Disney Dream with a Toddler (May 2015) ~ Updated 10/30 - TR Complete!

[Dugette]

Hi, everyone. I know that I read some great reports over here to prepare for our cruise last year, so wanted to cross-post my Land & Sea report over here, now that I've finally gotten to the cruise portion. We did 4 nights at WDW, 4 nights on the Dream, then another 4 nights WDW - since it was more nights on land than sea, I'm posting the full report in the WDW TRs, but I'll link up the cruise updates here as I write them. Feel free to follow in either place.

Quick intro: We are a couple in our 30's and our daughter (Izzy) was 2.5 at the time of this trip. My husband ("Dug") and I had taken a Royal Caribbean cruise several years ago and loved it, so we knew we'd likely have a great time. And we did - the cruise was wonderful and we'd love to take another sometime. But, for now, I'm excited to re-live this one. (If you'd like more detailed intros or to read about the WDW portion, link to full TR is in my signature).

I tend to write very detailed TRs, so if you are bringing a toddler and need tips and details, I'm happy to help. I clearly am not the fastest TR writer (since this trip was just over a year ago and I've now finally made it to Day 5), but I'll keep plodding along.

Thanks for coming along for the journey! First update coming up in next post!

Embarkation Day
Driving to the Dream
All Aboard!
Time to Sail Away!
Exploring Andy's Room
Enchanted Garden Dinner
Minnie & Presents!
Chillin' with Cindy

Nassau Port Day
A Visit to Arendelle
Lunch on Deck
Exploring the Dream
Royal Palace Dinner
Villains Tonight
Date Night

Castaway Cay Port Day
Castaway Cay Morning
Living the Dream
Pirate Night Dinner
Pirate Party
Dinner at Palo

At Sea Day
Palo Brunch
Character Party
DIS Mixology
Animator's Palate Dinner with Crush
After Dinner Entertainment

Disembarkation Day
Leaving Our Dream Behind

 

[Dugette]

Driving to the Dream

I was up and ready by 7:30am this morning, excited we’d be boarding “Mickey’s Boat” in just a few hours! I took a couple screen shots from my PTR so I would remember the important to-do items on my list once we boarded:





After that, I grabbed the DVDs we’d borrowed and headed back to the Community Hall to deposit them in the dropbox (they weren't open yet for the day, but had told me to drop them there):





I noticed they had the outdoor movie schedule up:



Here’s the fire pit I saw being set up the night before:



It was a quiet and peaceful morning, with joggers out on their morning runs along the boardwalk:





We had finished our milk, so I also popped into the Boardwalk Bakery to grab a small carton for Izzy's breakfast. While I waited, I admired the yummy displays:





Don’t order that top item on the menu, unless you’ve got an hour to spare :



Despite all the deliciousness, I left with only what I came for:



Hidden Mickeys in the rug outside the elevator:



I noticed that there was writing above our door (“panel”):



Just thought that was odd.

And another Hidden Mickey rug:



I was back in the room at 8am, where we munched on egg sandwiches and leftover Galactic Breakfast pastries:



We left our lovely room at 8:45am. Bye, wonderful room :



Bye, lobby chandelier :



We had Bell Services come up to our room before we left and they took the designated bags to long-term storage and brought the rest curbside for us. Dug and Izzy waited there with our stuff while I went to go get the rental car (parked really far back in the lot):



Dug briefly panicked when he mixed up bags and thought they had stored one that we needed. After digging into a couple bags, though, he realized we were fine.

Meanwhile, I walked past an old Acura Integra and thought fondly back to my first 4 cars (none of mine had blue wheels, though, haha). They stopped making them in 2001, so you don’t see a lot of them anymore:



The two doors got to be a bit impractical, but I miss those sporty little cars!

I got in the rental car and pulled it around front. Got our bags loaded up and Dug and Izzy got in:



Izzy had insisted we all continue to wear our Magic Bands this day.

We hit the road at 9:05am. It was a little later than I wanted, but I’d put a buffer in the plan and still felt okay about making our scheduled 10:45am port arrival time. The drive is roughly an hour and we planned to only make a quick stop for wine on the way (to bring onboard the ship). This is where we made our pit stop:



Around on the road-facing side of the store, there were lots of pretty water features.

