My Disney Dream diary part one – Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

Oh, the Disney Dream.  The delightful, delicious, delovely, delectable Disney Dream.  Regular readers will know that I adore all the Disney Cruise Line ships, but there’s something about Disney Dream in particular that makes my heart sing. I think it’s because my first ever Disney Cruise was on board the Disney Dream.  I just love everything about it – the restaurants, the fabulous AquaDuck water coaster, the gorgeous restaurants, the gorgeous cocktail bars, the sumptuous spa…  So, if you’ve ever wondered what a cruise holiday on board a Disney Cruise Line ship is like, wonder no more.  Sam (my oldest son) and I kept a diary during our cruise trip last week, and here’s part one.

Descending into Orlando

Day One

After a short delay (I never mind a delay at Gatwick, it’s all just extra shopping time), a very lovely Virgin Atlantic flight (I watched Big Hero 6 and How to Train Your Dragon 2 – just to y’know, get in training), and a surprisingly short queue at passport control, we picked up our bags and headed out to find our transportation to our overnight stop.  Another of my favourite Disney treats are the fabulous Disney’s Magical Express coaches.  If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World resort hotel, these beautiful beasts will whisk you from the airport to your hotel free of charge. They’re also available to use while you’re staying at the resorts to get to and from the Disney parks and to places like Downtown Disney.  So we climbed aboard, all excited:

Disney’s Magical Express

Within about half an hour, we were dropping the first passengers off at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort and soon arrived at our own hotel, the very beautiful Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.  The Yacht Club is a gorgeous, New England themed resort hotel, right on Disney’s Boardwalk area (home to the very best bakery IN THE WORLD) and walking distance straight into Epcot and a quick (and fun) boat ride to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  Here’s our gorgeous room:

Our room at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

and check out the view from the balcony over to Disney’s Boardwalk:

Our twinkly view of Disney’s Boardwalk

As we were delayed, we’d made ourselves a bit late for our dinner reservation at the resort’s Yachtsman Steakhouse. I think one of the things that Disney do well is grown up dining that’s still family friendly.  The Yachtsman is a great example of this.  The decor is gorgeous – the restaurant carries on the Yacht Club’s nautical theme, with loads of wood and leather, starchy white linen and sparkling glassware.  As you walk in, you can see right inside the glass-walled dry ageing room:

The dry ageing room at the Yachtsman Steakhouse

As you would imagine, there are loads of amazing steaks on the menu, and the sides are so good, you just can’t order one or two.   We shared truffle fries, creamed spinach and truffle mac and cheese.  I went for a New York strip steak with peppercorn and brandy sauce and a cheddar twice-baked potato.  All amazing.

New York strip steak in the Yachtsman Steakhouse

The wine list is full of incredible reds just perfect for pairing with steaks.  We shared an absolutely stonking Belle Glos Meiomi Pinot Noir (2013), which was smooth and rich with lots of spice and lovely plummy fruit flavours.

Belle Glos Meiomi Pinot Noir

It was such a good meal, we almost forgot that it was about 2am back home!  Still, we had a date with a cruise liner early the next day and headed off to bed in our delightful, nautical room.

The next day, sadly with no time to have a splash around at Stormalong Bay, the pool area covering nearly three acres of the resort (including an awesome life sized shipwreck and one of the best lazy rivers) we were off to catch up with the Disney Dream at Port Canaveral.