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

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

Tighty, you never know where a TCD TR is headed.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Could we be headed toward another :flush2: ?

The first :flush2: was caused by a :cupcake: .

The next one will be caused by :wetpants:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, I need to close the voting.

Tighty has clearly won by a landslide.

(good thing it wasn't a mudslide)

It is time to move on.

So we will.

I can't respond to all the tighty/code brown/skid mark comments, as we are moving on, so apologies in advance.

For the sake of completeness, however, there are some that I must comment on:

I'm sticking with Tidy....as they SHOULD be, as they are white. Anything other than tidy and we're talking turn 4 at Talledega. Ewwwww.

I can't go with Tighty, as very rarely are they tight. If you go back and examine exhibit B, you will see there is some baggy stuff in the crack area. Since he has a leg hiked up, that is making the material more taut. I would bet standing straight up there would be plenty of room for him to carry a load, so to speak.

Wow.

What a post.

I simply don't know what to say.

But, that is some really funny stuff!

Mickey bars after midnight again!

Rapelling Jack Sparrow.

A second Hunger Games book sighting at a Disney show.

But still no medal. I hope Maria came through in the clutch for you!

A lot of you are putting a lot of hope on Maria.

She's just a bartender, what can she do?

Very nice update!!! Ya'll sure love the activities!! We are the chill on the veranda or at the bar type, so it's neat to see some of the activities on the ship!!

Yes, we love the activities. Name one, and we will be there.

The one time we had a veranda on a cruise, I kind of had to force myself to sit out there.

If you are from the deep south at normal conversation speed, tighty and tidy sound too similar to distinguish when said with a true south'rn draw.

Bummer on the medals but I have not lost hope.

I guess I am going to have to break down and read the hunger games. If TCD has read them... they must be decent at least.

Yes, the Hunger Game books are worth reading. Very thought provoking.

Great update! I'm holding out hope that Maria comes through for you!! We want a medal!!

Here. Here.

We do want a medal.

But don't count on getting one from Maria.

What can she do.

She's just a bartender, you know?

Have I mentioned that?

I don't know where to begin...there is a lot to comment on in that last update.

First off...I vote tighty.

Next, I also read the Hunger Games trilogy and really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the movie, and am looking forward to the next one.

Also, the tuna appetizer looks good. I hope to try it someday. In fact, that entire menu looks fun.

Regarding the Sacher...yes, I believe they are a big deal in Austria. I know someone from Austria who cruised on the Dream last summer (3 consecutive sailings!) and she had to try the Sacher. Her comment was "it was a nice attempt". LOL!

Finally...this Mickey bar after midnight thing is AWESOME!

Carry on...

You have me beat on the Hunger Games. I wanted to read all the books before I saw the movie. By the time I was ready, it had left the theaters. But it's coming out on DVD later this month.

Yes, that Sacher Torte is supposed to be a big deal. I guess the real thing must be a lot better than what they serve on DCL. It was good, but I didn't really think it was any better than all the other desserts they have.

I can't quite describe the feeling of being able to pick up a phone and requesting Mickey Bars to be delivered to your stateroom whenever you wish. Awesome just isn't descriptive enough of a word.

Lovin' the TR . . . as always.

Here in Canada (the non-French part) they're Tighty-Whitey's

Wow, we even have Canadians voting!

Good thing this vote is taking place in Florida where that is OK.

Good to see you here, Gary.

You're a big DCL fan, yes?

COP OUT! If one person did something on the LOF, everyone got credit?!

Is TCD getting soft? Where's your competitive edge?

More shirtless dudes?! I don't think I've ever seen so many nipples in one TR.

The ladies look very pretty all dressed up, and their BFF Jerry, ain't too shabby either.

Was Nancy drunk when she took her photo with Mr Ray?!

Wow.

Again, I don't know where to begin.

Funny!

That decision on the LOF was kind of a mercy thing for Frank. The poor guy was really stressing there on the fourth night about everything he still had to do. I never had any intention of doing everything on the list- so we kind of came to that mutual decision so the guy could relax and have some fun.

