A Whole New World of Disney ~ Lia's Birthday Shore & Sea Dream Trip! UPDATED 6/24!!!!

[__disneygirl]

APRIL 10, 2014
Day 4, Part 6 In Which We Cry Because Disney is the Best

Pre-show selfies. Always necessary.

​

• The Captain of the ship came out to introduce himself, talk a little bit about the cruise, banter it up, and then it was time for THE GOLDEN MICKEYS!

As I expressed, we both agreed this show was by far the best of the three. Now, I don't know about the other ships, but we saw The Golden Mickeys, Villians Tonight, and Believe, and while they all have storylines that pull the whole production together, the point of these shows is basically "Here's a famous scene from a Disney movie. Here's a famous scene from a Disney movie. Here's a famous scene from a Disney movie." I'm not making a judgement on that, just explaining what it was. The Golden Mickeys was my favorite show not only because I enjoyed these particular scenes from Disney movies the most, but the overall theme was celebrating the history of Disney and Walt himself. Jess and I were crying during a good portion of it, but from the Tangled scene on, I was a flaming wreck. It really meant a lot to me to see something from Tangled live like that. I've mentioned my love for that movie in all my reports, and seeing it come to life on stage was a revelation to me. Absolutely loved it.

The other great thing about The Golden Mickeys (and really every show on the ship) was that they don't just focus on the biggest hits or films most commonly represented in the parks. In this show, there were scenes from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, and 101 Dalmatians, which was really nice for a change. The whole Hollywood theme/play off the Academy Awards wasn't fully developed as well as I think it could have been, but that would really be the only criticism I had. However, I loved the fancy Hollywood glamour outfits the characters and Cast Members wore. I am all about that old school tuxedo and top hat look (and if you saw my outfit for Dapper Day 2014 at Hollywood Studios this past September you know that... but that's for the next report!)

Overall, The Golden Mickeys honors the legacy of Disney in a brilliant way, and for two girls who's hearts swell every time we think of the magic Walt and the entire company has brought to our lives, it was really something.

This show is available on Youtube and the entire breakdown of the numbers is on Wikipedia, if you want spoilers.

The Walt Disney Theatre is on Deck 3, which is also the location of most of the shops so we went to check those out next.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Captain Mickey Pillow Pets!

I don't know why I have such a sour look on my face, I was enjoying my sailor look.

Out of everything, I wanted an Ariel shirt the most. These two were my favorite.

Overall, I thought most of the shirts were really nice, it was hard for me to narrow down what I wanted, but I had just paid for a cruise sooooo it probably wouldn't have been the best decision if I spent an additional million dollars on cruise merchandise. I ended up picking the one on the left cause I just thought the "Sailors Beware" line was so sassy and cool.

This was in child sizes only... pssschhh

So when you go to pay, this is what you see behind the register.

Oh not a big deal, just THE OCEAN. Whatever!

Jess was very happy with her purchases.

After our little (big) shopping trip, we headed back to the room for a few minutes before dinner.

Here's another one of those animated posters!

When we got back to our stateroom, there were a few surprises waiting for us. Including a brontosaurus, obviously.

You can see the Navigator advertising Villians Tonight, tomorrow evening's show. It was so fun to check out the Navigator and plan our next day of cruise life!

Close-up!

Here's an extreme close-up so you can see how similar to a TV guide it really is.

Our chocolates were so cute. Sleepy.

Then, we went to check out the view from our verandah.

Oh.

My.

God.

Truly breathtaking just to stand out there and marvel at the world. Sorry if that sounds cheesy, but you see something that beautiful and really start thinking about how lucky you are to be on a cruise, to get to see nature this way, to even be alive. Really a remarkable experience and worth double the price of the vacation.

From Jess's camera...

In her new DCL hoodie!

*Sigh* Take me back there right now.​

 

[jerelle]

Absolutely LOVING your trip report. We've been on the Magic and the Wonder but now I am planning my trip on the DREAM. Keep it coming!

 

[ElsasMom]

I can't wait to hear about your first dinner! I agree about the Rapunzel painting, breath taking.

It's so exciting to read this TR because I'll be back on the Dream going the wrong way off the elevator in 10 Days!!

