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I'm Shay! I’m a cookbook author, lifestyle blogger, travel agency owner, wife and mama who loves making every day special for my family.

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Mix & Match Mama

Friends, Shay, Travel ·

Disney Cruise: Day 4


So, today’s the last day of our Disney Cruise.  
 #pictureoverload #sorryaboutthat #regularlyscheduledprogrammingcomingup
If you’ve been following along, we went with the Slaughters over spring break and spent four nights on our first Disney Cruise…and had the BEST time.  We were seriously those people planning our vacations for the next 6 years on board the ship together because we were having THAT MUCH FUN!  
So, here is my last batch of pictures from our day at sea.  Thanks for indulging me with the family vacation pictures :).
If you missed the first posts:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Hi, my name is Ashby and this is my friend Bo.
Coverup//Jelly Sandals

These two love seeing themselves in a picture…and I love the extra snuggles.
Hat// My cover-up

So, the first day on the ship, Erika and I went to guest services and picked up free tickets to see the Disney princesses and Frozen characters.  You do not need tickets to see any of the other characters on board…but you do for these two groups.  The tickets are free, you just need one for a specific date and time.  We selected the morning of our day at sea for our times.  After breakfast, we went to meet the Princesses at 9:00 and the Frozen characters right after.  Here we are waiting for them to come in.  Exciting!

Three boys acting like they’re not interested in seeing a bunch of princesses…they were though…

Look at the girls’ faces as the princesses walked in!  Priceless!

First, we met up with Rapunzel (my favorite!).
Smith’s shoes

And then Belle.
Oh friends.  Over the last six months or so, our sweet Ashby has fallen in love with the Disney princesses…and it makes my heart burst with so much pride.  Ashby has just come so far from when we first got her…and the fact that she picked up something on her own that she loves (and she LOVES them), talks about them, plays with them, sings their songs, watches their movies and asks for their books to be read to her…well, it makes this mama heart so happy.  She loves these princesses.

We love you Belle!

Next up, Cinderella.  Look how she’s holding Ashby’s hand.  Bless.

We had a few minutes to kill in-between the princesses and Frozen, so Bowen chilled out by Andrew.

Smith and Nixon carried on a deep conversation.

And then they wrestled Bowen…because when you’re the youngest boy, you better get tough.

Ashby and Ebby Lee came to the rescue.  Please note our fine parenting here: Andrew hasn’t even flinched (notice his feet) and I’m taking pictures.  Shouldn’t we have been breaking this up? #probably 

Ebby Lee is like “no worries Ms. Shay!”.

Next, it was time to see the Frozen characters.  If you know Ashby, you know that she belts out Let It Go approximately 536 times a day.  This was huge for her.

Thank you Elsa & Anna.

And Olaf too!

 After we met the characters, we spent the rest of the morning by one of the pools and slides.  We stopped for lunch around 11:30.  Being on a boat makes me hungry.  Anyone else?!
This dude is awesome :).
 At 12:15, our newsletter said that there would be a dance party in the ship’s lobby.  Tab, Andrew, Bowen and Ashby passed but Erika and I took the big kids…and friends, it was so much fun!!  We had no idea what to expect but all of the Mickey Mouse characters came and we all danced to crazy fun music.  Just look….

Mickey came over to us first!!  All of the characters rotated around the lobby so you had a chance to dance with all of them.  I mean…we were dancing with Mickey Mouse!  My kids were ecstatic!

Look at those faces!!!
Even Erika and I were screaming!  It was so loud, so crazy and so.much.fun!

Smith always tries so hard to dance…and Nixon always knows he’s too cool for dancing.  We laugh and laugh at these two!

Dancing with Goofy!

K nearly died when Minnie wanted to dance with her!
  #dreamcometrue #whenyouareseven

That face says it all :).
So, after all of the dancing, the big kids were dried off from the pool and wanted to play in the kids club area, so we went back and asked the littles and they said they wanted to go too.  So, that left just the four grown-ups…and what did we do?  We rode the big scary slide!!!

Erika and I were so proud after we rode the big slide!  Woohoo!  We didn’t die!! #win
This slide was one of those that you step into the tube and then it counts down from three and then the bottom drops out beneath you and you fly around in the tube…at one point, off the ship and over the ocean!  It was crazy fun!
Swim top
After we were done risking death sliding, the guys took the boys and the two littles to see Zootopia on board the ship (advantage Disney Cruise…you get to see the brand new movies in their theater for FREE!) while Erika and I took the two big girls to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for their princess makeovers.

