The Disney Dream

After 5 days of walking, rides, and being entertained we were ready for some relaxation. So we headed East to Port Canaveral to get on the Disney Dream for our 3 day cruise. This is Disney's newest ship and is done up like only Disney can do. (Warning: TONS of pics, just to give you a bit of how beautiful it was).

Almost there!!!!

The Dream with the two red engine stacks.

Hard to see, but Mickey and friends are cleaning the outside of the ship

Our welcome sign

Ready to embark

One of the 1st orders of business is to go to your lifeboat station and know what the emergency procedures are. Not the most calming thing but a necessity. I'd rather know what to do than be clueless in the case of an emergency. Paige and I lined up

On one of the stacks was a huge movie screen. There were movies showing pretty much continuously. Inside the stack was the teen club Vibe for those 14-17. This was where Paige hung out with her cousin. There was also a club for the 11-14 crowd as well as The Oceaneer club for the 3-10 yr olds. Fun for the kids and parents. The tube to the right of the stack is part of the Aquaduck. This is the "watercoaster" that went around the perimeter of the ship deck.

Our stateroom. Since we had so many people and no cell phone use we used the dry erase boards to leave notes for our whereabouts. The kids loved the freedom to explore.

The inside of our stateroom. Our cute towel dog from the housekeeper. This room slept 5

A view from the veranda

All the beds made up. The couch flipped down, the top bunk came out of the ceiling and the other was a murphy bed.

The bathrooms were nice and one of the only with two rooms. One with sink and toilet, the other with sink and shower.

Our veranda. We had 5 staterooms all lined up so we opened up the dividers and had one long veranda

Nemo and friends were the motif for this ship and there were beautiful mosaics in the buffet area.

This was a water play area for the little ones. There were also 3 other pools. One 3 ft, one 3-5 ft. and an adult pool.

Looking down at the atrium. The carpet was beautiful.

Looking up was this beautiful light fixture.

the balconies overlooking the atrium. The "Disney" element was very subtle in the decorating. I loved the Art Deco feeling.

Each night there were productions. The theater was gorgeous. These were Broadway caliber productions.

There were also entertainment on the deck. They would cover the pools and that would become the stage.

Each night we dined in a different restaurant. The 1st night was Artist's palette. The details were artist motifs. This was the "guys" table that night. We had the same wait staff each night they moved with us to each restaurant. The waiters wore shirts that were similar to coloring books, white with black drawings. The 1st night was American style food.

A centerpiece.

This sketch board became

this. And it was interactive with us. It asked the kids questions and responded to them.

the 2nd night was the Enchanted Garden. The colors were soft and very serene. The wait staff wore pastel shirts to go with the decor.

Overlooking the dining room

Our table. It was a pirate theme that night and that's why I was wearing the bandana.

The 3rd night was the Royal Palace, a tribute to all the princesses. The wait staff wore military uniforms. It was French food which was probably my least favorite of the three. I loved all the details.

Our head server Edward and asst. server Adi. The girls were serving them.

Mickey and friends did a good-bye song the last night.

The girls wanted their hair braided and we had plans to get it done when we got to the Bahamas. While checking out the ship we saw that they did it there so we got the girls signed up and they got their cornrows.

The girls before

And after

All nine granddaughters and their braids.

As we came into Nassau

setting out into Nassau. The boys and Ken as well as a brother in law went diving. Myself, the girls and the rest of us checked out some of the shops and then headed to the beach.

The gorgeous Bahamian beach

We had a great day in Nassau and looked forward to our second excursion-Disney's island Castaway Cay. We were suppose to spend the day there and even had a excursion to feed the sting rays set up. Our plans were thwarted by the weather. There were bad crosswinds and the captain was not able to get into port at Castaway Cay. This was disappointing to all of us to say the least. We spent the day at sea and did enjoy the many activities on the ship. This means we need to take another Disney cruise to try again.

It was up early and a quick breakfast the day of departure. It's hard to believe that our wonderful vacation had come to a end.

vacation of a lifetime

The end of Feb/beginning of March our family and the rest of my family took a family vacation. 23 of us went to Disney World for 5 days. We then took a 3 day cruise on the Disney Dream. This was an incredible vacation and we made memories that we will always cherish. My parents would have been married 50 years this July and had planned a family trip to celebrate. After my mom passed away my dad still wanted to do a family trip and so this is what we did. There was something for everyone and we had a great time. Only problem is now we want to go back and do it again, but this time grandpa won't be paying. Oh well, time to start saving.

Since we live in this part of the country we drove to Orlando. It's about a 16 hr drive from Houston. Everyone else flew in. This is our entrance into our adventure.

Our home base for the next 5 days. It is a Disney property. There are tent camping areas as well as RV spots. They have cabins that we stayed in that sleep 6. Worked out great for us to all be in the same place. We were able to use the transportation between parks and got pretty good at the bus schedule.

Us in front of our cabin.

With the package we had it included the meal plan for eating in the parks, which was a great deal. One of our favorite places we ate was the Sci-Fi restaurant. It's like a old drive-in theater. There are 55 chevys for the seats and you watch movie clips while you eat. Good food also.

Two of my sisters, nephew, and brother in law ran the Princess 1/2 marathon. We all did a full marathon each day with all the walking we did. They did a great job and have their medals to prove it.

Goofy guys ready to go on Toy Story Mania.

For breakfast one morning we went to the Polynesian Resort at the Ohana. Ohana means family and we were quite the family. The cast members were always surprised that we were all one family. Here's the kids with the main Mouse himself.

Ken and the boys in Epcot at Oh, Canada.

Taylor checking out the Mexican hat in Epcot

The girls and I got to go to the Princess dinner at Akershus in Epcot. The princesses came to the table and the girls got autographs and pics with each one. They loved it but it was crazy trying to eat and do everything anytime a new princess came by.

During our trip we celebrated 5 birthdays. Lexi's #12 was one of them.

The kids with a dinosaur in Animal Kingdom. They were so excited for this photo op.

The last day we checked out Downtown Disney. Mr. Potato Head greated us at the toy store.

This was an awesome vacation and we loved it!!!