And we're off! We grabbed a cab from the rental car location in Coco and headed to the port!
We got our first up close glimpse of the Disney Dream from the cab as we headed into port. It was nice to have someone who knew where they were going driving. Arriving at Port Canaveral is alot like a small airport. The biggest difference is when you pull up to it is to the terminal, it's just for your ship. With a cab you get dropped off right at the door. Porters take your luggage and make sure you have the correct luggage tags in place (they send you tags much like airports use). These tags get your bag from the curb to your room, we didn't have to lift a finger! (Make sure to tip the porters!!)
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| In line to head into the Port Canaveral Disney terminal. |
We arrived at the port from the cab at about 10:10am so the doors were not open yet so we were directed to the third floor walk way of the parking garage to get in line. We were among the first 30 or so in this line. If we had waited for the rental car free shuttle we would not have left the rental location until 11:00 (and that's IF they were running on time). It was nice beating the rush. From the parking garage, we got in line on the pedestrian walk way into the terminal. We got a few pics of the ship and made a few friends. Soon the line started moving and we headed through security and into the terminal. As you can see, Doug is wearing a back pack. This is because all the bags you drop at the curb you will not see again until 3:00-4:00pm. So make sure any medications your need or valuables you bring stay with you. Also, many people go swimming when they first get on the ship so you would need to have your swim wear packed and ready to go in a carry on type bag.
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| The Disney Cruise Line Terminal |
Inside the terminal: We checked in and got our' Key To The World' cards. We also got a Navigator for the day, so I was able to plan our day aboard the ship. I let Doug wander around and get a few pictures. I was glad we got to the port before the bigger shuttles or buses because the lines did get longer as the time went on. When you check in they also give you a boarding group. This is determined based on the time you select when you checked in online (75 days ago).
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| Model of the Disney Magic on display. |
The terminal is nice and big and it has lots of seating and televisions playing classic Disney cartoons. Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse made appearances to meet guests. You also get your kids registered for the kid's clubs so you don't have to spend your time doing that on the ship. We saved even more time by leaving them at home! (Don't worry - for our 2013 cruise we brought them along!!)
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| The other side of the model shows the "inside" |
Finally time to board - as our group walked Through the Mickey funnels!
After heading through the funnels they get your picture and then you head onto the ship. Most people just walk, but not Doug he had to stop to check out all the cargo getting loaded.
They announced "The McKnight Family" and we were officially "Disney Cruisers". First stop was with to see Admiral Donald. Doug thought he should pose like Donald.
I needed a picture too!
A look up at the lobby: It is quite the first impression! If the lobby looked this good, we couldn't wait to see the rest! At this point it was 11:40am, so we were thinking lunch. We were also on the ship before the majority of the guests. We headed up to Deck 11 and hit Cabanas - the buffet. Unfortunately everyone else was thinking the same thing so the elevators were swamped. We opted for the stairs!
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| The Atrium of the Disney Dream |
A shot of the atrium from Deck 4 as we marched up to deck 11. (And we thought we were in shape for this cruise -ha!!)
Every story had great art work. This is just a small sample, but there was always plenty to look at. As the days went on, the art work helped with orientation as far as finding our room.
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| The Quiet Cove Pool and Bar. |
Somehow we ended up on the Deck 12! I guess we were just too excited to stop at 11! So we went to take a look at the adult only pool -the Quiet Cove Pool and Swim Up bar.
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| Our feet as we look down to the water below the Disney Dream |
Yep you can see through the floor! It was quite a ways down!
Looking Aft on Deck 12
I don't think I look quite like I just climbed 9 flights of stairs!
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| Disney Cruise Line Terminal at Port Canaveral |
A shot of where we had just spent an hour or two. The far right of the picture you can see the walk way from the parking garage that we started on. When you blow it up and zoom way in you can still see people in line on the walk way. To the left is the walk way from the terminal to the ship.
Who doesn't love a picture of a parking garage. you can pay extra for "preferred" parking which gets you in the lot that is literally right across the street. Not sure their is anything "preferred" about it because the garage is about as close as you can get.
A shot of NASA off in the distance as we look past a Carnival ship.
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| Donald's Pool on the Disney Dream |
It is now 12:29 and we never saw this many empty deck chairs again when the sun is out for the rest of our cruise. Also no wait for the AquaDuck!
A shot from the other corner.
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| On Goof's sports deck. |
We ventured up to Deck 13 to see the mini golf course. It was way over the top.
