Fantastic Voyage (Leonard Rosenman, 1966): Leonard Rosenman provides a moody and often dissonant, but also sometimes melodic and thematic, score for the popular science fiction adventure about a team of miniaturized scientists exploring he innards of the human body.  It is an unusual and experimental score, but also distinctive and effective.

The melodic aspects of the scores are primarily built around a haunting and evocative central theme.  The theme is fairly short, primarily characterized by a short fanfare-type motif, although its statement usually leads to fairly dissonant and, at times, atonal material.  The score finally goes fully-melodic, and becomes recognizably Rosenman’s style, during the dramatic finale cue, entitled “Optic Nerve/End Cast”.

The soundtrack CD opens very strangely, with a minute and a half “Main Title Sound Effects Suite”, which is exactly what the title suggests.  It includes a variety of beeps, buzzes, clicks, and electronic hums with no melody involved.  The early part of the film (up until the scientists first enter the body) was left unscored, so this sound effects suite is representative of the opening of the film.

Film Score Monthly released a CD of the score back in 1998, the first release separate from the film.  This is a complete presentation with a running time of a little over 45 minutes.  The CD is out-of-print and is now a bit expensive, but not difficult, to locate.

Far and Away (John Williams, 1992): While the film was not a big hit and the score isn’t extremely well-known to the mainstream public, John Williams’ music to Ron Howard’s 70mm epic Far and Away has become a favorite of film music enthusiasts and is frequently featured at Williams’ live concerts. The epic scope of the film provided Williams with an opportunity to showcase a wide range of highly-thematic material, including Irish/Celtic flavored melodies, western-tinged Americana, and rousing action cues.  The result is one Williams’ richest and most diverse scores.

The film’s focus on the relationship (and romance) between Irish immigrants played by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman made the use of Irish-influenced melodies an obvious choice that Williams certainly embraced.  The first cue on the soundtrack, “County Galway, June 1892” establishes the main theme, which incorporates bagpipes along with the orchestra and is both distinctly ethnic and also an example of Williams’ strong gift for rich, thematic melody.  As the film transitions into American settings, the more ethnic elements of the theme are pushed more into the background in favor of a distinctively Americana orchestral flavor.

The strength of the main theme from Far and Away, which isn’t fully dependent on the Irish arrangements, led to a very effective violin arrangement of the theme that Williams arranged for the “Cinematic Serenade” album that he did with Yo Yo Ma, and which is now a frequent showcase for the lead violin player at some of Williams’ live concerts.

The ethnic components of the score are further strengthened through the participation of the popular Irish band The Chieftains on several of the scores cues.  On the soundtrack, these are the cues “The Fighting Donellys”, “Fighting for Dough” and portions of the end credits suite.  Their energetic strings and percussion are expertly blended with the orchestra. 

Williams provides some exuberant, orchestral action music in such cues as the rich, string-centered “Blowing Off Steam”, “Fighting for Dough”, and “The Big Match”.  Williams sticks with grand, very melodic material for the action segments of the score, eventually culminating in the absolutely thrilling 5 minute cue “The Land Race”, which is one of the score’s highlights. 

The score also features richly dramatic components, including the cue “Am I Beautiful”, which is highlighted by an especially effective piano rendition of the score’s central theme.  Another distinctive, quietly dramatic cue is “Inside the Mansion”, where Williams mixes tender strings with bell-like piano to create an almost dreamlike quality to the music, eventually leading into another tender piano rendition of the theme.  This cue then transitions into the more darkly-dramatic “Shannon is Shot”.

In addition to Williams’ music, the soundtrack album also contains the song “Book of Days”, written for the film and performed by Enya.  I admit that I tend to find that Enya’s songs all sound fairly interchangeable to me, although I generally find them pleasant enough.  I do like this song and it blends in fairly well with the score.  The song’s presentation on the album is between the film’s finale music and Williams’ end credits suite, but it doesn’t really feel out of place.

The soundtrack album to Far and Away isn’t a complete presentation of the score and isn’t entirely chronological, but it perhaps one of the best arguments out there in favor of an album arrangement over a complete and chronological release.  The listening experience on the album (which runs just under an hour and ten minutes) is simply superb, with expertly edited cues and transitions. While I would likely purchase an expanded release, I am also pretty sure that I would both retain and still frequently play the original album.

Far from Heaven (Elmer Bernstein, 2002): Far from Heaven has the bittersweet distinction of carrying Elmer Bernstein’s final score for a feature film.  The film was designed to closely resemble a 1950s melodrama, meaning that Bernstein ended his career with a score that was designed to resemble the style he employed with his earliest scores.  It is a fitting and distinguished ending to an impressive career.

As expected with its Golden Age roots, the score is orchestral with a lushly melodic approach.  Piano greatly dominates, with the score’s main theme introduced via solo piano in the opening cue, “Autumn In Connecticut”.  The full orchestra joins in later in the cue, bringing an attention-grabbing fullness to the presentation.

For some cues, Bernstein focuses on a smaller range of instruments, particularly piano and solo strings, in order to give the score a subtlety jazzy feel at times.  The cue “Prowl” is a good example of this, with music that is actually fairly evocative of the cue’s title.  A solo saxophone features prominently in the cue “Cathy and Raymond Dance”, another strongly jazz-influenced piece.  This aspect of the score stands out next to the more lush style of the rest of the music, and does lend it a certain period authenticity.

While I find the score to be a very pleasant one that works well as a bookend to Bernstein’s career, this is a case where I haven’t seen the film itself and feel that to be something of a disadvantage to the evaluation of the score.  The period nature of the score leads me to expect a lot of significance to how well it actually works in the context of the film.  This is a movie I probably should try to see at some point in order to better understand what Bernstein accomplished.

Farewell My Lovely (David Shire, 1975): David Shire composed a very melodic, jazz-oriented score for this mid-70s Philip Marlowe detective film.  The score is largely horn and piano centric, built around a distinctive principal melody, introduced in the soundtrack’s opening cue and incorporated liberally throughout the rest of the score. 

Shire also provides some darker suspense cues as well as some lively action music, both of which are particularly well-represented in the cue “Amthor’s Place”, one of the score’s highlights.  The score also includes some more song-like melodies, including the full-borne, swing-style  “Mrs. Floridian Takes the Full Count” and the lively, jazzy “Three Mile Limited”, which has some great solo horn playing.

An original soundtrack LP was issued at the time of the film’s original release.  The album was arranged by Shire into a very pleasing listening experience, which Film Score Monthly retained for their 2002 CD release, which also added one additional, previously-unreleased cue.  Due to the relatively short (about 33 minutes) running time of the score, it is paired on the CD with Shire’s score to Monkey Shines.

The Fastest Gun Alive (André Previn, 1956): While André Previn is very well known as a composer, conductor, and songwriter, his compositions for film during the 1950s and 1960s are not as widely familiar.  For the western The Fastest Gun Alive, Previn provided a robust and exciting action score.

The soundtrack opens with a “Main Title” cue that is dominated by majestic brassy fanfares lending the theme a nobly heroic quality.  These form a main theme that dominates much of the score, sometimes presented in brass but also very effectively in string arrangements.  The score also features a highly-melodic, string-focused love theme.  Both themes have an Americana quality that fits well with the western setting.

Film Score Monthly released the score on CD in 2004, paired with Previn’s score to House of Numbers.

Father of the Bride (Alan Silvestri, 1991): While Alan Silvestri is best known for big action-adventure scores, he has also contributed a number of strong and effective scores in the comedy genre.  One of the best of these was for the Steve Martin re-make of the classic romantic comedy, Father of the Bride.

The score is highly melodic, with a mix of grand, ceremonial themes, more tender, emotional segments, as well as some lively comic scoring.  For the score’s most prominent theme, introduced right at the beginning in the “Main Title” cue, Silvestri deftly incorporates the initial fanfare from Mendelssohn’s familiar wedding march, transitioning into a sweeping original melody.  This theme serves as the main emotional anchor to the score, reappearing in more tender arrangements in cues such as “Annie Asleep”.  The excerpts from Mendelssohn’s march also appear pretty regularly in the score, particularly towards the later part of the film as the action turns to the wedding itself.

While the main theme has a classic orchestral sound, the score also includes a number of more pop and jazz oriented cues, often harking back to the electronic scores that dominated the earliest part of Silvestri’s career.  Cues such as “Drive to Brunch” and “Snooping Around” prominently feature a pop styling while “Basketball Kiss” has a jazz style, including a solo saxophone.

The soundtrack album only features about 20 minutes of Silvestri’s score, with the rest of the short (under 30 minutes) album filled out by two performances of the Jerome Kern standard “The Way You Look Tonight” performed by Steve Tyrell (the song is prominently featured in the film) as well as a performance of Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon”.

Father of the Bride Part II (Alan Silvestri, 1995): The sequel to the 1991 version of Father of the Bride received a longer soundtrack album than its predecessor, but the album once again only featured a little over 20 minutes of Alan Silvestri’s score. 

The rest of the album is filled in with another Steve Tyrell performance of “The Way You Look Tonight” (a different arrangement than the versions on the first soundtrack) as well as Tyrell performing “Give Me the Simple Life” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street”.  The album also has familiar recordings of “At Last” by Etta James and “When the Saints Go Marching In” by Fats Domino.

Silvestri’s score revisits the main theme from the original film and introduces a major new “baby” theme, which dominates much of the new material.  Although he wisely avoids the Mendelssohn excerpts (other than briefly in the end credits suite), which wouldn’t really make sense in the context of the second film, serving a similar purpose in this score are very brief bits of Brahms’ lullaby, which fits the sequel’s baby-focused plot. 

At least on the album, the score’s focus is much more on the tender, melodic aspects of the original and less on the pop or jazzy elements, although those aren’t completely absent from the sequel.  Particularly nice is a simple piano melody that is prominently featured during the mid-section of the cue “George Walks”, transitioning into a more fanfare oriented conclusion.

