The Adventures of Jane Hat ~ WBTA 2018 | Complete

I love seeing all the costumes! I really like that they even included a little section on the animal actors. This looks like a great tour!
 




Sorry for the big gaps, guys. A lot of things are happening and I can only handle one thing per day. I cannot WAIT to get to the cruise itself. I have a lot of receipts and navigators :)

I'm about halfway through the HP tour. Just the tour. So ... many ... photos.
 
HARRY POTTER & THE RITZ
Part 6​


We are now at the halfway point of the tour, of which, you will find the Backlot Cafe, where you can get Butterbeer! We ended up getting a souvenir stein of Butterbeer along with a Butterbeer waffle cone ice cream. There was also a burger involved, but I did not partake.


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The ice cream and drink


::MinnieMo JANE HAT ALERT ::MinnieMo

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Let’s try it …


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Do I like it?


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I like it! Rich wasn’t a fan.


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Rich trying the ice cream. We both favored this over the drink.
And there is that burger, my receipt just says a grilled burger. He said the burger was good.


What I noticed with the flavoring of the Butterbeer here in England compared to the Wizarding World theme park in Orlando, Florida, the artificial flavor isn’t so sweet. The flavoring is much more mild and I prefer these versions over the US versions. Though, I would LOVE if the ice cream was available outside of the tour. It’s so good!
While sitting in the cafe, you can see the big sets outside the windows, so that is where we headed next.


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Knight Bus


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Inside the driver’s area of the bus (taken through window)


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At the back of the bus, you were able to kind of go inside. This is luggage in the back


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First floor


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Second and third floors


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Looking back at the cafe, where you exit in to the outside sets


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Back of the bus where you can go in and take pictures


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I wonder who’s house this is? I was amazed I got a people-free photo


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We were able to go INSIDE the Dursley’s house. These were some of the certificates on the wall


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Where it all started


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Lol, Dudley Dursley “Always eating up his lunch”


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The iconic letter scene


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A photo during filming


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The bridge at Hogwarts, added in film 3


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Richard found a motorcycle (THE motorcycle)


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::MinnieMo JANE HAT ALERT ::MinnieMo

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~ To Be Continued in Next Post ~
 
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HARRY POTTER & THE RITZ
Part 7


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Chess pieces from the second movie


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Close up of one of the pieces


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Hidden mickey …


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All of the hats from the set! I wish we could of stayed and inspected more but we were starting to run out of time (self imposed)


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We got to walk through the REAL Diagon Alley!!!


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Lol, this was a water fountain in the wall


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They have an area with all kinds of amazing art made for the movies. This one was particularly adorable


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Completely made of paper


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Luna Lovegood’s house, also completely of paper


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More pretty art


We stopped taking so many photos at this point because Rich’s battery is running low on his phone. At the time of this vacation, my camera didn’t do well in low light or dark, so many of these were from his phone.
We knew the tour was coming to an end and were putting away Rich’s phone when we turned the corner and were smacked in the face with this beauty …


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It was BREATHTAKING!


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The detail was amazing


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Look, I found Rapunzel’s tower!


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Nope, just the owlry


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Looking into the area that Harry, Ron and Hermione were when Hermione punched Draco in film 3


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::MinnieMo JANE HAT ALERT ::MinnieMo

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Rich wanted to make sure to show off the flying carriage from movie four


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All the wands. The names are everyone that worked on the movie.
There was a decent size room of all of these



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Evanna Lynch played Luna Lovegood


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Triwizard cup from movie four.

After going through the tour, we finally decided to get some souvineers, but not much since we're kind of on a budget. Because of that, I decided to forgo anything for me from the shop itself, I had the cool stein from the Butterbeer. The pricing in the shop seemed a bit pricier than Disney, not including exchange rate, but not too much. I read reviews online about how much the food was for the cafes and people were saying they were much too high, we thought they were pretty reasonable. Paying for Disney really warps our view of expensive lol.

