A long time ago on a Fantasy far far away...Feb 2016 SWDAS TR, 5/17 CRUISE EPILOGUE - The End!

[chunkymonkey]

This looks like a great first day! You are totally right about how amazing all the little touches on the ship are. Those Mickey mirrors are the cutest! You did a great job with your door decor and your state room looks really nice. I was imagining the state rooms would be more cramped, but that looks like a good amount of space for the three of you. (Originally typed "three of us" there...apparently I am ready to join you guys! ) Deluxe seems worth it to me. Also agree that the spa passes sound worth it...go big or go home, I say!

LOL, everyone is invited to cruise with us!! the more the merrier! Disboard families are so much fun. We hung out with a few on board the ship and had mixology. They have now seen me drunk at at my silliest.
The deluxe rooms were quite nice! Not an absolute necessity but really a nice luxury to be able to spread your stuff out and the extra storage.

I say that about disney all the time...go big or go home! Unfortunately my wallet does not agree. LOL

They just announced Star Wars at Sea for 2017 I see another cruise in your future Unfortunately, they fall on either side of DS Spring Break again

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...-returns-to-disney-cruise-line-in-early-2017/

OMG I saw that and was so tempted. LOL. But I figure it will be very similar to this years. I'll give them a few years to introduce some new stuff. I'm sure there will be a few tweaks and they will definitely not promise more they can deliver this time. At least now I know these cruises will continue for a while and I can wear my costume again.

I'm pretty sure the menus will stay the same though. My sister works in custom printing and she said the menus for the Start Wars themed dinner was very expensive so most likely Disney will re-use them. They really were gorgeous though, even though they were super shiny that they were hard to read.

This is so making me want to go on another Disney Cruise! I would love to go on one longer than the 3 days we went because I felt there was so much more to do and explore that we did not get to do! That Star Wars cooler is amazing! Great choice! I tend to say "when in Rome" a lot when it pertains to Disney things! haha!

Yes! I would be sad to leave the ship after only 3 days. And the Dream is the same size as the Fantasy - we could not explore everything thoroughly even in 7 days so I can't imagine 3 or 4. I guess with a shorter cruise you can go more often.

I love the cooler, it even comes with it's own drawstring carrying bag. I mean, a dust bag for a cooler...only Disney would do that and it probably to justify it's 35 dollar price tag. But as you said, Disney makes me spend money I won't normally do...

 

[TigerTown]

I just found your TR and am looking forward to hearing about your adventures!! I was following along on Instagram (I'm Mousetrooper) because we were on the SWDAS cruise just before yours. It looked like you had a great time.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I just found your TR and am looking forward to hearing about your adventures!! I was following along on Instagram (I'm Mousetrooper) because we were on the SWDAS cruise just before yours. It looked like you had a great time.

Hi Mousetrooper/Tigertown!! Great to see you here! I love your pics on Instagram as well. Did you guys enjoy the cruise? Aside from the engine trouble of course. Sorry about that!
We had a great time, overall a pretty spectacular vacation, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have not purchased the full photo package from Shutters. My sister loved it but I would have preferred not to have waited in line so much for character pics. I felt like I was at disney world waiting on line after line. But the plus size is that we have some pretty cool pictures to remember our trip with (as well as some terrible ones). Maybe next time I'll just get the 10 picture package or something.

 

[disnygirl55]

It makes me feel like I'm in college again - to be able to decorate our door! It was so much fun. I didn't even know the concierge doors were metal, I always thought they were wood but I guess they are metal with a wood overlay? Have you seen concierge doors decorated before?

That's exactly right - they are wood overlay, but fairly thick wood, apparently, so regular magnets will hardly hold at all. Yes, we've seen them decorated, and I think I did one small-ish type decoration on our door last time we were on the Fantasy. I'd really like to do something kind of cute, since it's our big 25th anniversary sailing, but I'm also always afraid we'll scratch the beautiful doors. They are elegant the way they are, but you still like to show some personality, ya' know?

