{"id":30249,"date":"2016-05-05T15:01:54","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T19:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/?p=30249"},"modified":"2018-07-16T16:20:34","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T20:20:34","slug":"disney-dream-cruise-review-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/disney-dream-cruise-review-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney Dream Cruise Review: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
For more on the Disney Dream Cruise, check out Part 1<\/a> and the detailed review of the food aboard<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n So we left off as we were headed out to the pool deck for the first time on day 2 after visiting the princesses…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During the nice weather, the pool area was packed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Right next t the pool (behind me as I was taking this picture) is Nemo’s Reef, which is an awesome splash pad for young kids.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both Hailey (4 1\/2 years) and Kaitlyn (almost 2) LOVED this area. Heck, I loved playing in it too. The water is warm (!) and it is covered, giving the kids a break from the sun.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The kids would have stayed there for the entire day except another kid threw up in it, which shut it down for hours as the workers cleaned and disinfected the entire splash pad. I really appreciated Disney’s commitment to cleanliness, despite being bummed about it closing down.<\/p>\n Kaitlyn and I went to get ice cream while Hailey and David got in line for the Aquaduck, the clear-tubed water slide that goes around the entire boat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hailey was just tall enough to ride and LOVED it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is a really fun ride; a little wild at the start, turning more into a lazy river feel at the end.\u00a0Worth waiting in line for!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After some afternoon grub at Cabanas and late naps for the girls, we dressed up for pirate night and were off!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hailey begged to go to the kids club, so we dropped the girls off at their respective rooms and accidentally stumbled upon a tequila tasting, which we wasted no time in joining (at $20 a person).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I love tastings and had a ball learning about the different tequilas and what makes a really good margarita. Who wants to come over now?! We were feeling pretty good after that and went to check on the girls. Hailey asked to come to dinner with us, so the three of us took off for The Enchanted Garden.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was great to get into the silliness of pirate night and enjoyed our waiter, Mario, messing with us. This was the dessert he surprised David with:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I guess you had to have been there… or at least attended a tequila tasting to appreciate how funny this was.<\/p>\n We wandered the halls a bit after dinner. I adored the over-sized portholes with cushions that line the walkways and took advantage of them as often as I could.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We snagged Kaitlyn out of the nursery early and all headed up to deck 12 for the pirate night party.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The performance was awesome. Mickey and the whole gang came out singing and teaching us how to be pirate crew. There was a showdown with Captain Hook (which Hailey thought was the coolest) and a lot of singing along.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was incredibly well done and we all had a blast.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wanting to take advantage of as many of the activities as possible, I pushed for us to try to go to the 8:30 pm performance of Disney’s Villians. We snagged popcorn and a water ($5) and took our seats.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Again, with all the kids on board, I wasn’t too worried about the kids behaving perfectly, which was nice. The show was AWESOME and the girls both were entranced. It truly is a high-caliber show with a fun story line, special effects and familiar characters. I’m so glad we went and would highly recommend it to others!<\/p>\n Needless to say that after baths, we all crashed hard. We woke up in the morning to watch us docking at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As you can see, it’s pretty ugly.<\/p>\n (Just seeing if you were paying attention)<\/p>\n After eating breakfast, we burned some time on the boat until we were allowed to disembark at 9:30.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n girls’ dresses<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Getting off the boat went seamlessly and we were all giddy about being off the boat and exploring.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We hopped on the provided trams to get over to the beach area. The girls loved riding in the open air trams. We took a full loop ride before getting off to check out our surroundings. We even saw a few friends on the way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Though the girls seemed a little tired, they were troopers and perked up when they heard we were going to the beach.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are complimentary strollers, wheelchairs and wagons, so we snagged a wagon which was a clutch move.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We found ourselves in a corner spot at the beach, next the the roped off section for the cabanas (which you can pay extra for the reserve).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our spot was great and we wasted no time setting up the complimentary beach chairs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We rented a float ($12) and I got to work making a sand castle with the girls.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n girls’ swimsuits\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n I loved this morning so much. It was so relaxing to just splash, dig and chill on the beach.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I patted myself on the back for packing a few toys to bring with us. Cheap buckets and shovels were great for sand castles and these squidivers\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0were such a big hit that other kids kept trying to snag them- ha! We would just toss them in the water and the girls loved chasing each other to retrieve them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Eventually we decided to explore a little and went to the island’s splash pad. It’s smaller than the ship’s, but still a great spot for young kids. We splashed there for a while before we realized how hungry we were.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The open-air restaurant on the island had a tasty buffet and we devoured some ribs and corn before following it up with ice cream, of course.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We explored a bit more and stopped for a few photo opps before heading back to the boat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most people stayed on the island until late afternoon, so the boat was fairly quiet. We took full advantage of this by hitting up the Aquaduck<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and the small pool.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I even managed to kick my feet up for 10 minutes and sip on a mojito.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After our fun, we showered the girls and put them down for late naps, around 2:30\/3. They both passed out hard.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This worked out perfectly because they woke up just before dinner, feeling refreshed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We ordered them special drinks and all had a really fun and silly dinner at the Royal Palace.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n After dinner we wandered the halls and watched the ocean.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then the girls went to the kids’ club a nursery while David and I claimed some chairs at the front of the ship to watch the sunset with our wine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We toasted to our 7 years together and all the fun we’ve had and all that is left to come.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then we changed into our suits and went to ride the Aquaduck in the dark by ourselves. I’m not kidding. There was no line and it was awesome.<\/p>\n We snagged the girls and all went to bed by 9:30, wishing we had one more day aboard. We really felt like we hit our groove that last day. All in all, we had such a wonderful time!<\/p>\n Please let me know if I missed anything and I’ll answer any questions in the comments!<\/strong><\/p>\n You may also like…<\/p>\n Disney Dream Three Day Cruise with Toddlers: What You Need to Know<\/a><\/p>\n Disney Dream Three Day Cruise: Food Review<\/a><\/p>\n