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On the way in/out you see all the footsteps from the marauder’s map and quotes from the movies. This one is from Luna Lovegood


On the way out of the tour, we thought that we forgot the camera! We just about had a heart attack but found in in our pocket. We didn’t get any photos of the outside because the bus back to the station was RIGHT THERE when we exited. It was pretty good bus karma, I must say.

We got back to the station and was a bit confused with what train to get on because my research said to use the Overground but the sign showed Northeastern. We kind of hung out for a little bit trying to figure it out but I was a bit stressed because we had to stay on a time schedule to make it to our next adventure on time. So, we just kind of went for it and I was freaking out the whole way because we weren’t sure if this train was the kind included on our Oyster fare or ones where you buy the tickets and show the stubs to the staff in the train cars. It turned out just fine.


We made it back to the hotel and we just kind of tried to relax before heading back out.


~ To Be Continued in Next Post ~
 
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HARRY POTTER & THE RITZ
Part 8​


Surprisingly, it took me a bit to get ready. I needed to take a shower but the shower was a bit odd and started to flood if I didn’t turn in off in between sudsing. It makes sense, saves water and all, but still slightly annoying cause it gets cold :(
I put on my Orange Bird dress with a homemade hair clip. The dress is a bit big in the chest area for me and made me feel like I looked horrible. You can’t tell too much in the photos, but I was still pretty self conscious.
The reason why it’s a bit big on me is because I got it for a deep discount but was a size too big.
So, I finally got all gussied up and we finally headed out to our last London area adventure!


::MinnieMo JANE HAT ALERT ::MinnieMo

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I feel this is a very British photo


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Opulent is probably the best word to describe this hotel.
I have never been anywhere so fancy before.



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Looking up from the entry way


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One of the staff. Lol, he was taking a photo of a family in front of the tea room. I thought it was cute how into it he got.


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The hallway looking towards where we entered


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Ceiling of the tea room. It’s gorgeous, the photos really don’t do it justice


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Apparently, in high society, you have to check your coat before you are allowed into the tea room. This is our cool coat check tassel.


As you may have guessed, we have come to the Ritz Hotel to partake in their Afternoon Tea. Interestingly enough, the service went into the evening. I believe this was the 7:30pm seating time. Since I was all dressed up in my Disney best, I decided to make this an inaugural event …


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… for my beloved Disney Dooney Balloon White Barrel purse! Isn’t she beautiful?


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Rich being his dapper best once we were seated


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Me all dressed up. My hair looks flat BUT it was in a fancy braid that Richard did for me.


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Part of the tea room and ceiling. Gorgeous.



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Our sandwiches and pastries from the classic Afternoon Tea menu


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My tea, Ritz English Breakfast.
Not sure why but we don’t have a photo of Rich’s tea. He got the Earl Grey.


The service was amazing. I had let them know ahead of time that I cannot eat mammal meat (they have a protein I cannot digest) and so they took off the sandwiches that didn’t have that kind of meat. However, they just gave me less sandwiches instead of substituting more of the non-red meat ones. I asked why and they offered me more types of sandwiches, which were not on the menu.


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From right to left: Tomato Spinach, Chicken w/unknown spread, and Hummus. They gave me double of them.


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Scones


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My delicious scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves


The quality of food was quite high and was just delicious. The teas were on a level that I have never tasted before and the blueberry dessert (on the top tray) was to die for. Though, I think these are probably the most high class macarons I have had and, try as I might, I just don’t like macarons.

Unfortunately, the food was quite rich (but delicious) and I ended up having really bad intestinal issues (we discovered, later, this was due to the medication I was taking) and had to visit the powder room. First, it was on the floor we were on, but it had stairs leading down. It had a classy pink thing with powder blue accent furniture (including a sofa). I wish I could have taken a photo but there were other ladies there and I didn’t want to intrude on their privacy there.
After using this particular amenity, I dried my hands and they had cloths to hand try. Like, embroidered nice cloths that were stacked neatly by the sinks. I’ve had towels folded to use for hand drying but not embroidered cloths!
Once done being amazing by those cloths, I went back upstairs and the bill came with a total of £0. We kind of were confused and had to ask our server what was going on. Turns out, these people are human and made a mistake. We paid up and headed back to King’s Cross. On the way, I ended up having another bout of bad intestinal issues and I felt like I wasn’t going to make it to a restroom. Thankfully we were in St. Pancras station and found some nice facilities. I swear, I almost didn’t make it.

