Wish Trip DCL Dream July 8-13 2012

[H2OMama]

Day 2 for us at a Castaway Cay stop.

As soon as we got on the island we were able to get a picture with Captain Hook.

We booked a cabana for this day. Here was our little path out to the beach. It was so nice to have an outdoor shower right there to wash all the sand away, sand toys included for Reed to play with and cold drinks and comfortable seats and lounges in the shade. The perfect way to enjoy the beach day...but it gets better because we made friends with the Mols and they joined us.

Reed loves the pretty girls paying attention to him!

It was so much more fun to share the cabana with friends then it would have been alone.

The little kids splash play area on the island.

The bigger kids play area in the ocean

Aziza hoping the bucket doesn't dump the water while I am taking her picture. lol. It dumped right as she was walking away. ha ha

I like this picture of Roy and the kids with the Disney dream behind them.

When we got back on the ship to shower up for dinner they kids had a surprise note telling them they each had $25 in on board credit to spend! Whoo Hooo they were excited to get that!

Make a Wish delivered a small food treat each day to our cabin starting today and it was cheese and crackers this time.

Here is our door all decorated up! I love it!! It so fun to come back to our room each time and see the nice notes people wrote us on our door!

The first FE gift got delivered tonight too!

Time for dinner in the Royal Palace

The kids were heading in to check out the kids club for the first time. Aziza though it was OK but she is shy, so she didn't really want to go back anymore. Reed LOVED it. It is like the ships play ground in there and the characters come interact with the kids. Reed isn't shy and was happy to run in and play for an hour after dinner each night. In hind sight we should have checked him in more often as this was really his favorite place on the ship besides Nemo's reef, but we didn't want to leave him much on his wish trip, so we didn't take him any more then that.

Tried out Bingo but didn't win anything. Disney did make it fun though.

Came back to the room and another FE gift showed up. Great way to end the night.

 

[TinkNH]

Welcome back! Loving the pictures of your trip...can't wait to see more!

 

[mommy2mrb]

Great photos!

we stayed at the Hyatt too when we went on the Magic in 2005, so nice to get off the plane and right to the hotel!

how sweet Mrs Z and her dd showed up to send you off!

what a surprise on the elevator! sorry for the long waits you had the rest of the trip!

the splash area is so cute, happy Reed found a fun place to play in the water!

LOVE your stateroom and wow that's a lot of food and pixie dust you got! and your door it so cute!

we loved the entertainment and food....so want to go back on DCL some day!

that big water slide at Castaway is new, looks fun! and how cool to get a cabana and share with new friends!

 

[DisNorth]

Love the photos Looks like you had a great time. How cute that you just bumped into snow white on the elevator

 

[Restrasz]

Oh it looks like you had a great time and there was something for everyone! What are the FE gifts?

 

[H2OMama]

Great photos!

we stayed at the Hyatt too when we went on the Magic in 2005, so nice to get off the plane and right to the hotel!

how sweet Mrs Z and her dd showed up to send you off!

what a surprise on the elevator! sorry for the long waits you had the rest of the trip!

the splash area is so cute, happy Reed found a fun place to play in the water!

LOVE your stateroom and wow that's a lot of food and pixie dust you got! and your door it so cute!

we loved the entertainment and food....so want to go back on DCL some day!

that big water slide at Castaway is new, looks fun! and how cool to get a cabana and share with new friends!

I really hope you and Megan get the chance again before long to do another Disney cruise. You girls deserve it!

 

[H2OMama]

Oh it looks like you had a great time and there was something for everyone! What are the FE gifts?

Hi Ruth, the FE gifts are a little fun thing that was started for the Disney cruise line ships. There is a fish hook next to the door and people make a little cute pocket organizer called a "fish extender" like the one we put up outside our door in the photo I posted of our cabin door. Then you sign up on the Dis board to participate in the FE. It is like a secrete Santa thing only it isn't really a secrete for the adults, but it is full of little surprises for the kids and you never know what others will give, so it is fun. We got things like Disney hand soap, Minnie mouse necklaces made from scrabble pieces, Disney key chains, a paper sack mini scrapbook, ice chest bag from England, candy, bubbles, ect.
I made cool neck bandana's from Disney print fabric. If you have never heard of them you will probably have to google search it, but they are easy to make and that is what my gift I made was to give out to the others in our FE group. I just added candy and gum for the kids also.

 

[billwendy]

I love the picture of Dad and kids with the ship in the background - so COOL!!!! So happy you all had fun!!!!!

 

[mommy2mrb]

I really hope you and Megan get the chance again before long to do another Disney cruise. You girls deserve it!

thanks! we will do one again some day...my biggest issue is I really sea sick even with meds, etc. and the coast off FL is the worst for me, the rest of the trip I was pretty good.

we do have some trips planned for DLR & WDW next year

 

[H2OMama]

Today was our Nassau day and our excursion was the Ardastra Gardens and city tour. Ardastra Gardens is really a small zoo that has world famous marching flamingos at it and this is why we picked this tour because Reed loves flamingos!