We made these appointments at home before we left on our vacation and selected the last night so that the girls could be all fancy for their final dinner.  Each girl gets to pick her princess hairstyle and then they do a little makeup, glittery polish and lots of sparkle in their hair.  You can either buy a costume there or bring one from home.  Kensington brought her Sleeping Beauty costume from home.

Each girl leaves with her makeup palette and nail polish along with a hair piece and a tote.

They turn the girls around at the very end to see themselves.  She was so proud!

My pretty princess!

Family picture before our last dinner on the ship!  We brought Ashby a costume and crown from home…she was pumped to be Cinderella!
My dress//My shoes

Everyone content and coloring before dinner.

After dinner, I tried getting pics of everyone…believe it or not, this was the best one of the girls.  They were too hyper for words!

And speaking of hyper…the “Polo” boys were too!

The last pic I took that night…it’s blurry, it’s crazy, it’s silly…it captures the spirit of our vacation.
Whew!  It’s over!
The next morning, we got up and ate breakfast on the ship before disembarking.  Our flight left Orlando at noon, so we hopped off the ship a little earlier than the Slaughters and headed back to Dallas.  It was really and truly the BEST vacation!  We had so much fun and honestly cannot wait to do it again.  Don’t forget, you can see Erika’s post on our last day here.
So many of you have been emailing us this week about planning a Disney vacation for you and we are THRILLED!  We would love to help you and your family with a Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line or Adventures by Disney vacation.  Just email me at mixandmatchtravelagency@yahoo.com. 
Thanks so much for reading along with us this week.  If you missed the other days, here they are again:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
On my foodie blog today, I’m sharing my favorite St. Paddy’s Day recipes and menu in honor of today, St. Patrick’s Day!  Hope you’re wearing your green and enjoying your day!
See you tomorrow!
xoxo
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Comments

  1. ari says

    Love these soooo much!!! Its so weird your vc dress has a white piping that is not on the one on the nordies site.. Either way you looked gorgeous!!!

  3. Amber says

    We did WDC three years in a row…best vacation EVER with kids!!! Great value for your money too! Thanks for sharing!!!

  7. Narci says

    Oh gosh!! Love that you went down that crazy, scary slide girls!! Also, Kensington's face when she was dancing with Minnie!! So sweet! 🙂

  8. K says

    It looks like a magical trip ? I was chuckling especially when you wrote about the slide – my family recently stayed at Disney's Aulani and while my son was at the activity center, my husband and I went on the slides. Adults can be kids sometimes, too, lol. I'm glad everyone had a great time. Disney has a way of adding special touches.

  9. Unknown says

    We went on the Disney Dream -same ship as the Fantasy. I want to do a 7 day Fantasy cruise next our Dream cruise wasn't long enough. We loved the Aquaduck-Roller Coaster at Sea. I am also still craving the Grand Marnier Souffle I had at dinner. I loved that dessert so much our waiter the next night got me another even though it wasn't on that restaurants menu that night. Glad you had a great time.

  11. Andrea Terrell says

    The cruise looks amazing. I have a question. They depart from Galveston too so why did y'all go from Orlando? I am interested in one but feel Galveston would be an easier port. Not sure if there are more options or benefits if you leave from Orlando.

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      A few reasons. First, Galveston isn't really convenient for us. It's about 5.5 hours from our house, so we would have had to have left the day before and stayed overnight in a hotel. Plus, the ports we were really interested in were the Bahamas and so for those ports in March on a four night cruise, you had to leave from Port Canaveral.

  12. Brooke Richardson says

    I love the fun crazy blurry pic at the end! Sums up the whole trip perfectly! So glad y'all had a blast, Disney doesn't disappoint!!! Thanks for sharing all your pics with us!!!

  14. Amanda Brezgel says

    Hi Shay! I'm curious and didn't see you mention it… but I know you've said before that you get sick easily on boats. Did you ever feel sick on the cruise?

    • Happylife40 says

      I second that. You don't feel the waves at all on a cruise ship. I went on a non-Disney Bahama cruise years ago, and took all the precautions with me, but it wasn't necessary. You don't feel the ship move. As a comparison: we took an 8 hour boat ride from Holland to England twice and were sea sick the whole time. So, I was very worried about the cruise.

    • Anne Harvey says

      I'm so glad you didn't get sea sick. I don't want to be a debby downer, but my family went on this cruise in November and traveled through some high winds/rain. We all got sea sick (and I don't struggle with this) We could definitely feel the boat rocking from side to side. I guess just pray for good weather and maybe there is a time of year that the weather is best?

