Goin' with the Flow- TCD's Disney Dream Trip Report

[Lou... 3,118]

As usual, this is a great TR, but if your wondering, if I go, will I have as much fun as Andrew and his family had? The answer is a big fat YES.

If you're a Disney person and want the best, a Disney cruise is for you.

We went earlier this year on the Dream and will go again later this year or very early next year. This time we'll go on the Fantasy and instead of 5 days, we'll do 7.

It is expensive, well for you anyways, but you do get what you pay for in this case.

What are you waiting for, book it, Danno.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Another great update!

Can't believe you were last back onto the ship at CC. I'm always afraid of missing the boat, so I'm the one sitting on my veranda watching all the people making that last-minute mad dash back.

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

As usual, this is a great TR, but if your wondering, if I go, will I have as much fun as Andrew and his family had? The answer is a big fat YES.

If you're a Disney person and want the best, a Disney cruise is for you.

We went earlier this year on the Dream and will go again later this year or very early next year. This time we'll go on the Fantasy and instead of 5 days, we'll do 7.

It is expensive, well for you anyways, but you do get what you pay for in this case.

What are you waiting for, book it, Danno.

Whoa...Did Lou just admit to reading a TR??? The lure of the TCD trip report is just to great for him to resist I guess. :rofl3:

Great 'stache, by the way...very Magnum, PI.

Frank seems to be a great partner in crime for you! Can't wait for the next installment.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Holy Guacamole, this trip report is blowing up!

Wow to all of the comments.

As I always say, I appreciate them.

And I see this is generating a lot of views. And a lot of those views are from Guests.

Guests=Lurkers.

Nothing wrong with lurking.

We all probably started out that way.

But to you lurkers out there, I have a special request: please register and join this site.

We are just shy of 900 members here.

900!

That's pretty awesome.

And, it would be a real honor to me if a lurker or two joined and posted on this report.

It's free.

It's fun.

So do it!

Now, to the comments on the comments.

There are some good ones.

And some good questions.

And all will be answered.

Any of you lurkers have a question?

I'll answer it if you ask.

And if I don't know the answer, I'm sure somebody else will.

Here we go! :

:bravo: :bravo: TCD

Thanks, Nicki. I'm glad you like it so far. But don't go anywhere, believe it or not, we are just getting started.

Last off the island! There would still be one more chance for the TCD Gang later in the cruis though right?

Nice job getting to the crew beach and assuming the non-response was tacit permission. I like your style!

Can we have a 5th update today?

You are right. We will have another chance to be last again.

Sorry, but as you now know, there was not a fifth update.

That tacit permission thing is probably a bad idea. I don't think I would get too far with that argument if I went somewhere I really wasn't supposed to. But with the island being deserted like it was, we knew that other than that one castmember there wasn't anyone around to chase us away.

Thanks! I haven't been around much during the summer. My days are often filled with eating and naps, I can't complain too much. I took zero notes during our Fantasy cruise and not too many photos, so not much material for a TR. The few tweaks they made from the Dream were great.

One of the new adult areas, Satellite Falls, was wonderful. A waterfall comes out from the black seam you see with random intervals. Nice cushy chairs with shade--we stayed out there for 6 hours on our first sea day.

This splash pool and covered areas are new too. It's not 18+

OK, you can have your TR back now

I have heard about Satellite Falls and seem some photos of it. It looks cool, but I wasn't sure how functional it was. Good to hear that it is comfy.

I never knew about that splash area. So that is not adult only? Right by the adult pool like that? I'm not sure that is a good idea.

Geat CC day! Congrats on all you accomplished this day.

Since you asked earlier, the last time we did a Disney Cruise was November 2006. It was my first cruise. We spent CC day on Serenity Bay. It was a very nice way to spend the day. True we didn't have Dance parties or crab races but we did have cabana boys bringing us drinks.

