10th Anniversary Vacay - Day 2 Boarding the Disney Fantasy

When I left off with our recent Disney adventure, we had ended our travel day which also included a full day at Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

For recaps of our trip (which will be updated as the posts are written), check out the links below:

• Day 1 Animal Kingdom and Epcot & VLOG
• Day 2 Boarding the Disney Fantasy & VLOG
• Day 3 Day at Sea with Remy Brunch & VLOG
• Day 4 Cozumel & Chichen Itza & VLOG
• Day 5 - Grand Cayman & Sting Ray City & VLOG
• Day 6 - Jamaica & Ziplining & VLOG
• Day 7 - Second Day at Sea with Palo Brunch & VLOG
• Day 8 - Castaway Cay Day & VLOG

The first thing I noticed when I woke up that morning was the countdown on my Disney Cruise Line app! After so long, I couldn't believe it was finally here!

We'd received a letter the previous night, asking to have our luggage ready to go by 8 a.m. (a bellhop was there promptly at 8 a.m.) and pickup for ourselves was set for 11:30 a.m. I had no intention of waking up before 8 a.m., so I packed as much as possible the night before and just let the bellhop take my luggage when he arrived. Everything else (like PJ's and my toothbrush) was shoved into my carry on bag instead!

After getting ready, we made our way over to the temporary setup at Caribbean Beach for breakfast.

I'd honestly forgotten about the extent of the construction here, so I was surprised by the breakfast setup.

The fact that food was being served out of food trucks and a temporary tent kind of shocked me but as expected, Disney had the flow going well and all went smooth!

There were a few options for breakfast - menu items which were served out of the food truck and a breakfast buffet which was served inside the temporary tent.

For the space provided and what they had to work with, Disney did a good job continuing along with the Caribbean Beach style themeing.

After breakfast, we walked around the resort for a few minutes to snap a few pictures, then we headed back to our room to pick up our carry on bags.

Here's where my qualms with Caribbean Beach resort came into play. We left our room around 10:45 for the bus stop. There, we had to wait on the internal bus for the lobby. Although there was a bus times board behind us, it did not include a time for the internal bus, so we had no idea when it would arrive. We seriously sat for a good 35 minutes waiting on the internal resort bus and made it to the lobby with minutes to spare. The fact that I couldn't simply walk to the lobby myself kind of irritated me and I could see how having a private vehicle for a vacation stay here would be helpful.

The Disney Cruise Line bus pulled up at our resort just moments after we arrived at the lobby (perfect timing)!

 It didn't take long to drive to the port as DCL kept us entertained the entire way with a video and trivia.

Before long, the Fantasy was in view and everyone on the bus was beyond overjoyed!

We breezed through security and quickly made our way through the Castaway Club check-in line!

After checking in, we noticed that the line for Captain Mickey wasn't terribly long, so we decided to join in! This quickly became one of my favorite photos from our trip!

By the time we finished with our picture, we were able to board the ship!

Another favorite from each cruise is our boarding photo. I'm kinda obsessive about coordinating our looks! :)

Not long after boarding the ship, we went upstairs to talk to someone about purchasing an internet package for our cruise in order to keep up on the occasion with Brayden back home. We decided to go with the medium package which was $40 for 300MB and setup was super easy (all online).

We waited a few moments for our friends to board the ship, then we headed to Cabanas for lunch!

Our lunch was delicious as always and we didn't leave disappointed!

By the time we finished eating, our room was ready so we walked over to check it out!

We didn't stay in our room long because we had the emergency drill to attend followed by the Sail Away Party.

Hearing the ship's horn for the first time is seriously one of my favorite parts of our Disney cruise vacations!

We also spent a little time checking out the Halloween tree as this was our first Halloween on the High Seas cruise!

Being on the second dining rotation meant that we had to watch the evening show before dinner. This night's show was Aladdin and it happened to be playing two nights in a row on our cruise! 

In between Aladdin and dinner, we listened to the story teller inside the main lobby as this was one of the special Halloween events taking place during our cruise.

 
Dinner on our first evening was in Enchanted Garden and we were happy to see that our table was just a four person table. Although we enjoy meeting other couples and fellow travelers, we were looking forward to spending time with our friends as we only get to see them while on vacation! 

Dinner and dessert was delicious as always!

I love the atmosphere inside this restaurant and I think it's one of the coolest restaurants on the ship!

After dinner, we played Disney Tunes Trivia and for the first time ever, WE WON!

Yes ladies and gents, we became the proud owners of two Disney Cruise Line key chains!

...and with that, our first day on the Disney Fantasy had come to a close! We had an amazing day and enjoyed spending time with our friends!

Stay tuned for more from our Western Caribbean itinerary including Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Castaway Cay!