One stand-out score cue is “Remembering Annie (Basketball Montage)”, which features a wordless vocal rendition of the score’s most prominent new theme, performed by musicians Phillip Ingram and Randy Waldman.  It has a wistfully nostalgic tone and is an interesting alternate take on Silvestri’s melody.

Both of the Father of the Bride scores are good ones and the available soundtrack albums are fairly satisfying releases, despite their fairly short length.  I’m not really sure if there would be enough substantially different music in the films to justify expanded releases, although it might make sense to at least repackage the two scores on a single release.

F/X (Bill Conti, 1986): I remember really liking this mid-80s thriller about a special effects artist that gets caught up in real life intrigue, but I also admit that I don’t really remember very much about it.  While Varese Sarabande released a soundtrack LP at the time of the film’s release, I never bought it and the score didn’t particularly stick with me after seeing the film.  As a result, I ended up essentially re-discovering this score with the 2007 Varese Sarabande CD Club release.

Bill Conti provides a moody, vaguely noir-inspired mixed orchestral and electronic score with several melodic main themes as well as fair amount of suspenseful, string-dominated music.  The "Main Title" cue actually opens with a bit of suspense-driven piano and string music before shifting into a brassy, percussive fanfare.  About a minute and a half in, it then transitions into the score’s main theme, which features a string melody overlaid with a repetitive piano motif.

The more melodic aspect of the score first comes into play in the cue "Rollie’s Diversion", which is primarily a piano-driven version of the main theme, although with some strings joining in towards the latter half of the cue.  The theme continues to provide a melodic line throughout the score, although the darker, more-suspenseful music tends to dominate the soundtrack.  Conti does occasionally provide some of the brassy, fanfare type music that is often his trademark.  In addition to the brief fanfare during the main title, the cue "No Loose Ends" also is a very brassy, action-oriented cue and is very recognizably Conti.  Horns are used more sparingly here than in most of Conti’s scores, but that just tends to make them a bit more impacting when they do appear.

The score is primarily orchestral, but Conti does make sparing use of electronics, such as in the cue "The Wrong Hit".  The electronic elements are typically used to ratchet up the suspense a bit.  Another change of pace comes with an extended militaristic drum solo during the late cue "Lipton’s Last Ride".

Fahrenheit 451 (Bernard Herrmann, 1966): The CD that I have of this classic Bernard Herrmann score is not actually the original soundtrack recording.  Instead, it is an excellent re-recording of the score by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, conducted by William Stromberg.  This re-recording was released by Tribute Film Classics in late 2007 and also includes music from Herrman’s score to the "Twilight Zone" TV episode entitled "Walking Distance".  The music from Fahrenheit 451 runs a little over an hour in length and is billed as being complete.

Herrmann’s score uses an interesting mix of fairly light-touch, vaguely fantasy-inspired melodies along with some darker, fairly oppressive music.  The lighter portions are dominated by piano as well as frequent use of xylophone and harp.  The darker material features aggressive, lower-register strings as well as some slower, vaguely-sad melodies.  The two styles of music are often presented side-by-side, reflecting Ray Bradbury’s story’s depiction of a society that is characterized by a surface happiness masking an underlying oppression.

There are some faster paced, action-oriented cues as well.  Herrmann makes especially effective use of very fast paced violins in these segments of the score.  Really good examples of this aspect of the score can be found in the cues "Fire Alarm" and "The Hose".  Occasional bits of xylophone and harp overlaying the strings add an especially appealing bit of color to these cues.  Herrmann also includes some emotional, melodic material, particularly in the later part of the score.  "The Reading" is a particularly emotional cue.

The score is presented as 47, generally very short cues.  The longest cues run a little over 3 minutes while many are well below a minute in length.  Despite this, the score does not seem choppy or disjointed.  The music is arranged so that the cues typically flow cleanly into one another, making for a very effective listening experience.  The large number of cues mainly makes it very easy to connect each bit of music directly to the appropriate part of the film.

Family Plot (John Williams, 1976): Family Plot is an historically significant film as it was the final movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  It is also significant to movie score fans as the score was written by John Williams, the first and only collaborator between arguably the most popular director of the movies’ golden age and arguably the most popular film composer of the modern age.  This collaboration also came at the start of Williams’ rise to fame, sandwiched between his scores for Jaws in 1975 and Star Wars in 1977.  Despite this pedigree, surprisingly the score to Family Plot remained unavailable (except for short excerpts on a few compilation albums) until it was released by the Varese Sarabande CD Club in late 2010.

The score is very recognizably in Williams’ distinctive style.  The album opens with a cue called "The First Séance", which has a mystical sound complete with choir.  It is reminiscent of some of the music that Williams would provide for Close Encounters of the Third Kind a year later and, especially, themes he would write years later for Empire of the Sun and A.I., although those later scores certainly present this style in a more serious light than here.  Williams provides a fairly simple, but distinctive main theme melody which is prominently presented in the second cue,  "Blanche’s Challenge", prominently featuring both harpsichord and synthesizer in order to give it an unusual flavor.

The entire score has a whimsical, offbeat nature to it, although intermixed with Williams usual strong melodies and distinctive brass and strings.  Both the harpsichord and a number of synthesizer elements help to give it this tone.  Williams also occasionally incorporates some dark, crashing piano to further provide a little bit of thematic darkness to the score.  These aspects of the score pre-shadow a style that the composer would more fully develop a decade later with The Witches of Eastwick.

One thing that is interesting about Williams’ one and only score for Hitchcock is that there is really no attempt to really even give a nod to Bernard Herrmann’s iconic scores for Hitchcock’s earlier classics. Just two years later, Williams would jump pretty much full force into his take on that style with his score to Brian DePalma’s The Fury, but the Family Plot score remains much more distinctively Williams’ style.

The CD ends with two bonus tracks.  The first is "Family Plot Theme", which is a pop-instrumental variation on the film’s primary theme.  This was created for a planned soundtrack album that was never released back in 1976.  It definitely has a 70s pop feel to it, but is a reasonably good presentation of the main melody and not an unwelcome addition to the album.  The last cue is a source music cue entitled "The Stonecutter" and it has a jazz/disco style that was very much of its time.  It is fun to hear this somewhat different side of Williams, although at 6 1/2 minutes the cue kind of wears out its welcome.

Varese Sarabande was, unfortunately, only able to locate masters of the score that were somewhat limited in quality.  The material is monaural, although the mixing makes a best effort to create a semi-stereo depth of field to the score.  The result is more flat sounding than other better preserved recordings from the era, although I do believe that they did the best they could with the elements available.  Still, I would consider this CD to be a must for any serious fans of Williams or film music in general.

Fantasia (Various, 1940): For his third animated feature (following Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio), Walt Disney shifted in a markedly experimental direction.  Fantasia used eight familiar works of classical music as accompaniment to animation in order to tell dialog-free stories via the melding of music and visuals.  The result was Disney’s first box-office failure, but one that has ultimately become highly appreciated due to its tremendous artistic merit.

To record the music for Fantasia, Disney teamed up with conductor Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  At the time, Stokowski was among the most popular classical conductors, with a style and personality that helped to bring a lot of public attention to the art of classical music.  Reportedly, he was very instrumental in convincing Disney to take on this project to begin with and was a major collaborator throughout.

As you would expect, the 2-CD soundtrack album to the film contains the recordings used in the film.  The pieces used in the film were Bach’s "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor", Tchaikovsky’s "The Nutcracker Suite",  Paul Dukas’ "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice" (featuring Mickey Mouse in the film’s best known sequence), Stravinsky’s "The Rite of Spring", Beethoven’s Symphony Number 6 ("Pastoral"), Ponchielli’s "Dance of the Hours", Mussorgsky’s "A Night on Bald Mountain", and Schubert’s "Ave Maria".  Of course, some of these are presented as excerpts, particularly "Nutcracker" and Beethoven’s symphony.  The finale’s pairing of "A Night on Bald Mountain" and "Ave Maria" is probably the most striking arrangement for the film.

Certainly, other recordings of every one of these pieces are readily available.  In most cases, one or more recording of each is probably pretty likely to be in most substantial classical music collections.  My own collection contains other recordings of pretty much all of these as well.  The actual recordings from Fantasia certainly do have a personality of their own, though, making the soundtrack a worthwhile purchase for fans of the film.

One notable aspect of Fantasia was that it was the first major motion picture to be recorded in stereo sound.  A specially designed surround sound system called "Fantasound" was installed into theaters showing the film in its initial road show release.  These presentations were the very first time that audiences experienced the kind of dynamic, multi-channel sound that we come to expect in movie theaters today.

Because of this, the music was recorded with extremely active and prominent stereo effects, all of which are reflected on the soundtrack.  This can make the playback of the score a bit disconcerting, particularly through headphones, although it also can be pretty impressive on home surround sound systems.  These stereo effects are definitely a reason why some may prefer other recordings of these pieces, but they also provide the soundtrack an original personality.

In the early 1980s, Disney commissioned a new digital recording of the music under conductor Irwin Kostal.  At the time the original recordings were thought to have aged too badly for an acceptable restoration and Disney felt that they were better off doing a new recording.  This was never well received by purists and even general audiences seemed to have a bit of a sense that something was a bit off.  They reverted to the original recordings with the film’s next re-issue and all subsequent releases.  This re-recording was released on LP at the time of the film’s re-release in the early 1980s and was briefly available on CD in the early 90s. It is somewhat difficult to find now.

Fantasia 2000 (Various, 2000): Walt Disney’s original idea for Fantasia was to regularly update the film for re-issues, replacing some segments with new ones.  After the relatively poor reception of the original film, it took 60 years for a version of that vision to become a reality.  The follow up was first released with great fanfare as an Imax-exclusive on January 1, 2000, serving as Disney’s celebration of the new millennium.  The film featured seven new segments, plus a reprise of "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice."

The new pieces featured in the film were the opening to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Respighi’s "The Pines of Rome", Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue", Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto #2, the finale from Saint-Saens’ "Carnival of the Animals", Elgar’s "Pomp and Circumstances", and Stravinsky’s "Firebird Suite".  Most of the new segments were performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conductor James Levine.  The one exception was "Rhapsody in Blue", which was performed by The Philharmonia Orchestra under Bruce Broughton and featuring soloist Ralph Grierson.

