Yesterday night Emily got to sleep in a big queen size bed, she felt a bit lonely and asked me (papa) to join her. Emily slept like a baby, mama slept very well and papa slept a little bit too and when we woke up we watched a movie! At 8am our suitcases needed to be ready for pickup and right after we left our room for breakfast.

We took the Disney Transportation bus towards Disney Springs to get breakfast and coffee at the Starbucks. After strolling through the shopping area we took the bus back to our resort and we figured 45 minutes would give us plenty of time.

But that went a bit different as we planned… After 25 minutes there was still no bus and our checkout time, the time we couldn’t enter our room to get our last bags, came closer and closer. Plan B was one of us taking an Über, the other the bus with Emily. Emily wanted to stay with me and so Danielle got her first Über experience. In the end Emily and I arrived at the resort at 10:59 and quicker as Mama but we couldn’t exit the bus.

Luckily I was able to extend our hotel stay with one hour which gave us a bit spare time to get our stuff. Danielle went to our room to grab our last luggage and I went to the playground with Emily.

At 11:45 the Disney Cruise Line bus picked us and from there everything went fast. We got through security and in no time we embarked on our second Disney Cruise, this ship is even nicer as the Dream (I think).

We didn’t know where to beginning but we since we had some stuff to carry we decided that it would be our state room but, Emily wanted to walk up the gigantic stairs…who did we find at the end of the stairs? Princess Ariel…

The second stop was our stateroom 7682, great choice a bit smaller as last time but the restricted balcony is perfect. After exploring the stateroom we went to “It’s a small world” to register Emily for her time in the club. As soon as we came into the club she started crying, most likely since she recognized it from last time…that promises something for tomorrow. Time for some food as it was 2pm already, we went to Flo’s Cafe for fried chicken and tenders with French frites.

Soon it was time for my beer exchange. What is a beer exchange I hear people think… In short: practically every sailing has a Facebook group page which connects the people booked on that particular cruise, on the group for this cruise lots of people organized a lot of things like recipe, gift, ornament and thus a beer exchange. I participate in the beer exchange which meant every participant brought 6 beers on board which where exchanged in the atrium at 2:45pm and in that way you could drink some unique local beers.

After exchanging the beers we met up in our room again where Emily was about to take her afternoon nap. Unfortunately it took a while before we were able to put her down and she could only sleep 35 minutes before the mandatory safety drill started but better a little bit as not at all…

The drill was quite entertaining as Emily was distracted by almost everything in the nightclub (The Tube) were we had our drill. From there we went to the Sail Away part where we met Danny & family for the first time. Danny is a colleague of mine and we happened to be on the same ship.

After the party we met up with Pluto and Daisy Duck before it was time for dinner. And yes she still loves the characters, I actually think she loves them more as before.

Dinner was amazing, we had a lot of fun with our table guest (Danny & family). Emily went for the fries and chicken tenders, mama had the Salmon Tartar, the chicken breast and as dessert a lemon cheesecake. I got the salmon tartar, the tuna steak and cookies n’ cream ice. Ridiculously delicious!

After dinner we checked the special tree lighting ceremony and then it was bedtime for Emily. The room was already filled with our suitcases and thus it was a bit crowded but Emily went to bed easy, she must have been really tired.

I left the room as soon as Emily was a sleep and went to the Walt a Disney Theater to watch the show. When the show was over I got my picture taken with Mickey before I went to the room and quickly went to bed as I was exhausted.

The bananantibiotics did what they were supposed to do, Emily woke up only once and that was very conveniently at 11:00pm while we were still awake. The remainder of the night she coughed a lot due to her runny nose but not a single cry. We’re happy parents again… 

We decided to leave early as today was going to be a hot (33 Degrees Celsius) and sunny day. The theme park of our choice was Sisney’s Hollywood Studio’s! We arrived at 8:50am and had an almost front row parking spot, at 9:03am Emily and I were behind the gates, Mama got randomly selected for additional security screening and was there a couple minutes later. 

First target Minnie Mouse in her Hollywood dress and Sorcerer Mickey! We expected a little bit of a wait but in the end we were the first visitors of the day and had 2 private meet and greats with these famous movie stars. 

Meet & greet number 3 of the day was a personal favourite of Emily…Princess Sofia the First. We were third inline but Emily couldn’t wait tried to pull her mama directly to Sofia while queue jumping at the same time, off course that’s not how it’s supposed to be done and we waited a couple more minutes. First Sofia got a kiss on her cheek and then there was them for the photo. 

After Sofia came Pluto, here she recognized the surroundings from Mickey Mouse clubhouse. What a difference with 6 months ago. Next came Doc McStuffins, which Sofia knows from one of her bedtime story books. Here she became a little bit annoyed that all the others were allowed to play with her autograph book and she wasn’t. 

We decided to visit the Little Mermaid show. In the beginning we thought that it was a mistake as she did not want to sit on a chair or on either of our laps but when the music started she jumped on Mama’s lap and watched with an open mouth. She also pointed out Flounder and Ariel every time the came on stage while shouting something like “Arelle”.

It was only 10:30 and so we decided to checkout the lines for Goofy (short) and Chip & Dale (really short). Goofy went fine, she just wanted to be hooded by me. Chip & Dale was another story as soon as the Autograph book came in sight she threw a whole Donald Duck style anger tantrum. It was almost fun to watch, especially the way both Chip & Dale responded. Funniest moment was when Dale tried to get the pen from Emily…he jumped a couple feet into the air from cry. 

Time to leave, surprisingly it took almost 10 minutes before she fell a sleep in the car. So we believe she feels much better as yesterday and the days before. Since she fell a sleep we decided to drive a bit further and ended up at the Mall at Millenia (our favourite shopping mall). Here we had lunch and Emily ate a whole plate of fried rice, much more as the last days too. Both Mama and Emily found some nice summer clothes at Lilly Pulitzer. 

Shopping was done and we went back to the villa where Emily went to bed and I went in the pool. Emily had a her regular nap from about 2,5 hours. And I spend 2 hours in the pool. Danielle stayed indoors and did some laundry. 

After I took a shower and Emily woke up we decided to visit Epcot for a couple hours. At 6:00pm we arrived in the park. First stop was The Sees with Nemo & Friends. Emily walked the whole waiting line (that’s a long one) holding up everyone behind us it looked like a parade. The ride she totally enjoyed, she pointed out every single Nemo, Marlin, Dory and Pearl. I believe that she recognized from Nemo’s reef the splash pad on the Disney Dream. 

Out of the blue Emily decided that she should be pushing her own stroller… Very convenient except for the pace! Next stop was the Land. Here we went on Living with the Land where you go on a boat tour where you get an explanation about a program Disney supports and runs on their own property researching better ways to grow fruit and vegetables. 

When we got out we were a little bit hungry. I took the chicken wrap children’s menu together with Emily where she ate the carrots and the apples and Imate the wrap. Danielle went for a box with assorted Melon and Emily got a real banana. After we were done we decided to leave the park, it was already 7:30pm and we didn’t want to exhaust Emily. 

At 8:15pm we were at home and about 15 minutes later I was reading Emily a story about Aurora (Sleeping beauty) her seventeenth birthday. Afterwards I wrote this blog with the sound of Illuminatioms, Happily Ever after and later on the Star Wars firework in the background.