"Where are your kids?" "We are the kids!!" An adults-only Dapper Day/DCL/USO trip FINAL UPDATE 8/29

[dolewhipdreams]

INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome to my very first DISboards TR! I’m fairly new to the forums but I love reading through the TRs of all of my new Disney-obsessed friends! Because face it, we’re all friends here. With this much faith, trust, and pixie dust around us how can we not be??

Anyway, as I mentioned this is my first trip report so I beg your patience and forgiveness as I figure out how all of this technical stuff works.

I believe it is customary to first introduce those involved in the trip! Well here we are:

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This is me (Ann) and my DH (Jon). We are young 20-somethings who share a passion for the Mouse and his kingdom (though let’s be real, my passion way outstrips his in this case, but he’s great to have along on all of our adventures).

More about Jon: He’s a music-making sports fan (pretty much Troy Bolton IRL) and is my very best friend. We've been married almost four years and I can say without artifice that they have been the best four years of my life.

Favorite Disney park- HS (closely followed by AK)
Favorite Disney snack- Mickey Bar
Favorite Disney ride- Rock N Roller Coaster
Favorite Disney movie- Pirates of the Caribbean
Favorite Disney character- Peter Pan


And for me! I’m a musical-loving, plan-making, food-overeating engineer (who loves parentheses).

Favorite Disney park- MK
Favorite Disney snack- uhhhhh Dole Whip
Favorite Disney ride- Space Mountain
Favorite Disney movie- Brave
Favorite Disney character- Merida!​

Now about our trip. We made the decision that we were going to put off saving for a down payment on a house and instead spend our 20s seeing as much of this planet as we can (within our budget and PTO limits, of course). For 2016 we visited NYC for the first time (and now I have Hamilton songs stuck in my head…) and decided that we also needed some beach time that year. So we booked our very first Disney Cruise! So this TR is an account of our 4-night Very Merrytime Cruise to the Bahamas on the Disney Dream from November 14-18. Because of our (super incredible) trip to NYC we didn’t have room in our budget for a stay at WDW before our cruise, but we did throw in a few days at Universal.

Now that you know who we are and where we went, let’s get started.​

All aboard!!​

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Table of Contents:

11/11: Arrival Day: This Princess Needs Her Dole Whip
11/12: Dapper Day? Babe, We Have To!
11/12: Our First Food & Wine (Minus the Wine)
11/13: Sorry If You Don't Care About Universal
11/13: Back to Witches and Wizards and Magical Beasts
11/14: But How Does It Float?
11/14: We Are About to Go Sailing Away!
11/15: To the Beach! But First, Shiny Things
11/15: Disney Dream Appreciation Interlude
11/15: Pirate Dance Parties Are the Best Dance Parties
11/16: Where's Pepe's Door Again?
11/17: Even in the Caribbean, You Can't Escape Frozen
11/17: Geez, How Long Is This Path?
11/17: Where Are Your Kids? We Are the Kids!
11/18-11/19: We Definitely Only Came Back for the Butterbeer

 

[dolewhipdreams]

ARRIVAL DAY: THIS PRINCESS NEEDS HER DOLE WHIP

Does anyone else get the Dole Whip shakes? I do. The only things in life that are certain: death, taxes, Ann wants a Dole Whip right this second.

Knowing this, we decided to make sure we had some time to hitch a ride over to the Poly after our plane got into Orlando on our first evening to partake in God’s gift to creation: the Dole Whip

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So we hopped in a Lyft (thank you sign-up credits!) and drove under the best entrance gate to exist on earth. The first order of business was getting some real food from Captain Cook’s. I had the pork fried rice, which was phenomenal. I forget what Jon had but it was equally delicious. We ate outside and just soaked up the tropical vibes. I can’t wait until we can afford to actually stay at the Poly instead of just mooch off its amenities.

By that time the fireworks at the MK were getting ready to start so we grabbed our Dole Whip and headed to the beach to watch them. This was a particular request of mine. My Instagram is dolewhipandwishes (check it out peeps) and it felt like I was fulfilling a part of my earthly purpose by combining the two. Turns out that was the last time I was able to since I won’t be back until after Wishes is replaced (RIP Wishes, we love you).

