Bon Voyage

The big day arrived, and here we are just moments before boarding the Disney Dream once more.  This is our third time on board this particular vessel, and by now we're seasoned professionals!  Obviously not, but we did know a few things ahead of time - like once again, how to properly decorate your stateroom door!

Here it is, with pumpkins and a new design that Daddy made.  Mommy put the magnets on the backside of it, as you don't use sticky substances on the door.  It's all magnetized.  And there were a lot of other doors decorated too - it's a lot of fun.  It's a return to Halloween on the High Seas for us!

Upon arrival, we immediately went up to Cabana's to eat, and eat, and eat.  Oh boy, what a spread.  So much food, and so much seafood for Daddy.  Madison was splurging, as was Mommy.  God had saved us this wonderful table right by the windows, and the three of us ate our first relaxing meal.  It was just perfection!

We went to our room after this, and looking at our watches realized we had just enough time to sneak a ride on the Aquaduck.  So why not?  Madison and Daddy raced up there, while Mommy prepped the room for our stay.  The line wasn't as long as you find it at other times, and it was funny because we were in front of someone in line who was from Forsyth County.  Behind that person was someone who knew where Jot-Em-Down Road was.  Small world!  Evidently half the the boat was from Georgia, as we in Forsyth all had Fall Break this week.

Anyway, we returned to the room and settled in a bit before the mandatory evacuation drill.  It was held in the Buena Vista Theater for us, and we arrived there early to sit down.  It's not exactly the most exciting thing on the cruise, but every cruise starts with one, and everyone was ready for the end of it, as it was somewhat of a countdown to the moment that we actually start sailing away.

Speaking of which, that's what we did next:  we sailed away.  Mommy, Madison and Daddy went to the Sail Away party, just as we usually do, and celebrated with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and the others until the big melody horn, "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes."

We sat along the railing and watched Florida go by, leaving the port slowly and waving at all the people on land.  It was going to be a wonderful cruise.  

We did some exploring after this.  There were some new things aboard the ship, and we were anxious to check them out.  First, on Deck 11 there is a candy shop, Vanellope's Sweets and Treats.  There were some amazing looking candies there, and the ice cream was unbelievable!  We didn't have any yet, but we would later, that's for sure.  

We also checked out the Oceaneer's Club:

Is this not a dream come true for a Star Wars fan?  Look at Madison, piloting the Millennium Falcon here.  She's going into hyperspace, entering the planet Hoth's atmosphere, and following some snow speeders on the attack.  Daddy wishes he could have been in this seat!

But there was another seat too - it was at a table where he and Madison had a game of Dejarik.  Okay, not really.  We added the holographic playing pieces later.  But still, that whole set was just amazing!

So we were off and out to sea by this point, with Florida looking smaller and smaller in the distance.  The waves were getting choppy and the captain warned us that things would be a little more back-and-forth than usual, due to Hurricane Maria's lingering effects.  We had our patches on to help fight being seasick, and we went down to see the Golden Mickeys one last time

This is the lady that interviewed Madison before the show.  Madison was on the big screen that everyone was watching before the stage show began, being asked a few questions about her favorite character and so forth.  Daddy was there too on screen.  We'd never done this before, in the few times we've seen this show.  This might be the last time we see this, as they're supposedly replacing this show with a stage version of "Beauty and the Beast."  While that may be great, we're sentimental towards "The Golden Mickeys," mainly because that is what we saw when we were in Hong Kong Disney with Madison.  It might be the first thing we saw with her there, so long ago.  Since then, we've only seen the show on this boat, so it's four times now?  Anyway, it was fantastic as always.  Madison loved it, keeping the little floating Golden Mickeys that fell down upon us at the end of the show.  The dance numbers were great, from Mulan to the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Snow White to Toy Story.  Lots of fun!

Afterwards, it was time to hear about the Pumpkin Tree:

This is where all the kids from the boat crowd into lobby area to hear this caretaker woman talk about Grim, the Pumpkin Tree on the boat.  The kids listen as she tells them to put their names on a pumpkin seed, and put that seed into a cauldron.  Each one represents a pumpkin that will bloom on the tree by the end of the voyage.

We've seen this before, and although it didn't change much, it was a tradition for us.  The lighting and spooky atmosphere really got the Halloween on the High Seas going!

Speaking of "high seas," that Hurricane Maria was affecting us hundreds of miles away with some mighty choppy waters.  These were probably the biggest ups and downs we've ever experienced from the waves at sea on any cruise.  Fortunately, it was just for one night, and fortunately, we all had the patches behind our ears to help out.  Other passengers were not as fortunate.  At dinner tonight, there was a mother who didn't make it because she was riding things out in her room. 

Dinner was good though, as we all met in the Enchanted Garden.  Madison likes this restaurant a lot, the atmosphere and the music and of course the food.  She met a new friend, a girl named Sophia, who is roughly her age.  She's from Colorado that is now sitting at our table.  Madison and Sophia seemed to hit it off right away.  The two would enjoy meeting up elsewhere throughout the cruise, both big fans of "Descendants," and that's about all you need to know there!

The meal is so nice because Mommy can eat without any worry at all about allergies or reactions.  She enjoyed a wonderful meal, as did all of us, complete with dessert.  We like this second seating already, because it means we don't have to leave dinner early in order to go catch a show.  We can show up for dinner exactly on time without getting there early for whatever reason, and it all times out rather well.  It did tonight, because we went over to enjoy a game afterwards called "The Wheel of Destiny."

This was hilarious:  Madison is up there representing the red team, which is half of the room.  She was doing a "Wheel of Fortune" type game, and absolutely loving it.  The funny thing about this round:  the answers were up there on the screen, but she didn't quite know what the answer was on this round here.  She kept running back to Daddy, because he had guessed it with about three letters on the board:  "Madame Leona."  Nobody else knew what it was, so it was this funny moment where Madison kept turning back to our team to get the right answer, and of course the hostess was laughing it off there.  The game was a lot of fun - both teams were big and loud, and there was a lot of laughing and cheering throughout.  I don't think we won this one, but there were other games we definitely did win later on.  And again, it's not so much about winning on these things - it was about having a great time, which of course we did.

We went back to our rooms after that, rocking back and forth still from the waves.  We looked out over the veranda at the quiet ocean, and as always, it's amazing to see so much ... nothing.  Not a person in sight, or a boat or anything.  It doesn't take far to get out there away from it all.  We're cruising along, heading towards the Bahamas tomorrow.

We said our prayers for a wonderful first day, and tucked Madison in her bed, as we got in ours.  She's got half the room, and is close to the veranda.  We're over by the bathroom.  The clothes in the closet are swaying to and fro as we move forward and south towards Nassau.  

It's going to be wonderful out here, away from the phones, computers and technology.  Just the three of us, on a Dream.