I just told Mike that I NEED to go on another Disney cruise. He didn't say no. Should I just go ahead and book it? He may have been doing this when I asked. :sleep: :rotfl6:

There are cabana boys on the family beach too.

But, if we didn't have the kids with us, we would have headed to SB too.

I already know from your later post that you didn't even wait for me to give you the OK to book a cruise. Good to hear that you will be taking another cruise! A lot has changed since 2006, and I would say that all of it is good change.

Slow down, you move too fast, ya gotta make the morning last....

Help me lord, I'm singing Simon & Garfunkel.

So much random stuff goes through my head when reading a TCD report. Some of it I can't share,as you mentioned this is a family board. I will try to remember what's happened in the 3 updates I've missed, without having to reread and take notes.

Corona. THAT I remember.

With all due respect (I learned from Ricky Bobby that as long as your preface an insult with that, you can say anything) you do a great job at balancing Nerd with Cool.

Meaning: I would imagine you're dressed up and somewhat nerdy in your professional life, but you leave work and wear flip flops with bottle openers in them.

I like it. :thumbsup2:

I am not a fan of cats either, but I have heard they don't like water. I wonder where he came from? Must have been a heck of a swim.

"Spring A Leak" I have almost done that once, and it forced me into a palmetto thicket.

I'm super glad that you didn't get in the hammock at the adult beach. I bet you could film a CSI episode if you'd brought a black light.

Funny that you had the ship looking for you and good job duping Frank on the gangplank. Honestly I have lost count on bragging rights. Maybe you could create a score board at the end of the report, for those of us with a short attention span.

As always, great comments.

Yeah, I did push it too hard yesterday.

I felt like I needed to do that to get the momentum going on this report. We still have a long way to go.

It is going to slow down a bit now.

You are perfectly fine with the "all due respect" preface. That rule applies in the TCD home too. "No offense" also works.

You nailed that one on the head- I am what you might call a cool nerd. I do what I want. I don't care what other people think. Sometimes it drives the TCD girls crazy.

Don't worry about keeping track of the bragging rights. I didn't. At this point in the cruise I was already so far ahead, there was no way anyone could catch me. That doesn't mean that is the end of the bragging rights, though. There were more that came my way. My proudest moment didn't come around until night three. We are only building up to night two, so it will be a while until we get there.

I'll keep posting, and you keep reading, and we will get there.

No worries.

Go with the flow.

Tacit permission? I think so.

That comment was made is response to Doodle asking if she could book a cruise because Mike didn't say no.

I agree- that is tacit permission.

That would be very helpful. :)

SEE, and nobody even said SQUIRREL! It's not just me. :whew:

No worries.

Like I said, I lost track of all my bragging rights, but I'm sure I had the most.

It is good to be TCD.

This TR is moving along so fast, it has my head spinning.

You and me both.

And, mine shouldn't be spinning, because I know where we are going next.

But, it was a pretty epic trip.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow, there are a lot of questions and comments.

But, as I promised, if you ask, I will answer.

Most questions, anyway.

TCD. Can you use a Disney gift card on the cruise ship?

Yep, you can go to the guest services desk in the atrium and they will put the credit on your account.

I didn't know the answer to this question, but see, rm0530 did? So there you go. The answer, as I suspected, is yes.

Nice new updates.

Wishing I was going with the flow with your family.

Thanks.

While you would no doubt enjoy going with the flow with my family, you can easily do it with your own, and have just as much fun.

Breaking news!! I was so inspired by Andrew's TR that I contacted Rhonda and booked a cruise. Now I just have to wait until Nov. 10, 2013.

Cool! Can I stow along?

Sure!!

BOO!!!! You should have gone with us in March.

I have too many other trips booked already for the rest of this year and into next year. Believe me I'd rather go sooner than later.

So will you be at the Fort for Halloween 2013, then cruise, then Thanskgiving back at the Fort? That would be jim dandy! And..............I will be extremely jealous!

Um.....no.

