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| Key to the World Card |
Day one of our cruise. We get to the port a little before 11 AM and go quickly through check-in. Most of our paperwork was done online at home before we left.
I would advise you to wait to get a bracelet for your children for the clubs after you get on board. The lines are normally much shorter.
When you arrive at the terminal you are given a boarding group number. When your group number is called you can board the ship. One of the fun things about boarding the Disney ships is they announce your family to everyone as you get on the ship.
The cabins are not available until around 1:30 PM. When you get on the ship you can go to the buffet by the pool, grab a burger, pizza or sandwich, or go down to the Enchanted Garden on Deck 2. We opted for the Enchanted Garden since we had such a big group and had no problem finding seating for all 20 of us together. The buffet was nice and the Enchanted Garden is away from the chaos of everyone eating at once.
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| This is the ticket in your cabin that will tell you about your dining rotation. |
After a nice lunch it was time to go to our cabin and get unpacked. Since we parked on level 3 of the garage and didn't check our bags we had everything with us. It didn't take that long to get everything ready for the four night cruise - a much different experience from our eleven night cruise last Christmas.
In our stateroom we had a ticket with our dining information on it and a Personal Navigator for the day. As you can see, there is more to do than there is time, so pick out a few 'must do's' and make sure you plan a bit of relaxation too!
The ship was decorated for Christmas. There was a large, great smelling gingerbread house in the main lobby.
The lifeboat drill was the nicest we have ever had. On the Dream you do not need to take/wear your life jacket. Our group met in the Walt Disney Theatre and it was quite comfortable to go through what to do in case of emergency.
After the drill it was time for the sail away party. This is another way Disney sets the mood for a great cruise. There are streamers, dancing, and a family friendly party atmosphere. The characters make their appearance in the show and a good time is had by all. We ran into the characters in the hallway on the way to the party - I love starting out the cruise with character encounters!
We enjoyed exploring the ship. The children's areas were amazing! I have included videos of the hand washing stations. I need these at home! There was a mini golf area, ping pong, shuffle board, a video interactive sports simulator, and all kinds of other fun things to do. By the way, all of those things are free!
We had late seating for dinner, which means we get to see the shows earlier. My kids LOVE the shows on the Disney ships so it is nice for them to still be awake during our show time. The other great thing about late seating is Dine and Play where the youth workers come and get your kids halfway through dinner so they can go play while you have a nice adult dinner after a bit of family time.
I was really looking forward to the new Animator's Palate. Although I enjoy the one on the Magic, the Dream has an interactive show with Nemo and friends. It was a lot of fun to watch and incredible technology. During your meal different characters swim by and the school of fish have a guess the formation game going periodically. Crush was very cute and funny.
We really enjoyed the experience and had a great wait staff! I really enjoyed my first day and night on the Dream. It was as wonderful as I anticipated it to be!
Due to the success of a pilot program on Disney Magic® and positive feedback from Guests, Disney Cruise Line® is introducing the auto-application of gratuities on all Disney ships. 
