Trip Report Two Turkeys at WDW & Merrytime Disney Cruise November 2016

Hello! My husband and I (two turkeys) just got back from WDW & a Merrytime Disney Cruise and I thought I would share our adventures. All of you are welcome to read but I'm going to tag a few of you that I know have followed along before. (Or at least those I can remember.) I look forward to reading your reactions!


I have shared a few of our other adventures and if you are interested here are some links:

Disneyland
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/disneyland-forever-july-2016.917141/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/back-to-disneyland-ringin-in-2016.909039/

Walt Disney World
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...ts-wdw-november-2015-lots-of-pictures.907613/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/movin-in-two-weeks-in-the-world.915373/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/springin-into-wdw-solo-march-2016.911995/

Introduction:
Who: Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad) We are the two turkeys.
Magic Band personalization: Me: Gobble '16 and Brad Stuffing, in honor of Thanksgiving
When: November 22-November 28
Where did we stay: All Star Sports

Backstory We have wanted to do a Christmas themed cruise for awhile, and in May of 2014 I booked us on a 3 night cruise in hopes that it would match up with my school's calendar. Luckily it it did. I figured I might have to take a personal day (which I did), and we would add in some time at WDW.

The Report
Tuesday November 22:
I teach in a rural northern Wisconsin school so school for our students is off the whole week of Thanksgiving, but we have teacher inservice Monday and Tuesday. In our district we are not supposed to take off inservice days. So being the rule follower that I am yet still wanting to get maximize my WDW time I book (months ahead of time) a flight leaving at 7:10pm on Tuesday night. I figure I am golden, I don't have to break the work rules, and I'll still get to Disney on Tuesday night giving me 2 full WDW days before the cruise. Leaving on a 7pm will be perfect for traveling from work to the airport and giving me the time cushion I like to give myself at the airport. Well, Delta airlines had other plans.

About 1 1/2 month before our flight, I get an email from Delta saying they cancelled my 7pm flight and moved me to a 5pm!!!:jawdrop::mad: This was not good! If I left work for the airport without asking to leave early I would make it to the airport (if things went perfectly) when my plane would be boarding! So long story short I went and talked to my boss, fully prepared to take unpaid time and all that. And luckily he was very understanding and he said he knew that I would easily make up the time/work since I usually come in to work about 1-1 1/2 early every day anyway, and I would not have to take unpaid or personal time. (which was good because I had already designated my other personal day for a WDW in March of 2017). So now the only thing I had to worry about was weather & traffic getting to the airport.

Well, wouldn't you know it, but the weather decided that there would be a wintry mix with mostly freezing rain starting at noon the day we flew out! :jawdrop::mad: Ok, so now I'm already "breaking" the rule of leaving early, but now the roads would be treacherous. And I HATE driving in bad weather. It all made this type A girl very anxious. So my boss said I could leave even a little earlier. Luckily the weather people were somewhat wrong and it was mostly rain on the way, and stayed mostly rain. But were were at the airport now about 3 1/2 hours early. But we were there and our plane was on time. It really was time to relax now.

Minneapolis has two terminal buildings and we were flying out of the big terminal and flying back to the smaller one (with the cheaper parking). So we parked at the smaller terminal and took the light rail train to the bigger one. It is a bit of a hassle but the train came shortly after we got the to platform and away we went.

Brad at the train platform
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We are on time for take off. The plane did have to go through de-icing, as did other planes. So we were 20 minutes late in take off because of waiting for de-icing, but we only landed about 5-10 minutes late.
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The plane is here, what you can't see to well in the pictures is the sleety-rain. It made me a little nervous, but the trucks were constantly spraying de-icer on the runways.
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We landed, YAY! And since we planned to drive to the cruise port we rented a car. This was our sweet ride. As usually hubby, tried to pick up the most beat up and scratched one in the lot. His theory is that then the rental car company can't prove the scratches are from us.
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It was dark then as we drove under the sign so my picture didn't turn out clear. I got this blurr, but in a way it is kind of trippy and cool with the blur.
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We were super hungry and we thought about going to Trader Sam's or Disney Springs for something but it was a little after 11:30 pm and figured we wouldn't have much time. So we parked at the All-Star Sports and went into the food court. We probably should have went to the McDonald's. We got chicken tenders and fries and they were definitely end of the night servings (a little cold and stale). But it was sustenance and then we could go right to our room.
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A couple pictures of the decorations at the Sports. They weren't anything spectacular like a gingerbread house, but I liked them.
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Our room was really close to the main building in the Touchdown section. So we were both happy. In June we had requested to be near transport at the Music and got stuck in the Broadway section which was a bit of a hike. So we unpacked and I put up a few Christmas decorations to spirit up the room.
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So after unpacking we went to bed. We were planning to maximize our WDW with early mornings and late nights. We figured we could relax on the cruise.

