August 2011 Trip Report, Day 4

Since our cruise was a "double dip" cruise, we visited Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, twice!  August 17 was our first visit, though the weather wasn't ideal.  It was raining in the morning, and it rained a bit while we were on the beach too.

We woke up that morning and ate breakfast at Cabanas, the buffet on the Dream.  As I mentioned in the last installment of the trip report, I love buffets, and Cabanas did not disappoint!  After eating, we got ready and headed onto the island.  It wasn't as hot on Castaway Cay on this day because of the rain.  Conveniently, there is a tram that takes you around the island, so we took it to Serenity Bay, the adult only beach.

For those of you who have never been to Castaway Cay (and you must!), there are quite a few different beaches.  First there is a large family beach, with two water playgrounds.  Then there is a kid's only beach, where parents can check-in and check-out their children, as if it was the kid's club on the ship.  There is a teen beach where kids ages 14 to 17 can hang out with their peers.  (Note that neither the kid-only nor teen-only beaches are actually on the water.  Both are set back on the island.)  And finally, there is Serenity Bay, the adult only beach.  And Serenity Bay is awesome!

We spent the late morning and early afternoon on the beach, and soon we were ready for lunch.  There are three places to eat on Castaway Cay: Cookies and Cookies Too on the family beach and the Serenity Bay BBQ on the adult beach.  All three are barbecue, though they have slightly different choices.  At Serenity Bay, there was a buffet featuring burgers, hot dogs, some type of fish (Mahi Mahi?), steak, chicken, and ribs.  In addition, there were various salads, fruits, and desserts to choose from.  I enjoy the barbecue on the island, and I was very happy with my meal.

A lovely candid shot of me at the animation class

After eating, we headed back to the Dream to shower, and then we just hung around the ship until it was time for dinner.  One thing we did before dinner was go to an animation class in D Lounge, the family lounge on board. Our instructor taught us how to draw Mickey Mouse, and although I don't have a picture of my drawing, you can take my word that it was great.  Soon after the class ended, it was time to head to Enchanted Garden for dinner.

Enchanted Garden menu

Dinner at Enchanted Garden was delicious, as it was at every restaurant on the Dream.  Again, I may do a full review on the various restaurants on the ship, so look for that in the future.  After dinner, we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre for the first Disney stage show of the cruise: Villains Tonight!  Although not everyone in our group enjoyed it, I actually really liked Villains Tonight!  I thought it was funny, and I liked it much more than the Hercules and Toy Story shows that I have seen on the other two ships.  If I went on another ship where they were showing Villains Tonight!, I would very likely want to see it again.  It appears that currently, this show is playing on the Disney Dream and Disney Magic.

Again, I can't remember the exact details of what we did that night, but each night we did much of the same things.  We either attended any events or activities, such as the night we saw the adults-only Newlywed Show type event, we walked around and explored the ship, or we hung out in the various bars and clubs in The District.  It wasn't terribly sad leaving Castaway Cay, knowing we'd be back in just a few days.  Tomorrow, however, would be a day at sea.