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…

 

[epcotisbest]

And I only did two years then went on to finish at Piedmont College in Demorest. Much smaller campus than Dahlonega.

 

[LeighM]

Now that our laptop is working again, I can get caught up on trip reports. I have my priorities LOL. Sanaa is one of our favorite restaurants - Ohana for dinner is the other. Looking at your cruise pictures makes me really sad that we cancelled our September 2017 cruise on the Dream. I really wanted aft stateroom 8188 We rescheduled the cruise to March 2018 on the Wonder so I still have something to look forward to. In the meantime - trip reports

 

[lostpro9het]

We rescheduled the cruise to March 2018 on the Wonder so I still have something to look forward to. In the meantime - trip reports

We are heading out on the Wonder in February, I'll be sure to report back! I'm really looking forward to being on a renovated ship and seeing all the new items they added.

 

[Tiggerish]

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!

These are all the reasons why my favorite Dream staterooms are Deck 7 aft.

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.

Welcome to the dark side.

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

Wow, I missed those in September!!

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

It sure is! Hope you get to see for yourself one day!

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.

Even the interior staterooms on DCL are nice, and thanks to the "virtual porthole", you don't have to feel like you're in a closet. On our recent cruise on the Magic to Canada, my hubby and I were really only in the stateroom to get changed for meals.

 

[LeighM]

We are heading out on the Wonder in February, I'll be sure to report back! I'm really looking forward to being on a renovated ship and seeing all the new items they added.

Only 479 more days until I see the Wonder so I'll definitely be looking forward to your report.

 

[Mrhappyplace]

Just wanted to say

LuLaRoe is the bane of my existence. Well one of them at least.

7190 looks like it could be the nicest room on the ship.

I also live in Northern GA and have a choice between Windstream and Comcast. Comcast is of course much faster but was not very reliable for my area. Basically every few weeks I would lose my connection and couldn't get it back without having one of their installers come to the house. I'll take the slower speed over that hassle.

 

[mcstensrud]

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.

I understand about the DVC Bag.I cant buy anymore points so I had to buy one on EBay.

 

[Ariel1986]

Apologies for my Disney aft staterooms ignorance, or if you mentioned it on a pre-trip report- but are these rooms available to everyone or are they a DVC only room? Are they a deluxe stateroom category? I realise if they're available to everyone they will go quick and the price will be more because of the position, I just reaaalllly want to try one of these at some point now!

 

[imahistorygeek]

Apologies for my Disney aft staterooms ignorance, or if you mentioned it on a pre-trip report- but are these rooms available to everyone or are they a DVC only room? Are they a deluxe stateroom category? I realise if they're available to everyone they will go quick and the price will be more because of the position, I just reaaalllly want to try one of these at some point now!

They're available to everyone. However, there are not nearly as many of them as their are regular staterooms. I think they're very popular and book fast. We booked a 5E (extended verandah) guarantee room, which meant we'd be assigned a category 5E or higher. We lucked out and received a 5E stateroom. For our 2018 cruise on the Fantasy, we booked opening day and were able to choose a 5E stateroom.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Just wanted to say LuLaRoe is the bane of my existence.

I think Sean would say the same thing.

 

[Ariel1986]

They're available to everyone. However, there are not nearly as many of them as their are regular staterooms. I think they're very popular and book fast. We booked a 5E (extended verandah) guarantee room, which meant we'd be assigned a category 5E or higher. We lucked out and received a 5E stateroom. For our 2018 cruise on the Fantasy, we booked opening day and were able to choose a 5E stateroom.

Great, thanks for the info! What a great room and verandah!

 

[lostpro9het]

I think Sean would say the same thing.

FACT!

 

[lostpro9het]

So after some fun and games in 687 we made our way to Animators Palate for dinner. It really goes without saying that the theming in this venue is pretty awesome. The attention to detail is well done and the interactions with Crush can be enjoyed by all guests as no one is safe from a conversation with the dude. For those not in the know DCL has a rotational dining experience where you will move each night to a new restaurant experience but maintain the same serving staff through the duration of your cruise. This is nice because the staff does an excellent job of getting to know you and they build quite the rapport during your trip. Additionally, you may or may not be joined at your dining table by another family. Based on capacity and logistics you could have a table all to your selves or be sharing dinner with some folks you’ve never met! Of the four cruises we’ve been on we have been joined by another family only once. The experience of “others” at your dining table is really a roll of the dice. The one time we were sat with a new group the experience was only mildly awkward and grew into only somewhat awkward by the end of the trip. Fortunately on this go we had a table all to ourselves again! Table 29 to be exact…

