Eeyore's WDW & Disney Cruise Trip Report*Complete!

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Karlipants's picture
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Aw you guys had friendly stingrays!! they swam with us but were too shy to be pet outside of the feeding area!

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Disney should give you a discount on the next trip... I'm pretty sure you've sold a few cruises with this report.

Wow, what a blast.

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Anxiously awaiting more cruise trip report!!!!

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Day 3 - Costa Maya, Mexico

Today we were in Costa Maya Mexico! We pulled into port around 10AM. We headed to the "D Lounge" to meet for our port adventure today. We were going to the see the Mayan Ruins!!! I was very excited for this because I actually teach about this in school. It is really cool to see something like this in person and then teach about it!

Anyway, we loaded up a "charter bus" for this hour long bus ride to the ruins. Well, I guess the wonderful USA has a different definition of charter bus. It was literally a packed bus that was run down. It smelled bad and the air barely worked. I was like should we do this? haha Well, we traveled down a two lane highway that looked deserted, our bus driver couldn't speak English, we were driving so fast I thought at any moment I might meet our creator, AND we were stopped by the Mexican police/government to check for drugs. That was scary...yea Mr. Mexican police officer with your AR15 loaded and hanging on your back by a velcro strap...please don't accidentally shoot me as you pass by me on this crowded bus where I can smell peoples bodily fluids from my seat. The roads suck there too. It was like a Disney park ride OR a NYC Cab Ride...during the holidays. It was terrible!!!

Once we got there, it was great. We had a great tour guide too. Two older ladies totally farted on us during the tour. That was fun. It was incredibly hot and we spent a few hours there. Afterwards, we loaded the bus and headed back to port. We literally arrived 10 minutes before the Fantasy left the port. Our dinner was at 5:45 and we got on the boat at 5:30. We had no choice but to go to dinner all stinky...BUT it worked out because our other friends went to Palo this evening and it was just my husband and I at dinner tonight, which was kinda nice. No kids or adults, just us! We actually did not venture to Palo or Remy and I will explain later in the trip report why we did not go.

After dinner, we were pooped. We headed back to the room, showered, and hit the sack!!! Here are some pics from the day!

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Love your trip report!! We loved the Quiet Cove Pool on the Dream too--the adult areas were usually almost empty, which was so nice! And The Garden Grill is never somewhere I would have thought to dine, but after your report I'm definitely considering it! Laughing out loud

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Eeyore wrote:
Now, here comes a complaint about the Boardwalk.... sarcastic The BUS SITUATION!!! So, I am assuming during really busy times, the Boardwalk has its own buses that only stop at the Boardwalk. Well, I guess it wasn't busy because we were sharing with B&Y Club and Swan and Dolphin. It also seemed we were always the last stop and last pick up. We waited around 30 minutes for a bus...that was such a disappointment considering buses are constantly rolling through the All Star Resorts. I understand that more people are probably staying there, but dang! If I am spending almost $300 per night, I kind of expected to have better service. Maybe that is just me being snotty. I kid you not, one evening we went to Downtown Disney and two buses rolled through that were completely full (and I mean people were standing) from just picking up the other resorts. We finally got on the third bus. My husband was waiting and disappointed. He said that was his one and only complaint. HOWEVER, Disney did make up for it because we could walk to two other parks.

Sorry about your bus experience, but I had to chuckle that you waited 30 minutes for bus to AK. Friday the 10th we got to that bus stop at 10 AM, to catch bus to DTD. The DTD bus roundtrip is quite often an adventure, so I was not surprised we waited about 20 minutes. Reason for my chuckle? During our wait, 3 AK buses came thru, all virtually empty. As we were boarding the DTD bus, a 4th AK bus arrived!! Fortunately we spend nearly all of our days at Epcot, and you can't beat the short walk. Agree with your husband, that we will only stay at EPCOT resorts.

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Eyeore you are one brave lady. I will never travel to Mexico even if I am on a Disney Cruise because it is too, too dangerous.

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PirateGirl wrote:
Eyeore you are one brave lady. I will never travel to Mexico even if I am on a Disney Cruise because it is too, too dangerous.

Certain parts of Mexico are, but generally not the parts where the cruise ships stop. General touristy type crime (pick pockets, etc) but you have to be aware of that pretty much everywhere you travel. The real violence is in other parts of the country. Mexico is beautiful, full of amazing historical ruins (and good tequila) and the people are some of the most caring and welcoming ever. Don't cross it off your list just b/c of what you read in the paper, if you're smart about where you travel, it's AWESOME! No, I'm not receiving kickbacks from the Mexican Board of Tourism, just been there several times (both Mexico City and the touristy/cruise ship destinations) and think it gets a bad rap b/c of some of the cartel stuff.

Edited to add: But then again, I've also been to Iraq several times, so my opinions on what's dangerous and what's not should probably be taken with a grain of salt! (and a slice of lime and shot of Patron!!) clapping

Eyeore - your TR and pics are awesome. Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you!!

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PirateGirl wrote:
Eyeore you are one brave lady. I will never travel to Mexico even if I am on a Disney Cruise because it is too, too dangerous.

The tourist areas are very safe. I never felt like we were about to be mugged. The drug areas are further inland. You'll be fine! Don't let that stop you! Smile

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Day 4

Cozumel, Mexico

Today was awesome! We docked in Cozumel, Mexico and headed ashore around 10ish with our port adventure group. We were swimming with the dolphins today! It was amazing and now I want a pet dolphin! I highly recommend this adventure if you ever have the chance. Of course we were there almost all day and was sucked into buying the pictures!!