 

[TigerTown]

Hi Mousetrooper/Tigertown!! Great to see you here! I love your pics on Instagram as well. Did you guys enjoy the cruise? Aside from the engine trouble of course. Sorry about that!
We had a great time, overall a pretty spectacular vacation, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have not purchased the full photo package from Shutters. My sister loved it but I would have preferred not to have waited in line so much for character pics. I felt like I was at disney world waiting on line after line. But the plus size is that we have some pretty cool pictures to remember our trip with (as well as some terrible ones). Maybe next time I'll just get the 10 picture package or something.

We really had an awesome time! It was our first Disney cruise so everything was new to us which is something I can't say for most things Disney. We are definitely hooked and can't wait to do another Disney cruise! You can find a video of our adventure here if you have 40 minutes to spare

It's really interesting to hear about the photo package. We didn't get any of the Disney photos and I kind of wish we'd purchased at least a few. Maybe there is a happy medium somewhere.

 

[Ajojo]

Yea! I found your trip report after following on instagram. We were on the Fantasy last year and I have a smile on my face reliving the memories thru your pictures.

Question: We are on the last SWDAS cruise and are finalizing our costumes. Do you wear them all day. or just for dinner?

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 1 Part 3: The worst cruise photo ever! Plus, dinner at Royal Court!

Forgot to share this pic from earlier in the day:

I ate a lot of ice cream on this trip, and the chocolate soft serve was always my favorite. The self-serve stations are very dangerous...I ate waaaay too much ice cream.

We had late seating meaning we had dinner at 8:15pm, which meant we always had to catch the earlier show at the Walt Disney Theatre, at 6:15pm. So not sure how the crowds were going to be, we headed to the theater a little early, at 5:45pm. We were already dressed for dinner. It wasn't any special night but we always liked to dress a little nicer for dinner in any case. I think that it is a nice thing to do when you cruise. We opted to sit in the upper balcony of the theater which meant you can enter on Deck 4 instead of Deck 3. It was much less crowded up here than it was on Deck 3.

It was a breezy night, which meant my hair went flying all over the place! I thought, wow, this is great, it will be nice to get some windblown/beach-y hair on the first day of the cruise!

Deck 4 was pretty empty at this time, either people were going to the welcome show in the theater or were at first dinner seating which started at 5:45pm.

In the theater, DH took this shot of all of us and that was when I realized my dreams of perfectly wind-blown beach-y hair had turned into a disheveled mess. Ugh.

Oh well. We watched the show which was the welcome show called A Fantasy Come True. It was cute, and it also introduced us to some of the variety acts performing that week. Buckets and Boards were especially good. They played random instruments and were pretty funny. If I were to miss a show on the Fantasy for dinner at Palo or Remy though, I would be ok with missing the welcome show, even though I think everyone should watch it at least once.

After the show we went back outside and found the shuffleboard stations to be empty so we played a few games of shuffleboard. Correction: DH and CS played shuffleboard while I took video and pictures of them. DH kept teasing CS about how she was never gonna beat him but she actually came close a few times. You have to note that DH loves to tease CS, but she is also really easy to tease. She takes it well.

It was back to the Atrium so that my sister could get all her character pictures before dinner. There was usually about a hour to kill right after the show and before dinner. I went to visit the stores which were now open. Holy Star Wars Merchandise Batman! Some cool stuff here, definitely. I remember I had pre-ordered all this merchandise which I still had to pick up. I made a note to pick it up the next morning since I didn't feel like picking it up now.

I really liked the Captain of the Ship t-shirt for DH so I made a mental note to pick it up later. I then got a message from my sister on the navigator app to come meet her for portraits in the atrium. I begrudgingly obliged...I mean, I'm ok with character pictures but the cruise portraits were never really my thing...however since we already prepaid for the Shutters photo package we had to maximize the number of pictures, right? LOL.

The characters obviously had longer lines, but the portrait station did not...so my sister and I head up to the one with the white backdrop. You have to take off your shoes for this one. So the first thing they make us do is to get on the floor. On our bellies. My sister and I both look at each other and crack up. It was not good. It took us about 2 minutes to collect ourselves and actually get some pictures. We were literally dying inside. The photographer would take a shot then we'd burst out laughing.

