May 26 - June 2, 2012 From Reality to Fantasy

[Luv2Diz]

Fantastic TR... I read the entire thing this evening! The antics of Perry were a hoot! And now I want to book a cruise on the Fantasy more than ever. Thanks for sharing your cruise!

 

[Dawncala]

Thank you everyone. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Your kind comments put me on .

Have a great cruise Strawberry! I will keep an eye out for a trip report.

 

[Sugarglider]

thanks for doing this trip report - it was EPIC! lots of great photos (esp. food) and showing lots of different activities, the room, and it was nice to see your family having such a great time. thanks for your effort

 

[mmmears]

Wonderful trip report! Thanks so much for posting so many photos! I really enjoyed reading it.

 

[meajuly5]

This was fantastic! Really enjoyed! How did you request Palo soufflé? Just ask your server?

 

[lizzyb]

Great review! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ninja Mom]

You did an AWESOME job writing this trip report! Now I have a really good idea about what to expect if we should ever decide to take a cruise. Thanks for all the great photos and all the time you spent filling us in!

~Ninja Mom

 

[Dawncala]

This was fantastic! Really enjoyed! How did you request Palo soufflé? Just ask your server?

Yes. We just asked our server (who consulted with her section lead) a day or two in advance. Remember there are no guarantees, and we were reminded of that on our most recent cruise (Feb 15, 2013) We asked for a Palo chocolate souffle again and we were very, very politely denied. Apparently so many people have been asking for them that they've been having to say no to that request. You might get lucky on your cruise though. Just in case, make sure to make dinner reservations in Palo and have one (or more) then.

 

[Elain3crowder]

An Unforgettable Journey

The final show in the Walt Disney Theater is titled “An Unforgettable Journey” and provides a pretty decent wrap-up for the cruise. I was thankful that it was not so heart tugging that I ended up bawling by the end. I think it was just enough to make one melancholy about it being the last night on board.

The show was filled with the usual variety of Disney song and dance numbers and there is a slide show with pictures taken of guests during the cruise. Our family did not make it into the slide show, but there were a few people we recognized. The best reaction was when they put up a photo of two Japanese girls. I think by the end of the cruise there wasn’t a single person who had not encountered them somewhere. We bumped into them many times and they definitely left a lasting impression. They always had on the cutest Disney outfits and accessories, were usually wearing mouse ears or Minnie bows and were carrying autograph books and cameras. I think they must have been at every character meet-and-greet because that is where we saw them the most. They also almost always had front row seats at the shows too and tonight was not an exception. They were sitting front and center when their picture was displayed, and while they shyly giggled the rest of the audience whooped it up for them.

There was one disappointing moment at the show though. A part of the show references the new Animation show in Animator’s Palate. Anyone with our particular dining rotation, with late dinner seating, hadn’t seen the Animation show yet (it was tonight) so it was kind of a spoiler for us. Hopefully they correct that so everyone has a chance to see the Animation show before the farewell show.

We r leaving may 4th on the fantasy. The only night available to get into dinner at palo was the last night. why do they save the animators palate show for the last night? Didn't u eat there 2 days before? Is this typical? I was hoping we wouldn't miss anything but if we get your rotation we will

 

[wilma-bride]

What a fantastic trip report. Thank you so much. If possible, I am even more excited for our cruise on the Fantasy in October after reading this

 

[Kira G.]

Thanks for such a great trip report!

We are planning to sail the Dream in summer 2014 (soooo very far away!) and I love all your photos and tips. What a great vacation!

 

[Kristina - Mom]

Fabulous Trip Report! We are headed on the Fantasy in August for a 7 night Eastern Caribbean Cruise.....our first Fantasy trip so this was so helpful....

Kristina

 

[A's Princess]

Bravo! Awesome trip report - I read it all tonight.

Thanks for the great tips. Can't wait to use them next April on our Fantasy cruise!

 

[joyvrolyat]

I was not really sure what a trip report was but how I have seen this it was amazing to view all your post with pictures. We will be sailing on the Fantasy in September and I just can't wait. Wonderful info, great photos and a beautiful family, oh and Perry is cute too !!!!

 

[Dawncala]

We r leaving may 4th on the fantasy. The only night available to get into dinner at palo was the last night. why do they save the animators palate show for the last night? Didn't u eat there 2 days before? Is this typical? I was hoping we wouldn't miss anything but if we get your rotation we will

I'm not sure what is typical, but there may be an easy fix. Call Disney Cruise Line and request a dining rotation that will NOT put you in Animator's on the last night. While DCL will not be able to guarantee it, I have requested which rotation I've wanted on my last three cruises and have had my request granted all three times.

Another idea would be to change your Palo reservation after you get on board. By then you will know your dining rotation and if it does conflict then go make the request. Again, no guarantees, but I bet it happens.

Faith, trust and Pixie dust my friend.

 

[mamaprincess]

The Storm and the Cheese (part 3) AKA: The Cheese

By now we had little to no room left in our tummies. We had completely lost track of how many courses had already come and no idea how many were left to go. We were hoping dessert would arrive next to signify that we were nearly done. But then the cheese arrived.