Izzy had fallen asleep during the first leg of our drive (she did stay up really late, after all), so I stayed in the car with her while Dug went in to pick out a couple bottles. This was in the parking lot with us:



Don’t see a lot of those anymore either. We got back on the road just after 9:30am.

In case you are wondering, we had debated what to do about tollbooths on our route. In the end, I chose to pay the $3/day or whatever to Enterprise to make everything electronic. This allowed us to drive right through the express lanes without stopping or carrying change with us. We just got charged later by Enterprise and it was at the reduced/Sunpass rate. Overall, a very good deal and nice to not waste time stopping at the tollbooths. This was a good solution for a one-way drive where getting a Sunpass seemed like overkill.

On the last leg, we ended up following one of the Disney Cruise buses:



I was a little surprised to see a transfer running that early, as my understanding was that they arrive closer to Noon. One of the reasons we rented a car was to get there earlier than we would with a transfer. Maybe just the ones from Disney hotels come later and the MCO ones are earlier?

We were getting really close:



And then, at about 10:45am, we spotted the Dream :



And kept on following our leader:



Our chariot awaits:





We made it to the port a few minutes before our scheduled time:



The porters helped us to unload our bags. One of them asked me for our luggage tags and I just looked at him blankly. Um, I don’t remember getting luggage tags? Turns out they were in the booklet that I left on our dining room table so Dug’s friend would have our contact info. Oops. The porters made do somehow, so all was okay. But, future cruisers, don’t forget your luggage tags (and look in that booklet)!

They told me it would take about 20 minutes to drive over to Enterprise and take their shuttle back to the port. Great, that should give Dug and Izzy time to get in and wait in line or do what they can, then I’ll come back and meet them before we board.

On the way out of the port, I was just following all the other cars and nearly ended up in the long-term parking :



Managed to turn around and find my way out, though.

I had heard that Enterprise was really close by, but the drive felt a lot longer than I was expecting. I don’t know if it was actually that far or if I was just impatient to get back to the ship. Thankfully, when I arrived, the drop off was speedy and I was able to jump onto a shuttle immediately:



Well, my notes say it was 11:13am by now, so I guess the drive was more than the 5-10 minutes I was expecting. I was very glad that I’d left the bags with Dug – another family had to get off the shuttle because their bags wouldn’t fit. And then we hit the road….and went to the Royal Caribbean ship first. My patience was waning, but at least we were going to the Dream next. In fact, look, when I zoom in, I see it right over there :



Only problem? Well, do you see the drawbridge in this picture?:



Yep, it JUST went up and is keeping me from the Dream. For a rather tall sailboat to get past. This took FOREVER. I felt like time was just standing still. Dug and I were texting back and forth and he said they were already calling the boarding groups. However, I needed to get there before we were fully checked in and able to board. The wait was very frustrating. Then, on top of that, we weren’t home free once the bridge came back down either. There were just tons of delays and general slowness getting through the port to where we needed to go. By the time I finally got there, it was 11:56am! So much for that “20 minutes”, as we’d blown a whole hour! All the delays basically frittered away all the benefits we were going for with the early Port Arrival Time I'd managed to get.

I got through security and into the main area. Dug and Izzy were waiting in line to meet Minnie (see her back there? nearly a hidden ):



I went to go get checked in while they did that.

Up next: Do we get to board and do all those things on my to-do list?

 

[Jwhittin]

Following!

 

[Dugette]

Following!

and thanks for following!

 

[Dugette]

All Aboard!

I had just arrived inside the terminal. Dug and Izzy were in line to meet Izzy’s hero, Minnie. I believe a CM was expecting me when I entered and showed me right to the line I needed to be in and let me know what had to be done before boarding. This is the line I waited in:



It wasn’t too bad and there were a lot of CMs at the desk to move things along.

Meanwhile, Izzy apparently got a bit tired while waiting for Minnie :



I think she had her pillow as we planned for her to nap in the stroller, if needed (had we boarded sooner) and she wanted the pillow for naptime.

Just as they were nearing the front of the line, the dreaded character change occurred. Mickey replaced Minnie for the meet and greet. Izzy was devastated. This was as I finished my check-in, so I hurried over there to help calm her. However, when her turn came, she refused to go up and meet Mickey. So, rather than have their wait be for nothing, I went up to greet Captain Mickey and explain Izzy’s heartbreak to him (we did not get very good pictures):





At least I had Minnie on my shirt!