No, Nancy wasn't drunk. She had to stand like that because the ship was rocking so bad. Well, not really, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

TCD

[Lou... 3,118]

We do want a medal. But don't count on getting one from Maria.

What can she do. She's just a bartender, you know?

Have I mentioned that?

I'm sensing foul play and shenanigans here.

[stefa70 205]

Good thing this vote is taking place in Florida where that is OK.

TCD

:rofl2: I demand a recount!!!

[wak648...Bill 94]

:rofl2: I demand a recount!!!

Worried about the hanging chads again?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

What was that?

Did I hijack my own trip report?

Well, I agree with Nicki, the only way to get back on track is with a new update.

If you are a loyal TCD trip report reader, you may have been wondering where are the sunrise photos?

Well, I had been so busy going with the flow that I had slept in the first three mornings. I hadn't even set my alarm. Go with the flow, remember?

On my last two cruises, I had very little sleep, and I went home exhausted. I thought I ought to pace myself.

Well, I had enough of that.

I wanted to be up early.

So, I got up early.

I was out of the cabin a little after 6.

That's more like it, I thought.

I felt like I had the ship to myself.

And I liked it.

I stopped by the atrium for a few photos.

Here is Admiral Donald. That's the entrance to the Royal Palace restaurant there in the background-just look at all of that marble! :

I climbed the stairs to get this photo of the empty atrium:

This is the first thing that you see when you walk on the ship that first day. It was designed to make a statement. And it does.

This is the morning that I went to Pink and flilmed the video of the bubble effect.

Pink, the Skyline Lounge, and Evolution are all located in the area of the ship called The District. This is the elevator lobby for that deck:

Here are a couple of spare photos of Pink:

There is also a sports bar there in The District called 687.

I popped in there for a look, but have no photos. It looks like a sports bar- lots of wood and TV's.

According to Maria, the name 687 derives from the fact that the Dream is the 687th ship built by the German company which built the Dream. She said that might be a trivia question somewhere. Nobody ever asked, and I never checked to see if that story is true. I suspect that it is, Maria seems to know her stuff.

From here, I headed up to the top deck. I was going to take some photos of the mini golf area. But, it was still kind of dark outside. I stood there for a moment and admired this piece of art. It was just hanging in an inconspicuous place, but it was animated. Every so often, the picture changed. Just a little detail in a remote place. There is stuff like this all over the ship:

By the time I had finished my cruises on the Magic and Wonder, I felt pretty confident that I had seen all there was to see on those ships. I did not feel that way on the Dream. I had already spent four pretty full days on the ship at this point, and there were still parts of it I had not seen. I guess I am going to have to go again.

The next area I wanted to see was the Meridian Bar. I heard a CM say that few guests know about it. And I was one of those guests when I heard that.

The Meridian bar sits in between Palo and Remy.

Here's what it looks like:

Palo and Remy are adult only restaurants that you can choose to dine in instead of your assigned dining room. There is an extra charge for this. In Remy, that extra charge is $75 per person. In Palo, the extra charge is $20 per person. Mrs. TCD and I dined in Palo twice on previous cruises, and the extra charge was well worth it. But dinner took three hours, and they almost had to roll us out of there. Remy is new to the Dream. From what I've heard, it is worth the extra $75. We will try it one day, but not on this cruise.

We can still take a look, though.

Here's Remy:

Pretty swanky.

And, now here's Palo:

Has anyone seen the episode of Cake Boss where they go on the Dream?

They showed this room in that episode:

Bottom line is that those are some nice places.

I guess I took a pit stop after this, as I have this random restroom photo:

I love the the design of the smoke stacks:

Hey, here comes the sun:

Here we are on the back of the ship, looking forward:

We are sailing toward that glow in the east. There are still very few people out and about at this hour. You can see a lonely castmember down on the pool deck in this photo setting up chairs for the day:

Here's a look back toward the Aqua Duck entrance. There are always people around there all day long:

Look what was laying there on the chairs. A castmember's raincoat. I could really use something like this. But, I let it be:

I decided to head forward to watch the sunrise and to see if I could see our destination yet:

I stopped before heading forward to get a shot of the Donald pool empty. This is not an easy thing to see:

I have reached the photo limit.

