restaurant you will have breakfast at on disembarking day, if you choose to eat breakfast. So we made our way to Royal Palace to meet our crew and hand out our gratuities. As you can imagine they offer a fine variety of breakfast options. We each started with a pastry, juice, and a coffee. Laura had oatmeal and bacon while I went with some eggs, sausage, hash browns and an English muffin. Breakfast was excellent.

We said our goodbyes to the staff, thanked them, and hoped to see them soon. We made for customs but grabbed one more picture of the tree on the way out.

From the time we left the boat to the time we reached our vehicle it wasn’t twenty minutes. They really have the process of getting out of port down. So we were on our way to AKL for our final night!

Still to come: AKL, Tiffin’s, and Yachtsman.

 

[coachwnh]

The Risky Business scene, too funny! But, thats the first scene that came to mind for me too.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Cannot wait to read about Tiffins! I was so tempted to try this restaurant my last trip but you know me and my pickiness! I don't know why I look at trip reports when I'm chained to my work desk... I am starving!!

 

[myhappyplace]

We played 80s trivia on our last night. We joined in late because our dinner ran long, but Dave and I, as well as our 4 tablemates from our dining rotation were pretty valuable to our team's win, I think! Glad to say there were no physical challenges?! Lots of fun to be had on Disney Cruises...like our Cruise Director said "if you're not having fun, then you haven't left your stateroom".

 

[Mrhappyplace]

I'd find it hard to reenact a scene from Risky Business without Rebecca de Mornay.

I'm curious what was @imahistorygeek reaction to your dance?

 

[MinnieM123]

How many cocktails before you performed your "Risky" dance?!

 

[lostpro9het]

How many cocktails before you performed your "Risky" dance?!

I won't lie, there was a little bit of liquid courage going on. But, heck, it was a lot of fun to compete with strangers who were all of a sudden you're best friend! No regrets!

 

[coachwnh]

I won't lie, there was a little bit of liquid courage going on. But, heck, it was a lot of fun to compete with strangers who were all of a sudden you're best friend! No regrets!

Like college all over again

 

[imahistorygeek]

I'm curious what was @imahistorygeek reaction to your dance?

More shock than anything else. I think Sean had it right when he said his competitiveness drove him out onto the dance floor. It was pretty hilarious! It made for a really fun evening.

 

[imahistorygeek]

There's video of this dance, but I'm sure it will never see the light of day.

 

[lostpro9het]

There's video of this dance, but I'm sure it will never see the light of day.

 

[Tiggerish]

No boat this time, though, but it will be a 2bdrm savanna view in Kidani.


How exciting! What itinerary? Haven't enjoyed the Magic yet, got the Wonder in our sights in February

5-night Bahamian including Key West. Since we own our DVC at Old Key West, we are very excited to check out the original!

The Magic is awesome. All five of my cruises up until that point had been on the Dream. The Dream is spectacular, and the Magic is elegant. Keys, the piano bar, quickly became our favorite pre-dinner spot. O'Gills, the Irish pub, well, I'm Irish, so it felt quite homey. Although it's a good bit smaller than the Dream, it didn't feel small at all (well, just one spot, the corridor by the Promenade lounge, where they squeezed in some tables & seats at the windows, which are a great place to sit and while away some time, but make it difficult to pass at busy times). Can't wait to get back onboard.

Get on it then, share the joy! It was interesting how heated the trivia got when scores were released. The real story, though, might have come during the 80s trivia...lets just say there are some videos that will never be made public.

As he was playing the songs I thought for sure everyone was getting them because they seemed so easy! It wasn’t until we started going over the answers that I thought we had a chance, many folks didn’t know many of the songs. Soon it was time to see who won and to our surprise our 51/54 was tops for the night! DCL key chains to the victors!

We knocked out a few trivia contests on our first Dream cruise and are the proud owners of 6 keychains! Well, 2. We used the rest for souvenir gifts

Are they still letting everyone grade their own quizzes? Couple of girls' cruises ago, there was this couple that curiously won every single contest. The next time we boarded DCL, at the end of the contest, groups were made to exchange papers so that you didn't "grade" your own. Much fairer.

We girls didn't care for the new format of the 80s trivia, but you certainly rocked the interactive portion!

I am a fan of La Fin Du Monde and recommend you try it if you find yourself in the Canada pavilion at EC or at the Brown Derby at HS. I would call it a Golden Monkey with even higher octane! It has great flavor and kick to boot!#canadatalk

I could swear I sampled a La Fin du Monde at the Canada pavilion during F&W last year. I know that I enjoyed it a lot and it was definitely a Unibroue (and I know, they make several brews, so that doesn't narrow it down!), and that it was towards the end of the day, which probably explains why I'm not quite certain! I will have to try it again. I'll also have to try a Golden Monkey next time.

Still to come: AKL, Tiffin’s, and Yachtsman.

Mmmm...Yachtsman. One of our very favorites.

 

[lostpro9het]

Are they still letting everyone grade their own quizzes? Couple of girls' cruises ago, there was this couple that curiously won every single contest. The next time we boarded DCL, at the end of the contest, groups were made to exchange papers so that you didn't "grade" your own. Much fairer.

This trip it was grade your own.

I could swear I sampled a La Fin du Monde at the Canada pavilion during F&W last year. I know that I enjoyed it a lot and it was definitely a Unibroue...

The Canada pavilion serves two Unibroue brews; Trois Pistoles and La Fin du Monde. Trois Pistoles is a dark amber colored beer and really good. It was my favorite Unibroue brew until I had La Fin.

I'll also have to try a Golden Monkey next time.

Yes you do!

EDIT:
Pistoles:

La Fin: