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…

 

[imahistorygeek]

Like @Tiggerish said, You should give it a go! Even of the ports of call are not your thing they offer so many inclusive activities that give you plenty to do. Plus, the food...so much good food available to you all the time. Its also worth noting that the service you receive on the ship is top notch. Think of the service and commitment to customer satisfaction WDW had 10-20 years ago now double it and you're close to the attention you receive from the DCL CMs.

I don't think we've ever been bored on the ship. There's always something to do.

There's food for everyone! I read earlier that there's a shawarma station on the Magic. Sooooo...I'm hoping there's also one on the Wonder.

The customer service on DCL is amazing!

 

[Ariel1986]

Really loving this report! We did our first cruise last year on the Dream and your pictures are making me want to book another right now! Miss that boat and all that it entails!

 

[lostpro9het]

As I said, the call was made about rooms being ready so we made our way aft towards our room. So far we have always been starboard side mid ship or forward so this was a logistical change for us going aft and port. Come to find out this location had a lot of advantages that we learned about along the way. For one, we were a few floors below Cabanas which meant during breakfast time all we had to do was take our elevator up and be right in the restaurant, this was also true with Palo! We were also a few floors above the “club” district and Animators Palate which meant we just hop on the same elevators and get out right in the middle of all the action! In fact, the only destinations we had to walk for, and it wasn’t very long, was Quiet Cove pool and Walt’s theater. Anyway, enough jibber jabbering, here is the room!

Here is a video walk through that gives a far better perspective of the veranda’s size:


The amount of space inside and out of this room was just ridiculous! We could not have been happier and might have found a new nautical home in the aft rooms with extended verandas.

Still to come: Dream art, sailing away, and drinking more of the kool-aid.

 

[imahistorygeek]

In most staterooms, there's a step up into the bathroom. I would always worry that I would stub my toe. In this stateroom, it's a gentle incline into the bathroom. I tripped on this more times than I could count.

 

[imahistorygeek]

I read earlier that there's a shawarma station on the Magic. Sooooo...I'm hoping there's also one on the Wonder.

There is one on the Wonder!

 

[lostpro9het]

There is one on the Wonder!

The unfortunate side effect of this is that I may only eat there the entire trip

 

[lostpro9het]

So there was a DVC presentation scheduled before our safety training and we wanted to get to this to schedule our time to add some points, spoiler alaert. Before leaving we decorated our door while really appreciating some other doors:

When we arrived at the DVC presentation I quickly grabbed the earliest appointment time then we sat down and enjoyed the complimentary adult beverages and macaroons from Vanellope’s.

We missed out on winning the onboard credit again, boo, but still had time before the safety training so we used this time to walk around a bit, call the DD, and take some pics.

This is without a doubt my favorite painting they have on the ship

Of course it wouldn’t be a Halloween cruise without the jack-o-lantern windows:

Still to come: More Dream art, getting our safety on, and sailing away!

 

[lostpro9het]

Continuing on..

These next few picture were neat because they were the same picture frame with changing pictures and depicted the construction of the ship.

On our way to the safety training we were stopped and dot to see them loading a life boat back into storage:

So it was time for our safety training and no distractions were allowed so I took a quick sefie against my better half’s approval, mmm force smiles

Still to come: Sailing away, what was mean to be 40 turned into 50, and dinner.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Brace yourself, things are about to get picture heavy!!!

So jealous!!! Looks amazing.

 

[MinnieM123]

That cruise ship is gorgeous--inside and out! I'm in awe of some of the photos you've posted. Wow.

 

[lostpro9het]

So after our safety training we made our way to the top deck for the sailing away party.

Before you knew it the horn was singing and we were on our way!

The time was quickly approaching 5:00 and we had a date with DVC to deal with. We had to make our way down to deck two as the DVC office was near the entrance to Enchanted Garden.

It wasn’t hard finding the DVC office as it might have been the only blue door on the whole ship, as you can kind of see in my wonderful picture . So we sat down with Doug and laid out our intentions. We originally wanted 40 points but went with 50 for financing reasons, what a shame . We had to have been the easiest sale he had seen. Anyway the process was easy, painless, and it was exciting to have a new home to go with our Jambo and Kidani homes! An added bonus was the DVC canvas bag Laura had been pining over.

Still to come: Sunset off the aft, 687, and dinner at AP.

 

[lostpro9het]

Still riding the high of buying direct we opted to relax on the veranda for a bit to watch the sunset. We still had a few hours before dinner and Laura had a little bit of work to do, unfortunately. The weather was still beautiful and the skies were clear!