Sorry I hijacked your thread, Andrew. I will be watching your adventures even more closely now!!

Nice hijack, folks.

But I have seen much better.

As I have said before- there is no such thing as a hijack of a TCD TR- we can go off on any tangent, but we will eventually make it back.

Congrats to you Doodle.

That's great that you get to cruise again.

And that was very nice of you to agree to take Dave along.

And look how Grumpy/Dave invited you to go with him in March!

That was so generous of him. You ought to go!

I will mention here that if anyone wants a tour guide/fat cabana boy with a flip flop bottle opener to bring along on a Disney cruise, I know one that will work for cheap.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

One more batch of comments before we move this thing along:

This TCD TR is

Thanks!

I like that picture!

awesome!! loving the tr... i had a few pages to catch up on. lol i was cracking up a few times reading this..

okay-continue. i will read 4 more pages tomorrow. :rofl2:

Well, I hope you don't get too much further behind today.

Thanks for reading.

Disney should pay you for these! I emailed our AAA agent for prices after reading this far.... Just hoping our 9 year old enjoys it!

I agree.

I have mentioned before that the TCD twins are very involved with the yearbook and newspaper at their school, and that they met the guy who runs the official Disney Blog at a conference earlier this summer. I want that guy's job.

I have no doubt that your 9 year old will love a Disney cruise. I can't imagine how any child wouldn't. When our girls were younger, they weren't totally into hanging out in the kids clubs all the time, like some kids do. But, they did pop in for visits, and between that and all the other activities, they had a great time. Some kids will hang out in the clubs all day. Others never go. But, there is always something to do.

Wow! I leave for a few hours and come back and there have been TWO updates! Good job TCD! And we thank you.

First, love that you can take booze with you. And love that you took it on the island and used your shoe bottle opener. The best part is that you guys finished it off before leaving. :beer:

How awesome to be last on the ship - I would be way too chicken for that! You definitely get big bragging rights for that!

Glad the rain passed over. That's usually the biggest part of a trip like that you can't plan on. The weather.

Bicycle question: did you happen to notice if any of them had training wheels? Little inquiring minds would want to know...

Thanks.

And yes, there were probably a hundred bikes with training wheels there. Well, maybe not that many, but enough.

One word of caution about that- the official bike path is pretty much in direct sunlight the whole way with no shade. I have seen many an abandoned bike with training wheels along the way. I am not sure that little kids would like it so much. But, your daughter is getting old enough that she may soon be shedding the training wheels, or if she is used to riding her bike, she may be fine. I wouldn't take a kid who doesn't like to ride a bike out on the bike path on a hot day.

Ok since we are planning a cruise next year for our honeymoon I have an very important question to ask. How did you transport so much alcohol onto the ship. Did you have it in a container or was it in checked baggage? I can't afford a cruise AND all the beverages my wife will want on one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

That is a very important question.

And I like how it's your wife who wants the drinks.

As far as I know, you are not supposed to have booze in your checked bags. You need to carry it on.

I have a small, soft-sided cooler on wheels. These are allowed, but the one restriction is that you are not allowed to have ice in them when you put them through the x-ray machines in the terminal. Also, those coolers have to fit through the x-ray machine. There is a size limit, so if you get one, get one that is about the size of a 12 pack of beer. I also had a rolling duffel bag type suitcase. All of our liquor fit in those two items easily, and we had no problem wheeling it aboard. One other thing to note is that the cabins are not ready for occupancy until after 1:30 pm, so you will be lugging whatever you carry on around with you to lunch if you board before 1:30.

Also, bring some bottled water. It's expensive on the ship. You don't need a lot, as the ship makes its own water, and it is very good to drink. But you will want some bottles for when you are off the ship. That will need to go in your carry ons too.

As usual, this is a great TR, but if your wondering, if I go, will I have as much fun as Andrew and his family had? The answer is a big fat YES.

If you're a Disney person and want the best, a Disney cruise is for you.