Before the flamingo show we got to do a self guided tour and feed some birds apple slices.

Reed had no interest in feeding the birds himself but he was having a great time watching everyone else do it!! He was laughing every time a bird would fly down and land on someone!

Finally at the flamingo show.

They picked several children to go out with the birds and Reed and Aziza got to go, but I had to go too and hold Reed back because he really bad wanted to chase after them and try to pet one. But it was wonderful they got picked to go out with the birds! I bet it was because of their adorable flamingo outfits they had on!!!

We enjoyed the zoo but to be honest the tour was not great and I wouldn't recommend it to others.

After we got back we got a new FE gift. An ice chest bag with the gel stuff inside the walls of the bag so you can cool off the bag then load it down with cold drinks and keep them cold longer! I wanted to take that with us for our next Casaway cay day since we would not be having another cabana with a fridge in it!! Perfect gift!!

Tonight was pirate night! I loved pirate night, it was so fun to see everyone old and young alike all dressed up and enjoying it!

Reed got his picture with pirate Mickey!

Enjoying our verandah before the pirate party. I just love our pirate clothes!

Got another FE gift after dinner too!

The party was fun.

We got a cool surprise after our beds were turned down there was a towel monkey wearing Reed's flamingo shirt from that morning. lol.

Aziza wanted to show off her bed too.

Having a little party with our new friends in our room that night. Reed was having a blast!! We ordered a bunch of room service snacks for our party it was fun! The chocolate chip cookies are the BEST. We ended up ordering some most nights and since they are so big and bring two on each plate wrapped in saran wrap I was lucky enough to have 3 left overs on the last night and I just took out the plate and carried those nice cookies in our airplane carry on bag along with some ruffles chips I poured into an extra zip lock back I had. Then there was no need to buy snacks in the airport for the plane ride home!!!

 

[H2OMama]

Today was an at sea day and Reed's 5th birthday too!

Reed got a birthday present delivered. ( I picked it from the gift shop the night before and asked them if they would deliver it some time the next day for him and they said sure and even offered to gift wrap it too)! sorry for the diaper photo. lol.

Huge Mickey gloves! He loves gloves and I saw him eying some other boys that had some the night before.

Yep, he LOVED them!

I love these two pictures! The little 2 year old next door came crawling under the verandah wall and she and Reed had a little play date for a few minutes until we had to leave. How cute it was!!!!

She liked the characters on the bed and Reed said they were having a sleep over.

Make a Wish delivered a Disney trivia paper the night before and said once all the answers were complete, turn it in to guest services for some pirate treasure. Aziza had so much fun taking the paper around the ship and getting cruise staff members to help her with the answers. Once it was completed and turned in they gave her a hand full of chocolate coins, she is holding them in this picture to show them off, but they are a little hard to see. She shared the chocolate with Reed of course.

Aziza picked out a baby dumbo and this Mickey hair clip with her on board credit.

This was the food treat of the day delivery from Make a Wish.

Make a Wish also delivered a small toy car and two Arcade playing cards today so Reed was having a fun birthday.

Time for dinner and Reed was crashed out, but so cute in his birthday outfit!!

Another FE gift came after dinner. I have not played it yet, but it is a disc that says Disney Cruise Favs, so I am guessing it is a Disney music CD they burned.

Got a few good character photos tonight. I bought the ones from the ship which turned out better then mine did!

Aziza and her new friend taking a night swim

Now a dip in the hot tub. The hot tubs have a glass wall and floor so you can see out and below you to the ocean while in there. That was a cool surprise for us to see. It was not a crystal clear view, but still a fun idea and a great end to a great day.

 

[H2OMama]

Today was our last cruise day before getting off early the next morning. Today was another Casaway Cay stop.

Aziza and I got off early to do a little shopping on the island while the boys slept in later. Darn because we saw a couple of characters in their swim suites and Reed was not there for the picture, but at least Aziza got them.

We saw a few of these little lizards running around the island.

The Sting Ray adventure was great! We got to feed, pet and snorkel with them and they would rub against our legs while standing in the shallow part. Reed refused to wear the life jacket and you had to wear it to get into the water, so we finally had to give up and check him into the kids club for this excursion. He loved the kids club and was much happier there anyway. It was outdoors and a giant sand box and water play and toys. Just perfect for him. We never checked it out on the first stop, so it was kind of nice to get to see it this time.

Reed did a little shopping on the island too and picked out this neat hat where the sun glasses clip to the top. I will post a better picture of it next.

Getting back on the ship they had a nice sign out for everybody welcoming us home!

We grabbed some lunch on the ship and since most people were still off we were able to get a great table by the window.