Our next stop was that little door with ears you can see in the background. Finally time to board the ship! It was 12:12pm by the time we crossed the gangway – despite getting into boarding group 4, we were entering with the latecomers. But at least we were finally entering:





As we boarded, they announced our family name and welcomed us. It was a nice moment, but I was so focused on the to-do list that the we’re-on-board high didn’t last long. Things to do!

First priority was getting the timed character meet tickets, as the distribution period had already begun. We were hoping to get all three: Frozen, Disney Junior, and Princesses. For those that don’t know, these character meets became so popular that Disney started scheduling meet times instead of taking walk-ups. But you had to get a time slot upon boarding and they do run out, which is why this was urgent. Izzy loves meeting characters and I wanted to make sure she didn’t miss out.

I went up to get in line while Dug and Izzy roamed the lobby or something. The line was already VERY long and slow:



Do you see how it goes the entire way around this level? Also, I spy Donald doing a meet and greet one deck below. I tried to pass the time taking a few photos. I caught Dug and Izzy in this one (about to go into the elevator area, I think):



Nice chandelier:



Mickey decorations on the elevator shaft:



Not a very good picture (zoomed in on an iPhone), but character borders:



I see Dug and Izzy on the level below me here:



Above them is where the character meet tickets are being distributed.

I was really trying to pass the time and hold onto hope that the line would get moving, but it really wasn’t. It felt like I was waiting for an eternity and, after all that rigamarole getting to the ship, I didn’t want to waste any precious time just standing in line for something that I may well not get anyway (I was so far back that there was a good chance they’d run out and a CM told us as much). After about 20 minutes and only moving a couple feet, I decided to cut my losses and go find Dug and Izzy. I knew our late arrival was going to cause my plans to go awry and I didn’t want to spend all afternoon watching that happen from this line without my family.

So, once I found Dug and Izzy, our first stop was – naturally – the restrooms. Izzy “had to go” – meaning, she hadn’t yet seen a Mickey’s Boat restroom and she had to add it to her collection of WDW restroom visits. So, off we went. I actually have pictures of this one, as it’s kinda nice (and super clean, since it probably hadn’t been used yet since they just turned the ship over):





I know, gross, but probably just cleaned. And I made her wash up really good. At any rate, I doubt she actually went potty, but maybe. Good times with potty training.

Somewhere around here, we managed to get a couple cute porthole pictures:





Admiring what I think was the Norwegian Jewel?

Also, at some point during all of this, we signed up for the free allotment of wifi that you can get on the first day. However, we didn’t even get to use it, as it immediately got eaten up by something…we think automatic photo syncing. So, if you are going to do this, make sure everything not needed on your phone is disabled. I was a bit bummed, as I wouldn’t be able to check email and see what was going on with work during our cruise (reminder: my company had been sold a few days earlier). That stressed me out a bit. However, at least Dug and I were able to text through the Disney Cruise app, so that was good.

Our next stop was Royal Palace, one of the dining rooms on board. This is where we had to go to make a Palo reservation. We already had a pre-booked dinner at Palo, but we also wanted a brunch and weren’t able to snag one in advance. I had heard they hold some back for embarkation day bookings like this, so we wanted to get one set up:



We were first in line there. Dug volunteered to stay and take care of this while Izzy and I headed off to Enchanted Garden to get started on lunch. We decided to do the sit-down lunch option as it was already 12:50pm, so we figured Cabanas (the buffet most people go to) would be packed. Enchanted Garden was still a buffet, but with some table service elements like bringing drinks, etc. Izzy and I were seated:





Dug was happy to report he got us the Palo brunch when we wanted it! Yay!

I got Izzy some random items off the buffet. Mmmm, chocolate mousse for lunch:



My plate:



Dug’s plate:



We each got a dessert too. Dug had a little piece of carrot cake:



And I couldn’t decide between a brownie or ice cream, so what’s a girl to do?



Dug also got a picture of the décor:



We left there around 1:50pm. We had ditched our plans to swim, due to our late boarding. Now that we’d eaten, it was time to get into our stateroom:



We had stateroom 8100, a mid-ship family verandah room. Great location and we loved it!

