Dodie
<font color=green>Survived the big crash<br><font
- Joined
- Nov 10, 1999
DH and I are 40-years-old with no children. We have been to WDW multiple times in the past 9 years and were ready for something different. We decided on the 7-night Disney cruise and were not disappointed. However, I will try to be honest in my report sharing the good and the bad.
Part 1: Pre-cruise day at the Dolphin and Epcot
We arrived at MCO at about 11:30 a.m., signed for our one-way Avis rental car at the counter with absolutely no hassles, and picked it up in the parking garage across the street.
We were registering at the Dolphin by 12:15! Unfortunately, the king-bed non-smoking room we had requested was not available at this time. Not wanting to waste a minute of precious Epcot time, we took an alternate room which was available. It was a double double-bed room with a balcony and a view of the pool and Disney MGM Studios. Special thanks to everyone who helped us get this one-night pre-cruise rate and a room with a view, but I have to be totally honest. We were simply not impressed with the Dolphin. Our room was a little worse for wear and a smelly tray of left-over room service remained outside a door down the hall (which we had to pass multiple times) for the entire 22 hours we were there. The public areas were nice and the proximity to Epcot and the Boardwalk was a nice plus. Maybe if wed been there more than one night it would have grown on us.
At about 1:00, we went straight to Epcot and started to hit our favorite sites. By 3:00 we knew we had made a mistake by not resting a little bit first. We had gotten up at about 4:30 a.m. for our morning flight and it had begun to take its toll. We went back to the Dolphin for a quick catnap and hit the parks again at about 5:00 p.m. We had dinner at the counter service restaurant outside of the Mexico pavillion and then walked around the lagoon until 8:00, when we headed over to the Boardwalk to meet up with the kind couple who had agreed to share their IllumiNations Cruise with us (arranged through these boards by the way). I would highly recommend this Illuminations Cruise. It was a lovely night and the view of the lagoon was beautiful. It was their wedding anniversary, so there was cake and soda for everyone.
We wandered through the Boardwalk for awhile and then hit the Dolphin for our last night on dry land, LOL!
More to come
Part 2: Departure day at last!
Part 1: Pre-cruise day at the Dolphin and Epcot
We arrived at MCO at about 11:30 a.m., signed for our one-way Avis rental car at the counter with absolutely no hassles, and picked it up in the parking garage across the street.
We were registering at the Dolphin by 12:15! Unfortunately, the king-bed non-smoking room we had requested was not available at this time. Not wanting to waste a minute of precious Epcot time, we took an alternate room which was available. It was a double double-bed room with a balcony and a view of the pool and Disney MGM Studios. Special thanks to everyone who helped us get this one-night pre-cruise rate and a room with a view, but I have to be totally honest. We were simply not impressed with the Dolphin. Our room was a little worse for wear and a smelly tray of left-over room service remained outside a door down the hall (which we had to pass multiple times) for the entire 22 hours we were there. The public areas were nice and the proximity to Epcot and the Boardwalk was a nice plus. Maybe if wed been there more than one night it would have grown on us.
At about 1:00, we went straight to Epcot and started to hit our favorite sites. By 3:00 we knew we had made a mistake by not resting a little bit first. We had gotten up at about 4:30 a.m. for our morning flight and it had begun to take its toll. We went back to the Dolphin for a quick catnap and hit the parks again at about 5:00 p.m. We had dinner at the counter service restaurant outside of the Mexico pavillion and then walked around the lagoon until 8:00, when we headed over to the Boardwalk to meet up with the kind couple who had agreed to share their IllumiNations Cruise with us (arranged through these boards by the way). I would highly recommend this Illuminations Cruise. It was a lovely night and the view of the lagoon was beautiful. It was their wedding anniversary, so there was cake and soda for everyone.
We wandered through the Boardwalk for awhile and then hit the Dolphin for our last night on dry land, LOL!
More to come
Part 2: Departure day at last!