ANYWAYS, we finally made it to King’s Cross station after walking across the street.


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This photo was taken earlier in the day since we didn’t know if we could come back before leaving tomorrow.


For some reason, Rich didn’t want to take a photo at the Studio Tour, but wanted the platform photo at King’s Cross station. Well, we strolled up in our nicest outfits and waited in a roped line. Yes, there was roping for a line.


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Rich finally taking his photo!


There were staff from the Platform store (next to the wall) and they had props and a photographer. You didn’t have to buy the photo but it was an option. Let me tell you, this was quite different from when I got my photo taken there a while back. There was no store, no roped line, no staff helping the scarf flow, nothing. Just the trolly and wall.


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Behind the scenes!


The staff had buttons on their lanyards, much like Cast Members and one had a rainbow mickey head on his. He loved my dress! Talking to him passed the time to take a photo.


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Walking away looking all handsome


I chose not to take a photo because I already had one and I didn’t want the movie house colors (I’m Ravenclaw, books have Bronze & Blue while the movies have Grey and Blue). Plus, I found the scarf thing ridiculous because magic folk weren’t flying those suckers around going through to the platform.
Though, I did take one last photo for the day …


::MinnieMo JANE HAT ALERT ::MinnieMo

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‘yer a Wizard Jane Hat


After our photo shoot, we ended up going back to our hotel to pack up for embarkation day tomorrow. We may have only stayed for 3 nights and had a small room, but we ended up taking a while to pack up haha. The day finally ended at 2am when we finally went to bed.



Pricing

Harry Potter Studio Tour tickets for 2: £82
Shuttle Bus for Tour to/from Watford Station for 2: £5
Backlot Cafe at the Tour: £24.25
2 Waters - £3.60
1 Curved Tankard Butterbeer - £6.95
1 Butterbeer Ice Cream - £4.95
1 Grilled Burger - £8 (+£0.75 for cheese)​
Studio Tour Gift Shop (in lobby area): £12.90
Postcard - £1
Hufflepuff Crest Patch - £5.95
Hufflepuff Magnet Bookmark - £5.95​
( I didn’t get anything for me since I have a lot of Harry Potter Ravenclaw march)
The Ritz Afternoon Tea for 2: £114
 
Thanks so much for the detail on the Studio tour! Cannot wait to go....it looks absolutely amazing! The tea looked fab too and you looked very nice in your dress!

Jill in CO
 
Just booked tea at the Ritz prior to our WBTA! Looking forward to hearing about the cruise!
 
That tea looked amazing! That's definitely being added to my list. What a great pre-cruise start!
 
Thanks so much for the detail on the Studio tour! Cannot wait to go....it looks absolutely amazing! The tea looked fab too and you looked very nice in your dress!

Jill in CO
You're welcome! The theme will be different when you go but the base stuff is there. The tea was so posh, I felt so out of place, made me miss my Disney people lol. And than you very much :)

Just booked tea at the Ritz prior to our WBTA! Looking forward to hearing about the cruise!
WOW! That is AWESOME!! I really would love to see your review on it, whether you do a TR or not :) So glad I could help

That tea looked amazing! That's definitely being added to my list. What a great pre-cruise start!
Yay! Converting everyone to trying formal tea before the cruise, my evil plan is working! Muahahaha! Lol seriously though, I'm so glad I can help out with your plans :)
The tea was a MUST on our list, that and Stonehenge, so we made sure that those were at least covered. I am excited to find out what your final list is :)
 
Embarkation Day!
Sept. 9
Personal Navigator
Beverage Seminar List


IT IS FINALLY HERE! Our trip up to this point has been lovely and enjoyable, but you know what? We are here for the cruise and are SUPER excited. We ended up waking up at 7am but we were rather slow, been a whirlwind couple of days. We went to breakfast for the last time and went back to the room to gather our last minute things.
It was at this time when I was finally able to have time to take photos of our room and a video tour of it.

