At last – the Walter E. Disney Suite!

We finally realize that no one is making a move to open the door, so everyone goes for their card at once. Bob’s the first with his at the ready. He slides it in, pulls it out, and – green light! The door to the Walt Disney Suite opened for us!!

This is so cool! We step through the door and into a long hallway. There are doors on either side, but we’ll explore those later. The hall leads us into the main living room, the biggest room in the suite.

It has a couch, two chairs, and a coffee table. This is the room that used to have the baby grand piano, but it has been removed – and, according to the lady at DCL that I talked to when we were upgraded, it was just for show, never a functional piano.

The wall behind the couch is covered with curtains, through which we can see our veranda. (Our 40-foot veranda!) Since the doors behind the couch are blocked, though, we apparently access the veranda through other rooms.

Turning around at the couch and facing the opposite wall, the one split by the entrance hallway, to the left is a media center with a DVD player and a rather nice flat-screen, Hi-Def television. It’s not big by home theater standards by any means, maybe 25”, but it’s a pretty decent size for onboard a cruise ship.

It turns out to be one of five televisions in the suite.

Still in the living room, same wall as the TV, but on the opposite side of the hallway, there are cabinets that open to reveal a wet bar. It has stemware available and is stocked with Evian water bottles.

The living room connects with two smaller rooms, one on each end. “Smaller” being a relative term, of course: each of them is as big or bigger than the sitting areas in a Category 4 stateroom (the highest non-concierge; the Walt and Roy Disney Suites are Category 1). The room to the aft – to the left coming from the entrance hallway – is a dining room with seating for eight.

There’s a large (!) gift platter of fresh fruit, wrapped in plastic and tied off with a Disney Cruise Line ribbon, sitting on the dining room table, along with a “welcome aboard” note from Lars and our other concierge, Thabi. Life is good.

To the right are curtains and a door to the veranda. To the left, another room, this one the smaller bedroom. Again, “smaller” is relative – the room contains two twin beds, a desk, a dresser, and a television! It also has a walk-in closet, which connects back to the entrance hallway. There is a bathroom with sink/counter/mirror space, and an almost full-size, deep whirlpool tub!

I can’t wait to see what the big bedroom looks like!