We went earlier this year on the Dream and will go again later this year or very early next year. This time we'll go on the Fantasy and instead of 5 days, we'll do 7.

It is expensive, well for you anyways, but you do get what you pay for in this case.

What are you waiting for, book it, Danno.

Very good post, Lou.

I am envious that you get to go for 7 days. That will be sweet. I want to cruise the Fantasy next, too.

Another great update!

Can't believe you were last back onto the ship at CC. I'm always afraid of missing the boat, so I'm the one sitting on my veranda watching all the people making that last-minute mad dash back.

I wouldn't want to be last aboard at any port other than CC.

I have watched that mad dash you speak of on other cruises in other ports. As you know, in a lot of ports, there will be other ships there too, so there are lots of opportunities for this. I have seen folks running up and ships pulling away. Can you imagine what it would be like for the people standing there watching the ship sail without them?

Whoa...Did Lou just admit to reading a TR??? The lure of the TCD trip report is just to great for him to resist I guess. :rofl3:

Great 'stache, by the way...very Magnum, PI.

Frank seems to be a great partner in crime for you! Can't wait for the next installment.

I am sure that Lou did not read this TR. He never does. He just uses his superpowers to assimilate what has been written.

Thanks for the compliment on the 'stache. Mrs. TCD is a big Tom Selleck fan. Big. How big? Our first child was our dog named Magnum. That 'stache served me well.

You are right about Frank being a great partner in crime. Frank and I have hung out before, mostly going to football games with our daughters and stuff like that. It was fun for us to be able to do guy things when the girls wimped out. We always had fun riding the Aqua Duck together. Yes, it is awkward for two dudes to share a tube, but it was still fun, and we really flew! Frank is also very competitive, so he really tried to get everything done on the LOF. He broke out a hightlighter at dinner every night and had everyone mark off their accomplishments.

The girls said we had a bromance going.

They even gave us one of those couple names.

The girls often kid around and call me Old Pappy.

So Frank and my bromance name is Frappy.

TCD

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

Frappy!!! hahahahaha :rofl2: I love it!!

My mom and I were always big Magnum fans too. I think I would fit in quite nicely with your whole family and should be adopted, post haste! lol

[Live4FW 30]

Cliffhanger? REALLY

OK, I rescind my snarky comment. That last update was worth the wait.

Unfortuntately, I didn't see it until today and I am just about to be another update behind.

This TR may just go down as my all time favorite and you haven't even got past the first day! Your previous DCL report in '09 got me to take two DCL cruises. I am now hunting a cruise on the Fantasy.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Live4FW

[fortpartyof4 108]

Which website do you use to book Disney cruises? Directly through them or another travel site? Just curious as to where the best deals are, if any. I've found with WDW properties, it doesn't much matter how you book, the rates are usually pretty much the same. The only time I've gotten a better deal is with the FL resident discount.

FP4

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Frappy!!! hahahahaha :rofl2: I love it!!

My mom and I were always big Magnum fans too. I think I would fit in quite nicely with your whole family and should be adopted, post haste! lol

OK, I will put you on the TCD adoption waiting list.

It is funny the things that a lot of us have in common.

OK, I rescind my snarky comment. That last update was worth the wait.

Unfortuntately, I didn't see it until today and I am just about to be another update behind.

This TR may just go down as my all time favorite and you haven't even got past the first day! Your previous DCL report in '09 got me to take two DCL cruises. I am now hunting a cruise on the Fantasy.

You know, DCL should pay me a commission.

Glad to hear that you are thinking about a cruise on the Fantasy. I'd love to be able to do that one with my family too.

Which website do you use to book Disney cruises? Directly through them or another travel site? Just curious as to where the best deals are, if any. I've found with WDW properties, it doesn't much matter how you book, the rates are usually pretty much the same. The only time I've gotten a better deal is with the FL resident discount.