The Belgian server was back with a covered cart filled with cheeses. For the next 20 minutes he described, in great detail, the names, types, nationalities, textures, tastes, and aging processes of each cheese in turn. To be honest, when he was finished the information was all blurred together, but we were thankful for some time to just sit and digest. We ended up ordering two plates; one with the mild cheeses, and one with the more pungent cheeses. There were also some fruits to compliment the cheeses and we got some of those too.

The Cheese Cart

Around the time our cheese sample plates were set before us DH and I had suddenly become quite giggly. With every cheese we sniffed and tasted we laughed a little more. Since we couldn’t remember any of the actual cheese descriptions we started making up our own which only made us laugh harder. For example…“This precocious brie spent its infancy stored in a mink lined cask where it was sung cantatas to nightly by Norwegian monks. It has the nose of a wet NY Yankees sweat sock after game 3 of the World Series, the texture of a #2 Ticonderoga pencil eraser and the full bodied taste of a full grown Himalayan Mountain Hippo.”

The mild cheeses. My favorite was the small wedge on the upper right of the plate. It's an ashy goat cheese, and although it looks like it was dropped in the dirt, it was delicious.

The smelly cheeses. If I'm remembering correctly the smelliest ones were the one that looks like a plop of mayonnaise and the marbled blue cheese wedge on the left side of the plate.

By the time we got to the strongest, smelliest cheeses on the plate, (and I should warn you, it was really smelly) we had tears streaming down our faces and couldn’t even look at the cheese anymore without losing it. Thank goodness the other couple in the room had already left. We noticed they were taking their meal quite seriously, and I think they were annoyed that we were having such a good time.

We only had enough room to taste each cheese so we asked Linda to package the rest to-go because we knew DD would love to try them. (DD was thrilled and especially loved the smelliest cheeses in the bunch.)

You and your husband are ridiculous! I cannot wait to show my DDs your cheese description. They will gag! They hate brie which I and their grandmother love. You guys remind me of my dh an I. I usually start off the foolishness and it goes from there.

 

[Dawncala]

You and your husband are ridiculous! I cannot wait to show my DDs your cheese description. They will gag! They hate brie which I and their grandmother love. You guys remind me of my dh an I. I usually start off the foolishness and it goes from there.

Thanks mamaprincess! I went back and read about the cheese again and it got me laughing all over again. We are going on the Fantasy again next year and I can't wait to make my reservation for Remy. Bring on the cheese!

 

[mamaprincess]

Thanks mamaprincess! I went back and read about the cheese again and it got me laughing all over again. We are going on the Fantasy again next year and I can't wait to make my reservation for Remy. Bring on the cheese!

LOL! I called my mom to read her your Remy experienced and we both howled with laughter. We are going on the Fantasy again next year as well and I will absolutely be making a reservation at Remy. I hope I can hold it together when my waiter launches into the cheese descriptions!

 

[Aggiefan92]

Just went through your entire TR and I'm exhausted - in a good way! I actually felt the same sadness at the end of your report that we did at the end of our first Disney cruise! We leave on Fantasy Eastern Caribbean 8 weeks from today. Here's a few tips I learned from your TR
Head to Cookies 2 far end of CCay for better chance of a better beach spot.
Ask for desserts even if not on menu - I noticed Lava Cake on only one night but if u can get a soufflé surely I can get lava cake on another night! Hopefully?
Check out all the bathrooms and see all the fine detail that went into the entire ship.
Sign up for tastings early - first day.
We also are using Avis so for an 11am PAT what time should I drop the fam and luggage off to still have time to take car back and shuttle( or cab) back to the Terminal to board with them?
Thanks for the report!

 

[Dawncala]

Just went through your entire TR and I'm exhausted - in a good way! I actually felt the same sadness at the end of your report that we did at the end of our first Disney cruise! We leave on Fantasy Eastern Caribbean 8 weeks from today. Here's a few tips I learned from your TR
Head to Cookies 2 far end of CCay for better chance of a better beach spot.
Ask for desserts even if not on menu - I noticed Lava Cake on only one night but if u can get a soufflé surely I can get lava cake on another night! Hopefully?
Check out all the bathrooms and see all the fine detail that went into the entire ship.
Sign up for tastings early - first day.
We also are using Avis so for an 11am PAT what time should I drop the fam and luggage off to still have time to take car back and shuttle( or cab) back to the Terminal to board with them?
Thanks for the report!

Thanks for reading! We have booked our first Eastern Caribbean for next year. If you have an tips or tricks for me after your cruise I'd love to hear them.

Regarding asking for desserts... it's funny you should mention the lava cake. On our most recent cruise I tried to get the Palo chocolate souffe again. Unfortunately I was not able due to a policy change. But since our dining lead knew my DS loves the lava cake he tried to make up for it by bringing us not one, but four special order lava cakes on our last night. (We ended up with 8 desserts on our table ) Since the lava cake is on the regular dining room menus I'm sure you can ask to have it more than once.

Regarding car rental drop off. The way we have always done our car drop is we all go to the rental agency and drop the car together. Then the agency shuttle drops us off right at the terminal door. We always have an 11:00 AM check in time, so we take the car over at about 10:15-10:30. The Avis agency keeps track of when Disney begins allowing terminal drop-offs and as soon as they are given the all clear they take you all right over.

Have a great trip!