A few months ago, as I decided to launch this blog, I knew I wanted to be one of the first on the re-imagined Disney Wonder. The Disney Wonder was home for our very first cruise back in 2003. That cruise made us fall even more in love with Disney and cruising. Our children were amazed and in awe of the fun and activities offered in the kids club. We love that we can have an extended family vacation with special activities for each member of the family. Sixteen cruises later, we still love cruising with Disney and looked forward to seeing the ship updates.

We spent the night before the cruise at the Tremont House in Galveston. It is a lovely hotel, just a couple of blocks from the ship. The hotel features a café that offers a small food selection (average breakfast item was $10 and included a side of fresh fruit) and a Starbucks. Parking is available along the street. If we sail from Galveston in the future, I will plan to arrive a couple of days early to explore the area.

We had a rental car and had prepaid for port parking ($5 discount). I dropped the family curbside around 10:10 a.m. and had a porter take our bags. My family entered the line outside the port while I parked the car and rode the shuttle back. We were let into the port area around 10:35 and were able to go straight to a check-in Cast Member (we are Platinum Castaways). We were told rooms would not be available until 1:30 p.m. and that no upgrades were available as this sailing was completely full.

The waiting area is upstairs, and we were one of the first to arrive. I was second in line for the character photos and Mickey came out very soon. Around 11:30 they started boarding concierge. There was some confusion with boarding as this was the first time back in Galveston in a few months. People were told to go different places, but it was quickly worked out. Everyone was so excited to get on the ship that most of the Group 1 boarding skipped the boarding photo.

Upon boarding, a crew member did not follow us, so we had to stop and ask if Tiana’s Place was available for lunch. We were told Cabanas was open and Triton’s would open at noon. We decided to go to Cabanas rather than wait. We were also told we could go directly to our rooms as the ship was empty before this cruise!

I sent the family ahead while I stopped at Guest Services to acquire the complimentary Gingerbread House tickets (those were gone by early afternoon). Cabanas was very empty. It was very nice to have it so quiet! I was able to take photos and shoot a quick live video. I think most people were running around checking out the new areas of the ship before it filled up.

After lunch, we were able to make a change to our Palo dining (with no wait!). I spent the afternoon taking pics around the ship and grabbing a quick nap. The crew members were very excited to have passengers on board and for everyone to see the changes on the ship.

Tonight’s show was The Golden Mickey’s. There were changes and updates to the show. A cast member told me new segments for the show were filmed just earlier this week! After dinner we went to the evening shows at Azure. It was surprisingly very empty. I think most people had long travel days and skipped the evening activities. My plan for warm cookies and milk were replaced with my stronger desire for sleep.

Tomorrow is our first sea day!