Disney Dream: Day 1 - Boarding the Ship

On the morning we were set to board the Disney Dream, we woke up with a mission - to ride the Skyliner one final time. Disney's Skyliner quickly became my toddler's favorite "ride" at Disney, soaring even above Dumbo, the Tea Cups, and the Carousel.

Well, we had plenty of time to spare, so we took a quick ride from Pop Century over to Caribbean Beach Resort where we snagged breakfast at the Joffrey's kiosk.

Full disclaimer: I really do think the Skyliner is pretty darn neat, too!

While ordering our toffee flight coffee, Brayden happened to see the giant blue donut and well...vacation.

I ordered the Toffee Flight warm and Jason ordered it cold. We both agreed that the hot version had better flavor.

Before long, it was time to leave for the port. With our large group size, we realized that it would be more cost effective to take a Happy Limo over to the port and (bonus) with our own mode of transportation, we got to choose our port arrival time!

They even had an option to include a child safety seat (for a small extra fee).

We enjoyed having the opportunity to chat on the way to the port and while checking facebook, we soon discovered that official boarding time had been pushed back by an hour due to a coast guard inspection that morning. Whomp whomp. Although it was a little sad, we didn't let it ruin our great day!

By the way, Happy Limo comes highly recommended! They were prompt, had plenty of place to store our luggage, and super friendly!

Look at this madhouse!

One little disruption in our boarding process happened when we officially checked in. Since Jason and I were Castaway Club members, we went to a separate check-in line from our friends who were first time cruisers. Well, our two groups of friends were all given boarding group 7 and Jason & I were given boarding group 15. After asking around, we realized there was nothing anyone could do to help us or change our boarding group to align with our friends. We didn't want to board separate and it may seem like small potatoes, but when you're ready to be on the ship and your boarding time has already been delayed once, it kinda stinks to wait around and watch as everyone else boards. Our friends were nice enough to sit back and wait with us so we could all board together!

In all, that was really the only "issue" we ran into with our cruise. First world problems, right? :)

Our first stop after boarding the ship was Cabanas for a little lunch!

After lunch, we all took a little time to explore the kids club. Since this was Brayden's first cruise and he had all of this extra room, we were a little worried about how it would go for him. He loved Andy's room, though and didn't want to stop playing!

Before long, our rooms were ready and we were ready to drop off our bags.
 

This was our first cruise since becoming DVC Members and we were so excited to see the "Welcome Home" signage on our door!

We booked a verandah towards the front of the ship and didn't have any issues with our room.

It was so neat to see how they literally just flipped the couch over to form a bed for Brayden!

So simple and easy!

Around 2:30 p.m., we said goodbye to our friends for a few minutes to attend a DVC Member Celebration. Since we became DVC Members mid-way through our last cruise, we didn't get to attend all of the fun events, so we wanted to take advantage of as many as possible here.

It was also here that we discovered our adult cruise staff was Tisa! She has seriously been on at least four of our nine Disney Cruises (not intentionally on our part) and I was so excited to see her!!

After our DVC event, we reunited with our friends for the boat drill and Sail Away Party!

We were so excited to begin our cruise and 4 magical nights at sea!

I love waving to the port cast members as the ship sails away!

Dinner on our first evening was in Animator's Palate.

Brayden was zonked, so our head water got him a table cloth to use as a blanket. So sweet!

Mickey bars for dessert, anyone? :)

We deemed dinner on our first night as "romper night" so of course we had to take a picture!

On the way back to our room, we made a little pit stop at our friend Kim's room to decorate it for her birthday.

Last but not least, a lovely sand crab was waiting to greet us good evening!

Want to check out more from our Disney Vacation? Click on the links below!

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

Up next: Castaway Cay!!

Alaskan Cruise: Seward and Anchorage [Part 7]

I hope this week finds you doing well! Welcome back to another recap from our most recent cruise to Alaska! We last left off on our final day on board the ship and a stop by the Hubbard Glacier. On today's recap, we disembark the ship in Seward where we spend a few hours exploring the town, then we take a bus to Anchorage and visit the Alaska Zoo!