Goodness these are just terrible. We were trying so hard not to laugh.

OK, so now we're at the backdrop with the ship in the background. And we just can't contain it any longer. I give you...the worst cruise picture ever...

Enough said. Just look at my hair. Any our expressions. I can't even. I die each time I look at this.

Our character pictures, however, came out nicely. I managed to smooth out my hair and we had stopped laughing so much.

Ok now that the pictures were over it was finally time for dinner! We were really hungry at this point! We walked into Royal Court and met our head waiter, Lee. He had someone bring us over to table 95 which would be our table number for the week. It was off in one of the more private sections of the restaurant. I would have liked to eat in the main part of the restaurant but it was actually quiet in this section and we were able to talk.

One of the "rooms" in Royal Court.

Our bread "basket." I love these! I totally want one.

We're ready for our first dinner on the cruise!

We met our service team for the week, our head waiter Nyoman from Indonesia, and his assistant, Joseph from the Philippines. They were both great and tried their best to get us anything we needed. To drink I got an iced tea, DH got a diet coke, and CS got a ginger ale. These drinks were brought to us each night at dinner without us asking. It's so nice to have people bring you things you want without you asking! #spoiledbytheDisneyFantasy

Our bread this evening was a warm herb brioche with an olive spread:

As appetizers we all got the iced lobster and shrimp. I also got an order of the escargot to share with DH and we got an order of the breaded fried brie for the table.

Iced lobster and jumbo shrimp

Escargot in a garlic herb butter

Breaded brie with some sort of fruit chutney/compote

All our appetizers were great! As entrees, DH got the salmon, I got the seared duck breast, and CS got the pasta.

Salmon

Duck

Pasta

Everything was pretty good. My duck was a little tough but I liked the crispy skin. DH liked his salmon a lot. CS thought her pasta was good but not great.

For dessert, I got one of my favorite desserts from last year (on the Magic in Lumiere's) - the Gran Marnier souffle. Sooo good!

CS got a sundae and DH got the mango cheesecake.

A sundae with Mickey is always better!

Mango cheesecake

Overall a nice start to our dinner service with our team, Lee, Nyoman, and Joseph! Joseph kept trying to stump us with riddles. It was fun but we got most of them right anyways. Haha.

After dinner, I really wanted to check out the adult bar areas so we headed to the Europa section on Deck 4. This place is amazing. There are different bars, all interconnected, each one with a different and unique theme. Tonight we visited Skyline Lounge first, where every 12 minutes a different European skyline scene will be displayed on the screens. When we arrived, it was Paris.

I loved how the menus lit up so you can see it in the dim light.

I ordered a cocktail - I can't remember which one it was though but I told them I wanted something fruity and not too sweet. It had a citrus-passionfruit-y taste and was really good. There was a small jug of prosecco that you pour into the top of the cocktail so that it kind of bubbles and fizzes.

Want to see a special Disney touch? In each of the scenes, it's not completely still, there are digital "people" in each city scape walking around. It's really cool. Oh and because it's Star Wars Day at Sea? They were all JEDI. I just about died.

Can you see the Jedi???

This was just the most magical touch!

After Skyline, we headed to The Tube where they were having a game of Match your Mate. CS had already gone back to the stateroom at this time, but DH and I caught a few rounds of the game. It was really funny, like the newlywed game, but we were so tired at that point that we just wanted to crash. Love the theme of The Tube! I used to travel to London for work so this just brings back memories!

We got tired after a few rounds of the game so we headed back. When we got back to our stateroom, we saw our first towel/blanket animal!

Lobster?

What a great first day on the Fantasy!! We accomplished a lot and now we have the rest of the week to look forward to! Coming up on Day 2 which is a sea day...our first visit to the Rainforest Room, brunch at Remy, mixology, and a whole lot more...!!​

 

[SonyaShay]

He had someone bring us over to table 95 which would be our table number for the week. It was off in one of the more private sections of the restaurant. I would have liked to eat in the main part of the restaurant but it was actually quiet in this section and we were able to talk.