Also, on a semi-related note your TR has changed my life for better once again. Last year I went to MNSSHP for the first time because of your TR, now in 4 short little days as part of my Disney birthday I will be making S'mores with Chip & Dale! Thank you so much for sharing about that!

 

[__disneygirl]

Absolutely LOVING your trip report. We've been on the Magic and the Wonder but now I am planning my trip on the DREAM. Keep it coming!

Ooh lucky you! You will have to let me know how the Dream compares to the other ships I can't wait to go on another one and see what it's like in comparison. My friend was kind of disappointed in the Wonder after having her first cruise on the dream, so that was interesting.

I can't wait to hear about your first dinner! I agree about the Rapunzel painting, breath taking.

It's so exciting to read this TR because I'll be back on the Dream going the wrong way off the elevator in 10 Days!!

Also, on a semi-related note your TR has changed my life for better once again. Last year I went to MNSSHP for the first time because of your TR, now in 4 short little days as part of my Disney birthday I will be making S'mores with Chip & Dale! Thank you so much for sharing about that!

Aww! That's wonderful. I'm so happy my TR could help you plan something special for your birthday. That is one of the most rewarding things about spending so much time writing these. You are so lucky to be headed back so soon and I hope you have the most magical trip of all time!

 

[__disneygirl]

APRIL 10, 2014
Day 4, Part 7 In Which A Turtle Attempts To Communicate With Me As I Eat Four Desserts

Go on a Disney Cruise, take a selfie with the ocean.

It was time to head back out for our first character greeting of the trip - the one, the only, everybody's favorite puppy, Jess's fiance...

PLUTO!

That was all we had time for at the moment because it was time for our first table service dinner at Animator's Palate! This is the meal I was most excited for because I have heard so much about this restaurant over the years. I was actually expecting the 90's version of it that I had seen in photos and on TV, but what it ended up being was even more beautiful. I loved the atmosphere and overall the food was the best this night.

Crush was there!

Crush's presence during dinner was very similar to that at Turtle Talk With Crush in that he has full, live conversations with people at their dinner tables. Now, that's one of my favorite attractions at Disney World and I love how much it wows children (and frankly I saw it the first time at age 18 and it wows me too!), but I don't know that it's really the best thing to have going on during dinner.

It was pretty distracting, like we'd been in a conversation with the lovely people at our table (more on them in a second) and then Crush would go off on this big rambly diatribe and we would kind of awkwardly stop talking, not sure if everyone else at the table wants to pay attention to Crush or stay in the convo, and I don't know, it was just weird. If I had kids, I would have been kind of annoyed bc I'm sure it distracts them from eating. Or maybe it helps keep them entertained during the meal? Maybe a little of both. For me though, it was a little much to have going on during a dinner experience.

I loved every other inch of this entire restaurant. The way it is decorated, for a Disney fan, it's like mecca. The plates, menus, chairs, everything was just so perfectly Disney. Every detail lended itself to the experience and just made it all the better.

For your dinner rotation, you get seated with other guests and you are with them every night. We lucked out because we got a table that had a CM (or two) in every party, so obviously we had a lot to talk about with them. There were two guys and the rest were girls - one of the guys was from NJ, so he and I got along right away. The other guy was a seasoned DCL guest and had lots of tips for us. He had been working at Hollywood & Vine since the 90's and it was so fun chatting with him because I remember when that restaurant had Mickey & the gang in Hollywood outfits dancing in between the tables, and so did he! No one ever remembers that, so it was cool to reminsce with him. If I remember correctly, two of the girls worked at the Contemporary, and the other set of girls were Australian. One worked at Turtle Talk and was on her International CP and the other wasn't a CM. It was a really fun group and we all got along really well. I always thought it would be odd to sit with strangers but it never was!

During your sit down meals, just like everywhere else, your food is unlimited. Yes, that means you could order one of everything (or two!) and not be charged. The only thing you pay for is alcohol. I thought that was just crazy to not have to decide on one thing if you didn't want to! Jess and I wanted to eat like normal people on some level though, so we decided to not overdo it this time.