Our room while in London


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Looking into the room from the entry way. Rich dinking around on his phone.
For reference, Rich is 6’4”.


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Turning the camera left after entering into the room


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Standing in the corner looking back at the entry


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Looking right from the corner (where the small wardrobe is). This is our ensuite.


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Immediately to the right of the entryway into the ensuite. Small sink, small area, but better than sharing a bathroom!


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As you can see, the shower is right next to the toilet


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The shower. I forget if I had to stand on the toilet or if Rich took the photo for me


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Looking out of the ensuite into the room


Yes, it was a bit small, but for us, it was just fine. I really enjoy seeing how people make small spaces a livable area. We live in a studio apartment (granted, bigger than this room) and so we are used to being in cozy spaces. The price and location was right, plus breakfast, what not to like?

We finally got our bags together and went to check out. It was really smooth. We then took the 2 minute walk to St. Pancras station to obtain our Southeastern Rail tickets. We just went straight to the customer service desk and they printed them off for us. The tracks were up a floor where there is an escalator that takes you right to the entry, where there was a little waiting area. I believe there was a little cafe cart up there selling pastries and coffee.


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Sitting on the bench, looking towards the gates into the platform


We didn’t wait for horribly long, maybe 15 minutes? Before we were able to board. Since we were right there, we were able to find a good spot onboard; a four top table so we could stash our luggage.


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One large green suitcase, a black/blue roller duffle are in the seats, the bags up top (2 blue carryons and a tote) are also ours.


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That’s where we are going!


We were on the Southeastern Highspeed train, which bypassed all the local stops. The image above shows the stops that it made. There was a lot of concern about this leg of the trip because there was some construction going on with this line and people in our group were really concerned. Well, since this is a WHOLE different track than the local ones, this one was not affected.
Shortly after the photo was taken, we were off to Dover Priory.


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It took about an hour until we got to the shores where I could take this lovely photo


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First view of the Magic!!


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Made it to Priory Station! This is the front of the station. (it’s small)


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Looking out from the doors from the previous image


It was a rather small station and it kind of bottlenecked coming out. Just an FYI for anyone with a stroller or wheelchair, it’s a tad crowded when everyone is getting off. Of course it’s like, 99% of the passengers are going for the cruise (I made that number up) so there was a lot of luggage to navigate around as well.

We were one of the first people outside and our plan was to take a taxi to the port, however, there was a gentleman in a construction vest with Disney Cast Member uniform and lanyard who was telling people that there was a shuttle we could take at $10 a person. Yes, in USD because the money would be taken out of our onboard account. In all of my research, I had heard NOTHING about this, so we were a bit weary, but even his pen was a DCL pen, so we were the first to approach him and see if this would really work out.


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The possible CM taking down names. More people signed up after we did.


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The shuttle


The shuttle was a bit late from the time the possible CM told us, but it did arrive and the photo above shows what it was. It was rather tiny and they had a fun time fitting all the luggage in the back. There were no markings on this shuttle to show it was a DCL run shuttle (to my recollection). Inside was teeny tiny and I had to put my wheeled carry-on under the seat while holding onto my Dooney tote … I was kind of squished, but worth it to have those two with me. Once all tucked away in the shuttle, we were off towards the port (so we trusted). I took a few photos along the way.


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First view of the cliffs, right next to the road


To our relief, we made it to the port and were dropped off. Our luggage was taken care of for us, they just started unloading and they were like “we got this, go on and check in”. So, there it was. No dropping off our luggage with porters, they just took it from the shuttle.
One potential kidnapping successfully avoided.


