So the children were absolutely thrilled to be cruising to the Bahamas on the Disney Dream. After they opened the present explaining the trip on Christmas morning, Lucy Mills said "God answered my prayers! I have been praying and praying to go and He provided money for our family to go!!!!!" I just love her heart.
After six weeks of counting down the days on the calendar until February 1st, it was finally go time! (Elsa was ready too.)
On Super Bowl Sunday we drove to Port Canaveral to spend the night before boarding the Dream. This crew awoke bright and early ready to have their wishes come true.
And it wasn't long before mama and daddy had theirs too. Sun + heated pool + happy kids = win, win.
And who did we run into first but the REAL Cinderella!
And she was just as happy to see us as we were to see her.
Lucy Mills was starstruck.
McClain said "Mommy, Cinderella said that I look just like Prince Charming."
No sooner had we rounded the corner when Minnie Mouse made an appearance.
Back to the pool!
Shuffle board.
First night in our cabin.
The Frozen sisters were on the ship but they were a special, seperate event. After getting some helpful tips from a neighbor who went on the same cruise the week before ours, I knew to head straight to guest services the moment we boarded the boat to get tickets to meet Elsa and Anna, as well as the Princess meet and greet. Phew!
If you ask the kids how the cruise was, one of their first responses is "they had ice cream right by the swimming pool! We got it everyday!"
Atlantis in the background. And where are the children you may be thinking? Oh yes we dropped them off at the fabulous kids club. I was very impressed with how fancy, fun, clean, safe, and entertaining it was.
Everyday when our room was cleaned (yes, everyday...do you hear the chorus of angels singing? ) the kids got new character sheets on their bunk beds. It's the little touches that are so endearing.
The third day we docked at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay.
We enjoyed the morning on the beach, but before too long it was crowded and we decided to head back on board. Such a great decision. We practically had the pool to ourselves. The kids "swam" in the pool the rest in the day while watching Disney movies on the big screen while eating pizza and ice cream. Ahhhh....vacation.
Pirate night. Argh!
Pirate night was a big deal. The wait staff and servers (who rotated all four restaurants with us each night) dressed in full pirate garb. The food was amazing.
Breakfast dinning in our pjs.
Doing some hat shopping.
Sometimes waiting in line to see our favorite characters was exhausting.
But the lines moved along and we were reunited with Cinderella. I love Lucy Mills' cheek on Cinderella's hand. Girl loves her princesses.
Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
Love his sweet arms reaching up for a hug.
Snow White loved seeing her dress on Lucy Mills.
Princess Tiana.
Lucy Mills and Travis riding the water slide on the ship.
Dinner the last night at Animator's Palace was a fun, interactive experience.
The shows, oh the shows! Every night after dinner there was a broadway caliber show in the theater and they were Ah-maz-ing. That was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. They went all out in this department. Mary Poppins flies down from the ceiling, characters appearing next to us in the balcony during Disney Villains, the genie from Aladdin appearing out of the bottle...all of it was just magical. The children, ages 5 and 4, were such a good age to experience the Disney magic. Seeing McClain reach his hand to the ceiling waving at Tinkerbell, hearing Lucy Mills say "hey Rose!!! (Sleeping Beauty) the moment she waltzed out on stage was priceless.
Our four days aboard the Disney Dream came to and end and it was soon back to reality. And a seven hour car trip home. Until next time Disney...