After crying at the fireworks (because that’s what sane grown-ups do in their spare time) we headed back to our hotel and catch some ZZs before our first full day, which included something that wasn’t in our original travel plan!

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[Grumpy's Wife]

Great start! I'm looking forward to reading along on your vacation.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

DAPPER DAY? BABE, WE HAVE TO!

So I sort of lied a tiny bit in my first post by saying that we couldn’t afford a stay at WDW during this trip. While that’s true and we never stayed on site, we did have the opportunity to spend one day at Epcot to celebrate Dapper Day and our very first Food & Wine Festival.

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A few months before our trip I found out that Dapper Day was scheduled for the Saturday before our cruise and I knew that I had to do everything in my power to convince Jon that our trip would be ruined if we didn’t go. Turns out ‘everything in my power’ only needed to include asking nicely and showing him we could afford it. Did I mention he’s my best friend??

For those of you who may not be familiar with Dapper Day, it’s a sort of extension of Disneybounding (where you dress in outfits inspired by Disney things), only this is a special event that the Disneybound Lords of the Internet put together where instead of normal bounding, everyone dresses up. Like wayyy up. Most people choose to dress in vintage/retro styles but any form of classy attire is encouraged. It has been my dream to attend a Dapper Day since I learned of their existence and now one just fell into our laps!

Then came the challenge- what to wear?? We finally settled on Giselle and Robert from Enchanted since it would be easy to pull together. I originally started working on a sewing a 50’s walkaway dress inspired by Rapunzel but a week before we were supposed to leave I finished and it…well let’s just say it was a little sad.

But thank goodness for Amazon Prime 2-day shipping. I was able to snag this gorgeous dress and throw together some accessories and honestly I love this look more than I would have liked my original idea. Plus Jon’s outfit was super easy to put together.

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I was so into the vintage vibe that I even practiced doing pin curls in my hair to go the extra mile. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Jon’s face the first time I tried it and came out of the bathroom with my hair all pinned and rolled up. Priceless. While I don’t have a picture of that moment, I do have several from Dapper Day which I am going to share because by golly I worked hard to look like that and I want to share it.

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[dolewhipdreams]

OUR FIRST FOOD & WINE (MINUS THE WINE)

Sorry if the split here was a little confusing. Dapper Day and our F&W experience happened on the same day, I just thought it made more sense to split up the posts like this. So this post is going to be more of a chronological review of the day, whereas the last post was just an excuse for me to post pictures of our awesome Dapper Day looks.

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Our first stop of the day was Starbucks, which had an incredibly long line. I am blessed with husband who possesses both unshakeable patience and a deep understanding of the monster I turn into when I do not get my morning caffeine. After my needs were met, we wandered around Future World while waiting for the World Showcase to open up.

First we popped in to Soarin’. I had the chance to see Soarin’ Around the World at Disneyland earlier in the year but this was Jon’s first time seeing it. I cried. Again. Then we used our Fastpasses for Test Track and Mission Space, two of our favorite rides in all of WDW.

By then it was 11:00 and booths were opening up for F&W! I’ll be honest, this is the part where my memory gets fuzzy. Not because we got tipsy (hence, the ‘minus the wine’), but because usually I rely on my camera roll to remind me in what order we did things, but somehow they got all mixed up. So I’m probably going to make an order up and you have to believe me because it’s the Internet and I’m in charge!

One thing that I was surprised by (and should not have been) was how stinking crowded Epcot was that day. I mean, it was only Dapper Day. And a Saturday. And the last weekend for F&W. What gives?? Anyway, crowds were nuts. This was only my 4th time visiting WDW but these were the worst crowds I’ve seen (and I’ve been in June!).