FP4

Up to this point, I have always booked the cruise myself directly through DCL.

Somehow, I felt that would get me the best deal. Afterall, they don't have to pay a travel agent a commission, and you would think they would throw customers like me a bone now and then.

On our 2009 cruise, Florida Resident rates were announced after we booked. I called DCL, and they gave me the discount. We had already paid in full at that point, so they gave me money back. I liked that, and hoped the same would happen on this cruise.

On this cruise, after we paid in full, they announced very low guarantee rates on veranda cabins. The rates were much lower than what I had paid for our porthole cabins. I called DCL and asked to switch to this new rate. The thing with the guarantee rates is you can't pick your cabin- they assign you to one. I didn't care about that, I wanted to lower rate and the veranda. I got denied. They were only offering the new rate on new bookings. And they only announced it after the pay in full date/no refunds date had passed.

A lot of travel agents offer on board credits and other incentives. They are being paid a commission by DCL, and they kind of share the wealth with their customers.

The next time we cruise, I am going to wait for closer to the cruise sail date to book. That way I can snag one of those guarantee cabins if they offer them. If not we won't cruise on DCL. I also will use a travel agent. An on board credit is better than what you get from DCL-which is nothing. I don't understand why they do what they do, but if that's how it's going to be, then I am going to change how I do things too. I think in the long run they are going to lose customers by screwing their loyal guests. But, in the long run that wil benefit me, as they will eventually have to offer incentives to fill their ships.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It looks like we are ready to move along.

So, here we go.

It's late Saturday afternoon.

Francis I mean Frank and I had just boarded the ship.

I stopped by the cabin to check in with Mrs. TCD.

She had told me to meet her there when I got back on board.

We headed up top to watch the ship sail from the island.

And, they didn't waste any time.

We were well underway by the time we got up top.

We grabbed a snack from the quick serve place they have up there.

I had left the camera down in the cabin, so sorry I have no photos of the quick serve places.

The set-up is that there are three food service stations set up on the top deck. One serves pizza. All day long. As much as you like. The next serves Burgers, chicken fingers, Hot Dogs and Brats. All day long. As much as you like. The next has pannini sandwiches and fresh fruit. All day long. As much as you like. Are you getting the picture? What I'm trying to say is that you have a lot of snack type food choices here for the taking whenever you want. They shut this all down around 11 pm each night.

If I remember right, I had a nice brat and kraut, and Mrs. TCD had a few slices of pizza. OK, maybe I had some pizza too.

Wouldn't you?

I had to wait until 8:15 for dinner. You wouldn't want me to get hungry, would you?

The show in the big theater tonight was a ventriloquist act.

I am pretty sure that the same venriloquist was on one of our previous cruises. We saw him perform. Much to my surprise, he was actually funny.

We decided to skip the show that night.

I know Frank and Nancy went, but I didn't feel like rushing to get to the show.

Mrs. TCD and I chilled on the pool deck for a while.

Then we went to get ready for dinner.

In the meantime, in the girls' cabin, puppy was keeping an eye on our progress:

There was another ship out there:

The girls wanted to meet a princess before dinner and then go to a family dance party. Mrs. TCD and I wanted to check out another one of the bars in the District area of the ship.

I met up with the girls to take their photo with Princess Tiana:

The girls then headed off to the dance party.

These are Twin #1's photos-

Here are the TCD twins sitting in a porthole:

And the adult girls doing the same (with the addition of a random guy walking by outside):

Mrs. TCD and I walked through the dance party to go to our destination:

Our destination was the Skyline Lounge.

The Skyline Lounge is a martini bar. The draw here is that they have a huge mural of a city skyline behind the bar. The cool thing about this, is that the mural changes at certain intervals and shows another famous sky line.

Another cool thing is the drink menus. They light up when you open them:

Here's the bar- the skylines that you see are identified in the menu. I am pretty sure this is Hong Kong, but since I have never been, I could have that wrong:

This mural is mesmerizing. If you stare at it, there are incredible details that you don't notice at first. Like car headlights on the streets. And planes flying by.