Looking in:



Nice bed:



The shower:



The little bathtub below the shower:



Sink in that bathroom:



We had the split bathrooms, so the other one was just a toilet and sink:



They were fairly small, but I thought this separation was a nice feature.

Chair and ottoman:



Couch that folds out into a bed:



Vanity/outlets/tv/etc.:



You can also see the curtain that can be pulled to separate the bed from the living area.

Up next: Checking out the verandah, some more errands, and sailing away!

 

[Dugette]

Time to Sail Away!

After checking out the inside of the room, it was imperative that we explore the verandah:









Gotta love that private outdoor space with an ocean view!

We also put out our “fish extender.” For those that don’t know, this is a way to exchange small gifts with DIS-ers in other cabins throughout the cruise. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get involved, since I knew it meant extra work in picking things out and preparing gift bags, but Dug thought it sounded fun, so we signed up on our cruise thread on the DIS. The fish extender is typically a hanging pocket type thing that you hang from your fish with your room # by the cabin door. Some make their own, but I am not the crafty type, so I got one customized from someone on Etsy:





While I was out there, I noticed luggage was starting to arrive:



We got one of our bags fairly soon and the other showed up a bit later.

Our plan was for Izzy to squeeze in a nap before the muster drill, so Dug got her in the provided Pack ‘n’ Play. She was not ready to lay down yet, though. So, she was just standing in there, but Dug was wiped out and laid down on the couch. I took this opportunity to head down to Guest Services with a couple things I wanted to get signed by the characters (a service they no longer offer on Disney Cruises, from what I hear ). It was about 2:40pm by now. Waiting in line:



While I was in line, I overheard a CM saying that there were timed character meet tickets available there. They only had Anna & Elsa ones left, but I was able to get them! So, we didn’t totally miss out by ditching that awful line after boarding. I also dropped off my signature items (a pillowcase for Izzy and a onesie for Lauren’s (@Imagineer5) daughter Maya – she wasn’t yet born and I thought it would be a cute baby gift – plus you’re allowed up to 2 items and I was already giving them fabric markers to use, so it made sense).

I also let the CM know that I would be paying my stateroom charges with Disney Gift Cards, as I’d heard I needed to inform them in advance. I had used a Disney Vacation Account to pay for much of the trip and they have an option to send you a gift card of your remaining funds – which was $990. So, I had this crazy $990 gift card with me. They took the card info and said they’d only charge what was needed. I joked about how it better not be THAT much and the CM said, “You haven’t seen our shops yet!” (Thankfully, I am not much of a shopper, so we had plenty left to use in WDW after the cruise ). For what it’s worth, if anyone else is using a DVA, I believe there is a way to pre-purchase onboard credit through your DVA and that will likely count towards the $20 free gift card per $1000 spent – my $990 cash-out did not count as spending.

I headed back to the room after that and this is what I found:



Yep, she’s still standing there awake. I think Dug was sleeping on the couch, though. Lauren texted to wish us a good cruise and I remember sending her that picture of how things were starting off. (Don’t worry, we DID have a good cruise). It was 2:55pm now, so not looking great for a solid nap before the 4pm muster drill.

I closed the curtain in the middle of the room, so as not to disturb the nappers while I worked on unpacking/organizing/stowing our things. The suitcases fit well under the bed. The stroller also fit nicely underneath the bed (and stayed there the whole time, as Izzy was rather anti-stroller on much of this trip). The car seat was more of an issue. I tried several places and eventually stashed it between the bed and wall (I think I have a picture later on). Not great, but it was fine.

Around 3:30pm I headed to the nursery to get Izzy registered. The theme is It’s a Small World:





They gave me a cute little Magic Band for her:



Since we were getting close to muster drill time, they asked me to come back later to reserve the extra time slots we needed (you can only reserve 10 hours in advance).

I was back in the room at 3:45pm and Izzy was still babbling away to herself. You can kind-of hear it in this video clip:

(click to watch)

So, once again, no nap for Izzy (something of a theme this trip).

Now we had to head out on deck to our muster drill location. They had us stand in straight lines with the shortest person first. And we apparently took a couple pictures before we were in appropriate formation:





Note that Izzy is now sporting TWO Magic Bands – WDW and DCL ones.

And a couple more pictures while we stood there:





I guess we did okay, since they let us go.

We wandered through the art gallery after that:



Pretty cool stuff, though it’s a bit nerve-wracking with a two-year-old that wants to touch everything.

