Disney Dream Day 2: Castaway Cay & The 5K

Our first port day on our most recent Disney Dream cruise was at Castaway Cay. We had plans to run the 5K, then hang on the beach the remainder of the day. Since it was Brayden's first time at Castaway Cay (and the beach in general), we wanted it to be extra special and memorable for him!

Fun tip I never knew: If you have a small child and are interested in running the 5K, there's a drop off point for Scuttle's Cove on your way to the start line. The 5K cut off age is 10 years old, so it was nice being able to drop Brayden off right there on our route. Scuttle's Cove is entirely enclosed with no access to the beach (it's more of a splash pad type area). Super convenient and easy!

As we docked at Castaway Cay, we spent a little time taking in the beauty of the island. It was such a pretty day, too!

Breakfast in Cabanas consisted of (of course), Mickey waffles!

Prior to previous Castaway Cay 5K's I'd run, this one was a little different. Instead of meeting as a group in the Walt Disney Theater and walking to the start line together, we were directed to meet instead on the island itself. As I previously mentioned, we were able to drop Brayden off on our (LONG) walk to the start line. Castaway Cay 5K's seriously bring back memories from half marathons at Walt Disney World and the crazy long walk to the start line!

It's a great way to see the island early in the morning without the crowds, though!

Another change since I last ran this race was the start line! Instead of staring the race at the start/finish line area, runners were directed to continue walking to the air strip to start the race.

I wasn't sure how my IT Band or hamstring would hold up during this race since I had so many issues running the half marathon just two days prior, so I decided to stick towards the back and take it kind of slow.

With the recent hurricane Dorian that hit the area, I could see much more of Castaway Cay than I remembered. It seemed as if a lot of the areas that were usually full of greenery no longer were. It was very nice and clean, but I was amazed at how much of the island I could now see!

The Castaway Cay 5K takes runners and walkers down the airstrip and around the bike path. All along the way, there are various coolers of water with cups and it's so refreshing during a hot run!

They also had a set up of water in cups about midway through and it was manned by a couple of cast members.

I spotted my friends on one of our out and back loops! Hi husband and friends!

With that, it was almost time to finish the race! I love how the course is well marked, too!

Believe it or not, I was worried for nothing. Castaway Cay is SUPER flat, so my IT Band and hamstring gave me zero issues during this run! I was so excited!!

We were all so excited to have another medal to add to the collection!

After finishing our run, we all changed into our beach attire and told our friends to go to Serenity Bay. I wanted them to fully experience the amazingness of that little slice of heaven and since they weren't traveling with kids, it was the perfect opportunity!

In the mean time, we picked Brayden up from Scuttles Cove (where he had a ball) and headed over to the family beach! Life jackets were in abundant supply and we had no problems finding one for him.

He LOVED swimming and playing in the sand. It truly was a magical experience for all of us!

Midway through the day, we snagged lunch at Cookie's BBQ. This is one of my favorite parts of a Disney Cruise as the food is so delicious!

This child still talks about these banana ice cream cones, too!

Back on the beach, Jason and I took turns relaxing and playing with Brayden. While Jason played with him in the ocean. When we swapped, I took Brayden over to the splash pad area to play.

This kid seriously loved everything about Castaway Cay!

It truly was a magical day for our family!

We spent as much time as humanly possible on Castaway Cay before heading back to the ship.

Our friends loved Serenity Bay, too!

That evening, we had dinner in Enchanted Gardens. I know it's silly, but we bought these matching outfits on Castaway Cay several years ago and this was our first time for all three of us to wear them! 

It's vacation...live a little, right?! :)

Back in our room that evening, we literally crashed after such a long and fun day on the island. None of us wanted to leave and can't wait to return!

If you've visited Castaway Cay, what's your favorite part of the island?


Disney Travel Day: Wine and Dine Expo & Animal Kingdom
Disney Day 2: Wine and Dine 10K & Kids Races & Hollywood Studios/Epcot
Disney Day 3: Wine and Dine Half Marathon & Magic Kingdom
Disney Day 4: Boarding the Disney Dream
Disney Day 5: Castaway Cay
Disney Day 6: Nassau
Disney Day 7: At Sea Day
Disney Day 8: Disney Springs and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Day 8: Castaway Cay

On our final day on board the Disney Fantasy, we made a stop at Castaway Cay! This is always my favorite stop on our Disney cruises! Sadly, our time on the island was cut short by several hours due to the "pit stop" the day before at Turks and Cacos, but we all understood the reason. (A patient needed medical attention.)

With a few extra hours on board the ship, a new navigator was released which included an extra "Art of the Theme Show" tour (which I LOVE)! I also decided to get up and run a few miles on deck since the Castaway Cay 5K clearly wasn't happening that day...sad times.