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So because of crowds we did not try as many booths as we would have liked. Remember what I said about me being a monster without caffeine? Triple it for me without food. But here’s a collection of the food that we did have a chance to try:

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My absolute favorite was the Twinings pumpkin caramel chai shake (top left), which I know I can probably make at home but ohhhh man it just hit the spot. If it hadn’t cost like $6 I would have had 10 of them. As it was, I had only the one. But I dream for the fall when I can make some at home and revel in memory.

While wandering we took the opportunity to visit some of our favorite parts of Epcot. For one, we finally saw The American Adventure, which neither one of us has seen! And truly, Jon can’t claim that he has seen it yet because he slept through the whole thing. Some patriot.

Probably my favorite part of the World Showcase are the water features, so here’s an ode to them:

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At some point we went into the Seas to hang out with our fishy friends in the AC. The last time we were there we actually got to snorkel IN the aquarium and it remains one of my top 5 memories in life. This time we stayed dry but we waved to our sea turtle friend. Shortly after that we saw said friend get kicked in the face (on accident, of course) by one of the CMs doing some feeding in the tank. Poor guy.

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We also took a break in the afternoon to visit the Boardwalk and take some more Dapper Day pictures. If I had been in my right mind, we would have popped into Ample Hills instead of just taking a picture of the sign. Rookie mistake, Ann.

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The rest of the evening was spent with more wandering and face-stuffing. We were able to snag an amazing spot to sit and watch Illuminations. I think it’s a spot usually reserved for some kind of event but that night it was free so we got to sit on real chairs right at the edge of the water for the show. My feet greatly appreciated that.

After Illuminations (I cried. I do that a lot when Disney is concerned) we made our way out of the park and said ‘See Ya Real Soon’ to the World.

Goodnight, Spaceship Earth.​

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[dolewhipdreams]

SORRY IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT UNIVERSAL

The next day we went to the dark side- Universal Studios Orlando. I happen to be a massive Harry Potter fan and my husband is okay with the idea. We went to USO for the first time in 2015 and he hadn’t seen much of the movies and had never picked up one of the books. I forced him to watch all of the movies with me when we got back and on this trip he had a better appreciation of the Wizarding World.

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Beyond WWHP, we had two goals for our USO visits: 1. See what Skull Island: Reign of Kong was all about and 2. Ride the Hulk as many times as possible (it was down for refurb on our last visit and we wanted to make up for lost time).

We rope dropped at Islands of Adventure and busted it to Skull Island, where there was already a line that extended outside of the queue area! I stayed in line and Jon went up to investigate. It turns out they hadn't started the ride yet for the day and weren't allowing guests into the actual queue, which was a relief. After about 10 minutes they let everyone in and then it was only about a 20 minute wait once we were inside.

The queue is the highlight of this ride, and it definitely freaked me out (though I’ll admit that I am very jumpy by nature. It's annoying). We were early enough that we walked right through most of it. I can’t imagine actually having to wait through that line. I would have the major creeps.

The ride itself was good but I felt like it didn’t live up to hype. The Kong animatronic at the end is super impressive. It's definitely still very cool and I recommend giving it a try, but I think the queue is at least half of the experience.

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After Kong, we circled back around to the Marvel area and rode the Hulk for the first time! I was definitely impressed, although it threw me off that these lockers required your park ticket to get in and out instead of a finger print. They were also super small so we were thankful that our bag wasn't any bigger than it was. Fun fact: in my high school physics class our final exam was to take an existing roller coaster and identify what physical forces were being used and where. I chose the Hulk so it was extra special to actually be able to ride it for the first time.

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We rode this a few times then jumped over to Spider Man. I love the Marvel island at IOA and all of the larger-than-life comic book displays.

Next up was Jurassic Park, which was also closed the last time we visited. There we discovered the cutest dinosaur ever. And also a dinosaur that it wanted some Ann for dinner.