Who doesn't want to golf on this??
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| Food with a view at Cabana's |
So we found where everyone was at. They were all at the buffet. Lots of food, lots of choices. You could spend all day just trying to figure out what you want. We managed to snag a table with a view (once again of our favorite parking garage). When we were finishing eating the place was a mad house! We got there at a good time to get a table and food.
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| Walt Disney Theater |
Next we did a group tour of the ship. It met by the entrance to the Walt Disney Theater. There were only about 12 people in our group. It was lead by two of the entertainment directors. They got to know everyone by name by the end of the tour which was nice because you saw them all over the place for the next 3 days and when they greeted you by name other people all looked at you like you must be important. I highly suggest taking this tour!!
The decorations change based on the show for the day. On this night we got to see the Golden Mickeys. The tour was about 30 minutes or so and we saw all the theaters and where all the bars and other important things where located. We also got quite a few tips about when to show up for things to get good seats and the best places to watch other things from.
Hanging out with Cinderella.
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| In the Oceaneer Club |
After the tour, the staterooms hadn't been opened up yet so we still had about 20 min to kill. We checked out the kids club to get an idea if our kids would be able to enjoy a cruise or not. After looking at all the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab had to offer, I think it is safe to say they would love it. We took a few pics to show them. Not sure if that was nice or mean of us!?
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| Andy's room on the Disney Dream. |
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| Computers and crafts in the Oceaneer Lab |
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| Magic dance floor in the Oceaneer Lab |
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| Movie Time in the Lab |
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| Craft time in the Lab |
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| Hi Mike! |
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| State room #7020 Deluxe Family Oceanview with a Large Porthole with Window Seating |
Finally we got into our room! we were in Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom (#7020). It was 241 square feet (it felt surprisingly large!!).
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| State room #7020 Deluxe Family Oceanview |
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| The art work over the couch. |
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| The bed was nice and soft. |
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| H2O spa products on the Disney Cruise Line |
The bathroom products offered on Disney Cruise Line are great. They sell them in the shops. If our bags hadn't already been bursting at the seams, then some might have made their way home with us.
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| Important stuff about Assembly Station! |
On the back side of your door is information about emergencies. It tells you your Assembly Station. We were in A. (It also tells you this on your room key.) The sign tells you where you have to go for the Emergency Drill. We learned where to go on our tour so we were a step ahead of lots of people.
Now it time for that drill, so we headed down to the Walt Disney Theater balcony. We had one of the most comfortable drill locations. It sure beat standing outside on the walking track!!
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| Our door with a little decorations! |
Before we went to the drill Doug got our Door decorated. This made it easy to find our room in a long hallways!
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| Time to Sail Away! |
Right after the Drill was over we took the steps up to deck 12 again to claim a spot along the rail for the Sailing Away deck party. This was on the advice of the tour guides.
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| Closing up the pools for the deck party |
We beat the crowd. I think most people were all in line for the elevators after the Drill because the crowd did slowly build.
10 minutes later and the rails were packed and the floor was filling up fast.
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| Sailing Away party! |
The show is about 20 minutes long and involves alot of singing and dancing! They show you just how great of a time you will have on the large "Funnel Vision" screen. All in all it was entertaining. (Maybe even more entertaining was watching all the people film it on their iPad.) Our tour guides from earlier were the people who got the party started and were on stage the whole time. It was the first example we saw of how working on a cruise ship meant doing lots of different things.
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| Nice big window. |
It started to rain about a minute after the party ended, but that really did not affect any of our plans. We went back to the room to change for dinner. We had dinner at the "Royal Court" that night. It is a French menu and much fancier than what we usually eat, so we got to be adventurous and try lots of things. We also got to meet our "tablemates" or dinning partners (the people who have the back luck of watching Doug eat for 3 days). Anyway we couldn't have asked for better people to get randomly sat with. It's not totally random though, because Disney tries to put you with similar people. We were with one couple from Canada on their honeymoon and a couple from Scotland. It was all of our first time on a Disney Cruise and we really enjoyed getting to know them over the course of the cruise. It was also amazing to talk about what everyone did that day. We were all on the same cruise, but all did such different things.
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| Turn down service. |
After dinner we went to the late showing of "The Golden Mickey's" and then to the night club Evolution for the Newly Wed type game show. When we got back to our room we found tomorrow's Navigator and some chocolates. We were exhausted from all the excitement and fun! Time to get some rest!