Then we just explored the ship a bit:



I am trying to puzzle out this picture a year later :



I THINK we took this to remind us that I had some clever idea. Which, of course, I no longer remember. Maybe something about the elevators? I see we’re at the Aft elevators, so maybe the mid-ship ones were busy and we were getting around that (to get up to the Sail Away party)? Beats me. The picture could also be me scratching my head, saying “shoot me”, or imitating the pointing Mickey finger above the elevator. Who knows?

We took the elevator up to Cabanas:





Looks like we passed the toddler splash pad (we’ll get there later in the trip):



Then we went out to the railing on Deck 12 and found a spot (pretty far back, but adequate) to watch the Sail Away Party taking place below on Deck 11. This was a tip I got from the DIS – to watch it from above where you can see a bit better:



I was getting really tired of holding Izzy, but I wanted to make sure she’d be able to see her Disney “friends” make their appearances on stage:





You can see some riders on a raft in the Aquaduck waterslide here:



There might also be characters on stage, but I sure can’t tell from that picture.

We all enjoyed the show, though:



Then it was finally time to sail away! It was just a bit before 5pm and we headed over to the rail to watch the shoreline slip away:







It was apparently fairly windy and this series of pictures cracks me up:









It was a really nice few minutes, just standing there and watching us make our way out into the ocean. One of the most calm moments of the whole trip, probably.

But that can’t last long, since we still have a small list of things to do!

Up next: Kids Club Open Houses

 

[Flossbolna]

Signing up to follow along!! I guess I should have a look at your WDW report as well!

Izzy is such a cute girl!! And the wind pictures show that you are on a real ship!!

 

[CarolinaDD1997]

Following!

 

[Dugette]

Signing up to follow along!! I guess I should have a look at your WDW report as well!

Glad to have you here - I have seen you around the TR boards. Feel free to check out the full version if you'd like to see the WDW part too.

Izzy is such a cute girl!! And the wind pictures show that you are on a real ship!!

Thank you! Yes, definitely a real ship sailing out to sea. Such a great feeling with the sea breeze blowing through your hair as the ship makes its way out into open water.

Following!

Thank you!

 

[Dugette]

Exploring Andy’s Room

After sailing away, we headed back to the elevators and saw this guy on the way:



We were headed back to the Nursery to get Izzy signed up for the additional hours we needed. I can’t remember if I mentioned this already, but the nursery is for kids under 3 years old and they charge a fairly reasonable rate – I think it was $9/hour. Whenever we next cruise with Disney, since Izzy will be over 3, she will be able to utilize the Kids Clubs for free. But the nursery worked out just fine for this trip.

While I got her signed up for additional time slots, Dug and Izzy explored the place:









The Cast Members there were always very friendly and helpful.





You can see the nap area in that last picture with all the cribs.



We also made sure that Izzy knew where to find the cute little potty in the nursery. I think she may have even used it while we were there?

After that, around 5:20pm, we headed over to check out the open houses at the Kids Clubs – the Oceaneers Club and Lab. It was nice that they had this time where anyone could come in and explore before they started checking in kids:



My favorite thing was Andy’s room from Toy Story:





















Izzy made a little racecar friend:





And then on to another room to find Mike Wazowski:







Love the doors and everything!

There was another room that was a Tinker Bell setting with movies and games:





After that exploration, I ran back to the stateroom to grab our dinner tickets while Dug and Izzy waited in the lobby or something. I admired other Fish Extenders on the way:



I noted we were not too far from a laundry room:



Big empty hallway:



Cute stateroom doors:



Sorry, but Photobucket won’t let me rotate these next couple photos, so just tilt your head, I guess. Looks like we got some nursery schedules/info:



And here are the day’s character meets:



We will do a couple of these after dinner.

I grabbed our dining tickets and headed back out, admiring these magnets on someone’s door:



Back to the beautiful atrium:



And I found Dug and Izzy waiting for me outside the dining room (Enchanted Garden that night):



Up next: Time to meet our table-mates and servers and enjoy some dinner!

 

[TestingH2O]

Is that an ACTUAL Mickey waffle? Gross!

 

[Dugette]

Is that an ACTUAL Mickey waffle? Gross!

Haha, no, that is a magnet - looks realistic, but not actual food.