When we arrived in Seward that morning, the fog was so thick, you could barely make out the boats in the photo below. It was super interesting to watch the fog thin out!

Since there is not a large airport in Seward, cruisers usually elect to take a bus to Anchorage and fly out from there. We weren't sure how the timing of everything would work, so we extended our trip by a day and had a little fun exploring both Seward and Anchorage.

Airport bus times included 8:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. (or somewhere around there). Since we were on the 2:30 p.m. bus, the burning question revolved around what to do with our luggage while we explored the town.

After a little searching on my family's part, they found the Alaskan Bag Lady!  She seriously met us at the port terminal, held on to our bags for the morning, then had them waiting for us when we returned! I was seriously impressed - super sweet people, too!

The town of Seward also includes a small bus loop of its own where you can ride to various points of the city without a charge. Our first stop was Starbucks followed by a local city park!

For real though - how about those park views? It was absolutely breathtaking! 

A bald eagle flew over our heads while we were at the park and landed in this tree. It sat there forever, just looking around. So incredibly cool!

After the kids had their park fix, we walked over to a local cafe for a little grub!

I had the seafood chowder and it was really tasty.

Seward was just so picturesque! 

 While waiting for the next bus, I couldn't help but snag this picture. :)

The bus ride to Anchorage was painless and lasted about 2 hours. Our driver also acted as a tour guide and gave interesting facts along the way. Some of us might have napped, myself included.

The bus dropped us off at the Anchorage airport where we then snagged a hotel shuttle to our hotel. We had to laugh - they didn't have AC! It might sound silly, but it was a bit warm in Anchorage while we visited. One of our drivers told us that they'd already had 14 days of temps in the 70's this summer and that's incredibly unusual for them. About 2 weeks after we left, Anchorage hit their record high temperature of 84 degrees. It sounds wonderful when coming from the 100 degree south, but a little AC would have been nice. Not complaining - just sharing my experience!

Since our flight wasn't leaving until 6 p.m. on Saturday night, we decided to spend our Saturday morning at the Alaska Zoo! What intrigued me about the Zoo was the fact that most of their animals came to them from conservation efforts. I also loved that we could see animals you wouldn't see at your typical Zoo here in the south!

They had a ton of cute little setups like the one below. We had so much fun!!

I was super excited to see the Peregrine Falcon at the zoo - it's a fun story so stay with me here....

So, I once met a man who worked with the Walt Disney Company in film.  He worked mostly on the conservation and film documentary side and was sent to Alaska to study the habits of the peregrine falcon. This was back in the 1960's or 70's when these falcons were on the endangered species list. After studying their day in and day out, they discovered that if you took an egg from the momma falcon, she would lay another one. It sounds harsh but when you're trying to help the species thrive, it's not. After 8 months there, they completed their project and moved on with their lives.

Fast forward to 1999, he received a phone call that he was being invited to a banquet. He had no idea what the banquet was about, but he went. Much to his surprise, it was a ceremony where the peregrine falcon was officially removed from the endangered species list and he was one of the honorees that helped contribute to this success!  What a life accomplishment, huh? He told me that if he never did anything else worthy of accomplishment in his life, he was ok with that because this was such a huge one for him...and all because of his work with the Walt Disney Company! Pretty nifty!

Seeing one of these falcons in person was truly touching, especially knowing his backstory!

At this zoo, we saw wolves, cariboo, brown bears, black bears, bald eagles, and the list goes on!

Speaking of the brown bear - can y'all see those claws? I definitely don't want to run into him in the wild!

A petting zoo was also a part of this zoo where kids could pet goats, bunnies, and chickens.

You see my husband's grip on that kid "leash"? Yeah well, that's cause my child would have been the one rolling around on the ground, trying to lay on the goats. He LOVES animals of all kinds!

About 3/4 of the way through the zoo, we spotted a restroom and snack stop. Jason and I split a pretzel while Brayden had some Cheetos!

 

In all, we spent about 3 hours at the zoo and truly had a chance to see everything!

There was even a little park at the end which Brayden loved immensely!

The Alaska Zoo was seriously the perfect end to our trip! If you have a chance to visit, you should! 