As with the soundtrack for the original film, the Fantasia 2000 soundtrack doesn’t contain any music that can’t be found elsewhere.  In fact, "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice" is the exact same recording that is found on the original Fantasia soundtrack.  Still, these recordings are crisp and lively and are generally top-notch performances of an excellent selection of classical works.  Being newer recordings, these recordings do not have the showy stereophonic effects that were included in the original.  Even the mix on "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice" has been toned down for this version.

Once again, some of the pieces are abbreviated versions of longer works, especially the Beethoven piece which is only the 3 minute introduction to the full symphony.  I certainly would recommend seeking out more complete versions of the works that are abbreviated here, but this is still a fine collection of music.  The original film’s limited popularity (even as its reputation has grown) was often thought to have at least something to do with its length.  As a result, Fantasia 2000 was designed to be a shorter film (by more than 1/2 hour) with each segment generally shorter as well.  The Beethoven segment is only 3 minutes long while the Saint-Saens is only 2 minutes.  This probably was a right decision, as the new film does have a faster pace and is somewhat easier to absorb in one sitting.

Another nod towards accessibility was the use of some selections that are very familiar even to those that otherwise aren’t overly interested in classical music.  This kind of applied with both "Nutcracker Suite" and Beethoven’s "Pastoral" symphony in the first film, but even those may not be as instantly familiar to most as the opening to Beethoven’s 5th, "Rhapsody in Blue", and "Pomp and Circumstances".  The last was an especially interesting choice, since it took a piece widely known in a specific context (graduation ceremonies) and adapted it to a new context (Noah’s Ark) in a generally impressive manner.

Disney released two different versions of the soundtrack CD, a standard version and a collector’s edition (shown above), which was exclusively available at The Disney Store.  The musical contents of both versions is identical, with the collector’s edition coming in fancier packaging.  Some may prefer the standard edition as it comes in a regular jewel case instead of the oddly folding, thin plastic cover used for the collector’s edition.

Fantastic 4 (John Ottman, 2005): John Ottman uses a traditional, predominantly orchestral and choral-based approach to scoring the financially successful but not especially well-regarded adaptation of the Fantastic 4 comic book series.  The result is a very bombastic, typically energetic score.

It is a style that is pretty obviously inspired by John Williams’ landmark Superman score, which Ottman would directly adapt for Superman Returns a year later.  While he obviously didn’t have direct access to Williams’ themes with this score, many of Ottman’s compositions here pretty closely resemble the original music that he would later contribute to the Superman sequel.

The soundtrack opens with a main title march that is rousing, although a bit darkly shaded.  Choral material is mixed in with the central brass and percussion, giving it a touch of added grandeur.  I don’t really find it to be an especially memorable theme, although I have a hard time placing exactly why that is.  It could be that it is just a bit too derivative or it could come from the lack of a memorable film to associate it with.

The score is dominated by very bombastic action scoring, although Ottman does provide a few quieter, nicely-melodic moments.  The main theme of this type is introduced right after the main title in the second cue “Cosmic Storm” and is also particularly well used in the early part of “Changing”.  Some more playful bits figure occasionally, such as in the cue “Unlikely Saviors”.  Even here, the Williams’ influence is pretty evident with some obvious stylistic nods to the theme for Ned Beatty’s Superman character.

The Varese Sarabande soundtrack album for the film runs about 45 minutes and is probably a sufficient representation of this score.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (John Ottman, 2007): The soundtrack to the sequel to Fantastic 4 immediately opens with the “Silver Surfer Theme”, the most prominent new theme introduced in the sequel.  This theme is stylistically very much in keeping with the themes from the first film, with a mix of some march-like bombast with stately, grandiose brass and string melodies.  Its immediate introduction in a concert arrangement right at the start of the CD works well as a quick intro to the most important new element to this score.

The rest of the score largely sounds like an extension of the first film’s score, although electronic elements did seem a bit more prominent this time in cues such as “Chasing the Surfer”.  I generally consider musical consistency in a sequel to be a positive, although this score doesn’t really feel like it expands the material all that much.

I think part of the problem here is that Ottman took a more repetitive approach to the music this time.  There isn’t as much thematic variation, with the new Silver Surfer theme and the main Fantastic 4 theme as the only real stand-outs among a lot of fairly anonymous action scoring.  The new theme is certainly nice, but otherwise there really isn’t much to latch onto with this score.

On the first full day of the cruise, the ship was docked at Nassau, the Bahamas’ capital city.  Our only previous visit to Nassau was during our previous cruise on the Disney Wonder.  On that cruise, we took a shore excursion over to the Atlantis Resort, a popular luxury hotel and casino, which also features an aquarium.  It was fun, but a very touristy spot with little-to-no local color.

This time, we wanted to see a bit more of the city and perhaps get a little more of a taste of the local culture.  When reviewing the offered shore excursions, it was quickly obvious to me that a good choice for us was the one that featured a visit to Ardastra Gardens, which is a local zoo, followed by a bus tour of the city.  This was particularly appealing as the featured attraction at Ardastra Gardens is the "world-famous marching pink flamingos".  Pink flamingos are my wife’s favorite animal, so this sounded like something she would particularly appreciate.

The excursion left the ship at 12:30pm and lasted for about 2 hours, which left us with plenty of time on-board the ship in the morning and the late afternoon and evening.  We wanted to have plenty of time to explore the ship and enjoy its features, so this was about the right length for the excursion.

Breakfast at Cabanas

Cabanas food stations

For breakfast, we decided to try out Cabanas, the buffet restaurant on deck 11.  Cabanas is pretty different from the equivalent restaurants on the Magic and Wonder.  It has a much larger indoor seating area and has also been changed from a traditional cafeteria-style buffet into more of a food court format with stations for different kinds of food.  Another interesting change is that Cabanas is a table-service location during the dinner hour, offering a more casual alternative to the main dining rooms while still serving the same 4-course meals.

At the entrance to the restaurant, greeters were stationed to guide guests to a table and give a brief overview of the available food.  I definitely prefer this approach over being left to find a table on our own. We were taken to a table next to a window and had a really great view during our meal. 

The breakfast offerings were pretty typical for a buffet.  They had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, Mickey-shaped waffles, pancakes, and a variety of fruit, cereal, and pastries.  Drink stations on either end of the restaurant offered juices, coffee, and soda.  I only like eggs that are very well-done and the eggs they had were way too runny for my taste.  Because of this, I mainly stuck with waffles and fruit. I don’t know if they would have prepared some better-cooked eggs for me if I had asked, but they didn’t have a cooked-to-order egg station.

The seagulls from Finding Nemo were perched on a ledge near our table.

The food was pretty decent for this type of buffet and the decor of the restaurant, which is largely inspired by Finding Nemo, is pretty nice.  We actually ended up having our breakfast at Cabanas three of our four mornings on-board the ship.

DVC Member Reception

After our golf game, we decided we really needed to eat a quick lunch before time for our excursion, although we weren’t overly hungry as it hadn’t been that long since lunch.  We decided that the best choice was to grab something quick at the Flo’s Café set of Cars-themed fast food windows on deck 11.  Like most food service options on the ship, the food there is offered at no additional charge.

We first decided to each get a slice of pizza from Luigi’s Pizza.  The available choices here are cheese, pepperoni, BBQ chicken, or vegetarian pizza.  All three of us selected pepperoni.  The slices are relatively small and generally kind of flavorless.  We though they were pretty typical of the fast food pizza found at most Disney theme parks: edible, but not much more.

One slice of pizza was enough for our son, but my wife and I were still a bit hungry and we each decided to get a bratwurst sandwich from Tow Mater Grill.  It has been long enough since I lived in Milwaukee that I now have pretty reasonable expectations when I order a bratwurst and this one wasn’t too bad.  I suspect that this is one of the better choices of the fast food offerings.  That window also offered burgers, chicken strips, chicken sandwiches, and hot dogs as well as fries to go with them.

The other fast food window in this group is Fillmore’s Favorites, which offers various sandwiches, wraps, and salads.  We didn’t try anything from this window, but it looked like a decent selection.  For the most part, I thought the variety of options at the fast food windows was pretty good.  Don’t expect the food quality to be nearly as good as what you can find in the major dining rooms, but it isn’t a bad option when looking for a quick meal or snack.

Coming up next: Ardastra Gardens and City Tour

My wife and I had both paid attention to our share of remembrances, but we hadn’t openly discussed the anniversary around our son.  We also hadn’t had the TV or commercial radio on all day (which is actually pretty normal for a weekend day), so he hadn’t heard or seen any of the coverage either.  The events of September 11, 2001 aren’t currently covered in school for his age group and we hadn’t had previous occasion to discuss them with him, so this was the first time we needed to address the issue. 

I know that we probably could have largely avoided the issue by giving a simplistic answer, such as "It is a day where we recognize American heroes" or something similar to that.  That type of evasive answer somehow felt dishonest, though, so we instead did our best to provide a child-friendly explanation of events that still feel almost entirely inexplicable even to my grown-up mind.  During the conversation, he frequently asked us variations on the question "why?"  We did our best to explain that there really isn’t a good answer to that question.

We weren’t blindsided by the need to address the issue.  It was obviously a possibility that he would see or here some reference to 9/11 around the 10th anniversary and ask us about it.  In fact, it wasn’t really a surprise that his calendar commemorated the day and that was what triggered the question.  For that reason, my wife and I did already have ideas in mind for how to address the subject, although it wasn’t easy to actually express the right words when the time actually came.

We started off by first asking him if he had heard anything about the events, either at school, from friends, or from some other source.  When he said he hadn’t, we then explained that some very bad people had attacked buildings in New York City and Washington D.C., causing many people to get killed.  One thing we avoided was telling him the specifics of how the attacks were carried out, mainly because we do fly somewhat frequently and we feared that part of it would be too much for him to handle.  I’m sure we would have answered direct questions, but he didn’t ask for more details of that type.