I am not a martini person.

I had no idea what to order.

Our server suggested the New Yorker for me.

Mrs. TCD asked what was closest to a cosmopolitan, and ordered that.

My drink came with a souvenir light up ice cube! Not good for my steet cred:

We loved the atmosphere in the Skyline Lounge:

The lounge was pretty empty. For a while we were the only ones in there.

Then the 21 year-olds showed up.

I bought them a drink. They got something green:

It was fun watching the skylines change. They did a great job on this location. There isn't anyplace like this on the Magic or Wonder.

That was fun.

We couldn't stay long.

Because it was time to eat.

Again.

For our second night aboard the ship, our assigned dining room was Animator's Palate. Word on the street is that we didn't want to miss this place.

We will be heading to dinner next.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I want one of those ice cubes!!!

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

The skyline thing seems like it would be cool to see.

While the light up cube might not be good for your street cred, you were in a place where there were no streets....so no worries.

Looking forward to your take on Animator's Palate. I have seen a few bits of video on the place and it looked like it would be fun.

[MetalDad 33]

Biking out of bounds... Scolded by CM.... Smuggled booze... Classic Old School-styled Schwinn... Golf cart search party... That's ma'boy!

[shoreline99 137]

Next up was the Villians Tonight show.

It is a show that none of us had seen before.

They don't allow any photography in the theater.

It used to be OK to take photos with no flash.

But, I guess there were too many idiots.

So, now it's no photos at all.

None.

So, I have no photos of the show.

You will have to use your imagination.

The story is based on Hades, from the Hercules movie.

He lost his evil, and had his sidekicks Pain and Panic help him get it back by bringing in a bunch of Disney movie villians.

It was a really good show.

And, boy, what talent!

Hades was a comedic role, and the actor did a great job delivering the jokes.

We all loved it.

Found a copy of the show on youtube, for those who are interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqjFYza0ZLI

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Continuing on . . .

We left the Skyline Lounge and headed to Animator's Palate.

They have an AP on the Wonder and Magic.

But they changed it up here on the Dream.

On the Wonder and Magic, you enter AP to find everything is black and white. Over the course of dinner, things begin to change colors, even the servers' uniforms. It is pretty cool.

Here on the Dream, they have huge LCD screens everywhere you look. And the show tops what they do on the Wonder and Magic. Which is no easy feat.

Nancy was kind enough to bring tiaras for all the ladies to wear at tonight's dinner:

Soon after we were seated, the screens came to life, and we could see Crush appearing to swim from screen to screen around the dining room:

I don't know how they do it, just like I don't know how this is done at the Living Seas at Epcot, but Crush actually talks to and interacts with certain guests:

This is a fun place.

Here's the menu:

What't that?

You want to see inside?

Oh, OK.

Here are the appetizer and soup offerings:

And the main course choices:

I know that at our table, we had one of each of the appetizers except the salmon tartare. I don't know why no one ordered that. I should have. That would have been something I had not eaten before. This is the truffle appetizer:

I remember the rock shrimp cheesecake, but I don't have a photo. It actually was like a slice of cheesecake with shrimp in it. Sounds gross, but it was good.

I had the baked potato soup and Mrs. TCD had the butternut squash soup. We tried each other's. Both were excellent.

This is a photo of the shrimp and pasta entree:

We also tried the chicken dish, and I ordered the beef dish. With the wasabi mashed potatoes. Those were really good.

Twin #1 got a lot of dessert photos. I can't tell you what these are in particular, but they all look good. Also note the fancy plates. Only on Disney:

The TCD girls have been known to goof around.

I don't know where that comes from.

Must be from Mrs. TCD.

I am not sure what is going on here. I don't remember these photos being taken. When I asked what this was all about, Twin #1 said that they were pretending to be Ariel, and she was combing her hair with a dinglehopper:

I hope they washed that fork before the next guest used it.