After my run, I stopped in the Cove Cafe one last time for a cold brew. Y'all, this stuff is SO good.

Jason and I also had breakfast at Cabanas.

Jason decided he didn't want to go on the tour with me since he did it on our last cruise. I've actually taken these tours on every since Disney cruise I've been on, because you get something different from each guide.  This time, we had a semi private tour as it was just me and one other cruise guest in our group!

This tour is a walking tour of the ship, where cruise staff informs you of the secrets and facts behind the art work, layout, and design of the ship. It really is a neat tour that's usually held on at sea days, and I encourage everyone to go!

We weren't set to land at the island until 12:45 p.m. or so, and the captain announced that BBQ would be served in the restaurants on board instead. We were looking forward to said "BBQ", but it sadly was not anywhere near the Cookies standard. (Still good, just not what we were expecting.)

When we finally docked at Castaway Cay, we were ready to disembark and because of all the people, we decided to walk to the next tram stop.

I felt like I was walking to the start of a runDisney corral with all the people!

Sad times for no 5K!

We very briefly shopped around here but didn't buy anything and said we would on the way out. Sadly, by the time we made it back, all of the shops were already closed.

By the way, I think everyone had on this swim suit coverup that was available at Target this past summer! It was so funny to see it everywhere we went on the ship!

The tram to Serenity Bay arrived and we couldn't wait to finally relax on the beautiful beach.

It was a beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time in the water and swimming!

We also decided to walk over to Cookies II to relax for a few minutes and were shocked by the emptiness of it all!

This is totally unusual for Cookies!  I guess everyone ate on the ship!

We went back into the water for a little and enjoyed seeing a stingray and a starfish!

Before we knew it, the lifeguard was notifying us that it was time to leave. We seriously felt like we'd just gotten there.

We took our time getting back to the ship and stopped for a few pictures along the way!

Dinner on our final evening was in Animator's Palate where we had the chance to animate our own Disney characters! Mine is the second one from the right! (I'm NOT a artist!)

We also said goodbye to our servers for the final time as our flight was set to leave early the following morning.

They were awesome!!

In the atrium that evening, they held a "See Ya Real Soon" farewell show where the characters stop by for a few pictures and a final farewell.

We were already standing down on the floor where  Mickey and Minnie were stationed, so hopped in line to take a picture with them. 

We also decided to watch the Incredibles 2 which was playing that night at 10:45 p.m.  Our goal on this cruise was to watch Christopher Robin, Ant Man & The Wasp, and the Incredibles 2 throughout the 7 days on board the ship. We were able to watch all three and Jason added Solo to his list! I'd say it was a pretty successful cruise!

While disembarking the next day, we noticed that they were setting up for the Halloween on the High Seas cruises. Hi Mickey pumpkin!

...and just like that, our cruise was over! After arriving at the airport, Jason realized that he forgot to grab our garment bag from the cruise terminal. We still had about 2 hours until our flight, so we stopped by the Disney Cruise Line relations desk where we were handed a card for lost and found. We called the number and left a voicemail and within 10 minutes, we received a call back. Sadly, they didn't think they would have enough time before our flight to bring the bag to the airport, so we decided to have it mailed via UPS. We chose the regular/ground option and literally three days later, it arrived at our front door! Thankfully, we didn't have anything super important in that bag, but it was definitely a lesson for us to always keep our important stuff or souvenirs in our carry on bags!

We had a blast on our cruise and loved the Eastern Caribbean itinerary with the extra "at sea" day! This is such a neat itinerary and we can't wait for our next cruise!

Thanks for following along! :)

Remaining Summer Running Goals

Although the calendars say that summer is coing to a close soon, that couldn't be farther from the truth for Southwest Louisiana. If this year's weather pattern follows the last, we will have summer like temperatures into October which really makes me sad because I love fall! Oh well, let's hope we at least have a few "fall like" days soon!

Today's Tuesdays on the Run topic is all about our remaining summer running goals.

I have one.
 

My remaining summer running goal is to run the Castaway Cay 5K on Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. Soon and very soon, we will be out in the Caribbean, enjoying the sweet sound of waves crashing on the shore and I'll have the chance to run this 5K once again.

I've mentioned this before, but it's amazing to see how this race has changed and evolved so much over the years. When I first ran it back in 2009, we had maybe 15 fairly hard core runners that met with a cast member on the gangplank and I was the little newbie runner who had no clue what was going on. Now, runners meet in the Walt Disney Theater and there's usually hundreds of runners that take part in this race on each cruise.

We can't wait to board the Disney Fantasy and take part in all the fun the ship has to offer. I also plan on going for a few training runs on the jogging deck on our at sea days.

Do you have a remaining summer running goal?

It's the Tuesdays On The Run Linkup with Erika, Marcia and Patty.