 

[alrushton]

We just got back from a trip to WDW and I had read all your TR and picked up so many neat tips. Our DGD was 14 months and was close to Izzy's age on her first WDW trip. Now we have a Disney cruise planned and DGD will be a little over 2 1/2 so this TR will again be super helpful!! I love all the little details you include and have already wrote 4 things in my notes to remember since the cruise isn't until 12/2017.

 

[cheermom2four]

Following!!! Awesome TR so far!

 

[Dugette]

We just got back from a trip to WDW and I had read all your TR and picked up so many neat tips. Our DGD was 14 months and was close to Izzy's age on her first WDW trip. Now we have a Disney cruise planned and DGD will be a little over 2 1/2 so this TR will again be super helpful!! I love all the little details you include and have already wrote 4 things in my notes to remember since the cruise isn't until 12/2017.

I remember you! Wow, the timing of your trips to her age are really mirroring what we've done! I hope your WDW trip went well and that she loved it! I'm glad you're finding some helpful tips and if you are wondering about anything, feel free to ask!

Following!!! Awesome TR so far!

Thank you so much!

 

[Dugette]

Enchanted Garden Dinner

I met up with Dug and Izzy, dining tickets in hand, and we made our way over to the Enchanted Garden entrance. We all sanitized our hands (they hand you wipes as you approach) and the host took our tickets and led us to our table, letting us know which table number we’d have throughout the cruise. We were seated with another family and they were great table-mates throughout the cruise. It was a little boy (Cash) who was about a month older than Izzy, his mom (Danielle), and her mom (Sherry). They had just flown in that morning, so it had been a crazy and exhausting travel day for them by the time we all sat down to dinner at 5:45pm (first seating, by the way).

Izzy immediately discovered the serving platter of butter and went to town :



We had to remove the butter from her reach every night at dinner, as she just couldn’t get enough and was trying to eat all of it.

She got a personalized cup of water:



We were smart enough to take a picture of the menu:



Yep, just that. No pictures of the actual inside of the menu. Thank goodness for the internet and other people who have posted the menu, as I no longer could remember what all these food pictures were of.

Don’t be fooled into thinking Izzy was eating bread in this picture:



She was merely using it as a butter delivery device. She’d lick it off and ask us to butter it again.

Dug understood the concept of bread and butter a little better than Izzy did:



Our waiter came over:



Our server and assistant server were both very nice (they follow you to the other dining rooms on the other nights too). I cannot remember names now (guess I should have written them down, but it’s been over a year!), but we were very happy with both of them.

On to the food. So, according to a blog I found, I apparently started with this appetizer:

Applewood Smoked Bacon Wild Mushroom Tart with Creamy Leeks

My tart:



I think I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Dug chose to start with this one:

Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower with Crispy Noodles and Wasabi Dressing

Here it is:



I think he also enjoyed this.

The servers are smart and they brought out the kids’ full meals at the same time as our appetizers. Worked well for us, at least, since it kept Izzy occupied and she tends to graze for a long time at dinner:



No surprise that she picked mac and cheese, if you’ve been reading the WDW part of this TR. We’ll have to see as we go on, but I think she had mac and cheese every night on the cruise. Cash, however, had a more varied palate. You can see his hamburger in the background there (and that he seems to be feasting on the bun).

In my pre-trip planning, I’d gotten it in my head that we’d breeze through boarding and such and I would be enjoying the Drink of the Day at the sail away party (vs. scrambling around and barely finding a spot in time). So, instead, I ordered the Drink of the Day at dinner, which was a Bahama Mama:



It was very good! (And that beer in the picture was a table-mate’s beer, by the way).

Next up, we had choices of soups and salads. I played it safe and went with comfort food:

Heirloom Tomato Soup with Sour Cream and Basil

Yummy:



Dug was slightly more adventurous and went with:

Cream of Green Asparagus with Crabmeat and Asparagus Tips

His soup:



He thinks he liked it (neither of us has lots of memories of the food anymore, sorry!)

Izzy began to grow a broccoli tree out of her mouth :



I guess Dug was on an asparagus kick, as he ordered this for his main course:

Caramelized Sea Scallops with Roasted Asparagus, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Pearl Pasta, Garnished with Caramelized Leeks and Veal Jus Reduction

His pretty food:



He thinks he enjoyed this a lot, as he loves scallops.