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After hanging with our new pals for a while it was finally time to make our way to Hogwarts! I'll go ahead and break here since I'm at work and should probably be doing productive things. See you next time in Hogsmeade!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

We were there (Universal) in February to see all the Harry Potter stuff. I have to give credit where credit is due, they nailed it! The attention to detail is spot on. Now if they would only sell cheaper tickets where you could only go to the Harry Potter parts I'd venture over to the dark side every trip.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

We were there (Universal) in February to see all the Harry Potter stuff. I have to give credit where credit is due, they nailed it! The attention to detail is spot on. Now if they would only sell cheaper tickets where you could only go to the Harry Potter parts I'd venture over to the dark side every trip.

We honestly love Universal just as much as Disney but for different reasons. Universal knows how to design thrill rides, which is something that Disney lacks a lot of. My DH and I both love rides so that's a huge plus for us. But nothing can beat the magical atmosphere that every inch of a Disney park oozes. So they're equal, just different for us And don't let me get started on Dole Whip vs butterbeer!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I have to give this one to Universal. The frozen butterbeer is so good.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I have to give this one to Universal. The frozen butterbeer is so good.

They're in a dead tie in my book!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

BACK TO WITCHES AND WIZARDS AND MAGICAL BEASTS

Okay you may consider me a heathen for saying this, but I think the magic of seeing Hogwarts just about rivals that of seeing Cinderella’s Castle down Main St USA. And, Hogwarts has BUTTERBEER.

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We stumbled upon the TriWizard Rally in front of Hogwarts so we stopped to watch while we finished sipping (okay, gulping) our (first of many) butterbeers. When the show was over there was no one in line for photos so we hopped on in!

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Then it was off to ride the Forbidden Journey, which is my favorite theme park ride on this planet. Again, that may be blasphemy, but it cannot be denied. The complete immersion from the second you step into the castle to the nostalgia, to the story, to the technology, every moment is incredible.

A word to the wise, though: do everything in your power to remember your locker number. Because if you don’t, then you have to get someone to come over and unlock every. single. locker. until your items are located. You will not be happy, your husband will not be happy, and everyone waiting to rent a locker will not be happy. So…just remember the number.

After that traumatic experience, we needed a pick-me-up. Luckily, Florean Fortiscue was calling our name. I remember seeing Earl Grey and Lavender ice cream on our last visit and I knew I had to try it. Jon went with something strawberry (cheesecake maybe?). Both were delicious but mine was better (sorry, Jon).

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Once my mood was lifted by frozen dairy goodness, we rode Dragon Challenge a few times. We’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes on this ride. The big bummer is you can’t take your phone into the queue so I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the awesome details they put up to make it look like the TriWizard Tournament. So I don’t know just imagine it or something.

By that time the Hogwarts Express was calling our name so we hopped on and made our way to King’s Cross Station! We spent the afternoon going between Diagon Alley, The Return of the Mummy, and Transformers. We neglected to take too many pictures at USO on this trip so you will just have to take my word that it was all fantastic.

Closing time had arrived and we were more than happy to head toward the exit because we knew that once we got back and slept, we’d be on our way to the happiest ship on earth!

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[dolewhipdreams]

BUT HOW DOES IT FLOAT??

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The day had finally come- embarkation day!! We had packed most of our stuff the night before so we slept in a little, grabbed some breakfast, and booked our Lyft ride to Port Canaveral. We chose Lyft because it was the cheapest option for the two of us, but we learned a little lesson along the way….

Apparently (at least for DCL, not sure about any other cruise lines as this was our very first cruise ever) drivers need to have ‘permission’ to drop guests off at the cruise terminal. So after driving an hour, we pulled in and the cruise cops (sorry that’s not a great name but I don’t know what to call them) wouldn’t let us out of the car because our driver didn’t have the little slip that said he was allowed to drop people off. So we had to get directions to a little booth that apparently gives out the slips (for a fee, of course). Our driver was great, he was super patient and very kind, but English was not his first language and he was having trouble understanding the directions. While all this was happening, the meter was still running.

