Disney Christmas: Day 3 of 8

Derek woke up early, as usual, and said there were giraffes outside our balcony, but there was nothing there when we got up

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Derek tries to wake the baby

I just love the big lobby

These people found a quiet corner around the fire pit. I told Helen I just wanted to stay up all night and hang out in the lobby.

We ate breakfast at the cafe and sampled some of the African offerings

I love seeing all the little girls in their princess costumes. If they could ever figure out how to get the boys to dress up they would really have something.

She's cute but I'm not so sure Wonder Woman is a Disney character

The boys wanted to do this animal tracking activity before we checked out. The worker hid a stuffed animal that had a beacon in it and the boys used an audio tracking device to locate the animal.

Helen tries to get a closer look at some of the animals with the binoculars

Another bead earned

We drove east about an hour to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Dream

We all got so excited when we got our first glimpse of the ship in the distance

Checking in at the cruise ship terminal

Boarding the ship through the Mickey ears

I went with Derek to check out the "tween" club while Helen and Adam checked out the kids club. There were so many things to do.

The first of many buffet visits

We loved all the art work around the ship

Lined up for the mandatory safety drill

The big cast off party

The workers come out of the cruise terminal with Mickey hands waving

We went to the theater to see "Real Steel"

Helen and I left the movie to see the "Golden Mickeys" show, but the boys wanted to finish the movie. It was our first taste of what was to become the norm on the cruise - the kids going their own way. Helen was not prepared and is still recovering. I thought it was great. 

When we returned to our room, we found that our room hostess had gotten the boys beds ready. We thought we were going to have to figure out how to pull out the sofa, but the hostess took care of it. We didn't realize that the top bunk folded into the ceiling. It was nice that the hostess took care of putting up the bunks each morning and getting them ready each evening.

Our hostess, Suzanne, was really nice and engaging. She left towel art and chocolates for us each evening.

There are 3 formal dinner restaurants and you rotate to a different one each evening. We were assigned to the Enchanted Garden the first night.

At first the portions seemed a little foo foo to us, but we quickly learned with all the eating to appreciate the smaller servings. You can always request more. Sometimes we couldn't make up our mind on an appetizer or a dessert and they would just bring them all.

Helen's sea bass dish was the best entree on our trip

Helen is a coffee drinker but not me. It seems so involved and people always act like they can't function or get on with their day until they've completed their coffee routine, which can take hours. I don't like the idea of requiring something (coffee, alcohol, drugs, etc) to change my mood. However, recently I've been getting sucked into the Starbucks holiday coffees as a treat when Helen gets one. They taste good. On the cruise I became a constant coffee drinker. It was so good with dessert and it was so easy and free on the ship. I'm new to the whole routine and I end up just gulping it down instead of savoring it like Helen does. I finish the Starbucks in a couple minutes and complain that it wasn't worth the money. I'm not so sure I'll turn into a regular drinker but it was fun to dabble.