gingerfeathers
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 583
We just returned from the first official sailing of the reimagined Wonder, and it was a great time! Here are a few notes on the memorable things I noticed since I know a lot of people have been curious, along with a small handful of photos. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask.
1. Tiana's Place - This is my new favorite restaurant on the ship. It was great. The theming was lovely, the food was delicious, the show in the restaurant was great, and the beignets passed the taste test of the Louisiana crowd in my group. They were delicious! Our serving team was Derrick and Manuel, and they were wonderful.
2. Crown and Fin - Loved it! It was a very British pub with a great vibe, and you could see a few small Disney touches such as a print of Roger walking Pongo near the bar. It was VERY full during football games, but it emptied out a bit otherwise and was a casual place to relax. I also appreciated the mini buffet with finger foods in there.
3. Cadillac Lounge - They did a wonderful job on reimagining this space! It's stunning! It was a wonderful place to chill and relax with a drink. Rodolfo, one of the main bartenders in there, is absolutely incredible, and we enjoyed visiting with him each night. He also taught our mixology class, which was a great experience (even though the vesper martini was, um, not my taste!).
4. After Hours (adult area) in general - The new theming is really classy and relaxing. We enjoyed it a lot. However, and keep in mind I haven't been on a cruise since 2008, it seemed like there was a lot less enforcement of the 18-and-over rule in the area. A lot of people brought their kids into the spaces, and the kids would hang out for quite a while before eventually going away. That was a little bit frustrating as Disney used to be VERY hardcore about policing these areas, which is appreciated by this adult with no kids.
5. Ship exterior - The new coat of paint is amazing and stunning. It really made the ship pop (not that it didn't already!).
6. Stateroom - The stateroom was great, but honestly it wasn't as clean as I would have expected after the reimagining. There was an extra coat of dust on some surfaces it seemed, and the bathroom had the remnants of dirty water on the tile. Nevertheless, it didn't really diminish our experience in any meaningful way.
7. Atrium - It's still beautiful.
8. Twist 'N Spout slide - We only did it once, but it was a lot of fun! I kind of wish I had done it another few times.
9. Rainforest Room - Oh man. We took a tour of this, but we didn't buy passes for the duration of the cruise because we toured it about ten minutes before closing time on the first day and would have lost a full day of enjoying it. We tried to purchase a day pass for our final day at sea, but unfortunately they were sold out. Ugh. Had we found it earlier on that first day, we would have bought the package for the full cruise. Oh well. Next time. It was great and relaxing and generally excellent.
10. Frozen - Um, awesome. Totally great. I'm not even a huge fan of the movie, but the show was absolutely phenomenal. This is worth seeing for sure.
11. Other notes - There was still a little work going on during our cruise, but it didn't inhibit our experience in any way (except during my jog on deck four when crew members were trying to maneuver a replacement door around the deck--had to dodge them a few times until they got where they were going). My least-favorite dinner meal was Animator's Palate, though the show was spectacular (getting to see our animations was so fun!). Lunch at Triton's was sub-par, but dinner was excellent. Cabanas was good as well. I felt like the Wonder showed her age in small details, such as a few areas that were really rusted but hadn't been repainted during the dry dock, but aside from that she was still fabulous. It is always amazing to see the older Disney ships still looking classic and majestic next to newer Carnival ships in far worse repair (plus Carnival ships just aren't as pretty).
1. Tiana's Place - This is my new favorite restaurant on the ship. It was great. The theming was lovely, the food was delicious, the show in the restaurant was great, and the beignets passed the taste test of the Louisiana crowd in my group. They were delicious! Our serving team was Derrick and Manuel, and they were wonderful.
2. Crown and Fin - Loved it! It was a very British pub with a great vibe, and you could see a few small Disney touches such as a print of Roger walking Pongo near the bar. It was VERY full during football games, but it emptied out a bit otherwise and was a casual place to relax. I also appreciated the mini buffet with finger foods in there.
3. Cadillac Lounge - They did a wonderful job on reimagining this space! It's stunning! It was a wonderful place to chill and relax with a drink. Rodolfo, one of the main bartenders in there, is absolutely incredible, and we enjoyed visiting with him each night. He also taught our mixology class, which was a great experience (even though the vesper martini was, um, not my taste!).
4. After Hours (adult area) in general - The new theming is really classy and relaxing. We enjoyed it a lot. However, and keep in mind I haven't been on a cruise since 2008, it seemed like there was a lot less enforcement of the 18-and-over rule in the area. A lot of people brought their kids into the spaces, and the kids would hang out for quite a while before eventually going away. That was a little bit frustrating as Disney used to be VERY hardcore about policing these areas, which is appreciated by this adult with no kids.
5. Ship exterior - The new coat of paint is amazing and stunning. It really made the ship pop (not that it didn't already!).
6. Stateroom - The stateroom was great, but honestly it wasn't as clean as I would have expected after the reimagining. There was an extra coat of dust on some surfaces it seemed, and the bathroom had the remnants of dirty water on the tile. Nevertheless, it didn't really diminish our experience in any meaningful way.
7. Atrium - It's still beautiful.
8. Twist 'N Spout slide - We only did it once, but it was a lot of fun! I kind of wish I had done it another few times.
9. Rainforest Room - Oh man. We took a tour of this, but we didn't buy passes for the duration of the cruise because we toured it about ten minutes before closing time on the first day and would have lost a full day of enjoying it. We tried to purchase a day pass for our final day at sea, but unfortunately they were sold out. Ugh. Had we found it earlier on that first day, we would have bought the package for the full cruise. Oh well. Next time. It was great and relaxing and generally excellent.
10. Frozen - Um, awesome. Totally great. I'm not even a huge fan of the movie, but the show was absolutely phenomenal. This is worth seeing for sure.
11. Other notes - There was still a little work going on during our cruise, but it didn't inhibit our experience in any way (except during my jog on deck four when crew members were trying to maneuver a replacement door around the deck--had to dodge them a few times until they got where they were going). My least-favorite dinner meal was Animator's Palate, though the show was spectacular (getting to see our animations was so fun!). Lunch at Triton's was sub-par, but dinner was excellent. Cabanas was good as well. I felt like the Wonder showed her age in small details, such as a few areas that were really rusted but hadn't been repainted during the dry dock, but aside from that she was still fabulous. It is always amazing to see the older Disney ships still looking classic and majestic next to newer Carnival ships in far worse repair (plus Carnival ships just aren't as pretty).
If another person in my party got a photo of it though, I'll post it!