So there we go people. As of the 2018 WBTA, DCL provides a shuttle for passengers from the Dover Priory train station to the port. This was not advertised and was not on Disney’s website about transportation for this departure port, their information only stated transportation from Airports & Hotels in London. From this experience, I think the $10/pp was well worth the cost.


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This is really happening!


Despite the terminal not being Disney, they did a great job making us feel the magic prior to the ship. I may or may not have shed a tear going across this threshold. I did not take photos of the security area but from what I remember, it was on the second floor, right next to the check in area of the terminal. Rich actually got stopped at security because they had thought he was trying to sneak in more then the allocated limit for alcohol per person. I had gotten so excited that I got through security just fine and started wandering off! Poor Richard. We were bringing on 2 wines and a mead. I had to go back and show that we were traveling together and that we were within the limits. They were kind about it, but professional and took it quite seriously.

We got to the check in line, which was a little long but nothing bad. The check in was pretty simple but they did require us to surrender our passport but they took a scan and gave that to us (with a receipt attached) so we can use in ports if needed.
We were hoping there would be a post box at the terminal so we could mail the postcard we got from the tour yesterday for Jane (the creator of Jane Hat) but there was not one.
Of course there was a place you could stand to take a photo in front of the DCL welcome banner … thing. They are weirdly distorted because Rich’s phone did something weird with the selfie settings. We didn’t realize until later in the cruise. Sorry for the odd photos but they are the only ones we have of these.


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::MinnieMo JANE HAT ALERT ::MinnieMo

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When you walk into the terminal from security, the photo area is kind of in front of you across the way and the line to the check in is to your left. There is also a hall going away from the photo area that has the restrooms. Across the room, diagonally to your left is a little cafe and doors to another room. Just beyond these doors is the waiting area to board and let me tell you, this was PACKED. It’s a pretty small area and people like to bottleneck the entry area since the entrance to boarding is right there when you walk through the doors. The staff were not joking around about letting people board before their time, they required people to show them their boarding card before being able to pass through.


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Rich finally got his lanyard! He pouted on his first cruise cause he didn’t have one.


We ended up not waiting long to board, flashed our #6 boarding card and boarded the ship. We skipped the boarding photo. Our first stop was to the Promenade Lounge to change our Palo reservations. There was a decent line of people doing the same and there was a CM handing out numbers that they would call when it was your turn.
Then off to Lumier’s to have lunch. The people we were sat with were rather chatty. That’s mostly what I remember about that, I was a lot more hungry lol


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Lunch menu for embarkation


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The mixed salad - both ordered


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We both also ordered the Potato and Leek soup


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Rich got the Sliced Roasted Beef Sirloin for his entree.
My entree was not photoed but I got the Pennette Pasta.


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My dessert: Welcome Aboard Sundae. It was SOOOO good


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Rich’s dessert; Cookies ’N Cream Cheesecake


After our yummy lunch, we headed towards our cabin and dropped off our luggage, come to find our Romance at Sea package and our Silver gift. The Romance at Sea package is now called Luxury at Sea online.


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The table has our non-alcoholic sparkling cider, champaign glasses (to use), chocolates and a rose which is part of the ‘at Sea’ package. On the couch are two robes (in the bags) that come with the package and a backpack sling, which is the silver castaway member gift.


Now, let me explain something here, we LOVE Martinelli’s sparkling cider and we were excited to have this option for our cruise. However, since we were departing Europe, all of the food/drinks that were stocked were European, so we got an Italian cider instead. We were a bit bummed, but could say we tried it, at least. The funny thing is, we had a full bottle of Martinelli’s cider with us because in our online group, I found that a couple from the UK was also wanting the cider because they really enjoyed it. So, I decided to go to our store and pick up a bottle to surprise them with it. This also served to help us pack for our return trip since we knew we were going to be bringing back the wines and mead, we were able to test our packing for glass bottles and bring the necessary packing materials for them. See? Not completely an act of kindness but I think it was helpful for everyone involved.