Here are a few:

After our port adventure with the lovely dolphins we took a cab ride down the Mr. Sanchez Beach. It was so awesome. We spent the afternoon just relaxing and we had the best lunch ever! "Real" mexican food is so good. We made our way back to the boat and spent the evening at dinner with our friends! The restaurants are so great! I had the caramel popcorn soup and it was awesome! Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of our food... Sad

Here are the other pics from the beach:

That's all! Stay tuned for our last day at sea as well as the Castaway Cay visit! Smile

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Disney need to give you a finder's fee, b/c now I REALLY want to book a cruise!! Smile

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JMUDukz wrote:
Disney need to give you a finder's fee, b/c now I REALLY want to book a cruise!! Smile

You should! It is worth doing at least once! Smile We had the best time.

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I want to swim with the dolphins

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Love the dolphins! I swam with them at Discovery Cove .. when they pull you thru the water their strength and speed are amazing! I want to go to Mexico too but everyone here is too scared ...maybe someday!

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Ok...I SWEAR I will finish this!!! haha

Day 5 - At sea

Today we had plans of doing nothing. We had breakfast, took a nap, then went to the adult pool. We had reservations at Senses Spa at 3:00PM for a couple's massage. Now, earlier I said that we didn't go to Palo or Remy and this why. Our couple's massage included 60 minutes of our choice massage in the couples villa. The villa is awesome. I didn't take my camera with me so I have nothing to show, but you can see pics of the DCL website. The villa was private and had its own private verandah. We went in and they took us the verandah and washed our feet in these bins. It had oils and flowers... then we spent 20 minutes in our private hot tub, then had our massage. Afterwards, we went back to the hot tub and soaked. A little later they brought us all kinds of hot teas with a fruit plate. The fruit included chocolate covered strawberries and other common delicious fruits. We then lounged in this awesome chair that holds two people. The experience was amazing and we deem this as the best part of the trip! We didn't eat at Palo and Remy because as you can imagine, for what this cost, we could've eaten at those restaurants every night of the trip....and I am not kidding. It was worth it though!

We went to dinner and tonight was pirate night! Don't get too excited, my DH and I aren't in to the "dress up" thing. We did watch the pirate show from deck 11 and it is sooooo cool!!!! After that, we were pooped and headed to bed!

I tried uploading my video of the fireworks, but photobucket is not acting right!! Arrggg!
Here are some pics:

Short Video:

Ok, one day left!!! Save the best for last!

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Hey Eeyore...sent you a private message. We're heading out on the Dream in October and I had a few questions about your cruise.

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The massage sounds amazing! muchlove

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Wow, sounds fabulous!

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Ok, so I am working on my last post right now, but I was finally able to get my videos correctly formatted! Here is the video of fireworks on pirate night! It was awesome!

I should have the last day posted soon! Smile

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Eeyore... Gotta say your review rocks! awesome

What a great journal of your trip. Lots of pics and informative commentary. Thanks for posting! Especially interesting to hear about the cruise as I've never done a cruise before.

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Day 6 - Castaway Cay!

This was our favorite stop! We LOVED it here! We docked in the morning and got off as quickly as possible! Here is a pic of the boat docked:

We got off and took the tram to Serenity Bay (adult only beach) and it was GREAT! We were able to score two hammocks that we spent A LOT of time in!

A few pics from the island:

Look who was lurking around our beach!!!!

We ate lunch, which I have no pics of. sad

It was AMAZING as expected. I had a Tbone steak with a ton of sides. Soft serve ice cream and cake! Yummy! Smile I love how they cater it on the island!

We then were off to our excursion. We took a boat out to do some more snorkeling. As I posted before, this is a big step for me because I am terrified of Jaws eating me!!!

Here are the pics!

Where we were:

After that we were pooped and ready to get back on the ship! Took this going out:

STAY TUNED FOR THE FINAL DINNER!

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KenJ wrote:
Eeyore... Gotta say your review rocks! awesome

What a great journal of your trip. Lots of pics and informative commentary. Thanks for posting! Especially interesting to hear about the cruise as I've never done a cruise before.

THANKS! Took me forever, but I will finish this thing today!

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Video leaving Castaway Cay! Might be hard to tell, but CM's were wearing Mickey hands waving the ship off!

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Oh and here it the video of the Fantasy Horn playing music! I was finally able to catch it on video! lol

clapping

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Dinner time! Our last night was at Animator's Palette! It was so cool! We had the best time eating there! The dish I remember most was caramel popcorn soup! Yummy!

Here we are!

My drawing:

DH's drawing:

By the end of the night, baby ended up in the beer bucket! laugh

Little video from dinner:

Stay tuned for final video of my drawing! Currently uploading now!

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Eeyore wrote:
Oh and here it the video of the Fantasy Horn playing music! I was finally able to catch it on video! lol

clapping

Wow!!! I've NEVER heard (pun intended) of anything like that before. A ship's horn playing music? Friggin' AWESOME! I bet that sounded amazing in person. Very, very cool. awesome

I'll bet cutlery was falling off of tables when that thing was going! biggrin

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Last video of that night!

This was so fun!

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Lastly, our $20 picture! laugh

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The day we left was sad. Our flight left at 11:30AM and we made it to the airport in time. It was a flight from hell though, pretty turbulent the entire time. If I was not crying or about to pass out, I would've taken video footage. laugh Yes, I laugh now, but it was not funny then!

Overall, we had a great time and can't wait to go back to the world! mickey Thanks for following my looonnggggg trip report!

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Beautiful picture! Looks like you had a great time. Not sure if we will ever be brave enough to go on a cruise so it's nice to see it all through other people's eyes. awesome