For our appetizer, we shared the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes ~ Pasta purses filled with Truffle-scented cheese and coated with a champagne sauce

This was my favorite thing I ate the entire cruise! Absolutely delicious. We definitely should have ordered one each instead of shared... I craved this the rest of the time. None of the food we ate was exactly gourmet, but this came the closest.

We each got a bowl of the Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup. We both liked it but for some reason Jess's took forever to come out, like I was done with mine by the time hers came.

We both got steaks for our main course. Mine was the Ginger Teriyaki dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin on Wasabi mashed potatoes with bok choy and a tamarind-barbecue reduction

Definitely my favorite entree of the cruise. Not the best steak ever but still very good and better than what we had at our next two dinners.

Looking at the online menus I am guessing Jess got the grass fed Sirloin because it's the only other steak listed... hmm.

Time for dessert!

Jess got the Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake w/ Raspberry Coulis

I got the trio, because any time you can get 3 desserts instead of 1, that's basically God handing you a beautiful opportunity and if you don't take it you are damn stupid.

We didn't order it, but they randomly brought us a Cookies and Cream Sundae!

As you can probably guess, I got into a screaming fight with our serving team, horrified that they would bestow such a dessert on us after we clearly had ordered other things. WHO WOULD WANT A BONUS DESSERT?! Disgusting service Disney, just foul. Never going on a cruise again!​

 

[__disneygirl]

APRIL 10, 2014
Day 4, Part 8 In Which Snow White Looks Into The Magic Mirror

So just to reiterate, Animator's Palate is ridiculously cool. I looked around at everything & took a ton of pictures when I got up to go to the bathroom.

My favorite thing was all the Toy Story toys just chillin on the shelf.

All these toys definitely need to be in my future child's room, but that should go without saying.

And here are some by Jess

Ugggh I love how well she captured this cruise. She really got serious about photography on this trip and it shows, you will see that more and more. Well done Jess!

Sooo yeah, when I got to the bathroom, I was not surprised that just like everything else on the entire cruise, it was awesomely Disney themed.

The price of all your food is included in the cruise unless you decide to dine at one of the hot and fancy restaurants, which on the Dream are called Palo and Remy. That is about $30 extra per person and I have heard from just about everyone who's done it that it is worth that price. I can definitely see that. In order to eat at Palo and/or Remy though, you need to miss one of the included restaurants - on the Dream these are Animator's Palate, Enchanted Garden, and Royal Palace - and out of the three I would say Animator's Palate is DEFINITELY NOT the one to skip. That atmosphere alone is a must see for any big Disney fan, and the food was definitely the best out of the three. On my next cruise, I will probably opt in to the fancier restaurants, but I will be looking forward to returning to Animator's Palate just as much.

After dinner, we headed to the main atrium to meet Walt's original princess, Miss Snow White!

She had a solo meet and greet over there, which was awesome. I think most guests focus on the Princess Gatherings in order to meet princesses on the ship, and I loved the gathering, but you really get a lot of attention and time with these solo meets. Especially this one, it was at 10-something PM so it wasn't very crowded.

She was one of the greatest princesses I've ever met! Snow's friend is one of the most on-the-money & talented people I've seen.

Had to take a selfie, duh. I mean it's not every night that I'm in the middle of the ocean with Snow freaking White!!!!!!!

Snow recognized my iPhone camera as what it truly is: a magic mirror, of course! She is adorable.

From there we went right across the lobby to meet Goof! His line was literally just closing, but his attendant said they could accept one more party and that was us! WOO!

Just a word here... get to these greetings on time/early, almost every line gets closed at some point. Some families are downright mean to these attendants, trying to bully them into letting their kids on the line. They're just doing their jobs, yo. Please respect them and respect that the characters need downtime too! If they stay an extra 5 minutes to meet your kid, why shouldn't they stay and meet the next, next, next, next kids? And then their schedule gets all messed up. Seriously... just be nice to these people. And everyone else on the cruise. And everyone on this planet. And in space. In general, just be nice!!

Thank you.