So we will stop here.

And pick it up with the sunrise in the next update.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

Lots of wood in a sports bar - Typical.

I love the sky in the pic looking to the back of the ship, it's pink! (like your drinks)

The random bathroom, Mickey mirror is great, and it would be easy to recreate!

Wow, I'm a poet and didn't know it! ^-^

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Wow, Remy looks very nice. Maybe someday when the kids are grown up.

[dvccamper 32]

Wow, beautiful pictures. It's great you could enjoy one morning with the ship to yourself.

I wanted to ask, do the Disney ships have the cabins for families of five? It sounds like you had separate cabins. We had to get connecting rooms on Royal Caribbean which actually worked out pretty well because then we had two bathrooms. But I seem to recall reading that Disney has bigger cabins and am wondering how good the deals are on them as opposed to getting the two cabins.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow, I'm a poet and didn't know it! ^-^

Don't quit your day job.

Wow, Remy looks very nice. Maybe someday when the kids are grown up.

That's how we look at it too. The dinners in the dining room with the whole family being waited on are special. We do try to eat meals together at home, but with our oldest off at college, and eveything else we are involved in, that does not happen often enough.

Also, Remy is expensive- $75 each when you can have a great meal in the dining room for what you already paid for the cruise. Every report I have heard though is that it's worth it. I am sure that I have never had a meal like that.

Wow, beautiful pictures. It's great you could enjoy one morning with the ship to yourself.

I wanted to ask, do the Disney ships have the cabins for families of five? It sounds like you had separate cabins. We had to get connecting rooms on Royal Caribbean which actually worked out pretty well because then we had two bathrooms. But I seem to recall reading that Disney has bigger cabins and am wondering how good the deals are on them as opposed to getting the two cabins.

That is a good question, and probably one I am not really the best to answer.

What I do know is that on the Magic and Wonder, there are no regular cabins that will sleep 5. You would have to go up to what they called a family stateroom, which all had verandas and were expensive. Two rooms was way, way cheaper. So that is what we always did. We ended up loving that- two bathrooms, two TV's, two fridges, two closets, etc.

From what I hear, there are non veranda rooms on the Dream that will sleep 5. But, one bathroom, one TV, one fridge, etc. With 4 females in our group, I wasn't too keen on the one bathroom thing. So, we didn't even look at that option. It might have been cheaper, but I like the two cabins now.

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I just went to the Disney site and tried to makke reservations for the Dream. It said it could accomodate up to 5 people in a room.

HTH!

[caveat lector 181]

All this exciting cruise talk the has been stirred up by TCD has me wondering. Are there any dog friendly cruises?

[CDNCruiser 14]

Wow, we even have Canadians voting!

Good thing this vote is taking place in Florida where that is OK.

Good to see you here, Gary.

You're a big DCL fan, yes?

Yes, very big DCL fan.

We're booked on our 9th DCL cruise next May (West Coast repo) with number 10 to follow in September '13 (Eastern Caribbean)

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

AGU TCD! (See what I did there?)

The pics you got before the masses woke up are pretty cool.

The Meridian bar looked nice....I wonder why it isn't more known to the cruisers?

The sunrise pics as always were very nice.

Oh yeah, you and Dave have talked me into the Hunger Games books.....

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Love the early morning wanderings. You get to see so much!!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Enjoyed the updates and the voting on the tighty whities! DVCcamper was correct about the comparison with the boxers, IMO! :)

Palo at only $20 more doesn't sound like a bad deal to be adult only.

Everyone looked gorgeous dressed for dinner.

I thought y'all would surely medal on he 80's music game! I'm glad y'all cut Frank some slack to keep him from stressing!

I think if I go, I will get up early because it looks so nice without the crowds!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Very cool update!! I did get up early a couple of mornings and wandered around, but not THAT early!! I love the animated art around the ship, it is very cool!!

[SCTigerCock 171]

We pooled in a 50/50 raffle at the game, if we won we were going on a cruise next year. We are still hoping on lottery.