Tags:
@figmentfan423 , @MinnieM123 , @JenniferS , @Tuvalu , @PacNWTigger , @Gabe1 , @betty rose , @Songbird76 , @catmom46 , @BuddyThomas , @donaldtoo , @Cesar R M , @fractal , @Mr Ferret 88 , @MouseDreaming , @PUSH, @Wrangler-Rick, @sheriffwoody, @MOXOMUMD
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Oh we also ordered a little room service too. I guess we weren't going hungry on this cruise.
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We got a cheese plate, cookies and Mickey Premium bars. We didn't end up eating the cookies until the morning we left the ship. They were a good breakfast.
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We also got the cake of the day, it was just okay. I don't remember the flavor.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Day Three: Castaway Cay!

I must have been excited for Castaway Cay as I didn't sleep well. I went onto the veranda though, and I fell asleep out there. Brad thought it would be fun to take a picture of me sleeping. He woke me up shortly because the coffee and doughnuts arrived from room service.
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We pulled up to the dock and Brad took a couple pictures from our veranda.
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We had breakfast and then went down to the door that led to debarking. But first I saw this door by animator's palate.
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We got off the ship with the 5k runners and we thought about taking the tram to the tram stop for Serenity Bay, but it was a nice morning so we decided to walk. There were some great views on the walk.
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Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
The fact that Disney ships are so beautiful is part of my reluctance to try another cruise line. I enjoyed your pictures of the other cruise line you took, but that still didn't convince me. Price eventually will convince me if I book the Alaska cruise I'm thinking about for 2018.
Go in late september. the price was 2,000 USD cheaper for me.
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Your French Onion Soup looks amazing! :p

Brad seems to hit up a lot of the Disney golf offerings.. My boyfriend is golfing during our trip in June and I'm totally unfamiliar with the whole idea. Any tips on the courses, scheduling, etc.? :)
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
I am continually amazed by the quality and diversity of the food offerings on that cruise. And as if that wasn't enough, they also offer in-room-dining?!! :jawdrop: For some odd reason, I'd only expect that at a hotel; I had just assumed that on a ship with so many dining rooms and options, that all food would be served in those locations only. You can tell I've never been on a cruise! ;)

Love all the pictures--I'm so jealous!! :)
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Your French Onion Soup looks amazing! :p

Brad seems to hit up a lot of the Disney golf offerings.. My boyfriend is golfing during our trip in June and I'm totally unfamiliar with the whole idea. Any tips on the courses, scheduling, etc.? :)

He has golfed the Magnolia and Lake Buena Vista. He likes to do the sunrise 9 which is a morning special that includes a breakfast sandwich, 2 drinks, and cart. He has reserved online and by calling, he has reserved about 3 months in advanced but didn't know if it could be done earlier. As for his review of the courses he liked them both but he says LBV is tighter but shorter, and Magnolia is wider, longer, and more bunkers. I'm not a golfer so I don't really know what that means. The first time he golfed LBV with the sunrise 9 he was by himself, all the other times he has been teamed up with people. Shoes were included with his annual pass and then he had to rent clubs he thought it was $20 but said that could be the AP price.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
You are really making me want to book a Disney Cruise! Maybe in 2019 if I'm not completely broke from my sister's wedding.

The Disney cruise is so wonderful, hopefully you have some money after your sister's wedding to go, 2019 is lots of time to save up.

I'm really enjoying your report. A Disney Cruise is definitely on my bucket list and your report is making me think we might really enjoy a Merrytime Cruise :).