We spoke a lot with this attendant. She was really nice and has some friends, that's all I'll say. Got a lot of insight into what it's like working entertainment on the cruise line. Character friends are also character attendants and have a lot more to do in their schedule than you might think. Very very interesting! I just really want to be one of the people doing the conga line with Mickey and the gang during the Sail Away Party. Moment of silence for how much fun these people have.

As you can see, Goofy is in love with us.

How CUTE are all the character's at sea costumes by the way? I am just in love with the cruise look!!

We went back to the room and changed into comfy clothes cause it was movie time!!! Yet another amazing element of the cruise, the movie theatre! They show movies all day every day, including ones that are still playing in cinemas. At the time, this meant that they were showing Muppets Most Wanted, which we both really wanted to see. So off we went to the movies! SO MUCH FUN.

Neither of us knew that there was going to be a Monsters University short before the film, so that was a nice surprise! We were cracking up.

From what I remember about the actual movie, it was good but I did like the first one more. The Muppets will always crack me up and Tina Fey was her flawless self as usual, one of my favorite people. We had a great time and it was the perfect way to end our first day aboard the Disney Dream!​

 

[nittanyliongirl02]

It's so fun for me to compare and contrast the Disney Fantasy with the Dream. We took a 7 night cruise in October, so the rotation had you dining in each restaurant two times, and then one of them 3 times. We took the opportunity in the middle of the cruise to dine at Palo. It was AMAZING, and is definitely worth a go on a longer cruise, but I could see how you wouldn't want to miss out on the 3 ship restaurants. And I agree with you....we felt the Turtle Talk with Crush while at AP was distracting as well. Our second night at AP was so much better due to the "show"...not sure if I should spoil the surprise!

 

[Tracy161]

Wow, Lia. Ya know, I've been on 3 cruises in the past (none of which were Disney) and it just blows me away the theming and details that you've thus far highlighted (and I'm sure this is just a very small fraction of the rest...). Disney, in every single way, is just on a whole different level. Cannot wait to see more!

 

[__disneygirl]

It's so fun for me to compare and contrast the Disney Fantasy with the Dream. We took a 7 night cruise in October, so the rotation had you dining in each restaurant two times, and then one of them 3 times. We took the opportunity in the middle of the cruise to dine at Palo. It was AMAZING, and is definitely worth a go on a longer cruise, but I could see how you wouldn't want to miss out on the 3 ship restaurants. And I agree with you....we felt the Turtle Talk with Crush while at AP was distracting as well. Our second night at AP was so much better due to the "show"...not sure if I should spoil the surprise!

Very interesting! Yeah, I think Palo will have to be a must do next time.

Wow, Lia. Ya know, I've been on 3 cruises in the past (none of which were Disney) and it just blows me away the theming and details that you've thus far highlighted (and I'm sure this is just a very small fraction of the rest...). Disney, in every single way, is just on a whole different level. Cannot wait to see more!

I agree! I really can't imagine going on a non-Disney Cruise after this. I mean, maybe if I was with people who didn't love Disney at all AND they paid for it that would be fine LOL. But for my dime I need those Disney details =)

 

[alli817]

Love your trip report!!! We were on the 4 day cruise right before yours!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

First, I am just in awe of your selfie prowess. In any I try I look like I'm in pain. Like seriously. But you just look so natural and pretty.

I have a feeling I would be right there with you two, bawling along. Anything that celebrates Walt gets me hardcore. I mentioned it just recently that it's a very good thing I have sunglasses after the One Man's Dream movie.

Ariel shirts... I approve.

Turtle Talk totally wowed me when I finally saw it for the first time last September and I was... over 18. I'll just stop there.

"All these toys definitely need to be in my future child's room, but that should go without saying." All these toys definitely need to be in my room!!!

THOSE MICKEY CHAIRS!!!! I NEED THEM!!!!

 

[WeDreamDisney]

I'm new here but I loved reading your trip report! Such an amazing trip to have with friends!

 

[alicat130]

I'm loving your trip report! The cruise already looks like so much fun, I would love to do one in the future. Can't wait what else you got to do!
I love that you try to go to Disney on your birthday. Our birthdays are close, mine is the 6th!

 

[JulieODC]

Great updates -- we went on DCL last May (the Fantasy), so it's fun to compare your experience with ours...lots of similarities! We liked Animator's Palate a lot too!