We tried to focus on the heroism of the firefighters, police officers, and even civilian bystanders that risked and, in too many cases, lost their lives trying to help get people to safety.  He specifically asked us where they took the people that they rescued and we told him that those who were injured were taken to hospitals, some were simply moved out of harm’s way, and that some of those rescued joined the effort to rescue others.  We tried really hard to convey that the attacks themselves represented the worst of what people can do, but that much of the immediate response brought out some of the very best of humanity and that those heroes are the focus of the recognition of the anniversary.

Perhaps the hardest part of this conversation was the need to address events that conflicted with his youthfully-innocent world view.  Just one day earlier, he had seen Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, for the first time. As soon as the credits started to roll, he turned to me and asked in a puzzled voice "Were the people that were trying to kill the Beast bad people?"  He had struggled to reconcile that the enemies in the climactic battle scene were ordinary villagers and not monsters or some other typical cartoon villains.  I did my best to convey that they were confused and scared by something the didn’t understand, but it was a tough concept for him to grasp, although I was impressed that he had even honed in on the real complexities of the story.

In light of that conversation from the day before, I wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t easily grasp the concept that people had intentionally done something as awful as the 9/11 attacks.  Honestly, my wife and I were best able to respond to this by essentially agreeing with him.  The truth is that neither of us really are able to understand.  Outside of the co-conspirators themselves, I really doubt that anyone can truly understand it.

I somewhat regret my first attempt to answer when he asked why they did it.  In retrospect, we probably should have stuck with simply emphasizing how inexplicable it really was, but instead I initially tried to explain that they had warped religious views that led them to believe they were doing what God wanted. 

We aren’t a particularly religious family, but we have always tried to at least portray religious faith as a positive trait.  We tried to explain that the terrorists had very wrong views of who God is and what he wants people to do, but it is not easy to explain to a 7-year-old why one view of the unknowable is objectively wrong, even when that view did lead to clearly evil acts.

This part of the discussion led to questions about who God is, where he lives, and where people go when they die.  Some of these questions are ones that have come up in some past discussions, but they weren’t ones that were easy to answer in this specific context.  Our responses all largely centered on the concept that nobody really knows the answers for sure, but I really don’t know if those responses were really that satisfactory.

One of our biggest concerns was that we convey the gravity of the topic without leaving him excessively frightened or stressed.  Besides focusing on the heroism of the day, we also spent some time talking about safety precautions that he would find familiar and which were tightened since 9/11.  We talked a bit about the bag checks at places like Disneyland and The Hollywood Bowl as well as about the tightened airport security.  While there is plenty of room for adult debate over the effectiveness of these things, they do serve as fairly easily understood examples of how authority figures are trying to make us safer.

We also talked quite a bit about the security measures that are in place at our son’s school and we also used this as an opportunity to once again reiterate with him that he should be wary of strangers and that he should always go to an adult he trusts (us, his teacher or principal, our adult friends and family, etc.) if he sees someone or something that seems wrong or makes him uncomfortable.

Finally, we talked about the rarity of the event and how that is part of what made it so horrifying.  One of his questions was whether or not we had known anyone that died in the attacks.  When we answered no, his follow up was to ask us how we found out about it.  We explained that it was reported by every TV and radio station, newspaper, and online and that, in fact, it was pretty much the main topic of conversation for just about everyone for a while.  We made it clear that this was because nothing just like this had ever happened before or sense and that horrible events of this scale are extremely unusual.

While he had a lot of questions and was certainly somewhat troubled by what we said, the impact didn’t seem to be overwhelming.  In fact, he really hasn’t brought it up again today, at least that I’ve heard.  I believe that 9/11 is an event that is never going to have the kind of impact on him that it had on those of us that watched it unfold in real time. 

Much like the way that my generation looks at events like Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination, I expect it will be for him a sad and disturbing historical event instead of the vivid life experience it is for today’s adults.  If this turns out to be the case, I’m grateful.  Back in 2001, I was afraid that 9/11 was just the beginning of what might become a horrible new normal.  I don’t pretend that isn’t still a possibility, but I have hope that day will continue to be viewed as a horrifying aberration.

Dream Inaugural Voyages Logo

After dinner, we had a little time before the evening’s theater presentation and we decided to explore the shops on deck 3, located near the Walt Disney Theater.  There are actually three shops in that area.  Mickey’s Mainsail is the main source for typical Disney souvenirs, including t-shirts, hats, plush, etc.  The selection includes a lot of merchandise with the Disney Dream logo as well as some more generic Disney Cruise Line items.  At least on our cruise, much of the Disney Dream specific merchandise still was identified as being for the inaugural voyages.  We bought t-shirts and hats here and I was also able to get a model of the Disney Dream to match one that I bought on our earlier cruise on the Magic (the one sold on the Wonder was identical to the one on the Magic). 

Disney Dream Souvenir Model

Across the way from Mickey’s Mainsail is Sea Treasures.  This store features some more upscale clothing as well as some higher-end merchandise like watches and jewelry.  This store also has a fairly large toy section.  Most of the toys are not cruise-specific, although they do have some Disney Cruise Line plush here.  My son found and purchased (with some of his saved up allowance) a plush cruise ship containing plush figures of Mickey and friends dressed in nautical outfits.  It is very cute, although he was a bit disappointed to discover that the characters are sewn in.

Disney Dream Hat

The third store in the area is Whitecaps, which is primarily a duty-free liquor store, although they do also stock a number of sundries, such as common over-the-counter medications, sunscreen and other similar essentials. 

All of the shops on the Dream are only opened while the ship is at sea, which allows them to sell all merchandise duty-free (tax-free).  Guests do have to declare all purchases at the end of the cruise and will be charged taxes if you exceed the $800/person duty-free limit.

"The Golden Mickeys"

Note: I didn’t get any photos in the theater or The District, which is why there aren’t any more pictures in this post.

Disney’s ships employ a full theatrical troupe that perform in elaborate productions in the Walt Disney Theater.  While this is not unique to Disney’s cruise line, the shows benefit quite a bit from Disney’s experience with live productions, including those for Broadway and the theme parks.  The result is a pretty consistently high quality to the shows presented on the Disney ships.  The shows also benefit greatly from Disney’s extensive library of stories, characters and songs, which provides strong source material for the shows to use.

On both of our previous cruises, the first night featured a "Welcome Aboard" variety show instead of a full-blown theatrical production.  On those previous cruises, we skipped that opening night show in favor of more general exploration of the ship’s features.  The schedule was different on the Dream, though.  The first night featured one of the major productions, "The Golden Mickeys", which we didn’t want to miss. 

Of the three shows featured on the Dream, "The Golden Mickeys" was the only one that I had seen on one of our previous cruises (on the Wonder), although the show had some significant revisions compared to that earlier version.  Before seeing the show on the Wonder, I had relatively low expectations as the premise of a mock awards show didn’t sound too promising.  I was very pleasantly surprised, though, by a show that featured elaborate, well-produced production numbers as well as a central storyline that has a surprising amount of heart.  Seeing the revised version of the show on the Dream only reinforced my positive reaction.

The central premise is that we are attending an awards presentation that would honor characters from Disney movies in several broadly-defined categories such as "Best Hero", "Best Romance", etc.  The premise is really just an excuse to re-create on the stage musical numbers from a number of Disney movies (in fact, this is really the case with all the shows presented on the cruise), but those production numbers are elaborately-staged and very entertaining. 

The show features a central character of a "stagehand" at the awards show who is drafted as host after being told that the ship’s captain couldn’t make it.  This adds a little meat to the story, allowing for a couple original songs as well as a touch of sentiment as the character works to overcome stage fright and a lack of self-confidence.  All of the current shows on the Dream (even "Villains Tonight") have a central "believe in yourself" moral.  While this does introduce a little bit of repetition, it is a reasonably effective and easy way to bring some emotional impact to this kind of show and it certainly fits pretty well with most Disney stories.

As I mentioned, there were a few changes to the show since the version that I saw on the Wonder.  One that I had expected was the replacement of an early segment that involved a recorded (but pretended to be live) video featuring Roy Disney, who had died since our previous cruise.  The segment is still included in the show, but it now features Disney CEO Bob Iger instead.  Since there is no longer a member of the Disney family in a prominent position in the company, Iger was probably the most logical choice, although he does seem kind of uncomfortable with this kind of thing.

Other major changes in the show included new segments featuring songs and characters from "The Princess and the Frog" and "Tangled", two Disney musicals that were released fairly recently.  I was actually momentarily surprised that they had managed to already work in material from "Tangled" so soon after the film’s release (recent enough that the movie was showing in the ship’s Buena Vista Theater), until it occurred to me that the ship was actually newer than the movie! 

One bit of advise that I do have is to try and get to the theater reasonably early.  The doors open 30 minutes before the show and the best seats in the center sections fill up pretty quickly.  We took long enough with our shopping that we got there about 20 minutes before the show and ended up a little more off to the side than we would have liked.  "The Golden Mickeys" also has a pre-show featuring one of the actors playing an entertainment reporter interviewing guests as they arrive at the show.  It is kind of silly, but it does provide some  entertainment while waiting for the show to start.  

Drinks in the District

Even though it was pretty late (well past his bedtime) when the show let out, our son really wanted to have a little bit of time to play at the kid’s club.  Other than the brief tour at the open house, he hadn’t yet had a chance to explore it on his own and he really was excited to do so.  My wife and I decided it wasn’t an unreasonable request and, to be honest, we liked the idea of having a little bit of time to visit The District, the ship’s adults-only nightclub area and unwind a bit with some adult beverages. 

Neither of us have ever really been that interested in noisy/crowded nightclubs, so we ended up at Skyline, a quiet and intimate bar.  This bar’s gimmick is the HD video "windows" behind the bar that show the skyline of a major city.  The specific city shown changes every 10 minutes or so.  This really is a cool decor and we actually got a bit of a kick out of identifying the cities.  The only one we weren’t able to recognize ourselves was Hong Kong, but the server was happy to quickly  help us identify it when we asked.