Since the youngest is 3, we are going to wait until a min. of 5 before we go. gives us 2 years at least to save.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

By the way, Congrats on hijacking your own TR. That is talent!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Love all the pictures! Since I will never be up early enough to see the Donald pool empty, I appreciate you taking them.

Wanna know how excited I was to hear the The Hunger Games is coming out on DVD soon? :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

I will now try to calm down and wait for the next update. :)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I just went to the Disney site and tried to makke reservations for the Dream. It said it could accomodate up to 5 people in a room.

HTH!

You made me look too. I think we could have saved some money by booking what they call a family oceanview cabin. There is a murphy bed in there, and they are a little bigger that the cabins we had. I still wouldn't like only having one bathroom, but maybe it would work on a shorter cruise.

All this exciting cruise talk the has been stirred up by TCD has me wondering. Are there any dog friendly cruises?

Not that I know of.

I did see a small dog that was probably being passed off as a service dog on this cruise.

And Pluto and Goofy of course.

Yes, very big DCL fan.

We're booked on our 9th DCL cruise next May (West Coast repo) with number 10 to follow in September '13 (Eastern Caribbean)

Very nice.

We sailed Eastern Carribbean on other cruise lines without the kids way back. I would love to take the family on a DCL Eastern.

I am looking forward to our next cruise, as we are now Gold Castaway Club members. I think that means we get a free rice crispy treat or something.

AGU TCD! (See what I did there?)

The pics you got before the masses woke up are pretty cool.

The Meridian bar looked nice....I wonder why it isn't more known to the cruisers?

The sunrise pics as always were very nice.

Oh yeah, you and Dave have talked me into the Hunger Games books.....

Yes, I see what you did there. Good job.

The Meridian Bar is wedged between Palo and Remy. Otherwise, it's off the beaten path. There really is not a good reason to go there since there are so many other bars on the ship.

Yes, read the Hunger Game books. Very entertaining.

Love the early morning wanderings. You get to see so much!!

Yes, just like at the Fort.

Enjoyed the updates and the voting on the tighty whities! DVCcamper was correct about the comparison with the boxers, IMO! :)

Palo at only $20 more doesn't sound like a bad deal to be adult only.

Everyone looked gorgeous dressed for dinner.

I thought y'all would surely medal on he 80's music game! I'm glad y'all cut Frank some slack to keep him from stressing!

I think if I go, I will get up early because it looks so nice without the crowds!

Thanks.

If you go, definitely plan on getting up early at least once. The feeling that you have that giant ship to yourself is worth it.

And yes, the $20 charge for Palo is worth it. The food and service are first class all the way. I would be willing to bet that somehow that $75 extra charge at Remy is the same.

Very cool update!! I did get up early a couple of mornings and wandered around, but not THAT early!! I love the animated art around the ship, it is very cool!!

I am really glad that I got up that early, and I will do it more often on my next cruise. How many times do you get the chance to watch the sunrise over the ocean with no land in sight?

We pooled in a 50/50 raffle at the game, if we won we were going on a cruise next year. We are still hoping on lottery.

Since the youngest is 3, we are going to wait until a min. of 5 before we go. gives us 2 years at least to save.

Sounds like a plan. There were tons of kids 3 and younger, but I agree that it would be better to wait a bit.

And good luck with the lottery!

By the way, Congrats on hijacking your own TR. That is talent!

Yes. I am so proud.

Love all the pictures! Since I will never be up early enough to see the Donald pool empty, I appreciate you taking them.

Wanna know how excited I was to hear the The Hunger Games is coming out on DVD soon? :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

I will now try to calm down and wait for the next update. :)

Cherie, you could surely get up early one day on your cruise.

Wow, you are excited about the Hunger Games. Did you already see the movie?

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Wow, you are excited about the Hunger Games. Did you already see the movie?

TCD

Not yet. I don't like going to the theater. I have read all 3 books twice though!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Not yet. I don't like going to the theater. I have read all 3 books twice though!

Wow.

I have thought about re-reading them too.

But, I have too many other books I need to read first.

I am looking forward to getting to see the movie. My girls all enjoyed it.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I was glad that I re-read them. I picked up a few things I missed the first time around.

My daughter said they did a really good job with the movie.