Trip Report: DISNEY DREAM - VILLAS AT GRAND FLORIDIAN - BEACH CLUB VILLAS AND DISNEYLAND

Psyched!

I don't know Kris. I can't think of a light weight costume. The costume I want is too hot. We have our LED pumpkin shirts from last year at any rate.

Are you taking costumes?

OK I have something of a DL plan of attack now at 30 days out.

Wed Oct 8 Late arrival at VGC
Thu Oct 9 ADR- Carthay Circle- Lunch
World of Color Dining Package
Fri Oct 10 DL Halloween Party!
Sat Oct 11 Fantasmic Premium Dessert Package
Sun Oct 12 Early flight home

I would love to squeeze in a meal at Napa Rose. Maybe I'll do a late lunch on Fri or Sat.

Now it's all in the execution.

it's here....I'm like a kid on Christmas morning. I can't wait to unwrap my brand new Disney vacation.

yes- I couldn't go through that again. Lesson learned!

Trying to upload a pic from my new Sony RX100 and having technical difficulties. Maybe I can just describe the scene. Theater of the mind.

Here's an iPhone pic anyway.

OK I'm back and I want to write a trip report. It will help me remember and relive my trip in a way. Maybe it will help me understand it a bit more. Maybe someone could read about it and look at my pictures and enjoy it. But this is going to take a while. Although my trip was only 11 nights, it was jam packed with stuff. My first cruise, Villas at Grand Floridian, Victoria & Albert, Food & Wine Festival, MNSSHP, fishing, Epcot Late Night Live, Frozen Summer Fun, the end of Off Kilter and a WDW4GU meet-up! So much stuff! I'll attack this in small sections and take my time. I won't go into every little detail unless I think it's worth it.

OK Begin.

Mrs. Col and I left on Wednesday night and stayed at the Hyatt MCO so we could get an early start for the port on Thursday morning for our first cruise on the Disney Dream. The flight was fine, the Hyatt was fine. We ate a late dinner at McCoy's in the Hyatt, very nice. Thursday morning, bright and early, we headed for DME right down stairs, as convenient as could be and within about 45 minutes we were at Port Canaveral and getting our first looks at the Dream.
I've never cruised before, but I had formed some opinions of them. I figured things would be small. The pools looked small in pictures, the rooms certainly looked small. I assumed everything would be crowded; pools, elevators, attractions (rock walls, water slides, ping pong, etc.), dining rooms, lounge areas, bars, etc. I also figured with any movement at all, I would probably get sea sick. I suffer from very bad motion sickness. I also thought that shore excursions would be mobs rushing to shore and back and that the whole process would be one big rush. I knew the food couldn't be as good as everyone claims. I'm from New York City, you are not going to impress me with food. We have the best of everything here. The big draws of a cruise seemed to be the ability to try a few ports of call and gambling. Well this cruise only went to Nassau (been there, done that, not interested) and Castaway Cay (I was intrigued) and it had no gambling. So I didn't have big expectations for a cruise. I thought if we didn't have a mass epidemic of something or get hit by a rogue wave, I would be ahead of the game.

I booked a family verandah concierge suite on deck 12. Right outside the concierge lounge (with free booze and constant food). Right near the spa. Close to the adult pool. And right near the concierge sun deck. I booked a cabana on Castaway Cay and a reservation at Palo. I figured, if I don't like this, then I won't like any cruise.

I should have prefaced this report by explaining that a week before departure day I had a bit of a health scare. It turned out to be relatively minor, but for a while I did not know what was wrong with me. So I was running around getting tests and I was worried. Luckily I was able to leave for vacation with a clear head.

On top of that work was crazy busy. It seems like every time I schedule a vacation, some major event is going on. I was exhausted, frazzled but relieved by the time I left. I had to do a little work on vacation and keep up with my emails but I guess that's a small price to pay.

Here's our view from the Hyatt. I did not have a runway view. I should have requested that.