"Crush" the turtle kept swimming up to the surface for us while we ate lunch, that was cool.

Make A Wish did a private character experience for all the wish kids on the ship on the last night but Mickey was the only one that was able to make it. But he made it as fun as possible and danced with and hugged on each kid along with taking photos and signing autograph books.

They were dancing here.

Here is the photo mat we got back signed. I am going to put his picture with Daisy Duck in it as this turned out to be his best photo.

The kids each got a signed pillowcase. They have no idea I brought those on board or dropped them off at guest services. Love it!!

The last FE gift showed up tonight too.

Here was our food treat of the day from Make a Wish. A Yummy way to end the day.

Time for mom to pack up before we go the the Believe show. They saved the best show for last! We had to get our luggage out and in the hall by 10:30 and after another in room meet up with our friends after the show I was just barely able to get the luggage out just as they were doing the pick up for our cabin and they mean it when they say 10:30 it was exactly that time when they were outside our door!! Boo Hoo it is time for bed and we don't want to go to bed and get off in the morning.

 

[H2OMama]

We had a 3:00 flight home, so we did the 8am breakfast on the ship before getting off at 9:00. They wanted us to do the 6:45 am breakfast but no way was I signing up for that and just have more hours to kill in the airport!! This was the first time we tried the sit down breakfast in the dinning room as we thought it would be much too long to make Reed sit through, wrong this meal was much faster and easier then the buffet we did all week on the other mornings. If there is a next time we know to do the sit down breakfast every day!!

After breakfast there was no line at all, we walked right off the ship and onto a bus headed for the airport. We were at the airport by 10:00. This would have been a long time to wait for our flight, but thankfully our new friends had a 2:30 flight and we met up with them in the airport at 11:00, so we were having fun killing time until time to head through security.

There are 3 plastic characters outside the Disney store in the airport for photo opportunitys and we had nothing else to do besides more shopping while waiting for our friends the first hour, so I took a few pictures.

Aziza bought a baby Marie cat she just got from the store and she is showing it off here along with her baby Dumbo she got on the ship.

Reed had fun playing with our new friends one last time before having to say good bye.

We went through security and had a little lunch before our flight home. We were again very lucky and the travel home was very smooth and the kids were happily entertained and quite with their goodies.

We had a great trip and met great people and enjoyed so much pixie dust! It was incredible. Thank you everyone for reading along and for making Reed's trip so special!!!

 

[H2OMama]

I love the picture of Dad and kids with the ship in the background - so COOL!!!! So happy you all had fun!!!!!

Thanks Wendy!

 

[H2OMama]

thanks! we will do one again some day...my biggest issue is I really sea sick even with meds, etc. and the coast off FL is the worst for me, the rest of the trip I was pretty good.

we do have some trips planned for DLR & WDW next year

Oh, wonderful news!! So glad you get to enjoy the parks. I know what you mean, I have sever motion sickness, but thankfully for me when I followed the advice I read on the Dis boards and started Bonine before we even got on the ship and took one every single day before bed I never felt even a drop of sea sickness! I think the best thing is to keep ahead of it. I actually took two the day before for my flight there and just one a day after, I did feel a little tired the first day, but not too bad and after that I was adjusted and no more tired feeling.
I used to use the patches behind the ear for motion sickness but they dried me out so severely it was almost painfully dry and I could never wear it for days at a time like it says! Dramamine knocks me on my butt and I can't function for how sleepy I am, so it is no good for me. The wrist bands do help a little for me, but not near enough. Bonine is the only one that works well for me. Maybe the Dream being a larger ship helped a little bit too??

 

[connie005]

Hi I just finished your trip report
you have a beautiful family and Reed looked so happy.
the pictures were gorgeous and thank you for sharing your trip with all of us

 

[H2OMama]

Hi I just finished your trip report
you have a beautiful family and Reed looked so happy.
the pictures were gorgeous and thank you for sharing your trip with all of us

Awesome, where will Amanda's wish trip be?

 

[mommy2mrb]

thank you for sharing so many photos! how sweet MAW did so many extra pixie dustings for you all!
nice you got to visit Castaway twice and have so much downtime!
the photos at the zoo are cute, happy Reed got to meet his flamingo's!!!!
cool seeing "Crush" I love turtles and hanging out with the rays looks fun too!
great you all made so many friends to hang out with!

I did the same with my meds on our HI Island cruise in April and did much better, but also since we were so close to the islands not sure if the seas were as rough, but didn't have any major issues!


enjoyed reading along your PTR and TR, hope to keep seeing you around the boards and keep us updated on Reed!

 

[Restrasz]

What a wonderful trip! Such great memories for all of you!

 

[H2OMama]

enjoyed reading along your PTR and TR, hope to keep seeing you around the boards and keep us updated on Reed![/QUOTE]

Absolutely!!