 

[amyrella]

Yay I've finally caught up and I'm so excited you are back to tell us the rest of your stories aboard the Dream.

 

[ElsasMom]

I loved Animator's Palette too! I agree about Crush,I think it'll be more fun the kids. LOL SHARING food! My DH had double appetizers our whole cruise. The waiter would see us coming and bring two he didn't even have to ask after the second night.

Oh! Snow White So, when we went our our HM on the Dream a few years ago, I decided to get up early one morning (this was before the ticket thing) to go down to the Princess gathering. I was like third in line (behind some tiny princesses) and NOT embarrassed. When the princesses made their entrances Snow White stole the show. She bounded happily down the stairs. So, amazing. She was perfect, not only my favorite of the trip but in my top 3 M&Gs EVER.

 

[DisneyYerd]

All caught up and now I want to make a Cruise Trip! Can't wait to see more!

 

[__disneygirl]

Love your trip report!!! We were on the 4 day cruise right before yours!

Aw, what a coincidence! Thank you!

First, I am just in awe of your selfie prowess. In any I try I look like I'm in pain. Like seriously. But you just look so natural and pretty.

I have a feeling I would be right there with you two, bawling along. Anything that celebrates Walt gets me hardcore. I mentioned it just recently that it's a very good thing I have sunglasses after the One Man's Dream movie.

Ariel shirts... I approve.

Turtle Talk totally wowed me when I finally saw it for the first time last September and I was... over 18. I'll just stop there.

"All these toys definitely need to be in my future child's room, but that should go without saying." All these toys definitely need to be in my room!!!

THOSE MICKEY CHAIRS!!!! I NEED THEM!!!!

Thank you Rob, the selfie skills were not easy to develop but over time some technique emerges. Keep trying, don't give up!

No doubt you would have been crying too then! there is just a certain quality to the way Walt spoke about his dreams and projects that is so beautiful.

I'm new here but I loved reading your trip report! Such an amazing trip to have with friends!

Well, Welcome to the DIS! Yeah, I feel really lucky I got to do this trip with Gina and Jess.

I'm loving your trip report! The cruise already looks like so much fun, I would love to do one in the future. Can't wait what else you got to do!
I love that you try to go to Disney on your birthday. Our birthdays are close, mine is the 6th!

Thank you, hope you get to do a cruise someday.

YAY our birthdays are coming up then!

Great updates -- we went on DCL last May (the Fantasy), so it's fun to compare your experience with ours...lots of similarities! We liked Animator's Palate a lot too!

It's a great restaurant... was it exactly the same on the Fantasy? I know they have the same (or similar) menus.

Yay I've finally caught up and I'm so excited you are back to tell us the rest of your stories aboard the Dream.

Thanks! They're coming!

I loved Animator's Palette too! I agree about Crush,I think it'll be more fun the kids. LOL SHARING food! My DH had double appetizers our whole cruise. The waiter would see us coming and bring two he didn't even have to ask after the second night.

Oh! Snow White So, when we went our our HM on the Dream a few years ago, I decided to get up early one morning (this was before the ticket thing) to go down to the Princess gathering. I was like third in line (behind some tiny princesses) and NOT embarrassed. When the princesses made their entrances Snow White stole the show. She bounded happily down the stairs. So, amazing. She was perfect, not only my favorite of the trip but in my top 3 M&Gs EVER.

That's funny about your waiter bringing two appetizers without you even asking... perfect.

Isn't Snow just amazing? Disney really knows what they are doing when picking her friends. I feel like I have a whole new appreciation for her after meeting her so many times!

All caught up and now I want to make a Cruise Trip! Can't wait to see more!

My advice is... DO IT

 

[__disneygirl]

APRIL 11, 2014
Day 5, Part 1 In Which We Don't Visit Nassau

Good morning! Here is a big ol' warning for any of you embarking on a Disney Cruise.

