Name one thing you'd change about DCL

[stsomewhere]

Just off the Magic a few weeks ago.

DCl needs to go back to age groups for Club/Lab/Edge.

My niece and nephew (5 and 6) felt trampled by the older kids is in the club. They preferred the Club vs. Lab.

My daughter (12) was in the Edge for the first time. While she loved the Lab ( before over lapping age groups), she hated the Edge. There were times that DCL allowed 8 yr olds into the Edge during Out and About activities.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Didn't plan it that way, friends booked Carnival Dream (yes the one that got stuck in St Mar 1.5 weeks after we got off of it in March), and Dad booked a trip for him and Mom for their anniversary last week. Given that they would be sad from seeing all the family (Because we all live in different states!) we decided to spring a surprise on them at the Contemporary on Wed and tell them, yes your kids love you enough to not let you cruise DCL alone! (I know, what a sacrifice!) It was our entire family's first DC.

When I got off the Carnival, I was SO GLAD to be off. And I'm a gold carnival member. Nothing was particularly bad, it just wasn't good. (They wouldn't let us play volleyball without a Carnival entertainer...and we are all 25-55...so that's lame.) Oh, and we had to be on board Nassau at 1:30 in the afternoon...LAME!

Anyway this last week just literally astounded us. I was blown away, and it had only been about 5 or 6 weeks since my last cruise! And this 3 day was crazy better than the 7 Day Carnival. I will save my money for DCL or just cruise less days because they make is SO much more worthwhile.

And now for my complaint or one thing I would change. Some of you out there may not agree, and that is fine. For my own personal feelings, the Underworld section of the Villains show could definitely skeedattle. It gives the total wrong impression of a hilarious show. My parents plain walked out of it. We decided to stick it out and see and thankfully as soon as the Underworld sequence changed, the whole tone of the show did too. It became slapstick one liners and a villain who wasn't even a bad guy. Our Hades was literally one of the funniest actors I've ever watched live, like ever. Unfortunately, Disney alienates a lot of their audience by deliberately going the dead souls creepy factor. The rest of the show features bits from Lion King, Cruella again, a jazzy Ursela with Rockettes style dancers, and a hilarious take on a jerry springer talk show between Iago and Jafar that turns into the most surreal funny cheesey song and dance number, but it works cuz its so whack. So anyway, kudos for amazing entertainment. Well, "Believe" was just OK. I mean JUST. I probably enjoyed the opening light flying around as a real world tinkerbell than anything in the show. (With the exception of Pocahontas!!! WOOHOO!!!) However, the amazing show that sealed the deal was the Golden Mickeys the first night. Spectacular! Our singers/actors were even better than the prerecorded one you can watch in your room!

So yeah, the only one thing I would change is to ditch the undead spirits. I didn't have any problems with Scar singing (amazing), or any of the others. It just is unnecessary and make this cruiser a bit uncomfortable. Other than that, brava!

That, and my dad practically fell off the tram at Castaway because unlike the parks, there was no one loading the back end of the tram and the guy just drove off. He had to file a complaint because he was really worried that he might have injured something. The only drawback from a completely fabulous trip!!!

So many good things to recount, I'd be here all day. Suffice to say it was the best 4 days vacation in my life! (Kiss the sea lions! Its amazing!) I say 4 days because we fit in a 5 park hopping day on Wed (because we did Mag King, Hol Studios, Animal King, EPCOT just enough time for a hilarious Spaceship earth, monorail to the Wave dinner at Contemporary, and hop back to Mag King for a few hours. Next day was a 3 day Disney cruise with the whole fam including my real life twin!

I'm still in disbelief.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Didn't plan it that way, friends booked Carnival Dream (yes the one that got stuck in St Mar 1.5 weeks after we got off of it in March), and Dad booked a trip for him and Mom for their anniversary last week. Given that they would be sad from seeing all the family (Because we all live in different states!) we decided to spring a surprise on them at the Contemporary on Wed and tell them, yes your kids love you enough to not let you cruise DCL alone! (I know, what a sacrifice!) It was our entire family's first DC.

When I got off the Carnival, I was SO GLAD to be off. And I'm a gold carnival member. Nothing was particularly bad, it just wasn't good. (They wouldn't let us play volleyball without a Carnival entertainer...and we are all 25-55...so that's lame.) Oh, and we had to be on board Nassau at 1:30 in the afternoon...LAME!

Anyway this last week just literally astounded us. I was blown away, and it had only been about 5 or 6 weeks since my last cruise! And this 3 day was crazy better than the 7 Day Carnival. I will save my money for DCL or just cruise less days because they make is SO much more worthwhile.

