Disney Dream cruise and Walt Disney World 2014 - Day 1 - Travel and Embarkation

Travel and Embarkation Day

I'm not actually sure where I got the notion to take a Disney cruise, but somehow I got it in my brain that it would be great fun! So on Wednesday June 4, 2014, when Emmaline was about a month shy of 6 years old, we departed from Austin in the afternoon, arriving into Orlando in the late evening. We picked up some dinner in the airport food court before checking into a room at the Hyatt Hotel located inside the airport terminal. It was convenient, clean and comfortable.

On Thursday, we woke up in the morning and got ready to go. I had packed a packing cube with just the items we would need for embarkation morning so we wouldn’t have to repack everything. We needed to be ready for our luggage to get picked up from the room by 8:30 AM. We finished just in time as they came to collect our luggage to take to the ship for us. We headed back to the same food court for breakfast and then made our way to the bus service from the airport to the terminal. The first bus was just pulling away when we got there so we hopped on the next bus, arriving a the Disney Cruise Line terminal in Port Canaveral a little after 10:30.

We made our way through security, and then check-in. We were assigned to boarding group number 2 and then we waited for boarding to begin. While we waited, we got a picture with Goofy who was greeting in the terminal and then we stopped to use the bathroom. They started boarding around 11:25 and our group was called pretty quickly after that (before 11:30).



We stopped briefly to take our embarkation photo (just Emmaline and I because Roger didn’t want to) and then headed onto the ship. We entered the lobby with it’s huge chandelier and beautiful decor, with a retro nod to old luxury ocean liners. We hopped an elevator and headed straight for deck 11 - the pool deck. We had our swim suits on under our clothes so we could get right in. Emmaline splashed around in the shallow Mickey pool while I watched and Roger sat in a deck lounger and handled an issue that came up at work.

Once they opened up the Aquaduck, Emmaline and I rode, but she was not a fan - too fast with too much of a drop at the beginning. So we headed back to the Mickey pool and the Mickey slide (which she did like and rode repeatedly). Roger was done with his work issue so we toweled off and headed for the lunch buffet at Cabanas. Lunch was fine. Not amazing, but certainly not the worst buffet I’ve ever had. They had a lot of choices and we all found things we could eat. Then Emmaline had her first of many ice cream cones.

Rooms weren’t going to be ready until 1:30 and it was just a bit after 1 so I went and took Emmaline to the Oceaneer Club to get her signed up to participate in the activities there. We had signed up online, but we needed to check in and get her wrist band and we knew not to wait in that crazy line in the terminal. Still, it took a little while because there was only one crew member on duty, but we got it done and then went in there to play a bit during the open house. While we were playing, the rooms opened up and Roger went and took our carry on bags to the room.

Emmaline and I met up with him there and regrouped before heading to check out the “Midship Detective Agency” game. The game is a very clever little scavenger hunt game where you could find framed pictures on the walls of the ship (the whole ship was covered in really lovely artwork inspired by various Disney films and characters). These special pieces of art would come alive when you stood in front of them and if you were playing the came, you could hold up your game card to interact with the art to find clues to solve a mystery. It was a good way to see different parts of the ship.



By that time we were ready to sail away so we went to deck 11 for the sailing away party. Mickey and the gang put on a song and dance show and we pulled out of port. Sailing away, the ships horn played “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” We waved at the Port Canaveral webcam, hoping our family members could catch a glimpse of us, but evidently the camera panned out before it reached our position at the aft of the ship.



We had the “late seating” for dinner which meant that our dining time was 8:15. Our show time was 6:15. Before the show we snacked poolside and once our luggage was delivered, we unpacked our things into the many little drawers, cabinets and closets in our stateroom. We stowed our suitcases under the bed and got ready to go to the first night’s show - The Golden Mickey’s. In between the show and dinner, we planned to meet Cinderella, with Emmaline in her Cinderella dress I had made for her so she got dressed up before we went down.



The Golden Mickey’s show is a riff on an awards show, complete with a red carpet and an interviewer with a camera that feeds into the theatre. The interviewer asks the children about what characters they are looking forward to. It’s very cute and the charm is enhanced by the “kids say the darndest things” factor. Emmaline was interviewed and everyone commented on how cute she was in her Cinderella dress.



After the show (which was quite enjoyable) we found Cinderella greeting in the lobby and met with her. Then we were able to meet Tiana as well before we went back to our room to change before dinner. The Disney Dream has three main dining rooms and on a three night cruise, you eat in each dining room once with the same table and the same serving team. Our server Nue was fantastic and we all liked her very much. Our first night was in the Royal Palace. We all had things we liked about our meal and things we loved. The food across the board fell into the “very good” category. I wouldn’t say it was out of this world amazing (though we each had some really great individual dishes). Nothing was ever bad, though (except perhaps the incredibly dry and flavorless kid’s steak).



We were seated with a family of five. An older husband and wife, their daughter and her two children, ages five and two (maybe?). Emmaline was excited to make a new friend. We chatted with them some and they were nice. We didn’t make life-long friends, but it wasn’t a negative experience.

Emmaline finished dinner first and was picked up by one of the youth activities counselor to go to the Oceaneer Club while Roger and I finished our meal. When we were done with our meal, we picked her up and headed off to bed.

I should mention, once we were underway, I was not feeling so great. It wasn't’ so much that I had nausea (I had a touch here and there, but making sure my stomach wasn’t empty helped a lot) but I could really feel the movement of the ship a lot and I had some vertigo and just generally felt… weird. I had been taking Bonine since Tuesday to try to stay ahead of the motion sickness (I’'m very prone to it). I was prepared for nausea, but completely unprepared to feel so off balance and just generally strange. And the faster the ship moved, the worse it was and we were headed fast through open water, crossing the gulf stream. The first night was definitely the worst night, but really any time we were in motion on the ship, I felt it. If we cruise again, I will get the patch from a doctor. Roger was totally fine and Emmaline complained a bit, but I think it was partly in response to my complaints. Though I think she felt that first night and I did end up giving her half a kids Dramamine that evening.

Click here for Day 2.