Disney Cruise Part 1: Days at Sea.

I have re-started this post probably 5 times. Blogging about big things, like trips, has always stressed me out a bit. I just don't want to bore people to death, but at the same time I want to remember EVERY little thing. And then there's the TIME that these posts take. Hours and hours. But I have to remember it's worth it and remember WHY I blog in the first place. It's really not for anyone but ME and my future kids. So, I'm not going to worry about being too boring or too wordy... I'm just going to write what I want. So there! :)

This vacation was honestly my dream. Landon and I have always loved Disneyland and anything Disney and of course we are big cruisers too, so naturally a Disney cruise was on our bucket list. My only regret is not having our kids with us. Landon likes to remind me we don't have any kids, and of course I know this (I'm not THAT crazy), but our future kids should've been on that cruise with us. They would've loved it. So I guess that just means we will have to go again :)

So we left on Thanksgiving morning to fly to Texas. I will blog about our amazing time we had in Texas too, but that will be a separate post. We had SO much fun. But for now, fast forward to Saturday morning... Tanner (Landon's brother), Daren (Landon's dad), Landon, and I made the 5 hour drive from Dallas to Galveston. When we finally got there and saw the beautiful boat, my heart was just pounding. I couldn't believe I was really going on a Disney cruise! It all felt SO unreal.

We went through check-in and security and everyone at the port was wearing Mickey gloves on their hands and our room keys had Captain Mickey on them. I knew right then that this cruise was going to be even more magical than I originally thought--and we weren't even on the boat yet! So we walked across the gangway and there were people at the entrance who asked for our last name. Next thing we know we hear, "Disney Wonder welcomes the Richins family!" as we walked into the atrium. Disney sure knows how to make you feel special! :)

The Atrium and the welcome team. Can you spot Ariel?

The first thing we did was eat of course and then we explored the boat. I was freaking out because of all the little details and that Mickey is EVERYWHERE. Plus, Disney music classics were playing 24/7 all over the ship. My favorite! Even on the last day, I was still finding little things I hadn't noticed before. I will let the pictures do most of the talking :)

Thanks for showing me how to put on my life vest Mickey!! Isn't that the cutest thing?! He was just everywhere. 

a cute "Happy Anniversary" card was waiting in our stateroom when we arrived :)

Are you kidding me?! Ah, I still can't get over the elevators. Cutest ever.

life size Gingerbread house.

I took this picture on the first day and walked past this pool every day. On the second to last day I noticed it was shaped like Mickey. I'm just really observant like that.

the "adult only" pool. VERY nice to have on a cruise with a bazillion kids!

After exploring we played foosball. Oh man, we got GOOD by the end of the cruise. We played a lot of foosball. And then there was the "Sail Away Celebration" deck party. Disney also knows how to do parties! Of course I teared up a bit seeing Captain Mickey. I'm such a spaz!

can't you just FEEL the intensity? These games really got crazy :)

I really like him.

For dinner, we had the early dining time (5:45). The Disney Wonder has three main dining rooms and has a rotating dinner schedule so you get to eat at all of the different restaurants. At first I was upset because I like to have the same servers and form a relationship with them, but then I found out that they rotate with you. Yay! Our main server was Patrik from Poland and his assistant was Antonio from Portugual. We really liked them. The best part about dinner was learning that the kids' menu had Mickey Bars for dessert. What?! Best.dessert.ever.

After dinner we went to the "Welcome Aboard" show in the big Walt Disney Theater. Disney Cruise has the best entertainment, hands down, out of any of the cruise lines we've been on (Holland, Princess, Norwegian, and Carnival). They're "Broadway" style so everything is just done so well. The last number of the show was Lumiere and Cogsworth singing Be My Guest. And of course Mickey made an appearance. I teared up for the second time that day. I couldn't help it, it was just so magical.

We went back to our staterooms, ordered room service, and watched one of the Disney movies that played constantly on our TV (I think we watched Lady and the Tramp). It was a perfect day!

Day 2 was a day at sea! We were so happy to be leaving the yucky, cold weather of Texas and heading south to the warmth! We spent most of the day relaxing, playing foosball, and of course--eating. It was so fun walking around the ship and seeing the character meet and greets in the atrium. The characters were everywhere! I saw WAY more characters on the ship than I have in all my times at Disneyland combined!

Oh hi Captain Mickey! 

After breakfast we went to Thor 3D in the Buena Vista theater (a smaller theater just for watching movies, not shows). It was an okay movie, but I really don't like to see movies in 3D. It makes me so dizzy. 

In the afternoon we went to an animation class and learned how to draw Captain Mickey with Raf. It was so fun--but Mickey's body looked a little off :)

Raf, or Rich and Famous, as he liked to call himself :)

After a yummy dinner (formal night!), we went to the Walt Disney Theater for the show, "The Golden Mickeys." They had a red carpet out and it was supposed to be kind of like the Oscars. It was a Broadway style show and was just amazing! The quality of entertainment is SO good--amazing actors, singers, dancers, special effects, and the sets are INCREDIBLE. They gave "Golden Mickeys" to different Disney movies--Snow White for being the first full length animated movie, Mulan and Quasimodo for being heroes, Tarzan for adventure, Toy Story characters for friendship, Cruella de Ville and Ursula for being villains, and Pocahontas and Sleeping Beauty for romance. For each of the people I listed, they would come out and do a performance using the songs from the movies. It was MAGICAL. And of course Mickey came and his friends came out at the end :)

image via 

Day 3 was another day at sea and the weather was finally WARM! Landon and I slept in SO late and Daren actually had to call us at 9:30 to wake us up or I think we would've slept the day away! We went to breakfast and then saw Monsters University in the Buena Vista movie theater. We also went to Jeff the Jugglers show in a small club and then took a two hour nap after lunch. I LOVE days at sea because it forces you to relax!

At dinner our servers came by after our meal to give us our anniversary dessert and sing to us. It was sooo cute! They sang Happy Anniversary to you, KISS! Happy Anniversary to you, KISS! To the tune of Happy Birthday. It was so cute! Landon and I were a little confused at first, so we missed the first couple of kisses :) they also gave us two pins each--one said Happy Anniversary and the other said Happily Ever After. Made my whole day! 

do you see Mickey?!

Happiest four years.

For the big show in the Walt Disney Theater they showed the movie Frozen, but we decided we didn't want to watch it with 500 kids so we stayed up late and watched it at 10:30 in the smaller theater. I LOVED it and thought it was so cute--but the boys weren't in love with it. Oh well, we still had fun! :)

Next up.... Our days at port! Stay tuned :)