And now for my complaint or one thing I would change. Some of you out there may not agree, and that is fine. For my own personal feelings, the Underworld section of the Villains show could definitely skeedattle. It gives the total wrong impression of a hilarious show. My parents plain walked out of it. We decided to stick it out and see and thankfully as soon as the Underworld sequence changed, the whole tone of the show did too. It became slapstick one liners and a villain who wasn't even a bad guy. Our Hades was literally one of the funniest actors I've ever watched live, like ever. Unfortunately, Disney alienates a lot of their audience by deliberately going the dead souls creepy factor. The rest of the show features bits from Lion King, Cruella again, a jazzy Ursela with Rockettes style dancers, and a hilarious take on a jerry springer talk show between Iago and Jafar that turns into the most surreal funny cheesey song and dance number, but it works cuz its so whack. So anyway, kudos for amazing entertainment. Well, "Believe" was just OK. I mean JUST. I probably enjoyed the opening light flying around as a real world tinkerbell than anything in the show. (With the exception of Pocahontas!!! WOOHOO!!!) However, the amazing show that sealed the deal was the Golden Mickeys the first night. Spectacular! Our singers/actors were even better than the prerecorded one you can watch in your room!

So yeah, the only one thing I would change is to ditch the undead spirits. I didn't have any problems with Scar singing (amazing), or any of the others. It just is unnecessary and make this cruiser a bit uncomfortable. Other than that, brava!

That, and my dad practically fell off the tram at Castaway because unlike the parks, there was no one loading the back end of the tram and the guy just drove off. He had to file a complaint because he was really worried that he might have injured something. The only drawback from a completely fabulous trip!!!

So many good things to recount, I'd be here all day. Suffice to say it was the best 4 days vacation in my life! (Kiss the sea lions! Its amazing!) I say 4 days because we fit in a 5 park hopping day on Wed (because we did Mag King, Hol Studios, Animal King, EPCOT just enough time for a hilarious Spaceship earth, monorail to the Wave dinner at Contemporary, and hop back to Mag King for a few hours. Next day was a 3 day Disney cruise with the whole fam including my real life twin!

I'm still in disbelief.

So glad you enjoyed the DCL cruise!!!
Can you be specific as to what you and your parents found so awful about the start of the Villains show? Was is scary or just badly done.
Thank you.

 

[TDC Nala]

I don't know anybody who is "alienated" by the beginning of the Villains show...maybe sensitive persons would be, but I don't see it alienating the audience. Are you talking about kids being scared? I saw more scared kids in the WDW Tiki Room before they changed the show back to be closer to the original. Since you refer to your parents walking out, I guess it's not about kids, but I certainly don't know any adults who find it literally offensive. I know some who don't like the show, but not for that reason.

I guess I don't see how it alienates "a lot" of Disney's audience.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Yes, I really would like to know what was so awful about it????

 

[ciraulo887]

The 200% single supplement.

What is this?

 

[TDC Nala]

What is this?

Single travelers pay the full fare as if there were two persons in the stateroom.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

As I mentioned, it is just my own personal observation. Some of us chose to be more conservative, which is a personal individual choice and I realize that that can occasionally become offended with instances that wouldn't typically bother others. (To give you a frame of reference, we personally choose not to participate in activities associated with Halloween either, which is in the same kind of category.) Again, it is just our own personal observation and we do not hold our own standard to everyone else, but since the forum asked us one thing I (not everyone) would change about it, that is why I made my comments.

The reason I said that it alienates 'a lot' is because when we mentioned it to one of the entertainment staff, he said that they actually do hear that quite a bit, but Disney does not plan to change it anytime soon. They do get a lot of 'Bible Belt'ers who may find it uncomfortable. A friend of mine who was on the Dream a few months ago left the show as well. Btw, we were the youngest in our group...at 31! So no, this is not a kid thing.

It isn't a really long segment, *for those requesting more details* but it is a deliberate attempt to begin the show in the Underworld or hell in the Greek mythology. They show ghostly white dancers (sorta undead zombiesc I guess you could say) and it definitely is a tribute to what some might deem wicked spirits.

It is a bit of a shame for me, as I mentioned, the actual tone of the show is very tongue in cheek and is more like "woe is the villain, no one ever likes us and we work hard" that kinda funny thing. They encourage the audience to cheer when the villain comes on the stage. That didn't really bother me. There was even a funny 'cat' fight with a few lady villains over the attention of Hades. It didn't even really feature magic or sorcery (which I again from a personal stand point was happy about). It just started with the ghost undead zombie dancers and I was about thisclose to giving up when they finally moved on.

That and the tram not being signaled that people were still getting on were our only downsides to the entire trip. That's a pretty stinkin' successful trip!

That is all!

 

[Mrsbotboie]

I would like there to be more than ONE drink station!!!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

As I mentioned, it is just my own personal observation. Some of us chose to be more conservative, which is a personal individual choice and I realize that that can occasionally become offended with instances that wouldn't typically bother others. (To give you a frame of reference, we personally choose not to participate in activities associated with Halloween either, which is in the same kind of category.) Again, it is just our own personal observation and we do not hold our own standard to everyone else, but since the forum asked us one thing I (not everyone) would change about it, that is why I made my comments.

The reason I said that it alienates 'a lot' is because when we mentioned it to one of the entertainment staff, he said that they actually do hear that quite a bit, but Disney does not plan to change it anytime soon. They do get a lot of 'Bible Belt'ers who may find it uncomfortable. A friend of mine who was on the Dream a few months ago left the show as well. Btw, we were the youngest in our group...at 31! So no, this is not a kid thing.