...and just like that, our week in Alaska had come to an end. We took a red eye back home and boy was that exhausting. We had so much fun overall and wouldn't trade a moment of it!

I had several of you ask, so stay tuned for a couple more recaps - a ship tour, a comparison between DCL and RCCL, and my thoughts on the kids club on RCCL!

Have a wonderful day! 

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For recaps from our 7 night Alaskan cruise on board the Radiance of the Seas, check out these links below:
Alaskan Cruise: Travel Day & Boarding the Ship [Part 1] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: At Sea Day & Ketchikan [Part 2] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Icy Straight Point [Part 3] & VLOG (Icy Straight Point & Juneau)
Alaskan Cruise: Juneau & Whale Watching [Part 4]
Alaskan Cruise: Skagway & A Musher's Camp [Part 5] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Hubbard Glacier [Part 6] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Seward and Anchorage [Part 7] & VLOG

Alaskan Cruise: Hubbard Glacier [Part 6]

Our final day on the Radiance of the Seas included a stop at the Hubbard Glacier.

We woke up that morning and had breakfast with several family members, then we waited for our approach to the glacier. On our last Alaskan Cruise (where we visited Glacier Bay), I remember being very close to the glacier on the cruise ship itself, so we didn't feel the need to book an extra excursion that would take us closer to this glacier (because I assumed we would be just as close this time around).

As we approached the Hubbard Glacier - I am going to be completely honest here - I was very disappointed, especially considering how close we were able to get to the glacier last time. Don't get me wrong - it was gorgeous and all, but we were quite far from it and unable to see/hear the ice cracking like we did over in Glacier Bay. Despite that, it still made for a fun morning with our family all together in one stateroom and we still had some amazing views!

A naturalist was on board and oddly enough, he was the Canadian Mountie we listened to on our first day! From our stateroom, we were able to hear him on one of the channels on the TV, so we hung out on the balcony with the volume up on our TV and enjoyed the view!

My brother in law said it best when describing our cruise - he said it felt like we were floating in a post card! That's 100% accurate.

One benefit to this glacier day vs our previous cruise was the weather. The sun was shining and it really was a perfect day weather-wise!

At lunch, a cake was out on display for dessert (and it was yummy, too). I still never figured out how they made those mountains!

An Elvis impersonator was also present at lunch for entertainment! :)

While scanning over the daily schedule, we saw Disney trivia listed at 1 p.m. I already knew I wanted to play, but I wasn't sure I could rope anyone else into playing with me. To my surprise, I asked the question out loud and almost our entire group was in! Yay!

We arrived at the Schooner Lounge to play and the room was PACKED. We were instructed to break into teams of 6 and the guy running the trivia even had to have more copies run because there were so many groups!

I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was by far the easiest trivia I've ever done. They handed us a sheet of paper (face down of course) and told us when to begin. Our trivia basically consisted of partial views of different characters faces (about 20 of them) and we had to write who they were. My team was done in seriously 0.2 seconds and were among the first to turn in our form. Three teams finished all right at the same time and after a little deliberation, he decided that our team was the winner because we were the only team out of the three to have all of the characters names spelled correctly!

Winner winner chicken dinner! We were so excited! What did we win? Royal Caribbean key chains! Yay!

We expected to be in trivia about 45 minutes and when I asked Jason the time, he said it was only 1:08 p.m. Trivia seriously lasted about 5 minutes! Hah!

Our dinner that evening was delicious as always and we had a great time with our wait staff on our final evening of the cruise.

The final show and goodbye was great as well!

Even though the cruise itself was over, we still had two days of fun remaining - stay tuned for more from Alaska!  

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For recaps from our 7 night Alaskan cruise on board the Radiance of the Seas, check out these links below:
Alaskan Cruise: Travel Day & Boarding the Ship [Part 1] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: At Sea Day & Ketchikan [Part 2] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Icy Straight Point [Part 3] & VLOG (Icy Straight Point & Juneau)
Alaskan Cruise: Juneau & Whale Watching [Part 4]
Alaskan Cruise: Skagway & A Musher's Camp [Part 5] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Hubbard Glacier [Part 6] & VLOG
Alaskan Cruise: Seward and Anchorage [Part 7] & VLOG