While there, I had a glass of white wine.  I enjoy an occasional glass of wine, but I admit that I’m not much of an expert and honestly don’t remember what type or vintage it was.  I do remember that I enjoyed it, though.  My wife wanted a strawberry margarita and this was an opportunity for us to see the kind of go-out-of-the-way service that is common on a cruise.  Skyline didn’t have the ingredients for her margarita, but the server immediately volunteered to go get her the drink from one of the other bars that did.  The area is fairly compact, so it really didn’t take that long either.

After about 30-45 minutes, we decided it was time to go get our son and then head back to the state-room for the night.  He actually paged us that he was ready to be picked up while we were headed over there, so the timing turned out to be right for all of us.  We were all definitely tired out after a very full day and ready to get rested up for the next one!

Coming up next: Nassau

Executive Decision (Jerry Goldsmith, 1987): The score to the Kurt Russell/Steven Seagal action thriller Executive Decision is not one of Jerry Goldsmith’s more memorable efforts from the late 1980s.  It certainly isn’t helped by the Varese Sarabande soundtrack CD’s exceptionally abbreviated 30 minute running time, something all to common at the time due to union re-use fees.

The score certainly isn’t bad, though, even if it doesn’t stand with his best work. As was commonly the case for Goldsmith’s action music late in his career, the score is orchestral, but with a pretty substantial assist from synthesizer elements.  Brass and percussion are highly dominant in the score, underlining the military focus of the film.  In these ways, the score somewhat resembles Goldsmith’s much more familiar Air Force One score, but without that score’s much more memorable main theme.

The Executive Decision score is certainly a competent effort on Goldsmith’s part and, perhaps, would be better served if an expanded soundtrack album were ever released.  With only the abbreviated presentation available, though, it seems like a minor and mostly forgettable effort.

Explorers (Jerry Goldsmith, 1985): Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Joe Dante’s Explorers is high on my list of scores that I would most like to receive an expanded re-issue on CD.  The existing Varese Sarabande soundtrack CD (a port of the old LP release) only contains a little over 30 minutes of Goldsmith’s score, as well as a handful of pop songs.  It is also fairly rare and expensive to obtain.  What is there is quite wonderful, though, and I’d absolutely love to have much more of the score on CD.

The score’s infectious main theme is established in the album’s opening cue, entitled “The Construction”.  It opens with a rhythmic, synth-driven baseline that it then overlaid with a distinctive, playful melody.  Both of these components of the main theme are frequently revisited throughout the score, sometimes separately and sometimes together.  The score is primarily synthesized, helping to bring a bit of an otherworldly quality to what is still a largely melodic presentation.  This is one of the best of Goldsmith’s synth-dominated scores.

The entire score has a strong sense of wonder as well as a frequent romantic quality to it.  One of the strongest cues is the soaring “First Flight”, which is built around the main theme, but with slow builds to crescendos, representing the sense of excitement and adventure central to the accompanying scene in the film.

The film takes a very quirky turn towards the end, which is heavily reflected in the last couple score cues on the CD.  The score becomes much more blatantly electronic, with the otherworldly tone moving fully into the forefront.  These portions of the final two cues take on a bouncy, kind of swing-style that is both unusual and exceptionally appealing.  Goldsmith very effectively interweaves this with the more melodic style that played in the earlier part of the score, bringing these two aspects of the story together in a way that Dante was not otherwise entirely able to do in the film itself.

The soundtrack CD ends with three pop/rock songs that were used as incidental music in the film.  These are “All Around the World” by Robert Palmer, “Less Than Perfect” by Red 7 and “This Boy Needs to Rock” by Night Ranger.  The original LP release interspersed these cues with the score cues, but Varese Sarabande wisely grouped them at the end for the CD version.  All three are pretty decent songs, in my opinion, but they are very easily skipped if you want to hear score only.

The Extra Man (Klaus Badelt, 2010): On his website, composer Klaus Badelt has taken the unusual step of offering “name your price” lossless digital downloads of several of his more obscure scores.  Basically this means that you can download the entire soundtrack album and pay as much or as little (or even nothing) as you wish.  This is an intriguing way to get some exposure for scores that otherwise probably wouldn’t be widely heard.

The Extra Man score may come as something of a surprise to anyone that is only familiar with Badelt’s contemporary-style action scoring (often in collaboration with Hans Zimmer’s stable of composers)  for films like Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.  Instead, this is a gentle, melodic classically-styled score with a strong Italian ethnic flavor.  Violins and piano tend to dominate the score.  Accordion and xylophone are  also featured on a number of cues, providing a lot of ethnic flavoring.

There is a little bit of contemporary, pop styling that peeks through alongside the more old-fashioned ethnic material.  The cues “Opera Entrance” and “Lagerfeld to Gallery” are particularly sharp examples of this.  The blend of old-world ethnicity and more contemporary styles (including occasional bits of synth) is an interesting mix.

One slight down side to the album presentation of the material is the decision to present the music primarily in very short cues.  Many are less than a minute and only one cue, “Homeless Montage”, exceeds 2 minutes.  This gives the album something of a choppy sound and I think the music would have been better served by assembling some longer suites.

With the unusual “name your price” approach, this is a very low risk score to obtain and is definitely worth checking out.

Extreme Close-Up (James Horner, 1990): Intrada released this now sold-out limited edition CD of James Horner’s score to a relatively obscure early 1990s TV movie.  It is a very low-key score and an interesting change of pace from the generally bigger scale, more action-oriented scores that dominate Horner’s career.

The soundtrack opens with a title theme that is performed on solo piano (possibly actually an electronic keyboard).  The entire score is dominated by piano/keyboard, although with occasional string support as well.  The score is very atmospheric, with a very sensitive and non-overbearing quality, although admittedly it is also fairly downbeat.  The material is largely non-thematic, instead going more for a mood-driven approach.

While this is unquestionably a minor effort compared to Horner’s many better known scores from that time period (and beyond), it still is an interesting opportunity to hear a less often heard side of the composer’s style.  I think this is a CD that is worthwhile to seek out, particularly for Horner’s fans.

Extreme Measures (Danny Elfman, 1996): The soundtrack CD for Danny Elfman’s Extreme Measures is another of the 30-minute abridged CD releases that Varese Sarabande frequently put out during that time period due to the high re-use fees charged by the musician’s union.  Typical of these releases, the CD gives a taste of the score, although feels fairly incomplete.

While Elfman’s scoring projects in the mid-90s still were dominated by his trademark quirky fantasy and action films, he was also increasingly taking on more straightforward dramatic projects.  Extreme Measures is one of those, although it mixes in more of Elfman’s more offbeat conventions than is often found in his dramatic scores.  This includes the use of wordless vocals as a rhythmic instrument or, as in the case of the cue “Cokie”, to introduce an ethereal element.

The score is dominated by strings and piano, with a melodic main theme that is introduced right at the beginning of the “Main Title” cue.  The theme, like much of the rest of the score, has a dark quality to it.  The darkness in this case tends to be more on the ominous suspense side, rather than the macabre darkness found in many of Elfman’s better known scores.

Extreme Prejudice (Jerry Goldsmith, 1987): This little-remembered late 80s action film from director John Milius featured a strong, synthesizer-driven score by Jerry Goldsmith.  It is pretty reflective of the composer’s approach to action scoring in that time period, with its mix of driving bass rhythms anchored in a melodic main theme.

While the score is dominated by the electronic elements, Goldsmith does use an orchestra as well, although it is mainly the horn section that makes a significant impression here. The core melodic and percussion components are primarily synthesized and strings are largely kept in the background to the degree that it is often difficult to distinguish them from the synthesized melodic material.  The film is essentially a western, which makes this a somewhat unusual approach.

The opening “Arrivals/Main Title” cue is pretty hard driving and percussive, setting the tone for the Goldsmith’s approach to the action scoring.  The fairly simple but melodic main theme is introduced here, mainly as a synthesized overlay presented over the top of the percussion.  The most recent CD release of the soundtrack opens with an unused trailer score, which is actually the most complete and fully-developed presentation of that main theme until the end credits suite that closes the album.

The more melodic aspect of the score comes into focus during the second cue, “Cash”, which opens with moody, semi-romantic melodic material, still dominated by electronics.  This is a lengthy cue that eventually adds in some percussion, particularly electronic rhythmic clicking (for lack of a better descriptive term) that periodically is isolated from the melodic material.  The main theme does make another appearance here, including a distinctive horn presentation.

The rest of the score continues in a similar style, with the harder-driving, percussive music generally making the strongest impression.  In particular, the lengthy multi-part cues “The Bank (Pts 1, 2 & 3)” and “The Bank (Pt 4.) provide an especially strong showpiece for Goldsmith’s electronic action scoring.  In the late cue “Fighting and Dying”, the score takes a bit of a surreal turn, with some of the electronics shifting closer to sound effects.  This is kind of jarring, but thankfully remains infrequent in the score.

The soundtrack was originally released by Intrada on LP and CD at the time of the film’s original release.  This program had a pretty generous (for the time) 50 minute running time.  In 2005, La La Land released an expanded CD version, which added about 15 minutes of additional material, including Goldsmith’s logo music for Carolco, the film’s production company. This was not a limited edition and is still readily available.

F.I.S.T. (Bill Conti, 1978): This action film was Sylvester Stallone’s first movie after his breakthrough success with Rocky and it re-teamed him with Bill Conti, who scored that previous blockbuster.  For the film, Conti provided a brass-heavy orchestral score with a very rousing, militaristic main theme, which is introduced fully developed in the “Main Title” cue.  Another full presentation has a strong impact in the cue “Convention and Election”, where it follows an exciting trumpet fanfare.

The score is dominated by action cues heavy on brass and percussion.  Blaring trumpets dominate action cues such as “Torching the Tent” and “The Big Strike” while a solo French horn is used very effectively in “My Friend Abe”.  Strings are most noticeable in the cue “Johnny Goes to Washington”, where they join in with the brass to create a majestic sound.  Strings also are surprisingly dominant in the end title suite.