So we finally thought we knew where we had to go so we went there and….nothing. We totally didn’t know where we had to go. So we circled back around hoping maybe he could just sneak up to the curb super fast and let us off before the cruise cops came back. No such luck. We explained our confusions and once more got directions to this booth I was pretty sure by that time didn’t actually exist. But we gave it another whirl and sure enough, there’s a little booth on the dark side of a building with absolutely no signage or instruction that took $5 and gave a little paper slip that apparently is the golden ticket for letting people get on boat they spent quite a bit of money to get on. Anyway, this was frustrating because the whole ordeal lasted probably 15 minutes from the time we first pulled up to when we got out of the car so we had to pay extra for that time, plus the $5 fee, plus an extra tip for putting our driver through such a mess. Better communication is all I ask. And that’s the very worst thing that happened the whole trip (which is to say, it was an AMAZING trip if that’s the worst thing that happened).

So as we were first pulling up to the terminal area we saw the Dream for the first time and it knocked the wind out of me. I knew the ship would be big but HOLY COW HOW DO THOSE THINGS EVEN FLOAT? I graduated with a degree in engineering and have taken multiple physics courses and I’m still blown away by the size of these things.

We got through the terminal fairly quickly and before we knew it, we were on the boat! The terminal was already decorated for Christmas, which surprised me but shouldn’t have. It was November 14 so by Disney standards it was already very late in the Christmas season. Minnie was in front of the model ship taking photos but we decided to pass on a photo op in favor of getting on the ship. We did snag a photo by the model ship, though!

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As we walked onto the ship I was humming the theme from Titanic. Jon was not amused. Anyway, once aboard they directed us to lunch which was at the Enchanted Garden and was the very first of so many amazing meals on our cruise. The thing I was most excited about was this carrot cake. Jon hates carrot cake so I never make it and we don’t usually order desserts at restaurants so it had been probably 5 years since my last carrot cake and it was so scrumptious!

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After lunch we decided to see if our room was ready and it was! Here’s a quick photo tour in case anyone is interested in seeing what the inside of one of the verandah staterooms looks like:

[Stateroom, sweet stateroom!]​

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[Seriously the best bath products out there. I have the leftovers in my guest bathroom right now]​

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Next up: our first night on board the Disney Dream!

 

[Melissakay1q]

following along!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

following along!

Thanks for coming aboard!!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

WE ARE ABOUT TO GO SAILING AWAY!

By the time we were done with lunch and dropping off our luggage the cloud cover was pretty thick and it was drizzling off and on. We set up our new GoPro on the verandah to try to do a time-lapse video of us pushing off. It turned out okay for our first experience with a GoPro.

We decided to do a little bit of exploring before the Sailing Away party and I got suckered into the shopping talk. DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID. I am very easily distracted by pretty things and they had a bunch of giveaways that drew me in to what was essentially a sales pitch to buy expensive jewelry on Nassau. Not worth the effort and I can’t get that hour of my life back.

MOVING ON

We met back up for Sailing Away which was a little damp, but still fun. I love dance parties. I dance like the whitest girl you know but it’s such a blast to just jump around like a crazy person with other people jumping around like crazy people.

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After sailing away we were ready for our first show at the Walt Disney Theatre- The Golden Mickeys! I loved it, but I pretty much love everything Disney does. If I were to really examine the show, I would say it’s so cheesy you could make fondue and was a very weak way to try to connect a bunch of Disney songs and characters all together. That being said, I still loved it (but I also love fondue so…).

[I still (miraculously) have this piece of confetti]​

We then went to our first dinner of the cruise, which was at the Enchanted Garden. We were seated at a table with three other couples, all of whom I am sure we would be friends with in real life. We seriously had a blast with them and I truly looked forward to meals together. The meal was divine. I got something delicious but couldn’t tell you what. I took far fewer food photos (how’s that for alliteration??) than normal but that was because we were sharing a table with strangers who were not taking pictures of their food. I did snag a pic of the dessert trio for tonight, which consisted of delicious chocolate thing, delicious berry-looking thing, and yummy cake type bit.

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Sorry if you all are super pumped about food details- I usually am able to provide more. However, on DCL you can just assume that the food is going to knock your socks off. Speaking of which, how weird is it that dining is all-you-care-to-eat on a vacation where you spend like 80% of the time in beach wear? I’m still doing crunches to make up for the ice cream cones I devoured.