I stuck to the non-adventurous part of the menu and ordered (I think this was it):

Grilled NY Strip Steak, Thyme Roasted Vegetables, Double-Baked Potato with Handmade Herb Butter

My dinner:



I think I enjoyed it, but got full pretty quickly and couldn’t finish.

Then it was time for dessert. Izzy got this Mickey bar covered in sprinkles:



Naturally, she loved that!

I believe these were a freebie (non-menu) dessert thing:



They were little bite-sized treats and we enjoyed them. Ooh, I just ran across a description of what these were: Chocolate Fudge and Mango Turkish Delights.

Izzy showing off her Mickey Bar:



Dug also decided to order some type of dessert drink:



Not sure, but looking at a menu online, it could be the Nutty Chocolate? Vanilla Vodka, Crème de Cacao White, Bailey’s Galliano, Vanilla Mix. That’s my best guess.

My notes actually say that this drink was really good! Izzy approved of her dessert too:



I think we shared a couple of the desserts:

Sweet Temptations – A trio of Esterhazy Cake (Almond Meringue soaked in Maraschino Liqueur and Layered Pastry Cream), Strawberry Cheesecake, and Chocolate Silk Mousse

“Sacher” Chocolate Torte with Apricot Sauce

Our treats:





We enjoyed both of these.

Izzy’s progress on that Mickey bar:



Our table-mates had headed out as soon as they’d finished, since they had been up very early that morning to catch their flight and were wiped out. They were great to talk with, though, and we enjoyed dining with them during our cruise.

As we were finishing up, our waiter came over to entertain us. He knew some magic tricks. He did some tricks with cups and water – you can see the cup stuck to his hand here:



I don’t really remember what all he did, but it was impressive and Izzy got a kick out of it:



He also took the kids menu sheet and made it into “Nemo” for her:



She loved that!



We headed out from dinner at 7:20pm:



We had made it a priority to get to Minnie’s meet that night, given the slight Izzy had gotten before boarding the Dream. We got in line and Izzy amused us with her new fishy friend:



These little princesses were adorable:



We waited about 20 minutes. More than I like to wait, but worth it to get that all-important Minnie meet in for Izzy.

Up next: Minnie! And our first Fish Extender gifts!

 

[Dugette]

Minnie and Presents!

Finally, we made it up to the front of Minnie’s line. Izzy was so happy to finally get to bond with her BFF:









Minnie had to pick her up off the floor :

















Bye, Minnie!



As you can tell, we took our own photos and did not buy the very expensive cruise photos. They make it more difficult to get good photos of the meets than at WDW, though. The angles and lighting are not great for snapping away with a cell phone and they spend all their time getting the kid to look at their photographer (and they often learned that calling out “Princess” does not work and they had to call out “Izzy” ). I always felt like we were just in their way as we tried to take photos and videos. Not that it stopped me from taking video, of course:

(click to watch)

Glad we did that meet – as you can see, Izzy was pretty overjoyed to hang out with Minnie, however briefly.

We headed back to the room after that. I snapped a couple pics on the way:





We arrived back at our stateroom around 7:50pm and found all kinds of gifts awaiting us:



Some of them apparently didn’t fit in the fish extender. As you can see, we received a magnetic chalkboard and several gift bags full of various things.

Once inside the room, we noticed we also had a Navigator for the next day, chocolates, and a towel animal:



I honestly couldn’t even tell you what was in all those fish extender gift bags, but we were blown away at how creative and kind people in our group were. Very impressive and fun things, many homemade and often quite useful. You’ll see some of them in this report, but there were SO MANY things I can’t possibly recall them all. These were just the first few of many more to come. Izzy’s very favorite of the whole bunch ended up being this Sofia the First plush bird, though:



She wasn’t really into watching Sofia those days, so I don’t think she was very familiar, but she promptly named him “Birdie” and he “tweet tweet tweet”ed his way through the rest of our trip by Izzy’s side. Big win on that gift!

We also received quite a bit of candy and allowed Izzy to choose one to enjoy that night. She picked the Mickey lollipop:



And apparently shared it with Birdie:



You can see the Pack ‘n’ Play still set up behind her. We had planned for her to nap in that upon boarding, but thought she’d want to sleep in the lower bunk (the couch folds into a nice kid bed) at night. Our room attendant had made up the bed and put on a bedrail for her. However, she tried it briefly and decided she’d rather sleep in the PnP, so did that the whole trip. Took up more space in our room, but it was fine.

