From Ahoy To Aloha- Our May 2025 Disney Adventures! Updated 6/2!

[scrappinginontario]

Hope you're having a great trip!! LOL, I keep checking for updates then remember you're busy enjoying May Part II! Have a blast!!!

 

[cindianne320]

I hope you're having so much fun at WDW!
I'm so sorry things were so delayed- I've never had to wait to sail away. Yikes! Can't wait to hear what you thought of your first show and dinner! (And am so trying to convince DH to book a last-minute cruise for our anniversary...)

 

[footballmouse]

 

[missjackiemcg]

Time to cross those Mickey arches and finally see the Disney Fantasy in-person.

The most exciting moments before the cruise!!! (I don't know HOW I missed that the Wish is sailing out of Terminal 10 right now while the Treasure is in 8, so we didn't get to walk through Mickey ears last week!! I was so sad!)

I loved seeing all of the portholes in the hallways!

I LOVE those long hallways full of portholes!!!

This one was called “La Piazza.” I loved the look of this bar so much, the giant carousel reminded me of Mary Poppins!

That bar is one of my favs, too. It reminds me of the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. That one actually rotates while you're sitting at it! And the bartenders have to hop over the bar to get in the middle!

The lady was so funny; she was like “Well, if you’d like to get some CEU’s, the meeting is from 9-12 at Animator’s Palate tomorrow morning!” Jake politely declined that tempting offer.

Sounds tempting, ma'am, but I'm on vacation!!! LOL

All of the straws on the cruise were edible and flavored to different fruits, which was a little strange.

That was new for us this sailing, too! The mango one in the drink of the day at Castaway Cay was actually a pretty delicious combo, LOL. I did not enjoy the lime one!

We had chosen Room #9602 which was on the Starboard side on Deck 9. This was technically considered an “aft” room, so it was a bit cheaper, but it was one of the farthest central rooms in the category.

We were in 9112 on the Wish this trip and it was also considered an aft room. It was definitely more midship than we expected it to be (pleasantly surprised, as that's what we wanted, but had slim pickings at the time of our booking, too!)

I definitely teared up and gave Jake a big kiss when the horns blared “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.”

That is one of my most favorite parts of the whole cruise! I love the original horn on the Magic and Wonder most of all, but the other songs played on the newer ships are pretty fun.

I can't wait to hear more about your cruise adventure!!! It'll ease my own pain of having just disembarked. Ha!

 

[Steppesister]

Hi Molly, finally able to find some time to sign on and read all about your adventures!!

I must have checked and re-checked our carry-on’s a million times between Wednesday and Thursday to make sure that we had all of the correct documents. I was so paranoid about being denied boarding!

Yeah, I KNOW that feeling well. I always check my bags a zillion times specifically for dox because forgetting them would be trip-ending and disastrous.

It was an absolute freak situation and we had no control over it, but it turned out to be a NIGHTMARE. Our ETA kept crawling higher and higher, and we were seriously worried that we weren’t going to make our flight. Plus, we had the extra stress of Milwaukee being a small airport with limited flights, and the small importance of having to make a CRUISE SHIP that was LEAVING TOMORROW with a NON-REFUNDABLE PAYMENT.

That would send me THROUGH THE ROOF with anxiety! Holy heck! Been there and done it too.

Luckily, time was on our side, and TSA had no line. Huffing and puffing, we thanked our lucky stars that we were able to make this flight.

Phew!! The relief must've been so real.

There's those smiling faces!

We got an Uber in record time, and were entering Disney’s All Star Music Resort at 10:00 PM!

An hour is what it takes on an ideal day. Carry-on only, Uber close by, everything on time.

We are hoping to have a little DISmeet with @vamassey1 and @disneyAndi14 at some point.

And I saw you did!

It will be less convenient staying on Disney property for sure. We will lose the extra morning hours and have to now pay for transportation to and from the US parks both days. But, I still think we will be fine and get everything we want done in the 2 park days. Plus, Jake has been wanting to return to CSR and is excited to stay in the village instead of the tower this time. We have already made a plan to get our favorite burger and poke bowl from Three Bridges on Wednesday night when we get in!!

Worth the extra money for peace of mind.

The nice thing about this was that you didn’t need to be in the room during the luggage pick-up process, so once Jake and I were ready, we just placed our tagged luggage by the door and headed out to explore!

At first I thought you meant leave them outside the door, and I was like.... WHAT?!

Then the nickel dropped.

We saw a lot of families with young kids out this morning, ready for a day in the parks. Jake and I have been talking more about having children lately, and it made my heart smile a little bit when I pictured us in 5 years or so.

Awwww!!!

First, I grabbed a cold brew with oat milk and vanilla syrup. I really like how all of the resorts now have a window for specialty coffee. I remember when we stayed at the YC back in 2013, it was a luxury to be able to get a latte at the resort and that it was one of the only resorts that had something like this!

Coffee has come such a long way at Disney. My fave is the Joffrey's though.

We headed to the lobby at 9:45 AM, and the DCL CM asked to see all of our documentation. I like that they did this; this would avoid any families getting all the way to Port Canaveral without their documents.

I love that they do this. Probably saved some headaches along the way.

We were a little anxious by the urgency of that CM, especially since he had been so casual just 10 minutes earlier! But, once we got on the road, we could see why he was so stressed. There was another HUGE traffic jam on our way to Port Canaveral!! It was supposed to be a 55 minute ride, but we didn’t pull into port until 11:45 (1 hour and 45 minutes later)!! This was the trip of bad luck with traffic for sure!