After dropping off our luggage, enjoying our cabin (6511, sideways cabin) we went and had a rousing muster drill. Ha.ha. After the muster drill, we ended up going to deck 10 so we can enjoy the sailaway party and enjoy the views.



~ To be Continued in next post ~
 
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Embarkation Day!
Part 2​


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The famous White Cliffs of Dover


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A view of the Dover Castle. Many people chose to visit the castle prior to boarding.


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The sail away party will be starting in a bit


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Nothing says vacation like Strawberry Daiquiris with a stunning backdrop


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Little tugboat, getting ready to steer us out


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DCL with the Union Jack flying in the background


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Rich enjoying the sea. Such a flattering photo lol


Sail Away


I was starting to rather overwhelmed with all the people, social interactions and lack of sleep. My anxiety was definitely kicking in. We went back to the cabin so I could decompress. This is exactly why we love DCL so much, our safe haven isn’t far away so I can deal with all of my anxiety. Thankfully, I have my medicine with me so we waited for it to kick in. After I was able to deal with everything, we spoke to the … head of housekeeping? Manager of the ‘hotel’ end of things? I had requested only one turn down service instead of two and she had come by personally to make sure the request was correct. We also told them that the mattress had a pretty big indent in the center and they said they would take care of it.

Then, we went to the opening show, Be Our Guest. It was enjoyable and really made Rich want to watch JUNNK sometime while we are on the cruise. Ended up going back to the cabin and Rich took a nap while I unpacked and put up our decorations! We have hanging swirls and Frozen themed decorations that we hang from the ceiling and we put our our Fish Extender, along with all of our magnets. This was really starting to sink in.

After puttering around the cabin, we decided to drop off the only bottle of Martinelli’s on the ship to the couple we brought it for. We got a whole wine bag and everything! We didn’t want to put them on the spot, so we just hung the bag on their door handle and we snuck off to dinner.

As I’ve mentioned, I have pretty bad anxiety and we learned from our last cruise that having a private table is the best for dealing with that. When we go to dinner, we discovered that we were assigned a table that was NOT private and what looked like a lovely young couple our age. Bravo at Disney for trying to match ages and all but I could not deal with shared seating for 11 nights. The CM that brought us to the table was still there and we just told him that there was a problem and he escorted us back to the front. The CM dealing with table assignments seemed a bit perturbed but, as this was a health thing, I was politely persistent. He did end up changing our table and we were escorted to our new one. Let me tell you, this was the best decision of the whole cruise.


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Our first dining room is Rapunzel’s Royal Table and this is the pretty menu cover


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Bread service; Freshly Baked Carrot and Scallions Loaf with Cumin and Cilantro Dip


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Rich and I got the same appetizer: Chicken Bastilla; Moroccan spiced shredded Chicken wrapped in Phyllo-dough and sprinkled with Powdered Sugar and Cinnamon, with a Vegetable Almond Slaw


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We both got the Arugula and Baby Spinach Salad but mine didn’t have the onions


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My main course: Penne Arribbiata; Penne Pasta tossed in Spiced Tomato Sauce with Basil and Garlic Shrimp


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Rich’s entree: Pork Tenderloin Wellington; Pork Tenderloin wrapped in Mushroom Duxelle, Crepes and Puff Pastry with Gratin Potatoes, Roasted Baby Vegetables and a rich Bordeaux Wine Sauce


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Rich’s Dessert: Magical Express Sundae; Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Chocolate Fudge Bites and Whipped Cream


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My Dessert: Fresh Fruit Sabayon; White Wine Sabayon over Seasonal Fruits and Vanilla Ice Cream


The service was impeccable. The assistant server was so beautiful, I told her she looked like a painting in the museum. Just beautiful. Also very kind.
Our dining team …
Server: Joe Nakrong from the Philippines
Assistant Server: Alexandra Marques Pinto from Portugal
Head Server: JC Bautista - didn’t catch his country
Joe was quite vilgelant in making sure I was able to eat the right foods. I cannot process mammal meat because of a protein they produce, so there were some desserts I couldn’t eat because of gelatin (much to my dismay). This first day, he was still learning but he learned quickly!
After being stuffed from delicious DCL food, we checked to see if the Martinelli’s was found yet, and it was! Success! Making pixie dust really makes a person feel good :) Then we headed back to our cabin, I journaled the days activities and fell asleep.