CHECK YOUR ALARM CLOCK. Ours was set, for some ungodly reason, to go off over and over starting at about 5am. I have absolutely no idea why. It happened when we were both in a deep sleep. I remember being half asleep and half awake when the LOUD noise woke me up, but I was kind of in a not-moving sleep trance. I remember thinking, "Is Jess going to get that?" and listening to it go off for a LONG time in my sleep trance state. Finally I got my bearings and got up and shut it off, and then it went off again! Oh my God SCREW YOU STUPID ALARM CLOCK. I unplugged it at that point because hell to the no.

The other thing to keep in mind. We got woken up again on our last night at like 3 or 4 AM. The in-room phones beep a LOT and LOUDLY when they are dying. We never charged ours because we were always together and didn't really need it. When the phone started going off, it was the same thing again where I was too asleep to move but I was still aware of noise. Then I realized... I UNPLUGGED THE ALARM CLOCK WHAT KIND OF GHOST IS HAUNTING US THIS TIME?!?!

Jess finally rolled over and was like "What is it?" and I was like "I don't know, the alarm clock is unplugged." We couldn't figure it out because we were beyond zonked and it was pitch black in the room and I got up and stumbled around trying to find the source of the noise. If this had been filmed for the reality show Jess and I clearly should be starring in, I'm sure it would have been endlessly hilarious because I could not find it. It was difficult because the beeping wasn't constant, so I'd have to stand there in the dark silence waiting for it to beep again so I could locate it. I think one of us had shoved it in a drawer earlier and finally I found it and was like IT'S THE PHONE OH MY GOD.

So, learn from us. The alarm clocks and phones are haunted - keep them in check if you want to sleep. Beside that, I had absolutely no problem sleeping at sea, I actually found it quite calming when my mind wasn't being blown that I was on a gigantic floating ship with thousands of strangers in the middle of the ocean.

Anyway. Onto Day 5!

Our plan was to get up early for the Princess Gathering (a meet & greet with several Disney Princesses), but that never happened, probably because of the alarm clock fiasco. We slept through it, but that was fine because it was happening again the next morning so we had another chance.

Once we were officially up and at 'em, we realized we were docked in Nassau!

We were next to a really awesome Norwegian cruise ship that we stared at for a long time! I liked the design of it a lot and if I ever did a cruise that wasn't Disney, I would definitely consider that one.

Our plans were just to stay on the ship and enjoy the Disney atmosphere, eat Disney food, and meet Disney characters.
Here's the thing, we never went on the cruise to go to Nassau. I'm an adventurer and I love to travel, so it kinda bugged me to not get off there, but the ship is so huge, there is so much to do, and our cruise was just so short that we decided in advance to not get off the ship that day. If you are a huge Disney fan like we are, I suggest skipping Nassau to explore the ship and enjoy the amenities unless there is something you really want to see there. For us, we knew we weren't going to do anything on that island that would be more fun than just soaking in all the Disney goodness aboard the Dream.

The other thing was, I'd heard a lot that Nassau isn't the safest place for two young girls traveling alone. I mean, most likely, everything would have been fine, but there just wasn't enough of a desire in either of us to risk it. I completely would have done an excursion, though, if they weren't so ridiculously expensive! I was very interested in seeing Atlantis, but I read you can't get very far walking through there. It's not like Disney Resorts where you can see and do it all without staying there. They block off a lot of areas and make you pay to see them, and we thought the prices were a little too much.

My dream excursion was to swim with dolphins but it was over $300 for that. I checked out the info on the cheaper excursions, and I read that they're just not worth it... it seems with these, you do get what you pay for including safety and efficiency. Jess and I were all about the Disney ship and Disney island, Castaway Cay of course. That is what I was most excited about this entire trip, but I'm getting ahead of myself. That came tomorrow!

I was SO EXCITED for that night too because it was PIRATE NIGHT! They even leave free Pirate Mickey bandanas for you in your stateroom.

Reason #908340984 why I love Disney.

We got up, got ready, and went up to Cabanas for breakfast.

Goooooing up!

I was so thrilled to be eating a buffet breakfast, you have no idea.

It was kind of a hot mess in there. It was very crowded and we almost couldn't find a place to sit.