After that stop into the room it was time to head to the night’s show: The Golden Mickeys. This was a late night for Izzy and we weren’t sure how she would do, but thought we’d give the show a try and sit in back, in case a quick getaway was needed. Waiting for the show, a bit before 8:30pm:



There was nothing to worry about, as Izzy was well-behaved and really enjoyed the show:





We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the actual show, so that’s all you get. We enjoyed it, but our seats were high up in back and you might notice from that picture that the very tops of the big screens are not visible. This meant a lot of headless people on the screens, which was rather annoying. Live and learn, I guess.

After the show, just before 9:30pm, we jumped into Cinderella’s line for a quick meet before bed. Izzy was still doing well and behaving and wanted to meet her:



I kinda like my notes for this story of our wait in between the ropes, so I’m just going to post exactly what I wrote about it at the time:

Met at 9:44pm. Before that, though, we were waiting between the ropes and Izzy touched one. Like, literally, touched it. Nothing more. No big whoop. And the photographer reprimanded her/us about touching the rope. I understand they have lots of issues with kids pulling them down, but this wasn’t the same and it was more criticism than Izzy could handle at the end of a long day. She lost it, despite having been in a good mood three seconds earlier. The guy in front of us said, “Well, it IS 9:30!” and I felt like he was criticizing/judging for keeping her up late. Really bothered me. She’d been doing great until the uncalled for scolding. We worked on calming her and eventually dancing worked. Meanwhile, the guy’s wife and kids showed up and…his kids spent the whole time climbing on the ropes with the photographer yelling at them and the dad not even noticing for the longest time. Dude.

Despite that rocky wait, Izzy ended up having a lovely and adorable meet with Cinderella.

Up next: That meet! And the rest of our night.

 

[Dugette]

Chillin’ With Cindy

We had no idea that Izzy was so enamored with Cinderella. It was adorable, though. Sorry for the poor pictures – luckily, Dug remembered he had a flash on his phone. I was just taking dark pics while taking video, so they are not great:











I love how Izzy is just gazing adoringly at Cinderella in that last one.









Happy dance:



I also have the video (had to split into two parts to upload). Really only to look at, though, as you can’t hear anything Cinderella is saying:

(click to watch part 1)

(click to watch part 2)

We made it back to our room a bit after 10pm. We immediately put in a room service order for a cheese plate for Dug and I to share and some milk for Izzy. We weren’t necessarily super hungry after that big dinner, but we’d heard this cheese plate is a nice snack and wanted to try it (and free, so why not?) Plus, we wanted to get Izzy some milk.

While we waited for our things to arrive, we found that they had Disney Junior On Demand. Izzy was very pleased with the unlimited episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that were available for her viewing pleasure. I believe she may have watched one episode before bed:





Our room service order arrived:



It was very tasty. I believe we had some and saved the rest for another day. We also stashed several little cartons of milk in the fridge.

We poured Izzy some milk to drink before bed, as she’d requested. Thus ensued the Great Milk Meltdown. For some reason, not a single cup we had was acceptable for her milk drinking needs. Lid on, lid off – no dice. We actually had an array of cups, as we’d just received some in our Fish Extender, so I washed off some new ones. She promptly rejected the purple bottle with Mickey heads:





She tried, but it just wasn’t working for her, I guess. We finally gave her one of the red cups that were meant for us (we received two customized red straw cups that said Disney Dream on them – used them for pop on the cruise and water at home until they started wearing out – decals coming off, etc.) She liked the red cup. But then dropped and cracked it. Luckily, it had two layers, so no leaking.

We got her to bed shortly after all this, probably about 11pm. Yep, another late night. I think we hit the hay shortly after she did. Ready for a good night’s sleep after our first day on the Dream.

Up next: Off to Arendelle!

 

[TestingH2O]

Oh the mystery of a cup. I can never predict when some dish just won't cut it for DD. It happens less now, but once in a while, we still have the "wrong" dishes.

 

[Jessirip]

I'm really enjoying this thank you! We are sailing for our first time on the Dream with our 4 year old and 2 year old in October. Really looking forward to hearing how the nursery worked for you.