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

If we saw the same actor as Hades, then I know what you mean. He was charismatic. Very funny.

Wow, you know the premise of the show before seeing it? You really do your homework. It was actually fun. And there's a lot of good songs in it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

The district is the adults only area of the ship. It was lovely. Never crowded when I was there. I didn't spend much time there. I was tired at night and there was free drinks in the CL anyway.

There was a Pirate Show before the fireworks on the second night. The Pirate Show was geared towards the little ones. The fireworks are not like WDW fireworks. They are small in comparison. Pretty cool I guess considering. I didn't have a good view but I don't think it mattered. I would have had a good view from my room, but again I didn't know that.

Castaway Cay was lovely. We had Cabana 23 on Serenity Bay. It was very nice. My only complaint is no bathroom in the cabana. They had a shower, so there was plumbing. But it was an inconvenience to have to go to the bathroom near the restaurant. Other than that it was great. Drinks and snacks were included. We had a frig with stuff in it and a changing room. There was a bell to ring and someone would come to get you something or drive you somewhere in a golf cart.

The beach was beautiful white sand and the water was clear and calm. It's in a protected area so it's probably swimable in all but the harshest seas. I saw a couple of rays and a few fish. I walked out about a hundred yards and the water was still only chest high. Serenity Bay was very quiet. I didn't visit the family beach. I would imagine it was more lively. I was content to relax. I ordered a couple of beers from the waiter on the beach and hung out.

We had BBQ lunch. It was very good with a big selection. Well done.

Mrs. Col way in the distance in a beach chair.

I would have loved to have taken this home as a souvenir. Unfortunately, it was occupied and I didn't have the heart to evict the occupant.

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Food - Here is where I suspect a lot of people will disagree with me.

I've been hearing my whole life how good the food is on a cruise and how bountiful it is. I have had the impression that you could just eat yourself to death on a cruise. And real good grub too. I've pictured morbidly obese couples picking from mountains of food on buffet tables.

The food on the Disney Cruise is pretty good and you won't go hungry. But it's not the end of the world that people make it out to be. I'm not interested in eating myself into a coma. I try to eat like a normal human, although I do splurge on vacation. However, there comes a point of diminishing returns, at least for me. A second steak is just not appealing to me.

The three dining rooms have very good food. Some dishes are better than others. They will bring you more of anything you want. In Disney style they will cater to your allergic needs. The waiters are attentive and fast. But let's face it. They feed 4,000 dinners a day. It's an assembly line. It's pretty good for what it is though.

The dining rooms are very pretty, especially Animator's Palette.

Cabanas is the all day restaurant/buffet. It's like a mid-level Vegas buffet. Some items were good, some were not. It always seemed crowded. It's a safe bet for breakfast. It's nice if you can score a table on the deck with a nice view. But again- nothing great.

The food around the pool was OK. I had a burger, hotdog and Chili. The ice cream was passable but it wasn't Kohr Bros.

I was all excited about Palo. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed myself at Palo and the food and service were good. But there are restaurants within walking distance of my house with better food than Palo. They are just not at sea and don't put on the airs.

The food in the CL was very good. Small plates, but very well done.

My summary of the food experience is that it is very good. It just wasn't outstanding and memorable as I thought it would be.

The Enchanted Garden

Chocolate Souffle

Some kind of cheesecake

Animator's Palette- Hi Crush!

Creme Brulee

Those are our servers on the last night of the cruise. You can see they are trolling for tips as there are five desserts in front of us. They were good guys. I took good care of them{wink}.

I didn't try Remy. If I'm ever on the Dream again, I will.

I just tried to book a tour at Disneyland, "In Walt's Footsteps", where they take you in Walt's apartment above the firehouse. But guess what? Walt's apartment is closed for refurbishment. Damn!

So that was the cruise. I'm sure I left a lot out, like the tour of the ship we took, my wife's visit to the spa and the safety drill stuff. As concierge guests, we were escorted off by our host with no hassles, and we found our luggage in 10 seconds and we were on the bus in five minutes for our two hour bus ride to VGF.

Cruising was better than I thought. I'll probably do it again someday. It's fun being on a boat, going to sleep and waking up in a new place. You really don't experience the sea. It's like looking at the ocean from a skyscraper. They really pamper you and cater to you like royalty. I like that part. I'm thinking a cruise may be really great for New Year's Eve. I'm sure they jack the price way up for that.

It was a fun experience and I'm glad I did it.

Next up Villas at Grand Floridian.

We all know how beautiful Villas at Grand Floridan is. I booked a 1BR lake view for me and Mrs. Col and I was psyched for it. Such a large, luxurious room after the confines of the cruise cabin. But what I didn't know is that Disney had given us a special room. My room had feces smeared all over the toilet tank and sunflower seeds all over the sofa in the living room. How glamorous!

After we almost threw up, had a fit with the concierge and mouse keeping and eventually got things squared away it was very nice. But it makes you wonder what the hell mouse keeping is up to.

We all know how beautiful Villas at Grand Floridan is. I booked a 1BR lake view for me and Mrs. Col and I was psyched for it. Such a large, luxurious room after the confines of the cruise cabin. But what I didn't know is that Disney had given us a special room. My room had feces smeared all over the toilet tank and sunflower seeds all over the sofa in the living room. How glamorous!

After we almost threw up, had a fit with the concierge and mouse keeping and eventually got things squared away it was very nice. But it makes you wonder what the hell mouse keeping is up to.

The room after it was sanitized for our protection. The penguins were in the lobby.

Yeah you can imagine. Anyway, disney screws up but they usually make it better. They sent up a team and we went to MK for a few hours. After that we probably had the cleanest room in Disney.

But that's not the way to run your flagship hotel.

While we were waiting for our room to be decrapped, we went to MK and we got to see the FoF Parade for the first time.

Nice crane!

I was surprised to see her there too

The obligatory fire-breathing shots

I liked it. I like some new things. But not the lumberjack fiasco.

They "plussed" my room. If you notice on online check-in, under special room requests, you can ask for a room without feces.

some other MK photos

he called out, "stay beautiful girls"- funny

I had previously done the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which was pretty good. You get to go backstage and in the utilidor. I did the Marcelline to Magic Kingdom Tour this trip. We were supposed to go backstage on Haunted Mansion- couldn't do it closed. We rode IASW and Winnie the Pooh. Oh, it was a total snooze fest. I really couldn't wait for it to end. I don't remember a thing the tour guide said. No new information. I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast and I was totally hangry. And it was unbearably hot. I almost jumped ship. At least it wasn't that expensive.

Victoria and Albert. Very good food. Very Nice decor. Very good service. Very small portions. Very, very big bill. We ate in the main dining room mainly because I didn't think I could last four plus hours sitting there eating. But they could have brought food all night and I would have stayed.

I have to admit, at one point I was so very, very happy. In sort of a food orgiastic bliss. You say out loud, "oh my God, that is so good". I never knew I liked duck so much. And with the leeks...perfect. I didn't even know I like Port. Everything was good.

I did the wine pairing and plussed the meal with the Japanese Kobe AND the Japanese Wagyu beef, so the bill was stratospheric.

They give all the ladies a rose. Pretty sexist if you ask me- I wonder if they would have given me one if I asked. Probably one per table or something. Anyway the payor of the bill should get the rose. And a tissue to cry in.

And they give you a little loaf of bread and send you on your way. Happy, content, and a little poorer than you arrived.

Yes, I'm pregnant, but it's a food baby. I'm gonna name it Victoria or Albert. I'm just gonna take this rose and loaf of fancy bread and go pass out somewhere. KTHXBAI