They had tons of containers of the less popular foods at the buffet, and only one of Mickey Waffles. There was a crowd around the one Mickey Waffle container and every once in awhile, a CM would dump like 8 Mickey Waffles into there and they would be gone within seconds. Jess and I managed to get one each. They were good, but the rest of the food was not up to par at all with what we are used to as far as Disney breakfasts in WDW go. It was disappointing, especially the eggs. They were kind of in the neighborhood of the crap you get if you order a breakfast sandwich from any fast food place except they were supposed to be scrambled. Nothing else was particuarly good. I don't recommend Cabanas for breakfast - go to Royal Palace or get room service. However, I know a lot of people love it so maybe we were there on an off day.

From there we went out to the deck and got some chairs. It wasn't as busy out there as it was at breakfast so that wasn't too much of a challenge. We laid out our towels and I put on about 40,000 more layers of sunblock so I wouldn't ignite.

We just hung out for a long time chatting and relaxing. Also, The Emporer's New Groove was on! They show movies at the pool all day long on a big screen, it's great. The schedule is in the Navigator too. We stayed so long that we caught the beginning of Snow White as well. It's so great to be surrounded by Disney everywhere.

We wanted to go in the pool and on the Aquaduck, but honestly it was pretty chilly in the Bahamas that day! It was quite windy and so I was waiting for that to calm down to go in the pool. Unfortunately it never did, so we never used the cruise pools. This is something I will make a point to do when I cruise again.

I was DYING to do the Aquaduck though, so after being out there for an hour or two we finally just braved the windyness and got in line. It said 10 minutes but it was a bit longer which was okay. We spotted a guy in line behind us who looked exactly like Aladdin would if he was like 50. It was funny, we saw him a few times throughout the cruise, you keep seeing the same people over and over. "Aladdin's Dad" I believe we called him, LOL.

When it was our turn to get on I was a little too eager and the extremely hot CM working was like "Slow down princess, i'll tell you when to get in." I was like or we could speed things up and I could give you my room key! But I chose not to say that out loud. Anyway, Jess and I got into the tube and away we went!

I found it fun, definitely worth doing, but ultimately underwhelming. I think it's a bit overrated within the DCL fan community, but that could be because I grew up in the same town as a water park and so it was like second nature to me to go on all these intense water rides over and over that were in my backyard. I think that's why I've only been to Typhoon Lagoon once and Blizzard Beach never, it's like nothing's gonna top my endless summers as a kid in my hometown. I am dying to go back to Disney's water parks though, so we'll see!

The main thing I don't like about the Aquaduck is that you don't land in a pool. I hate water slides/rides that don't have that shooting into a pool thing at the end. I still think it's a fun ride and you should not miss it, it just wasn't my favorite.

After that we were FREEZING in the wind and ran back to our chairs and moved them to where the sun had moved to so we could be warm again. After some more sun bathing, we were quite hungry and decided to take advantage of a table service lunch at Royal Palace!

Breakfasts and lunches aren't scheduled for you the way dinners are (though even with the scheduling you can always just not go to dinner if you chose that), and there are a few options. We already had lunch at Cabanas the day before so we didn't want to do that again. Flo's Cafe is the quick service place which was another option along with room service, but we wanted a nice sit down meal so we went to Royal Palace.

This restaurant is right off of the main atrium and Jess took a couple gorgeous photos before we went in

We walked in and immediately fell IN LOVE with this restaurant. There were princess portraits everywhere and it just looked very regal. Jess said that this is what Cinderella's Royal Table at Magic Kingdom should look like. I was surprised she would say that cause I assumed CRT was gorgeous inside! She said it is, but that Royal Palace is a step above.

I wasn't totally crazy about the menu, but it was okay, especially because they had Cinderella's carriage as a bread basket.

So yeah, check this place out, courtesy of Jess's amazing photography skills.

They had these awesome side by side portraits of princesses in their every day clothes and then as royalty. Loved it.

So then there was... this...

Too much? Nah, this is a Disney Cruise, if you can't have glass slippers hanging from a chandelier here, where can you? Really.​

 

[ElsasMom]

We just got back from our 3 Days on the Dream on Monday. We did not have alarm clock or wave phone issues, but one morning one of my kids had fallen asleep with the TV on so at like 4am Disney Jr's "Wake up Song"

was my unpleasant wake up call.