I think a cruise anytime would be great but the Merrytime one did have a little extra magic.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
I am continually amazed by the quality and diversity of the food offerings on that cruise. And as if that wasn't enough, they also offer in-room-dining?!! :jawdrop: For some odd reason, I'd only expect that at a hotel; I had just assumed that on a ship with so many dining rooms and options, that all food would be served in those locations only. You can tell I've never been on a cruise! ;)

Love all the pictures--I'm so jealous!! :)

There is a lot of food to pick from. On ship there is the buffet, 3 dining rooms you rotate through (one is also open for lunch & breakfast if you want a sit down lunch), then there are 2 up charge restaurants, the upcharge sweet shop, then there is quick service area with pizza, sandwiches, and such. Then there is self-service ice cream area! There is chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and banana. I liked mixing the chocolate and banana. The room service is complimentary 24 hours a day, that is the lap of luxury right there! Maybe sometime you and Mr. Minnie can go. I know he isn't a big fan of WDW but you might be able to entice him with all the food and posh loungers. Oh and Castaway Cay has good food as well.
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
He has golfed the Magnolia and Lake Buena Vista. He likes to do the sunrise 9 which is a morning special that includes a breakfast sandwich, 2 drinks, and cart. He has reserved online and by calling, he has reserved about 3 months in advanced but didn't know if it could be done earlier. As for his review of the courses he liked them both but he says LBV is tighter but shorter, and Magnolia is wider, longer, and more bunkers. I'm not a golfer so I don't really know what that means. The first time he golfed LBV with the sunrise 9 he was by himself, all the other times he has been teamed up with people. Shoes were included with his annual pass and then he had to rent clubs he thought it was $20 but said that could be the AP price.

Thank you both so much! I'll pass the word along. :)
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
We looked around at the shop before boarding the tram to heaven aka Serenity Bay.
I thought these shirt designs were cute. I did buy one of them. Let's see if anyone can guess which one (sorry no actual prize for guessing correctly).
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A look at the family beach before catching the tram.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Time to take the tram to Serenity Bay. This had been our favorite part of the cruise the last time we went. We loved the quiet of the beach, wading out to the sand bar, the lunch area.....it was fantastic. We had very high expectations this time as well. For the most part it lived up to our expectations, except that this was late November and not June. It was significantly cooler, the sand bar was covered most of the day by water, and on this day the winds were pretty high. That led to us not going out in the water very far and when the wind really started whipping around in the early afternoon (and they put the umbrellas down) we headed back to the ship. But it was still beautiful and serene.

Here are some trams standing by on the airstrip.
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A 5k runner as we trolley past.
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We have arrived!
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This is a view from the loungers we picked. Turns out the towels on the chair in the picture belonged to one pair of our tablemates.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
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I know I'm a little strange but whenever I go to a beach this is one of my favorite shots...my footprints on the beach.

Hammocks, so comfy.
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The bar, I thought we might hang here later, but we didn't.
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I found myself a hammock located near the bar (so I could hear the music, it was Christmas themed with a Caribbean twist) and be in the sun since it was a little chilly. This was my view to the side of me.
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And in front of me, and then soon everything was dark as I took a nice nap. It lasted about an hour.
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When I woke up I got up and I have been having a few back issues and it was a little difficult getting up but I did. So I did a little arms up victory to myself. As I did this I saw a cast member with drinks on a tray smiling at me. I thought she was just laughing at me (and she might have been) but one of the drinks was for me. Brad ordered it to be delivered to me on the hammock, as a wake up. He also go one for himself. He remembered that I like Konk Koolers (basically a passion fruit pina colada), or he actually listened when I mentioned about a million times that I like it.

So here I am after my nap with my drink. The drink was delicious as was my nap, but when I woke up by throat was a little scratchy and I thought maybe I just had slept with my mouth open (embarrassing). But it was soon apparent that this was the start of a cold, well, at least it happened at the end of the trip.
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Soon it was time for lunch. Lots of tasty stuff, including self serve ice cream.
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Then back to the loungers for awhile.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
So as I mentioned before it was a windy day and after lunch the wind really started picking up so since we have a double dip cruise (meaning 2 days at Castaway Cay) booked for June, there wasn't really any reason to tough it out on the beach. So we headed back to the ship.

So at last look at Serenity Bay.
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And we end up walking back from the tram stop at the family beach back to the ship. We figured we could use some exercise after being lazy gluttons on the beach.
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There is a Bahamian post office on the island, sometimes it is open and sometimes it isn't. We didn't send any postcards this time so we didn't check.
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A look up at the skip, she's tall!
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Up next ....our last night on the ship.
 

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