It isn't a really long segment, *for those requesting more details* but it is a deliberate attempt to begin the show in the Underworld or hell in the Greek mythology. They show ghostly white dancers (sorta undead zombiesc I guess you could say) and it definitely is a tribute to what some might deem wicked spirits.

It is a bit of a shame for me, as I mentioned, the actual tone of the show is very tongue in cheek and is more like "woe is the villain, no one ever likes us and we work hard" that kinda funny thing. They encourage the audience to cheer when the villain comes on the stage. That didn't really bother me. There was even a funny 'cat' fight with a few lady villains over the attention of Hades. It didn't even really feature magic or sorcery (which I again from a personal stand point was happy about). It just started with the ghost undead zombie dancers and I was about thisclose to giving up when they finally moved on.

That and the tram not being signaled that people were still getting on were our only downsides to the entire trip. That's a pretty stinkin' successful trip!

That is all!

Thank you for clarifying that.

 

[over50visits]

I think if it is open to DoD civilians then it needs to include veterans/disabled veterans but I'm biased as I fall into that group.

Jill in CO

I'm surprised it is open to anyone except those currently in the military (basically if you have an ID card you are in the military, if not you are not). Once you start adding others it can become a "why not me too?" argument (and someone invokes the "fair" argument LOL).

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm surprised it is open to anyone except those currently in the military (basically if you have an ID card you are in the military, if not you are not). Once you start adding others it can become a "why not me too?" argument (and someone invokes the "fair" argument LOL).

No matter who it is, there's going to be a "why not me too" aspect because everybody wants a discount.

There are civilians at DoD who go into harm's way in war situations. No doubt that's why they include them. But can they limit it to persons who can prove they are in dangerous situations as part of their job? That would be a great deal of trouble because everybody would have to provide a job description to qualify.

 

[msd1776]

Smoking limited to verandahs on one side of the ship. Pick one and enforce it!

Could not agree more. We had a room with a verandah and could not enjoy it because the room next to us had smokers who were enjoying their verandah so we couldn't. Very sad....

 

[msd1776]

I agree. We always end up paying more for any Disney vacation because we can only vacation during peak times, a.k.a when school is on break.

I am probably not going to make people unhappy....In the spirit of fairness then adults with children in school should get discounts too! We don't have the luxury of taking vacations whenever we want either. Point being...where do the discounts end and who makes the decision of who gets the discount? We all know that they are running a business and someone's discount means someone else is paying more and/or the base prices go up.

 

[msd1776]

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...0330_1_disney-fantasy-family-pool-cruise-ship


For those of you wondering what happened regarding the pool I have pasted a link above. I hope the child is okay.

 

[degrapevine]

The ships definitely need a dedicated space for 18-21 year olds. This age group is stuck between the HS Vibe Group and adults who can drink and are comfortable with adult activities, like Match Your Mate and the crazy scavenger hunt game (women taking off bras so men can put them on is not appropriate for these kids!). My DS18 and his best friend just cruised on the Dream this past weekend and are both still in HS. They will be graduating next month. I know the reasons why they are no longer allowed in Vibe and completely understand the legal aspect, but the Club 18*21 meeting they went to the first night was a dud. No one else showed up. So, these two kids ended up hanging around with my DH most of the time. They didn't feel like they belonged in the adult clubs with couples and drinking and weren't interested in the "non-pool" adult pool or the Spa. They did go to a few movies, but they really just wanted somewhere to hang out with music, video games, and fun activities with other kids their same age. Our kids have always had a ball on Disney cruises and we will definitely have to rethink our future cruising now that our kids are "age-ing" out of the Kids Clubs. While DCL is wonderful at the Kids' and Adult Programming, this age group is completely forgotten. Hopefully when we cruise in June our cruise will be full of 18-21 year olds, specifically HS graduates, who will want to plan lots of fun activities. On a 3 night cruise, it's not such a big deal, but on a 7 night cruise, it will be.

 

[jdb in AZ]

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...0330_1_disney-fantasy-family-pool-cruise-ship


For those of you wondering what happened regarding the pool I have pasted a link above. I hope the child is okay.

Chase survived and the family is back in Minnesota, but they have a lot to deal with.

https://www.facebook.com/ChaseLykken?fref=ts

 

[hendi123]

I agree they need west coast cruises & keep sailing from Galveston. Ditch Miami and service the other side of the county. Also make transfers from airports to ports cheaper. I'd be fine with waiting a few extra hours if I fly in early for a bus to fill up if it were cheaper. For my family of 5 to take the Disney transfer it's $300!!

 

[Plaid Princess]

no smoking on the verandahs.

YES!!!!!!!!!! How did I not think of this! Smokers just about ruined my honeymoon cruise, as we could never go out on the balcony! (Of course, I'd argue for a smoke free ship)

 

[KNTMom]

Concur with the no smoking on verandas or limiting it to one side of the ship. Just returned from a cruise a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't use the veranda most of the time because someone was smoking around us.