PRICING

Southeastern Railway tickets for 2 (St. Pancras, London to Dover Priory): £65.60
DCL Shuttle Transportation from Dover Priory to Port for 2: $20, taken from onboard account
Romance for Two (non-alcoholic) - $113
Sail away Drinks with souvenir cups - $28.46; one non-alcoholic

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Yes, it was a bit small, but for us, it was just fine. I really enjoy seeing how people make small spaces a livable area. We live in a studio apartment (granted, bigger than this room) and so we are used to being in cozy spaces. The price and location was right, plus breakfast, what not to like?

I'm with you on this. We live in a small house with three of us mainly so we can afford to travel.

So there we go people. As of the 2018 WBTA, DCL provides a shuttle for passengers from the Dover Priory train station to the port. This was not advertised and was not on Disney’s website about transportation for this departure port, their information only stated transportation from Airports & Hotels in London. From this experience, I think the $10/pp was well worth the cost.

I like that they added a shuttle. It might have been a long wait for a taxi with that crowd. We disembarked in Dover a few years ago and I wish they would have had a shuttle from the ship to the train station. Overall, I thought it was very easy to take the train from Dover to London (in your case London to Dover) and I am always surprised when people won't even consider it because they think it would too much of a hassle.

After our yummy lunch, we headed towards our cabin and dropped off our luggage, come to find our Romance at Sea package and our Silver gift. The Romance at Sea package is now called Luxury at Sea online.

Okay, I'm seriously leaning towards booking this package for my summer cruise, what a nice way to get the cruise started.

Looking forward to reading more.
 
Good info about the shuttle...hope they do that this year as well. Looks like a pretty smooth experience getting from London to Dover.

Jill in CO
 
I'm with you on this. We live in a small house with three of us mainly so we can afford to travel.
Exactly. I'd rather have a modest home and be able to travel than have a large home and not travel. We are the type of people that would want DVC before we purchase a home lol One day ... one day.

I like that they added a shuttle. It might have been a long wait for a taxi with that crowd. We disembarked in Dover a few years ago and I wish they would have had a shuttle from the ship to the train station. Overall, I thought it was very easy to take the train from Dover to London (in your case London to Dover) and I am always surprised when people won't even consider it because they think it would too much of a hassle.
Yes, I was thinking that too after working out time tables. I'm SOOO glad this happened. I travel a lot and am usually pretty skeptical with things but after all the things I listed, I determined it was safe enough to try. The biggest thing that convinced me was he wasn't wanting any money. I think many people that travel overseas to Europe are just not used to trains, so they think it's a big hassle.[/quote]

Okay, I'm seriously leaning towards booking this package for my summer cruise, what a nice way to get the cruise started.

Looking forward to reading more.
You should! The robes are really comfy! They are like plush, that really soft plush. Rich is 6'4" with a skinny frame and I am 5'6" with a plump frame, they fit us fine. Truly one of the best deals with Disney, I bet they would sell these robes for as much as the package, each!



Good info about the shuttle...hope they do that this year as well. Looks like a pretty smooth experience getting from London to Dover.

Jill in CO
It really is. We were confused a few times but ultimately, that's just having a new experience. Trains are the best and most affordable option in Europe, hands down. I think the key is to not be far from St. Pancras station so that it's an easy trot over without having to navigate the tube or a taxi.
Train tickets open up about ... 3ish months before departure day. We were able to get ours in mid-late June instead of July though, so keep an eye out if you decide to do this, the tickets can sell out and you'll have first pick for your times :)
 

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