It is kind of a tradition on the Disney ships for the dining room servers to perform magic tricks for guests. I don't know how or where this started, but they do. Personally, I would rather them speed up the service, but it makes for good guest interaction. Tonight, our server, Arvin, did a trick where he balanced two forks on a toothpick on top of a salt shaker. Not bad. Twin #1 tried to figure out how he did it, so she took the whole thing apart and tried to do it herself. She tried, but she is no Arvin. Since she failed, I gave it a go. I couldn't balance the forks on the salt shaker, but I could when I held the toothpick in my mouth:

Take that, Arvin.

I hope that toothpick wasn't some trick toothpick that Arvin had treated with something sticky. Like a booger or something.

We all thought Arvin was great, and the girls wanted to pose for a photo with him:

Dinner took about 2 hours again. So it was 10:30 by the time we got back to the cabin.

I was tired.

It had been a long day.

But the Aqua Duck was open until midnight.

I could finish up my 10 rides tonight. I forgot to mention that I had gotten a couple of rides in the early evening as we sailed away from Castaway Cay. Around 6:30 was a good time to go. The first seating people are at dinner and the second seating people are supposed to be at their show.

But I hit the wall.

All that CC adventure (and the beers) had caught up with me.

I told the girls to go on without me.

Here is our towel animal from our second night as well as our Navigator for the next day. It's nice to come back to this after dinner. Note that Nayla made Mrs. TCD a birthday cake out of towels. I told you we liked that guy:

The girls didn't get a cake in towel cake in their cabin:

Ha!

From what I later heard, the girls did some exploring of the ship, and ended up ordering room service late in the night.

Here is their room service order:

I never found out what was on all those plates, and I'm probably better off not knowing.

That was the end to our second day aboard the ship.

Three more to go.

Tomorrow we will be in Nassau, and it's Pirate Night.

Woo Hoo!

TCD

[DznyRulz 1]

just use the mobile version, that is what we use on our android phones...works great!!

I am sooo far behind it's not funny, but I have a good reason. The MH in my sig was delivered Tuesday and we pick it up Friday so I'm busy getting my Donald's in a row so we can trade in our TT. I'm just getting to dinner on night one. OMG!!!, that menu looks incredible. I'll bet it tastes much better than it reads. It makes the General Tso's I'm eating at my desk taste like cat food. I didn't know there was a mobile version of FF. Not bad. Now I can stay in the loop while I'm busy working hard.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Great update TCD!

Crush at AP seems cool. I think the kids would love that!

Um, who cares about the rest of the room service order. Those were Mickey Ice Cream bars on top! I have a feeling I would eat somewhere between 10 and 20 of those on a 4 or 5 day cruise. Something for my first DCL LOF?

The towel BD cake was a nice touch.

I think I would like to try the shrimp cheesecake. I love both ingredients. Seems weird that they are together but as your report says several times, "Go with the Flow."

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Mickey bars after midnight. That's awesome.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I think the thing I love most about cruising is the opportunity to try different foods. I can't wait to try some of these things for myself.

Great update as always!

[rm0530 5]

Did you dine in AP again and were able to see the second show with the drawings? I don't know if they do that on the Dream. If not, I'll hijack again and post pictures of that.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

More comments:

I want one of those ice cubes!!!

Well then you can have one.

They're free.

If you pay $10.50 for a drink.

They have these around WDW. I know at the Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios, and probably a lot of other places.

The skyline thing seems like it would be cool to see.

While the light up cube might not be good for your street cred, you were in a place where there were no streets....so no worries.

Looking forward to your take on Animator's Palate. I have seen a few bits of video on the place and it looked like it would be fun.

Yes, we really ended up liking the atmosphere of the Skyline Lounge.

We heard they have the same thing on the Fantasy, but with more cities.