A soundtrack LP issued at the time of the film’s release featured a relatively short 30 minute album presentation of the score.  In 2005, Varese Sarabande released a limited edition CD (now sold out) of the same LP program coupled with another 1978 Conti score, “Slow Dancing In the Big City”.

Kids’ Club Registration and Open House

Oceaneer’s Lab

Registration and an open house was held at the kids’ clubs (Oceaneer’s Club and Oceaneer’s Lab) until 6pm on embarkation day. The time between the sail away and our 6pm dinner seemed like a perfect time for it. Our decision not to wait in the long line for kids’ club registration in the terminal was quickly validated as there was no line at all for registration at this time.

We had already filled out the registration form online, so the actual registration really only involved the issuing of the wrist band. Each registered child is issued a wrist band with his/her name on it and a small electronic chip that is scanned to confirm identity upon arrival or departure from the club. The wristband must be returned before midnight on the last night of the cruise or a charge is issued to the stateroom account to cover the cost of the electronic device.

The wristband is the kind that can only be removed by cutting it off, so the child does have to wear it through the entire cruise. They mentioned that it could easily be replaced if it did become necessary to remove it, such as if the child had trouble sleeping with it on. It is waterproof so it is no problem to keep it on while swimming or showering. We were a little worried that our son would be bothered about having to wear it the whole time, but it wasn’t an issue at all.

Interactive Play Floor

The kids’ clubs are drop-off, allowing kids and parents to have some independence. The entry/exit is strictly controlled and a lot of effort is made to ensure kids only leave with authorized adults. At registration, parents provide a list of authorized adults as well as a password. When picking up a kid, the attendants scan the Key to the World card to confirm identity and also ask for the password.

When their child is in the club, parents are asked to carry a Wave Phone for emergency contact. They will also send a text message if the child asks to be picked up. If the parents will be somewhere like Palo or one of the shows, they can request that the attendants contact only in an emergency.

Although they will allow parents to accompany their children into the club, it is generally discouraged outside of a few designated family play times. The embarkation day open house was one of those times. After registration, my wife and I went in with our son to do some exploration.. It was comforting to have the opportunity to get a feel for the facility before we would later leave our son there while we went off to do other things.

Monsters Inc. themed play area

The kids’ club is split into two different facilities, although both are connected and the kids are able to move freely between them. The Oceaneer’s Club is largely play-based, with several character-themed activity areas. The Oceaneer’s Lab is more activity-based, with a focus on high-interactivity. While both areas are officially targeted at ages 3-10, the Oceaneer’s Club tends to focus more on the younger end of that range while the Oceaneer’s Lab has a bit more to offer for older kids.

Andy’s Room

The Oceaneer’s Club features four primary areas that are themed to Toy Story (“Andy’s Room”), Tinkerbell and other fairies (“Pixie Hollow”), Finding Nemo (“Explorer Pod”), and Monsters, Inc. (“Monsters Academy” which, possibly not coincidentally, is also the title of the prequel film currently in production). These rooms all branch off from a central area that is dominated by a large, interactive digital floor, essentially a large touchscreen used for a variety of games and activities. The central room also features a stage area used for storytelling and other presentations.

The Oceaneer’s Lab is more activity-driven than theme-driven, with areas for playing video games, watching movies on a big-screen TV, using computers and participating in various arts and crafts projects. The main lobby area of the Lab includes another stage for storytelling as well as a big-screen monitor (103-inches, according to the Disney Cruise website) that can be used for showing movies or, periodically, for interactive sessions similar to the “Turtle Talk” attraction at the parks or the show in the Animator’s Palate restaurant.

This first visit was pretty time limited due to our upcoming dinner, but we did get a good look at the area and it definitely whetted our son’s appetite for more extended time there. In fact, he was pretty much pushing us to promise that we would let him go back there for a little while later that evening.

Dinner at Enchanted Garden

Enchanted Garden

Traditionally, dinner on a cruise ship is a pretty big deal. Meals are typically multiple-course extravaganzas, presented with personalized service and a fair helping of panache. The evening meal also typically takes about 2 hours or so, meaning that a certain amount of patience is also needed. Disney added an additional element of variety by including three main dining rooms on each of their ships and having the guests rotate through them.

The first night’s dinner on a cruise ship has a bit of a getting-acquainted element to it. Every night, guests are seated with the same tablemates and served by the same primary and assistant servers. Most of the tables in the dining rooms seat six or more people, so smaller groups will typically be seated with other guests. On this trip, we were seated at a table for eight along with an extended family of five.

Enchanted Garden

The dinner menu is divided into four courses: starters, soups/saladx, entrees, and desserts. They are very flexible about what you can order. If you want to skip a course or have two starters instead of a soup or salad, it isn’t a problem. Typically, they will even accommodate if you want two entrees. One of the best parts of a cruise is that they really do try hard to meet individual tastes and preferences.  My wife is not an overly adventurous eater (and doesn’t like any kind of seafood) and often asked for customizations or even choices not on the menu.  This never really proved to be a major problem.

I started with lobster ravioli, which was very tasty and contained a very generous amount of lobster meat.  I didn’t get a soup or salad that evening, a smart choice as the ravioli was pretty substantial.  My wife had a tossed salad and my son had soup.  He is a big soup eater, something that had even become a bit of a running joke on our previous cruise.  I can’t recall what the soup was that evening, but I remember that he did seem to enjoy it.

Kid’s Macaroni and Cheese

For my entree, I selected a roasted pork tenderloin, which was very good.  I really enjoy a good pork steak and it something that I don’t get very often, which made it a fairly easy choice.  My wife selected the grilled NY strip steak while my son had macaroni and cheese.  The kids’ meal macaroni and cheese had a particularly nice presentation, with the pasta served inside of a tortilla shell with a side-order of french fries.  The assistant waiter added ketchup to the plate in the familiar Mickey-head pattern.  My son’s only slight complaint was that the portion was a bit small, but they had no problem bringing him a second helping upon request.

My choice for dessert was a bananas foster sundae, which featured vanilla ice cream with rum-glazed bananas and caramel sauce.  It was really good and most certainly not on my diet!  The children’s menu offered the Mickey Mouse shaped ice cream bars like you find in the theme park and they had no objection to adults ordering them as well.  Both my wife and son went with those and we were pleased that the presentation was pretty nice.  Instead of just serving them in the wrapper, they were placed on plates and some additional chocolate sauce was drizzled over the top of them.

One problem that we encountered at dinner was that the drinking glasses had somewhat rounded bottoms while the tablecloth was fairly plush.  My son’s water wasn’t served in a more kid-friendly cup (although they had them) and he ended up spilling all over the table at one point.  This actually is really more than just a problem with not being kid-friendly as I actually spilled my iced tea at lunch a couple days later.  They should probably either re-think the type of glasses they use or at least provide coasters of some sort.

Another complaint we had was that Enchanted Garden is simply a bit too large for the theming to fully be experienced by all guests.  The show element of the restaurant is that the decor is supposed to change from daytime to night over the course of the meal.  This is mainly done through projections and lighting in faux windows located in the center back of the restaurant.  Our table was close to the front and on the far side, so I can’t say we really noticed that transition much.  Our table was also right next to a port hole, which caused real outside lighting to overwhelm the themed lighting.

To be clear, the meal, the restaurant and the overall experience were still very positive.  These minor problems just made it a bit less impressive than what we had experienced on previous cruises, something that pretty much remained true throughout the rest of the dinners on this cruise.

Coming Up Next: Shopping, “The Golden Mickeys” and The District

Night-time view of the AquaDuck.  Somehow, I never took any daylight photos.

One useful tip that I picked up while researching for the trip was to pack swim clothes in a carry-on as the pools tend to be pretty uncrowded during embarkation afternoon. Checked luggage can arrive any time up to around 6pm (our bags arrived one at a time over several hours), so having swimming items in carry-ons is a necessity to take advantage of those relatively sparse crowds.

The Dream has three swimming pools: the Mickey pool for smaller children, the Donald pool for families and the adults-only Quiet Cove Pool. None of the pools are particularly deep, with the Mickey pool maxing out at 2 feet, the Donald pool at 4 feet and the Quiet Cove pool at 4 feet. Unusual for a cruise ship, the pools on the Dream (like the pools on the other Disney ships) use chlorinated fresh water instead of sea water.

One of the most talked about new features of the Dream is the AquaDuck, a 765-foot tube-style water slide that starts on deck 12 and twists and turns around the upper decks of the ship, including a section that extends over the side of the ship. Guests ride on oversized inflatable rafts which each hold one or two people. It is billed by Disney as a “water coaster” and does have a roller-coaster like feel.

Night-time close up of one of the tubes. The ride was closed when these were taken.

I was excited to ride the AquaDuck, but my son, who is not yet a strong swimmer, wasn’t feeling ready for it. My wife also wanted me to try it first so I could describe it to her in order to help her guess whether or not it would aggravate her back condition. Therefore, I left them in the Mickey pool and headed over to queue for the ride.

The wait time was posted as about 30 minutes, which was pretty much the shortest posted wait that I saw during our cruise. I found that estimate to be pretty much exactly right. A large part of the queue is outdoors and mostly un-shaded, so make sure to wear sunscreen. I’d also strongly recommend getting some water shoes of some sort. I didn’t think to do that and found that the surface was uncomfortably hot on my bare feet during parts of the queue.

The last 10 minutes or so of the wait is an indoor area leading up to the loading platform. This indoor area has some cute cartoons on the wall featuring Donald Duck, Hewey, Dewey & Louie, and Uncle Scrooge. These provide a lightweight story that gives the ride a bit of theming. The layout of the cartoons was a bit strange, though, in that I found myself essentially following the story backwards.

The rafts are brought up from the ride exit to the loading area using a mechanical conveyer system. A ride operator transfers the rafts from that conveyer to the slide entry way and then helps the passengers get on board. The entry way to the slide also uses a conveyer belt, activated manually by the ride operator, to launch the raft into the slide itself.