We finished up just in time to crush our bodies into the mass gathered for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Jon and I both love Christmas so we were excited that this was going to officially kick off the holiday season for us. Mickey and his friends came out in their holiday attire and we all sang Christmas carols and cried (okay maybe I’m the only one who cried- I couldn’t see very well through the tears) then they lit the tree and it started snowing in the middle of the Caribbean!

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After the tree lighting ceremony we made our way back to our state room to get ready for bed because we were docking bright and early in Nassau.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

TO THE BEACH! BUT FIRST, SHINY THINGS

The next morning I woke up just as we were pulling up to Nassau (is there a more boaty way to say ‘pulling up’?). This little tiny tugboat came up alongside us at one point and it was just so darn tiny and cute! I’m assuming it was some kind of coast guard or customs or something and I’m sure they don’t appreciate being called cute, but it was.

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It was really cool to watch the ship back into its docking space. Watching the water while the engines spun it around was mesmerizing. I also couldn’t get over how blue the water was! I promised Jon I wouldn’t wake him up too early but at this point I was so excited about exploring a new place that I broke my promise and got him up right at the crack of 9.

We got ready and ran to Cabanas for a quick breakfast where I got my Mickey waffle fix (I love waffles and Mickey waffles are just…mmm…magic). Then it was off the ship and onto the island! We lathered ourselves in the bug spray they offered and stopped by the photo stop to commemorate our time at the Bahamas.

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Dang I’m white.

So you know how I mentioned I made the HUGE mistake of going to the shopping seminar? Well my mistake-making continued because they gave everyone who attended some coupons for discounts and a few freebies at some of the Bay Street shops. Who knew there were so many diamond and luxury shops on an island in the middle of the ocean?? So I made Jon walk down there with me to cash in on my freebies. It’s amazing how the customer service changes once they realize you aren’t there to buy actual diamonds…

Along the way we stopped at Prince George Warf to grab some photos. I am definitely okay with a place where pink is the dominant building color. That’s my kinda aesthetic. After we made it through the Bay Street mess, we only had two goals left: beach time and the Straw Market.

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We were shooting for a completely free stop at Nassau (minus a few souvenirs) so we didn’t have any of the awesome-looking excursions planned. All we wanted to do was spend some time on a beautiful Caribbean beach for a few hours. Ahead a time I had mapped out Junkanoo Beach as being within walking distance from the ship. It’s a very popular beach so there was plenty of signage to point us in the right direction.

At the beach we spread out our towels and whipped out the GoPro to use underwater for the first time. We had a ton of fun with our little photoshoot with the water and….none of the pictures turned out. The water was too cloudy to really see anything special. But then we got the iPhone out and had a little photoshoot of us! Here’s a sample:

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And my favorite shot of the day was us trying to figure out how all the new-fangled technology works:

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The beach had a very spring break vibe- lots of loud party music and bars. It wasn’t unpleasant, necessarily, but it just wasn’t our scene so we didn’t stay very long. We walked back to the ship via the Straw Market because I wanted to check out some handmade items and got an awesome pair of earrings made out of coconut. Seriously they’re so cute, I wear them all the time. Here’s a few photos of the Straw Market and what we found on the way back to the ship:

[Jon peering into a 500-year-old well. I told him if he was thirsty we could just buy a bottle of water..]


[I'll be honest, the straw market was a tiny bit disappointing. I guess I expected something bigger.]


[But at least most of the wares for sale were neat!]


[#blessed]​

Once back on the ship our goal was to shower, cool off, and get ready for Pirate Night!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

DISNEY DREAM APPRECIATION INTERLUDE

Alright I haven't figured out how to get around the 10 photos per post thing so this is just a place to add some pictures we took of the exterior of the Dream as we were heading back aboard in Nassau. Enjoy.

[But how does it float???]


[Jon's gonna touch the butt!]

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[Texans_loyal]

loving your TR!!

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

You guys are an adorable couple! Really enjoying this TR