  15. Cassie {Hi Sugarplum} says

    Such a fun week! I've loved all these recaps, you guys are just the cutest. And Ashby's little sass-pose kills me every time! I've always heard nothing but amazing things about these cruises (I think my neighbors were on the same cruise as you!), but I wonder if my kids are too old to really love it now?? And could you and Erika be any cuter??!! #no

  17. Lisa says

    We take a Disney cruise over Spring Break every year, I really enjoyed your posts! My kids are older now, but it really is a great family trip where we can do our own things and spend time together too!
    Next time, you should try a longer cruise on the Dream or Fantasy, they are much bigger and very nice, especially the Fantasy! The trips they offer that go to Castaway twice are awesome too!
    So fun to see the fun and excitement all over your kid's faces; brings back many good memories!

  18. alison says

    Did you guys have trouble finding chairs or tables around the pool? Any cruise I've been on it seems as though it's so crowded and hard to find a table next to the pool during lunch!

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      We did not. We were on one of their smaller ships (so less people), but because they have so many activities and they're so spread out on board, we did not have any trouble finding spots by the pool or tables at lunch.

    • Rebecca Thirkettle says

      That is not always the case on the larger ships – as the deck area isn't much larger but passenger load is almost double.

      I've been in 10 Dusney Cruises and won't go back to the Dream or Fantasy because you feel the size difference – especially at the pool!

  20. Jami says

    I can't say how much I have loved, loved, loved this! I am a huge Disney fan, and it has nothing to do with Mickey. More of the feeling that you are completly seperated from the real world. In 11 1/2 years my husband and I have been to Disney World 5 times, most recent being last fall for 8 days. I keep trying to convince him to do a cruise. I can decide if I want to start small like a 3/4 day cruise or go big for a 7 day one. Do you feel like you got to see and do all there was to do on the ship only having one full day at sea?

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      I feel like that depends on so many things. If you've never done a cruise before, I would probably start with a four night one. I felt like I could have stayed on longer but saw and enjoyed plenty while I was there!

  21. Leah McPherson says

    I have loved all your recaps! Ashby's pose cracks me up – such a diva! I cannot wait to take my daughter to Disney World or a cruise! Question.. do you not have your Shades of Shay tab anymore? – Leah Chasing Texas

  22. Josh S says

    Disney vacations are awesome! We've been on a few Disney vacations and book through them at no cost. Are there any advantages by booking through you?

  23. Mary Woods says

    Looks like SO much FUN! What swim bottoms (color/style) do you have from Athleta? Got tops, cover ups in my cart just can't decide on the bottoms.

    Thank you!
    Mary

  25. Mrscollins08 says

    Looks like a magical vacation! My husband and I love Disney but don't have children yet. Are there a lot of activities for us to do without kids?!

  28. Megan says

    Ashby's posing hand is just about the cutest thing ever! Thank you for sharing your trip with us! I am feeling the need to book our own asap!!

  29. Paula says

    Looked "magical". Question, we would be interested in a Disney Cruise, but two questions.
    1) We're a family of six. How is that accommodated
    2) My daughter is disabled. Non verbal, has seizures ( but under control, however what is their medic like) and needs a wheelchair. She can stand and walk very shirt distances, but bulk of the time would need a wheel chair. Are those kind of things accommodated?

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      Oh my goodness! YES! Those things are accommodated. In fact, I would say that Disney excels at that. Disney goes over and above with special families like yours (and don't worry about the cabin arrangements either, they can get you guys all together…most likely with two cabins and a connecting door).

  30. Aubrey says

    Oh my word, Kensington is looking SO grown up all of a sudden. Wasn't she a baby just a few days ago?! Every post I'm been crossing my fingers to see Smith decked out in a prince getup, but I'm guessing that you did your research and modern princes wear Polo. And Ashby looks like she is in heaven. Trust me when I say that Annie is NOT old enough to spend four long days on a boat without fussing. 🙁

  31. Unknown says

    I just recently started reading your blog and I love that you love the Disney cruises so much! I'm a cast member at Disney in Anaheim and I've been on a few Disney cruises. They truly are the best! So glad you guys are helping people plan Disney vacations 🙂

  32. Julia Moorhead says

    So happy to see that you had such a great Disney vacation! Disney cruises are definitely the best. I'm a Disney cast member over in Anaheim and it makes me so happy to see you promoting Disney vacations! 🙂