When I first saw the oversized rafts and the seating, I actually wondered if the rider even would get very wet on the slide. Very shortly into the ride, I got my answer when I went down the first drop and a wave of water gushed over me. This is repeated several times over the course of the ride. The ride is a lot of fun, although it doesn’t give quite as much of a sense of speed as I had been expecting on a slide of that length. The view from the ride is pretty spectacular at times, although you are going too fast to appreciate it for long. The ride is quite smooth. My wife didn’t opt to ride it that afternoon, but did ride later in the week and she said it was no problem for her.

After my ride, I re-joined my family at the Mickey pool for a while. One nice thing about the design of the pools and the overall environment of the cruise ship, was that we were able to give my son a bit more freedom than we have in the past. While I was on the ride, my wife had even felt comfortable with briefly leaving my son at the pool while she went to the restroom. On another visit to the pools later in the trip, we all found ourselves scattering to different parts of the pool areas, with only occasional check-ins to make sure we always knew where our son was.

Safety Drill

After we finished at the pools, we got back to the stateroom with enough time for each of us to shower and change clothes before it was time for the mandatory safety drill. Every cruise ship is legally required to have a drill shortly before departure to make sure that all the passengers are aware of the emergency procedures and the location of their designated gathering location.

The emergency gathering location is assigned based on the location of the stateroom and ours was inside of the Buena Vista Theater, the ship’s movie theater located on deck 5. This was kind of a nice location for it as it is indoors and we could sit in comfortable theater seats during the drill. I joked to my wife that they should have set the mood appropriately by showing Titanic or The Poseidon Adventure in the theater during the drill.

In the past, guests were required to don life vests before leaving the stateroom for the drill, but this is no longer required. As guests arrived at the theater, crew members did their best to check off each stateroom number. Guests were arriving too quickly for the crew members to keep up very well, though, so eventually they took to the stage and called out the stateroom numbers that had not yet been checked off.

The crew members also gave a short talk on how the emergency procedures worked and also demonstrated how to properly don and use a life vest. All of this took about 20 minutes or so at the most, after which an announcement was made that the drill was over and everyone was free to resume the fun.

Sail Away Party and Departure

Sail Away Party

After the safety drill, we headed to the upper deck for the sail away party and to watch the ship’s departure. The sail away party is basically a dance party where they play fairly current, family-friendly pop music while Disney characters dance around on a stage. We watched for a few minutes and actually found that wasn’t of much interest to us, so we instead got some drinks from the soft drink station and then found a table with an ocean view and sat down to watch the departure.

We could still hear the sail away party just fine from where we were, including a short welcome speech by the ship’s captain that was then followed by a countdown to the ship’s departure time. When the countdown reached zero, the ship’s horn played “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”. The horn on the Disney Dream plays a number of different Disney tunes, although this one and “It’s a Small World” were the only two that we heard on our trip.

Obviously, the ship was supposed to pull away from the port at the end of the countdown, but it didn’t actually happen.  We could see that a Carnival Cruise Line ship was making its way out of the port at that same time and my guess is that ship was delayed for some reason and we couldn’t pull out until after it had cleared the area. We didn’t actually start moving until about 15 minutes or so after the scheduled departure time (and the end of the countdown).

It actually took a minute or two for us to realize the ship was moving as we really couldn’t feel the motion at all. On both of our previous cruises, the rocking of the ship was very noticeable pretty much whenever it was in motion. Fortunately, none of us are prone to seasickness, but it did take a bit of time to find our sea legs on those trips. On the Dream, I never really felt the motion at all. I don’t know if this was a result of the larger ship or if it was due to the time of year, but the entire cruise was exceptionally smooth.

Coming Up Next: Kids’ Clubs and Dinner

Lunch at Enchanted Garden

A number of crew members were stationed in the lobby with the task of intercepting and guiding embarking passengers. Our helpful crew member made sure we knew that our stateroom would be ready at 1:30 and that lunch was available at either Enchanted Garden on deck 2 or Cabanas on deck 10. She recommended Enchanted Garden since it only required walking down 1 flight of stairs and there were long lines for the elevators. We debated briefly as we were also scheduled for dinner at Enchanted Garden that night, but we ended up taking her advice.

The decor of Enchanted Garden is pretty much as the name implies. It is a brightly lit, elegant dining room with lots of greenery. During the dinner hour, there is a show element where the decor shifts from day to night during the meal, but this isn’t done at lunch. Like all of the restaurants on the Dream, the tables are positioned pretty close together, making for kind of a crowded look. Fortunately, the combination of bright lighting and color schemes as well as reasonably high ceilings keep the restaurant from feeling claustrophobic.

Upon entering the very uncrowded restaurant, we were immediately greeted by one of several crew members waiting by the entrance who escorted us to a table close to the buffet. A waiter took our drink orders and then we headed to the buffet to get our food. Since we had all of our carry-on bags with us (including laptop computers), we were glad to have a table very close to the buffet as this allowed us all to go get our food without requiring that someone stay behind to watch the bags.

The buffet included a carving station with roast beef as well as some of the typical side dishes to go with it. They also had salads & fruit, cold cuts and cheeses, a number of different varieties of bread, peel & eat shrimp, and some pasta and fish dishes. A well-stocked dessert area offered lots of different selections of various baked goods (cakes, cookies, etc.) and a freezer with quite a few different flavors of premium-quality ice cream.

The food all seemed very fresh and we enjoyed everything we had. The servers were very attentive and quick with drink refills. From what I’ve heard, the food selection is pretty much the same at Cabanas, but with a self-service drink station. I felt having servers take care of drinks was preferable, particularly for the first meal of the cruise. One of the servers even took a couple minutes to fold a napkin into a hat, which greatly amused my son.

Making Palo Brunch Reservations

One of the highlights of our previous cruises was the brunch offered on days at sea at Palo, the adults-only restaurant. A limited number of reservations are available on-line, but they were already full (probably due to earlier booking dates for concierge and high-level Castaway Club guests) by the time we were able to book. Through research, I had learned that a large percentage of reservations are held back for guests booking on board. They started offering these reservations at the podium outside of the restaurant, starting at 1pm on embarkation day. It was shortly after 1pm when I finished eating lunch, so we decided that I would head up to Palo to try and make a reservation and then meet my wife and son back at the stateroom at 1:30, the time the staterooms were scheduled to be available.

My journey to the restaurant was my first experience with how large the ship is and how difficult it sometimes was to get from one place to another. Enchanted Garden is located midship on deck 2 while Palo is located far aft on deck 12. I first headed to the midship elevators, which I discovered only go as high as deck 11. I later learned that 4 of the 6 elevators did go all the way up to deck 12, but I got into one of the two that doesn’t. I’m not sure if there were signs up clarifying this, but I didn’t notice any. Once I got up to deck 11, I had some difficulty finding the aft elevators and stairs. It turns out that they are, rather confusingly, actually inside of Cabanas. I had to ask a crew member for directions before I finally figured that out. After I found the stairs, I walked up one deck and easily found Palo right there.

I was momentarily unsure if I was in the right place as there was no line at the podium, even though it was around 1:15 or so by this time. There was a crew member there, though, and she quickly confirmed that she was able to make reservations. With a quick search in the computer, she found that they did still have availability for the brunch and that I pretty much had my choice of times. I booked a reservation for 10am on Wednesday (scheduled to be our day at sea) and quickly texted my wife with the news of my success. Due to an itinerary change that I’ll explain in more detail in a later installment of the trip report, we didn’t actually get to use the reservation. Still, for those that may be frustrated by inability to book the brunch on-line, it is useful to know that booking it on-board can be very easy.

Stateroom

After our Palo reservation was in place, I headed down to deck 7, where our stateroom was located. It was around 1:25 when I got there and they still had the stateroom corridors blocked off and quite a few guests had gathered in the elevator/stairwell area waiting for the staterooms to be opened up. Very shortly after 1:30, the stateroom host opened up access and the guests were able to proceed to the rooms. I was a bit surprised to find my wife and son already in the room when I got there. My wife has a minor disability and uses a cane. When the stateroom host saw her, he asked for the room number and let her go ahead to the room early, since he knew it was ready. I thought that was a nice bit of good customer service.

Our stateroom was number 7088, classified as a "Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Veranda". The room is located mid-ship, a relatively short distance from the elevators. Family staterooms are a bit larger than regular staterooms: 299 square feet including the veranda versus 246 square feet for a standard veranda room. The room features a pull-out sofa-bed and a wall and or ceiling pull out bed, in addition to the standard queen sized bed. A thick curtain separates the regular queen bed from the living room area, where the sofa and pull-down beds are located. The room has a split bathroom, with a toilet and sink in a separate room from the shower and (very tiny) bathtub.

Queen-sized bed

From what I’ve seen, the additional space is really the only major difference between a family stateroom and a standard ocean view room. Because staterooms on a cruise ship tend to be small, it was nice having the bit of extra space, although I’m not sure I would be likely to pay the extra for the family stateroom on future cruises. The extra space wasn’t really all that important, considering that we are only a family of 3 and I was under the mistaken impression that some of the other amenities, such as the privacy curtain, were exclusive to this type of room. The value of the extra space is also reduced on the Dream due to very good use of space, including the bed being raised enough to allow storage of luggage underneath.

Living-room area and verandah

The staterooms on the Dream include a few high tech elements that are somewhat upgraded from what was previously offered on the Magic and Wonder. The way you open the door is the first upgrade that a guest is likely to encounter. Unlike the usual key slot found on the other ships (and most hotels), the door has a flat pad above the door knob and all you have to do is hold the Key to the World card (stateroom key) in front of it to unlock. This is particularly nice for young kids as there is no need to orient the card in a specific direction.

A somewhat controversial new feature of the staterooms is their energy saver power system. When you first enter the room, you place your Key to the World card into a slot next to the door, which then activates all the room’s power systems. This includes the lights, the air conditioning, and all of the electric outlets. The slot actually will accept any card with a magnetic stripe, so we sometimes would use other cards (such as grocery store reward cards) in order to reduce the likelihood of accidentally forgetting a Key to the World card when leaving the room. The stateroom hosts are trained to remove any cards left in the slot when the guests aren’t in the room, though. I think this system makes some sense, but I do think they should have at least one outlet remain always powered for guests that want to recharge cameras or other electronic devices while away from the room. I also worry that the rooms might get awfully warm during the summer months with the air conditioning off while the guests are away.

