Characters at Castaway cay???

[Lindy Loo]

Please help me, I still want to go on the cruise we have booked ( however DH is wanting to cancel, due to the getting up mega early on the last morning) I am trying to get loads of info to persaude him.

On the holiday programmes in the UK, it shows characters meeting you off the boat at CC and dancing along the beach etc with you. Does this really happen or was this for TV? As we have a dd who will be 4 the cruise is really about getting close to the characters ( I LOVE the fact the Mum of the cute little girl with Cinders, saidCinders knew her daughter by name, and said Hello to her. To me thats priceless!!)

My Dh says, we can get close to characters by doing the Family magic tour at MK, character meals, Alice in Wonderland Tea party etc.

Please can you explain how the day at CC works out, and any tips for a family. Thank you in advance

 

[alikat99]

We saw lots of characters at CC. They are all dressed in beach attire. Sometimes we've seen some of the characters just off the ship. We've seen them just off the tram stop. We've seen them in the gazebo outside of Cookies BBQ.

 

[clh2]

Now - this is JMHO -

If you are doing both DCL and WDW, I would only do character dining for the characters that are NOT on the ship. For us, this specifically would have been Crystal Palace to see the POOH characters. In retrospect, I felt we wasted far too much time doing character dining, not to mention the expense.

There are so many characters on the ship, with schedules that are posted daily, plus there are many times you just run into characters in the hallways. The picture and autograph opportunities are tremendous on the ship. The ships photographers are very gracious with letting you take pics after they are done, so you have the option of purchasing the ships photos or using your own.

 

[Lindy Loo]

Thanks for the replies, its soooo interesting to hear your info. Im so happy there is loads of characters and times for photos etc !!! Thats exactly what we want !!!
I love the idea of Minnie and Mickey etc being in beach gear !!!

We are doing Crystal Palace on our first morning.

1900 park fayre for Cinderella

Alice in Wonderland for tea party, as im not SURE its on the 4 night Wonder,or if we will get tickets ( do they get sold out) Just my DD has Alice dress and is desperate to wear it and meet her. Pwrhaps I should schedule AFTER cruise, then we can always cancel, if we did it on the cruise?

 

[mattmommy]

MY dh, ds5 and I (and my extended family) are so not the early risers. If we could 10am is an early day. The last day is indeed early and very sad. It really doesn't matter what time you leave, it's depressing.

 

[clh2]

Lindy Loo - the characters that were on our ship, as best as I can remember them were:

Cinderella and Prince Charming
Sleeping Beauty
Alice in Wonderland
Mulan
Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Wendy Darling
Snow White
Mickie and Minnie
Pluto
Maxx
Goofy
Chip and Dale
Queen of Hearts
"Plain" Belle
"Fancy" Belle

It's been about 2.5 years since our cruise, so I'm sure there are others I have forgotten.

Having done both the characters on board, and several of the character dining things, I thought the character interaction on the ship was far better than at WDW. The face characters on the ship actually really talked to the kids, where at WDW, it seemed like it was more of a chance for a quick photo at the table before they moved on to the next table. The photos on the ship turned out much better too, and you get a better view of the dresses.

 

[lbgraves]

We didn't see any characters on CC the first two cruises. Well, DH did get a picture with Hook & Smee on the pier near the ship on the first. This last cruise I was determined to get pictures of the kids with Minnie & Mickey on the beach. We lucked out! Chip & Dale were at the PO then Mickey & Minnie were seperate along the walkway with the ship behind them. When we were eating lunch the gang showed up in a conga line & danced at the pavilion for a bit. The kids got in the conga line with them.

Be sure to call the PALS line at night to get the detailed character schedule for the next day.