​

Ahhhhh! We were table 99 right by the door where that family of 3 is sitting! LOVED the placement of our table! Originally I was like you and thought it would be better out in the open but after walking through the room once it was full and hearing the level of conversations I quickly realized that we had the perfect table. Being right by the window was probably a little better than your table placement though.

 

[bcwife76]

Ok ....wow......that one really IS a bad photo. I mean that really doesn't look like you and sis at ALL!!!! Blargh

Royal Court looks amazing!!! Man know I want to book the Fantasy for that restaurant alone!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Can't wait to see the inside of Rainforest on the Fantasy! We only tried it on the Magic and it was just so so there.

 

[chunkymonkey]

That's exactly right - they are wood overlay, but fairly thick wood, apparently, so regular magnets will hardly hold at all. Yes, we've seen them decorated, and I think I did one small-ish type decoration on our door last time we were on the Fantasy. I'd really like to do something kind of cute, since it's our big 25th anniversary sailing, but I'm also always afraid we'll scratch the beautiful doors. They are elegant the way they are, but you still like to show some personality, ya' know?

Oooh I see, I think one big stand out decoration would be fun! Those magnet stickers weight a lot though! I didn't realize how much weight the magnet tape would add when you have so many pictures and decor but it was definitely worth it.

We really had an awesome time! It was our first Disney cruise so everything was new to us which is something I can't say for most things Disney. We are definitely hooked and can't wait to do another Disney cruise! You can find a video of our adventure here if you have 40 minutes to spare

It's really interesting to hear about the photo package. We didn't get any of the Disney photos and I kind of wish we'd purchased at least a few. Maybe there is a happy medium somewhere.

I checked out your video - I love it, it's sooo cool! It looks like you guys had just as good a time! Love your imperial officer outfits. The costumes of the guests were just so great and probably my favorite part of the day. We were part of the costume gathering in the Atrium. They interviewed us on Deck 4 along with some other people. It was a blast! I read a lot of reviews about people not being happy with the Star Wars day...I guess it is what you make of it. Maybe they were expecting a lot more but we were very happy with the activities and the theme that day.

Yea! I found your trip report after following on instagram. We were on the Fantasy last year and I have a smile on my face reliving the memories thru your pictures.

Question: We are on the last SWDAS cruise and are finalizing our costumes. Do you wear them all day. or just for dinner?

Hiii!! Thank you for reading!!
We put on our costumes in the morning because we had a meet n greet scheduled for 9:30am. We kept them on until after the first costume gathering in the atrium of the ship which was at 2pm. We were interviewed during the costume gathering by a CM. It was great fun! I was tired of wearing white spandex so I changed out into another Star Wars dress I had and wore that the rest of the day. The nighttime fireworks were cold and windy so we had to wear more layers before we headed to deck - but you will most likely have better weather!

Ahhhhh! We were table 99 right by the door where that family of 3 is sitting! LOVED the placement of our table! Originally I was like you and thought it would be better out in the open but after walking through the room once it was full and hearing the level of conversations I quickly realized that we had the perfect table. Being right by the window was probably a little better than your table placement though.

Oh that is soo cool!! Yes it was definitely more serene in that room. We were in the back corner though, but I guess it's fine since I requested a table for just us and there probably weren't too many to choose from. I would have definitely liked a window though!

Ok ....wow......that one really IS a bad photo. I mean that really doesn't look like you and sis at ALL!!!! Blargh

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, but it was too funny not to share...it's hilarious,

Royal Court looks amazing!!! Man know I want to book the Fantasy for that restaurant alone!

It is the prettiest restaurant! I loved the murals of the prince and princesses.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Can't wait to see the inside of Rainforest on the Fantasy! We only tried it on the Magic and it was just so so there.

It is nothing like the one on the Magic, which is a good thing! Definitely the highlight of the cruise, at least for me, I looked forward to my time here every day!