The menus, like the restaurant, are fun and offer plenty of safe options for the whole family. Upon receiving our menus we were introduced to our extended family for the duration of the trip. Oral, Pogi, and Ivan would make up our service team and they were quite pleasant and seemed to be enjoying their jobs. Ivan was in charge of beverages and when I asked him a question regarding a drink he stumbled a bit, wasn’t sure, and said he would get back to me. I commented that Ivan might be earning his ears on this trip when Laura quipped “Maybe Ivan is just Terrible”; Boom, history nerd joke… Ivan, in fact wasn’t terrible and really worked hard the entire trip. We were quickly treated to a bread service and our drinks while we decided what to have. We opened up our dining experience with a tomato tart, serrano ham, and arugula salad. I must admit that the salad came with beets, which I have never been a fan of, but for whatever reason they really worked in this salad and were very enjoyable. For our mains we each got the stuffed pork chop which also very good and not at all dry like I thought it may be.

Our dinner was excellent but not over yet. We were treated to the dessert menu. Laura tapped out but I could not pass on the opportunity from some sweet treats. I went with the crunchy walnut cake and some coffee. I’ve had the walnut cake before and it is very good in my opinion and this one did not disappoint. They also brought us out a special treat for our anniversary.

With that we rolled ourselves back to our room to relax for a minute before Match Your Mate later that evening.

Still to come: MYM, sunrise in the Bahamas, and a wine tasting.

 

[myhappyplace]

That walnut cake was one of my very favorite desserts!

 

[MinnieM123]

Overall, I'm so impressed by just how stylish everything is. Whether it's in the restaurants, or in any other place on board--seems like there is no little detail left undone. It's truly amazing.

 

[lostpro9het]

Overall, I'm so impressed by just how stylish everything is. Whether it's in the restaurants, or in any other place on board--seems like there is no little detail left undone. It's truly amazing.

I stand by my previous statement. Think of the best era of WDW, service and theming, and that is what DCL provides you today.

 

[MinnieM123]

I stand by my previous statement. Think of the best era of WDW, service and theming, and that is what DCL provides you today.

I was thinking the exact same thoughts yesterday, when I posted my comments about the ship.

 

[lostpro9het]

So after dinner we made our way back to our room to relax before we MYM. We had a few things waiting on us when we arrived including our Palo and DVC cards

Soon it was time for Match Your Mate. Again, think newlywed game but where they choose three tiers of participants; a newlywed couple, a couple that has been together 5-10 years and a couple that has been together in the 20+ range. The game takes place in Evolution and that place is pretty dark so the only picture I have is of my beer, imagine that, before the lights went down. Also, this show is pretty adult so there is not a whole lot I can go into about it and keep it safe for this forum. I will say this, though, the couple that had been married for about 5 years had meet when she was 12 and he was 18 during a play. That was a little awkward…

So after a lot of fun with MYM we were plenty tired and made our way back to the room for the night. I’ve read mixed reviews about aft rooms in regards to noise and vibrations at night but I did not notice any of it while we slept. It could have been a combination of tiredness, awesome bed, or the fact that it just wasn’t rough or loud. Either way, I slept great but couldn’t shake my regular ritual and found myself up before 06:00!! We had decided the day before to order room service for breakfast, just the cold stuff and coffee, and I would take the elevator up to Cabanas for the hot food, bacon sausage, eggs, etc. The thing was that room service was not scheduled to be there until 07:00 so I had some time to kill so I made my way topside for some pics before the masses woke from their slumbers. We start things off with a little sunrise action, love this aft room!

I took the elevator up to Cabanas but it was not open yet so I made my way out passing Vanellope’s along the way, more pics of this later when they open.

The early hour afforded me a great opportunity to get some nice pics before the youth madness overtook the ship again.

It was around this time that I felt the buzz from cabin phone. It was Laura letting me know room service had just arrived so I made my way back to Cabanas to get the hot food.

Still to come: Breakfast on the veranda, making port, and while the mice are away that’s cats will play…

 

[epcotisbest]

More great pics as usual. I gotta quit reading this trip report or I am gonna have to start saving up for a cruise and some sea sickness medicine.
Our reluctance to cruise stems from about 25 years ago when we took one of those one day cruise to nowhere trips out of Port Canaveral. We both got terribly seasick, found a dark lounge and spent part of the day just lying in the floor waiting for it to be over (that is when we weren't hugging porcelin).

 

[Ariel1986]

Your photos have made me want to attempt to get up early to walk round an empty ship & catch the sunrise! Great photos!