Biking out of bounds... Scolded by CM.... Smuggled booze... Classic Old School-styled Schwinn... Golf cart search party... That's ma'boy!

I'm a Fiend, what can I say?

Found a copy of the show on youtube, for those who are interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqjFYza0ZLI

Whoa. That's almost an hour long. I didn't think the show was more than 35 minutes. I took a quick look, and it looks like the show. I was trying to figure out how this person taped the show like that, especially since there were different camera angles, then I saw a comment on YouTube saying that it was taped from the in cabin TV. I should have mentioned that- if you miss the show, they replay it in a loop all night on one of the channels of the cabin TV.

I am sooo far behind it's not funny, but I have a good reason. The MH in my sig was delivered Tuesday and we pick it up Friday so I'm busy getting my Donald's in a row so we can trade in our TT. I'm just getting to dinner on night one. OMG!!!, that menu looks incredible. I'll bet it tates much better than it reads. It makes the General Tso's I'm eating at my desk taste like cat food. I didn't know there was a mobile version of FF. Not bad. Now I can stay in the loop while I'm busy working hard.

Congrats on the new MH. It looks sweet!

And I think you should call in sick. You have too much to do to bother with work. We are already done with our dinner on day two. Trust me, you are way behind.

Great update TCD!

Crush at AP seems cool. I think the kids would love that!

Um, who cares about the rest of the room service order. Those were Mickey Ice Cream bars on top! I have a feeling I would eat somewhere between 10 and 20 of those on a 4 or 5 day cruise. Something for my first DCL LOF?

The towel BD cake was a nice touch.

I think I would like to try the shrimp cheesecake. I love both ingredients. Seems weird that they are together but as your report says several times, "Go with the Flow."

Good idea on the Mickey bars. As a matter of fact, one of the things we discussed pre-cruise is that we should all save our sticks and see who had the most at the end of the cruise. That one didn't make the list. As much as I wanted to eat more, I couldn't even manage one a day. There is too much else to eat.

Mickey bars after midnight. That's awesome.

It sure is. I think the free 24 room service is near the top of my list of favorite things about DCL.

I think the thing I love most about cruising is the opportunity to try different foods. I can't wait to try some of these things for myself.

Great update as always!

Indeed.

The cool thing about the menu is that even with the detailed descriptions, I still got surprised by some of the items. I didn't think the rock shrimp appetizer would actually be a piece of cheesecake. But it was. Go with the Flow.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Did you dine in AP again and were able to see the second show with the drawings? I don't know if they do that on the Dream. If not, I'll hijack again and post pictures of that.

Nope.

We only got AP once. Which is fine, because on the Dream there is no show on the second night.

The thing with the drawings is only on the Fantasy, and heck yeah, I would like to see some photos of that. I have heard about it, but I don't understand what actually goes on.

TCD

[rm0530 5]

Here's the second show at AP on the Fantasy. These are placed at each seat when you come in for dinner. We had a red and green crayola marker. You have about 5 minutes to draw before the servers come around to pick up the papers. They rush them off to the back and then come to pass out the menus. The menu is a little different--one family appetizer for the table (nothing safe for baby so my server had to arrange for a salad) and you select one main entree.

Mickey comes on to explain the show and then cartoons play until the main course.

If I remember right, the show started between entree and dessert. The screens in each section only show the drawings from the people in that section. They start off showing just our drawings dancing around

and then proceed to mix our drawings in with the cartoons

At the end of dinner, the servers bring your drawings back for you to keep and they have added a gold sticker that says 'Official Disney Animator'.

[Lou... 3,118]

Come on Andrew, the glamorous Mrs. TCD deserves better than that dark shot

One of the things I really liked was that the wait staff followed you from dining room to dining room.

Knowing that I was one of them, our servers were a little more informal and free-er than they would normally be with regular guests and we became friends by the end of the cruise. We also got a little extra service. They were just fantastic and we showed our appreciation at the end of the cruise.