Our Magical Voyage on the Disney Dream Part 2
In case you missed it, last week I shared Our Magical Voyage on the Disney Dream Part 1 trip report. This was just the first part of our amazing, magical, fantastic family trip aboard the Disney Dream. We sailed 4-nights out of Port Canaveral on what was possibly the best Disney trip we’ve ever had. So this week, I am sharing Part Two of that awesome vacation to the Bahamas. Let’s start with our Castaway Cay day!
January 27th, we arrived at Castaway Cay. This is Disney’s private island in the Bahamas, and guests have the entire island to themselves! My husband disembarked early so he could run the Castaway Cay 5K. The kids and I headed to Cabanas for breakfast and then we were out the door! We had planned to meet my husband around the Pelican Plunge area. So we got off the Dream and made our way to the family beach area. We opted to walk, as it seemed faster than the tram. Also, we could stop and take photos along the way. We stopped to buy some sand toys, and then continued on. We scoped out where Scuttle’s Cove, In Da Shade, and Cookie’s BBQ were for later in our day.
After we found a spot on the beach, we enjoyed our morning playing in the sand. My husband found us, and the twins ran off to Scuttle’s Cove while my husband hung out with my daughter and I while she played before lunch. Around 11, we played at In Da Shade. This is a family game area. The boys and my hubby played pool while my daughter and I played a giant game of Connect 4 and she played with the Shuffleboard game. Super fun! At 11:30, Cookie’s BBQ opened for lunch. Outside of Cookie’s there was the soft serve ice cream station and refillable drink station The buffet had so much awesome food on it! The chefs on the Disney Dream disembark to cook food for the guests on Castaway Cay! We could choose from burgers, hot dogs, pizzas, BBQ Ribs, and so much more. We enjoyed our lunch in the shaded pavilion and of course indulged on some soft serve! After lunch, the boys headed back to Scuttle’s Cove and we found a spot on the beach to enjoy the afternoon. Around 2PM, we headed back to the Dream to get ready for dinner.
Our Castaway Cay night was Pirate Night! When we arrived in our room to get ready we found a fun birthday cake made out of towels and our bandanas for Pirate Night. Yay! On our way to dinner, we took some time to meet Pirate Minnie, Peter Pan, Pirate Daisy. Some guests went all out to dress as pirates. We decided on shirts I had made and the bandanas they leave in your room for Pirate Night. This evening, our meal was in Enchanted Garden. Of the 3 main dining rooms on the ship, this one was my favorite as far as decor is concerned. And the food was good, too! When we arrived at our table, the children’s menus were pirate hats, which made it extra fun! We really enjoyed the Pirate Night Menu. I had the Jack Sparrow’s Marinated Short Ribs, which were excellent. After dinner, we took our daughter back to the room for a little nap before that evening’s pirate deck party.
Around 7:45 we headed up to Deck 11 to participate in the Pirate Party. We found spots near the back of the pool deck, just in front of Nemo’s Reef. The stage show as also projected on the Funnel Vision Screen, so we could see everything! There was singing, dancing, and they led us through the steps of being a pirate! Aye, Aye, Captain! After this high energy party, we went up one more deck to Deck 12. This was the perfect spot to see the fireworks! Fireworks at sea were amazing! After the fireworks, the boys and I hung out on deck and had some pizza from Luigi’s and watched the Pirate DJ Dance Party. The pool deck was filled with people enjoying themselves and dancing the night away at sea!
January 28th was a day at sea, as we were making our way back to Port Canaveral. On our sea day, the boys spent a lot of time in the Edge, enjoying their last day with their awesome youth counselors and all the fun activities. We spent the day meeting some characters with our daughter. We found Sofia and Snow White before lunch. And then after lunch, we went to the D Lounge to take a drawing class. This is very similar to the Animation Academy at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. An imagineer led us through the steps to draw Stitch. While the boys were in the Edge, we did this with our 6 year old, and we had a great time!
Later that afternoon, we spent some time at the pool and all 5 of us enjoyed the ventriloquist, Taylor Mason. That evening was our dinner in Enchanted Garden. We had just eaten there the night before, for the Pirate Night menu, but I was excited to enjoy their actual dinner menu that evening. I loved the Cucumber Garden Roll, and the Slow Roasted Prime Rib was amazing. After dinner, we took some time to enjoy the atrium area and meet Pirate Minnie, and then went to the D Lounge for one more interaction with Cinderella and Snow White. I have to say, there is no shortage of character interactions on the Disney Cruise Line! My favorite show of the cruise, Disney’s Believe, was that evening. It was absolutely amazing! All the classic characters, princesses, even Mary Poppins make an appearance in this show. Of the three shows we saw, I felt like this one was the best.
January 29th was our disembark day. We had to be off the ship by 9AM. Since we had early seating for dinner, we were expected to be in the Enchanted Garden at 7:45 for breakfast. Of course, we didn’t HAVE to have breakfast there, but if we wanted a sit down breakfast and one last interaction with our servers, that was the place to go. We enjoyed one last meal of Mickey waffles, bagels, and fruit and were off the ship by about 8:30 or so. It was a seamless, quick process to find our luggage, clear customs, and grab a DCL bus back to MCO. We had a 12:45 flight back home, and we were at the airport and through security before 10.
I cannot even begin to tell you all what an amazing experience this was for our family. There is just the perfect dose of Disney, unique experiences, and the best Disney guest service aboard the Disney Dream. In looking back at our trip, there was SO much to do on the ship, that we didn’t even get to do some things like the Anyone Can Cook Classes, the family game shows, or see movies. I feel as if a Disney cruise gives you more for your money than the parks. And while we love a good parks trip, we have found a new way to do Disney for our family. Only 345 days until our next one! But who’s counting?