After a bit we decided to head down to 687. This little pub has a surprisingly decent beer menu. Most of the good stuff is in bottles but still it is nice not to be pigeonholed into Bud, Miller, and Blue Moon. One exclusive brew the ship does have is the 687 and is brewed by Redhook Brewery. It’s an ok safe beer at 4.2% with a slight hint of butterscotch. I rated it as a 2 out of 5 but have to get at least once every trip since it’s the only place you can get it. Laura went with a Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, I gave it a 2.75 out of 5. So we sat down, randomly enough, at a chess board, so “why not” I say. In the 20+ years we have been together I don’t believe we have EVER played chess together. The chairs were comfy the beer was working so we just relaxed and played chess for the first time.

Still to come: Animators Palate and match your mate

 

[epcotisbest]

Wow, that cabin and veranda are huge. Did not know they had cabins that big. Nice.
You certainly were not crammed for space on this trip...Poly bungalow and huge cruise cabin. I bet you could get used to that.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Wow, that cabin and veranda are huge. Did not know they had cabins that big. Nice.
You certainly were not crammed for space on this trip...Poly bungalow and huge cruise cabin. I bet you could get used to that.

That's the real problem. We could get used to that very easily. Our previous cruise on the Dream was a room with 2 large portholes. It was also a giant room.

 

[epcotisbest]

That's the real problem. We could get used to that very easily. Our previous cruise on the Dream was a room with 2 large portholes. It was also a giant room.

We have looked online at some cruise reviews and still might try one sometime, but we are considering a small inside cabin mainly for budget reasons, and I have a fear of seasickness and have read middle of the ship down low helps minimize your perception of motion. Those rooms look like a closet, but I think it might be worth a try still. My brother and his wife go on cruises and they say they don't spend much time in the cabin anyway.

 

[imahistorygeek]

I, unfortunately, did have a bit of work to do on this cruise and I needed internet access. We signed up for the 50 free MB on the first day. You could very well blow through that logging in. The advertisement for the internet large package states you can watch movies, stream music, etc. They bill it as everything you could ever want. We went for the large package because we had no idea what to expect.

I wish I had taken a screen shot of the usage at the end of the cruise. I used it for a little bit of internet and a lot for using D2L (if anyone is familiar with that program). I used it every day of the cruise for at least an hour. My point is, there was no heavy surfing or streaming. By the end of the trip, we had used around 80%. Based on our experience, I don't believe you'd be able to stream anything.

However, I was quite surprised by the speed. We come from a place where Windstream is king. They're the only game in town. They know it and provide TERRIBLE internet. You can compare their speed to dial-up. So, color me surprised when I was zipping (compared to Windstream) through the internet a light speed. I'd heard DCL did not provide high speeds. Maybe they're not what most people are used to, but honestly, I'd take DCL internet at home any day over Windstream.

 

[epcotisbest]

Yeah, we are in a Windstream only area as well. We have the maximum speed we can get and it is 16mbs. Pitifully slow to try to stream stuff. They do offer much higher speeds, but "not in our area as the older lines can not handle that speed and we are too far away from a transfer station," whatever that means.

 

[imahistorygeek]

We have looked online at some cruise reviews and still might try one sometime, but we are considering a small inside cabin mainly for budget reasons, and I have a fear of seasickness and have read middle of the ship down low helps minimize your perception of motion. Those rooms look like a closet, but I think it might be worth a try still. My brother and his wife go on cruises and they say they don't spend much time in the cabin anyway.

Our first cruise hit us right when we looked out the window of a shop and saw the boat moving. I thought we had made a BIG mistake. It settled soon enough. Second and third cruise I felt it a bit more. This latest one I choose to get the patch for the back of the ear. It was the best thing I'd ever done. I didn't feel one bit sick and felt hardly any motion of the ship. Downside is that they are not cheap.

We've stayed on deck 7 midship, deck 5 forward, and deck 7 aft. I'd say midship offers less movement. We will be trying a deck 1 stateroom on the Wonder in February. We will report back on the movement.

As for not being in the room...our first cruise, we stayed in the room a lot. That was part of our own ignorance of cruising. Subsequent cruises, we were out and about most of the time.

If you can swing it, I'd certainly recommend taking a Disney cruise. Less crowds, activities pretty much all day, and DCL CMs are amazing.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Yeah, we are in a Windstream only area as well. We have the maximum speed we can get and it is 16mbs. Pitifully slow to try to stream stuff. They do offer much higher speeds, but "not in our area as the older lines can not handle that speed and we are too far away from a transfer station," whatever that means.

Looks like you're also from GA, so I can sympathize. They've tried to offer us the higher speeds, but from what I've read, it's still slow.

 

[epcotisbest]

Looks like you're also from GA, so I can sympathize. They've tried to offer us the higher speeds, but from what I've read, it's still slow.

Yes, North Georgia mountains, enjoying the drought and smoke right now although the smoke is not so bad today. Your husband told me y'all are graduates of the same college as us. Good ole University of North Georgia or NGCSU or UNG or whatever they are calling it now.