 

[Dugette]

Sounds like a lovely evening. I keep thinking to myself how different your cruise was vs. ours - having a young kid with you changes everything. We did early dinner and didn't get to spend very much time in the lounges and such. It all looks so fun and makes me want to take an adults only cruise (or have Izzy spend a lot of time in the Kids Club, which could be a good option - she was too young last time).

I can't wait to hear about your Mixology class. We did one and that was one of the few times we had Izzy in the nursery and spent time with adults (from the DIS!) It was quite the experience.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Loved the update! That is so cool about the little people in the scenes at Skyline being Jedi! We were in there for mixology during Star Wars Day at Sea and I never even noticed that! I love the little touches Disney does! I have to pay more attention next cruise!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Sounds like a lovely evening. I keep thinking to myself how different your cruise was vs. ours - having a young kid with you changes everything. We did early dinner and didn't get to spend very much time in the lounges and such. It all looks so fun and makes me want to take an adults only cruise (or have Izzy spend a lot of time in the Kids Club, which could be a good option - she was too young last time).

I can't wait to hear about your Mixology class. We did one and that was one of the few times we had Izzy in the nursery and spent time with adults (from the DIS!) It was quite the experience.

Thanks! It was a great first day. Our excitement about being on a new ship and wanting to explore everything really kind of set the tone that day. The kids always look like they are having fun! I'm sure Izzy would love the kids clubs!
Mixology was great - it was with a couple of Disboarders as well as some people from a facebook group (which I wasn't a part of).

Loved the update! That is so cool about the little people in the scenes at Skyline being Jedi! We were in there for mixology during Star Wars Day at Sea and I never even noticed that! I love the little touches Disney does! I have to pay more attention next cruise!

I know, isn't it awesome?? Someone in Skyline pointed it out and I was like, OMG, they ARE Jedi!!! I wonder if they keep them that way in between the SWDAS sailings. It would be nice if it were just exclusive to our sailings.

 

[kadrachb]

Joining in! I followed along on Instagram, it looked like you guys had a great time!!

I need to add go on a Disney cruise to my bucket list now!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

hen there was the room with the heated loungers.

Mmmmmm Heated Loungers! 6 days till I get to enjoy one of those babies at the Grand!!!

Pretty soon it was my turn and I asked to switch rotation. I also asked to confirm that we had a separate table for 3. They confirmed that they were able to move our rotation to RAERAAE and we got our separate table we requested. Score!!

Very cute!

 

[TigerTown]

I ate a lot of ice cream on this trip, and the chocolate soft serve was always my favorite. The self-serve stations are very dangerous...I ate waaaay too much ice cream.

​

That was sooo bad but sooo good! I'm an ice cream junkie and having the soft serve there plus all you can eat Mickey Bars was not good for my diet

I checked out your video - I love it, it's sooo cool!

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! I love making videos and reliving our trips that way.

... Love your imperial officer outfits. The costumes of the guests were just so great and probably my favorite part of the day.

Thanks again! There is actually a funny story about our costumes. We were standing on the balcony overlooking the atrium at one point, and a lady asked if her son could get a picture with us. We said sure and proceeded to take the picture. Apparently other people saw what was happening and also wanted a picture. After a few minutes we had a line of like, twenty people going down the stairs waiting to get their picture with us . I was honestly afraid that someone from Disney was going to shut it down and ask us to leave but they "let it go" (see what I did there ). Eventually we had to cut the line off because we had reservations for brunch at Palo (Which we also did in our costumes)

 

[KathyM2]

Wow that bar with the different city scenes (and Jedi) was really awesome!! Also your dinner looked good too - the salmon looked really interesting...was that tempura on top of it? Looked good whatever it was. And the desserts...yum Glad everything worked out with the dining rotation. What a busy first day...looking forward to the rest!

 

[JoAnnPan]

Digital Jedi's!? Only Disney - so cool!!!
I thought your hair looked good in the theatre - the beachy look
Can't wait for the next installment!