Desk area and TV

A really nice improvement on the Dream that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention is the substantial upgrade to the television system. The TVs are modern, 22-inch flat screen HDTVs and they are now connected with a video-on-demand system in addition to the somewhat limited selection of mostly Disney-owned live channels. The video-on-demand system provides access to a pretty wide variety of Disney movies, both animated and live action. They even offered a small selection of very recent non-Disney movies. I specifically noticed that the most recent "Harry Potter" film was one of the choices. Informational material such as the shore excursion and port shopping presentations and the disembarkation lecture are also available for viewing on-demand.

It is not a pay-per-view system as all of the video-on-demand content is available at no extra charge. Once you start watching a program, you can resume playback at any time for a period of 48 hours after you start it. The 48 hour limit did seem a bit weird since this is not a pay-per-view system, but it probably is either a result of licensing restrictions or Disney simply adapted standard hotel pay-per-view software and didn’t have an easy way to remove that restriction. We found this system to be a great way to keep our son entertained while my wife and I were showering or getting dressed or during a few brief occasions where we had some down time in the room before heading off to scheduled events.

A cool piece of artwork in the stateroom

Another relatively new feature (also recently added to the other ships) is the inclusion of a couple cell phones for the guests’ use throughout the cruise. These Wave Phones (as Disney calls them) provide basic voice and text messaging. They can call any other Wave Phone or the stateroom phones and can text with each other. They are a nice convenience to have on the cruise, although we didn’t really use them much. Each stateroom has two Wave Phones, but only one charger, which means you have to do a bit of scheduling to keep them charged. The power saving system also means you can’t charge the phones when you aren’t in the room.

Coming Up Next: Swimming/AquaDuck, Safety Drill, & Sail-away

Observation deck at the Disney Cruise Line Terminal

I was a bit nervous about the logistics surrounding embarkation on the Disney Dream.   The Disney Cruise Line had traditionally been known for a very smooth embarkation process at Port Canaveral, but the terminal was designed for the substantially smaller Disney Magic and Disney Wonder and there had been quite a few reports of problems handling the larger crowds arriving for the Dream.

For our previous cruises, we had arrived at the terminal via Walt Disney World transportation, which got us there late enough that we immediately went on board after checking in.  This time, we had rented a car and planned to arrive at the terminal as early as possible, so I wasn’t really sure how it would work.  Fortunately, we found that the embarkation process went very smoothly and with a minimum of hassle.

On Sunday morning, we managed to wake up fairly early and it didn’t take too long to get showers and pack everything up.  We had a light breakfast at the hotel’s breakfast buffet.  Holiday Inn Express has pretty much standardized their included breakfasts from location to location, meaning that the quality and selection is predictable and fairly decent.  I particularly like their cinnamon rolls, which are served warm and fresh.  My only real complaint about breakfast was that they didn’t have enough seating in the breakfast area, something else that is unfortunately fairly standard to the chain.  We had to squeeze all three of us around a table for two, but we were able to manage.

Rental Car Return

I was very unsure about was whether it would be better to drop my family and our luggage off at the port and then go to return the rental car by myself or for us all to just take the shuttle.  We finally decided that the logistics would simply be easier if we all took the shuttle, so we headed straight to the rental car return.

We found Budget’s return process at the Port Canaveral office to be chaotic and a bit confusing.  We initially expected someone to come out to meet us to check in the car, as is typical at airport returns, so we wasted a few minutes waiting for that.  Once we realized that wasn’t the process there, I noted that the paperwork had instructions for doing an express check-out by filling out a form and dropping it in a drop box.

When I went inside, there was no drop box in sight.  This left no choice but to get into the line, which was very long due to the large number of people returning from cruise ships that had arrived in port that morning.   Fortunately, we didn’t wait too long before an employee walked the line offering to collect express check-out forms.  While the process wasn’t exceptionally difficult, they definitely should put in a drop box and also place some signs outside giving instructions for returns.

The wait for a shuttle bus was, fortunately, short and we were soon on our way to the Disney Cruise Line terminal!

Arrival and Check-In

Disney Dream from the rental car shuttle

We arrived shortly before 10:30am, which was the time that the terminal opened.  The shuttle pulled up at a drop-off spot outside the terminal and a cruise line porter quickly collected our checked luggage.  We then joined the line of people waiting to go in, which ended pretty much right where we had been dropped off.

It took us about 20 minutes to make it up to a security gate, where they checked our cruise documents and IDs before directing us into the terminal.  Inside the terminal, we then passed through airport-style metal detectors and sent our carry-on bags through an x-ray machine.  This process was very quick and efficient and we were soon headed up the escalators to the main terminal area.  We then were asked to quickly sign a form stating that nobody in our family had been sick in the last 24-hours and then we were directed to the check-in line.

Disney Cruise Line Terminal

Guests arriving at the terminal are given cards assigning them to numbered boarding groups and one of our bigger uncertainties was what number we were likely to get.  I knew that in the past these were always assigned in order of arrival, but a few months ago Disney had added the selection of a terminal arrival time to the online check-in process.  This change was made after I had already completed our on-line check-in and I wasn’t aware of the change until a few days after it was added.  When I found out and went to update our check-in, the earliest arrival time available was noon.

At least for our cruise, they didn’t appear to be paying any attention to the selected arrival time.  Instead, they simply were handing out the boarding group cards on a first come, first served basis.  As we entered the check-in line, we were given a card that gave us group 8.  I already knew that the group numbers typically went into the upper 20s or higher, so this was clearly a good number!

In addition to the boarding number, we were also given a sheet with basic information such as where lunch would be available on the ship and general scheduling information about the first part of the day.  This was essentially a preliminary version of the Personal Navigator that is left in the stateroom, providing a detailed listing of each day’s activities.

One thing that Disney Cruise Line is well known for is the speed and efficiency of their check-in process.  One perk of being a return cruiser is the use of a separate check-in line, which typically moves faster due to the guests all being experienced.  The use of their on-line check-in system (which can be filled out starting 90 days before the cruise) really minimizes the amount you have to do at the terminal.  Basically, I just had to hand them the printed out signature form from the on-line check-in as well as all of our passports.  After checking these, the clerk quickly handed us our Key to the World cards (which are the stateroom key and on-board charge card) and sent us on our way.

Waiting to Board

It was about 30-45 minutes from our arrival on the shuttle bus until we had completed our check-in.  At that point, we had about an hour or so until the expected start of boarding around noon.  We had arrived fairly late for our previous cruises, allowing us to board immediately after checking in.  Thus, this was the first time we spent an extended time in the terminal.

Entry Portal to the ship’s gangway

Disney’s terminal is very nicely designed, with quite a few Disney touches.  The entry way to the ship is through a large Mickey-shaped arch that dominates the back left part of the terminal.  The center of the terminal features a large, cut out (so the interior is visible) model of the Disney Magic, which my son really enjoyed examining.  In the back of the terminal there is an outdoor observation deck where you can get a good close up look at the ship.

Close-up view of the ship from the terminal observation deck

The main waiting area is on the right side, including a partitioned area reserved for concierge guests and members of the highest level of the Castaway Club return cruiser loyalty club.  The waiting area is unfortunately kind of small, with way too few benches, a problem exasperated by the much larger capacity of the Dream compared to the Magic and Wonder.  We were fortunately able to grab some bench space, but at least one of us always had to stay put to hang on to it.  As it got closer to boarding time, there were people taking up pretty much every open bit of floor space.  The one set of restrooms in the terminal are also a bit small for the size of the crowd.

Another big crowd in the terminal is the line for the children’s activity registration desk, which is located in the back right.  By the time we had finished checking in, the line for that already snaked pretty much all the way across the terminal.  I had done enough research ahead of time to know that it actually made no sense to stand in that line as you could do the same registration later in the day on-board the ship with little to no wait.  We found that to be completely accurate.

They do provide a bit of entertainment for those waiting.  Several video screens in the waiting area show Disney movies.  While we were waiting, they were showing one of the direct-to-video Tinkerbell movies, which didn’t seem like the best choice.  They probably really should try to stick with movies that have a broader appeal.

Photo with Mickey in the terminal

In front of the model of the Magic, they had Mickey or Minnie, in their cruise line outfits, alternating for photo sessions with guests.  The line  wasn’t very long (and it wasn’t like we had anything better to do!) so it was pretty nice being able to get a picture with Mickey right at the beginning of the cruise.  It certainly wasn’t the only opportunity we had to see Mickey, but it was a great way to help get us (particularly my son) really into the Disney mood.

Boarding

About 10 minutes before noon, they had a short ceremony where a chosen family (the first in line that morning?) officially opened the gates to the ship. They then started calling the group numbers, roughly 5-10 minutes apart. Our group was finally called around 12:20 or so and we were finally headed on-board!

On cruises, it is very typical that there are opportunities to get formal or informal photos taken all over the place. One tradition is to have a fairly formal embarkation photo taken right before you get on board. At least on the Disney cruises, this isn’t a very interesting photo as they take it in front of a pretty non-distinctive, uninteresting backdrop. On our previous cruises, I remember that we got pretty irritated having to wait for this photo that we didn’t really want before we could go on board. This time, we were very glad to see that they had set up a clearly marked “no photo” line that let us quickly head right onto the ship.

Disney Dream Lobby

The entry ramp from the Terminal goes directly into the ship’s very ornate, art deco main lobby on deck 3. They make boarding a bit of a fun show by having a crew member announce your family’s name over a loudspeaker as all the other crew members in the area applaud wildly. The lobby area is absolutely gorgeous, with its grand spiral staircase and a huge ornate chandelier overhead. I’d seen many pictures of it, but they honestly don’t do it justice.

Coming Up Next: Lunch, Making Palo Reservations, and Stateroom