Disney Dream

We recently returned from the most wonderful vacation aboard the Disney Dream.  Bean and Poppy have taken each family on a Disney Cruise and this year, it was our turn to go, along with Brian and Sara's gang.  What an amazing gift this trip was!  It was truly the vacation of a lifetime, and our 4-day cruise to the Bahamas was full of delights and wonders for the children (and grown ups, too!).  The excitement and anticipation began months ago... as did many, many questions from our curious Luke.  These inquires ranged from (and were not limited to):  "Are there potties on the ship?.... How many types of food will be on board?... Will seagulls try to eat our dinner while we are at sea?...How fast does the ship go?...How many people will be on board? ..."

Eventually, I just told Luke to e-mail Poppy with any and all questions, which proved to be a perfect solution, as "Poppy knows everything" and responded via these e-mail excerpts:

"Luke, I wake up in the middle of  the night too with all kinds of
questions about the cruise....
Yes, there are potties on the ship....
No, sea gulls will not eat our food....but even if they did
there is SO much food you can always go back for more...."

and:

"...the  ship that we are going on is over 1000 feet long and over 200 feet tall.  There will be about 4000 people on the ship....2500 passengers and 1500 waiters, maids, singers, dancers, and other crew members. That means they have to cook 12,000 meals everyday...What if everyone wanted a donut for breakfast each morning....that means they are going to have to load on 16,000 donuts before we set sail.  I really think you would be able to get any kind of food you could possible think of....pizza, ice cream, steak, chicken,  hamburgers, hot dogs, bagels....just  think if everybody wanted a hamburger for lunch each day....how many hamburgers would they have to cook? Also, the ship goes about 20 miles per hour.....that is not too fast is it?"
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That little 7-year old's mind was BLOWN with all of these exciting facts and he read and re-read these e-mails multiple times, processing....thinking... imagining. 

So, with all the excitement and build-up leading to vacation, I wasn't sure what to do when this happened the day before we left:

Luke came home from school, told me that he was going to sleep, and took the first voluntary, healthy nap of his life.  Two hours later, I was convinced that he was sick and that we weren't going to be able to go on our trip, but he ended up being perfectly fine when he woke up.... just resting up for vacation, apparently. 

And then this happened on the way to the airport the morning of our departure.  Our child who hasn't napped in 2 years decided to fall asleep at 8:45 in the morning...

Yes, we've officially entered the stage of "Bunny Ears" being a hilarious photo option.

 When Leah woke up, she was fine, too, and told me that she was napping now because she didn't want to miss any of the fun on the cruise. 

And the word fun doesn't even do our trip justice!  It was amazing!

The kids haven't flown in several years, and didn't remember much about being on an airplane, so our flight to Florida was pretty exciting in and of itself:

Mommy made sure to have everyone go "bonus pee pee" about 20 times in the hour that we waited to board the plane, but sure enough halfway through the flight, a little voice whispered to me, "Mommy, I have to go potty...NOW,"  so Leah and I ventured to the teeny tiny airplane restroom, where the flight attendant smiled and whispered, "Good luck fitting both of you in there..."

We landed in Orlando and met everyone at the airport, where we took a large passenger van to our hotel in Cocoa Beach.  We spent the afternoon and evening swimming, at the beach, and having an outdoor pizza party, and the next morning, it was time to embark on our voyage on the Disney Dream. 

As we pulled up to Port Canaveral and spotted the ship for the first time, the children's eyes grew wide.  It was really cool to watch their reactions and see how magical this "giant boat with a waterslide!!" really was...  Over and over again, we reaped the benefit of Bean and Poppy being experienced Disney cruise veterans, and they knew all the tricks for how to avoid lines, where to sit for shows, and how to time many of our activities perfectly!  We felt like VIPs, and it was a true vacation for all of us. 

Besides our departure and return days and a day spent at sea, we spent one day in Nassau and one day at Castaway Cay (Disney's private island in the Bahamas), which I will highlight in my next blog post.  There was so much to do on the ship itself that it deserves a post of its own.  There were 2 pools, with a giant tunnel waterslide called the Aqua Duck:

 There was more water fun Nemo's Reef splash zone and many sports, including, basketball, foosball, shuffleboard, and mini golf:

Seersucker Shuffleboarders.

Not a bad view:  Atlantis and Paradise Island in the background!

 We watched movies on board, went to Disney-themed live theater shows, and ate food, food, and more food!   I knew my kids were true culinary cruise goers when they delightedly squealed, "DOUBLE FRIES!" after eating French fries twice in one day and knew their way to the 24 hour/day soft serve ice cream counter.  We enjoyed buffets, room service, and lovely multi-course dinners where the serving staff entertained our children with nightly magic tricks, cut up their food, and of course formed their ketchup into the shape of Mickey Mouse... I think we all wanted to take our servers home with us, and Leah still thinks that she is on the cruise, because all week since we have been back, she has declared, "Mommy, I am ORDERING a sandwich for lunch..."  as if our house is a restaurant, too.

ROOM SERVICE! 

Ice cream cones at sea are even sweeter!

One of our favorite evenings was "Pirate Night". The crew and many passengers dressed up as pirates and there was a Pirate Show after dinner.  Here are the four pirate cousins at dinner:

A rare grown up picture: Sara wins the award for most festive pirate attire.

Pirates always do "exploding fist bumps".

Blonde Pirate Gals.

Another feature on the ship that our kids enjoyed was the MidShip Detective Agency, which is an interactive game where participants help Disney characters solve different cases using a unique Detective Badge:

Detectives hard at work.

 We also loved the Oceaneers' Club, where the cousins participated in a "Sloppy Science" class and made flubber, and a Kids' Cooking Class that Leah loved, where she baked cookies:

Mad Scientists.

"Kids Can Cook" Class.

One of the most fun features of the ship for the kids was the porthole in our bedroom.  They loved sitting and posing in this cute space:

The kids would have slept in the porthole if we had let them, but luckily, the draw of the bunk bed that magically appeared/dropped down from the ceiling each evening was pretty cool, too.  Mommy loved the nightly chocolates on our pillows and is wondering why no one turns down our beds and folds our towels into cute animal shapes since we've been home.

 

 

While on board the Disney Dream, we attended dance parties that featured Disney songs, watched Disney cartoons, and loved all of the Disney magic throughout the ship and the special touches (big and little) that made our Disney cruise so much fun:

Part Two of our vacation update is coming soon, but the ship itself was definitely a HUGE hit with all of us.  Luke has already declared that he is "booking our next cruise ASAP!"   Sounds great to me, buddy!