AGAIN?! But at least being on Disney transport, you weren't liable.

The Coast Guard had been on board examining the ship, since after our cruise, the Fantasy would be leaving for a 13-night Transatlantic cruise and everything needed to be in tip-top shape for this journey. So, there were delays all day…. Dramatic foreshadowing for later.

ruh roh....

 

[Mollydolly334]

I love that!




I don't find them overwhelming, I find them too short!



How funny!



That's always my first choice! I love it!

It was DEFINITELY too short! I think 3 nights was ok for our very first cruise, but in the future, I think that 4 if not 5 nights will now be our benchmark. Especially if it's a new ship or cruise line!!

I was part of this thread on May 1st and watching for your ship - and praying all was well and that you would soon be able to leave port!

Thank you for sharing your first day and, your beautiful wedding pics!!

Ahh thank you for sharing that thread- I had no idea that there was a thread on the DIS for it!! I'm glad we weren't the only ones who were confused

The Fantasy is a beautifully decorated ship! I am wondering what you will think if you go on the Wonder, as it feels tiny!

We have never had a delay so I am very curious to hear how that affected your trip. Hopefully not too badly!

As always, love the wedding photos! Stunning!

Jake and I want to try the Magic or Wonder next- everyone raves about them and especially the Wonder has such cool ports and destinations!

We took our first Disney Cruise on the Wish in May 2024 and had the same issues with the elevators...ended up using the stairs most of the time too!

We were so glad that we were able to do the stairs ok and didn't have wheelchairs strollers... it would have been such a pain having to wait for the elevator every time!! Working off all that soft serve

It really was so easy and def less stressful than TSA!


ha! should a long wait.

Even with my passport I was so so nervous of misplacing it.


I can't even image. I would have been so stressed out!


Good old Cheerleaders!!! THey seem to be ther all the time!


You know, I think they only pizza I have had at Disney is Via Napoli?


3 Bridges is the reason we stay there!


You look great!!! I am a sucker for then and now photos.


Oh my!! That is crazy!


Man you guys and the traffic this trip!


I wish they would let you look at stuff ahead of time. Even just to get used to the app.


I wouldn't say the short cruise was chotic, just busy and possibly not as relaxing as I was hoping our would have been.


Ha! I kind of thought the same thing. They only thing I could think of was that other cruise ships don't have good chicken fingers? maybe?


I didn't know they were editable and was totally disguisted by the textrure of the straw.

Disney really needs to get better straw options. I hate the paper ones even more! There are some brown ones that are supposedly recyclable that we had this trip and they were a bit better- they had the texture of regular plastic straws. Why can't they just give out the fun Mickey straws for everything????

It was a HORRIBLE trip for traffic!! And sadly made us super paranoid for our "Land" trip!

We didn't end up making it to 3 Bridges- we were so sad!! But I loved CSR and preferred it this time around since our last trip (May 2024) it was filled with... you guessed it... cheerleaders Last week it was so quiet and peaceful.

I had to tell my husband about this. That's crazy! Good to know, especially since my son's old enough now to take Bonine versus the kid's dramomine. I'll have to make sure we all drink a lot of water.




We'll be in Universal the 13th-16th and then WDW the 17th-22nd.




I love art deco!!! And actually while I was reading your report, I said out loud, "The statue has Minnie in a flapper outfit!" Your wedding looked beautiful.
If you go to Disneyland Paris, try and stay at the Marvel hotel (formerly Hotel New York). It's decked out in 1920s New York, and it's gorgeous. It's my favorite Disney hotel just because of the theming.




I love this! Honestly, this makes me a little more willing to do another cruise. Whenever my family goes out to eat, my kids know the drill. Grab a menu, order food, then go wash hands. So to have it right there at the restaurant is fantastic.





From your descriptions so far, this does seem to be the case. A great first cruise choice for you two!




Oh my gosh!!! What are the odds? That's insane. Poor Jake. Work's following him down to Florida.

Oh shoot, we'll just be missing you in July!!! So excited for you to see Epic Universe!! We were kicking ourselves for not going during opening weekend because the crowds were SO low!!! 10 minute waits all weekend for Stardust Racers, Mine Cart Madness and Monsters Unchained!

Good to know about Hotel New York! We had immediately thrown that out of the ring since neither Jake nor I really like Marvel all that much. We LOVE the look of DLH but it's so expensive. When we had it booked, Jake about had a heart attack at the price!!

Hope you're having a great trip!! LOL, I keep checking for updates then remember you're busy enjoying May Part II! Have a blast!!!

Thank you so much for following along with it!!! We had a blast and I can't wait to write about it

I hope you're having so much fun at WDW!
I'm so sorry things were so delayed- I've never had to wait to sail away. Yikes! Can't wait to hear what you thought of your first show and dinner! (And am so trying to convince DH to book a last-minute cruise for our anniversary...)

Thank you Cindi!!! We had a blast and I know you will LOVE the Poly Tower in August!! It's so fancy and clean- you can tell it's brand spankin' new!!

And YES!!! ALWAYS book the trip!

Thanks for reading along

The most exciting moments before the cruise!!! (I don't know HOW I missed that the Wish is sailing out of Terminal 10 right now while the Treasure is in 8, so we didn't get to walk through Mickey ears last week!! I was so sad!)


I LOVE those long hallways full of portholes!!!


That bar is one of my favs, too. It reminds me of the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. That one actually rotates while you're sitting at it! And the bartenders have to hop over the bar to get in the middle!


Sounds tempting, ma'am, but I'm on vacation!!! LOL


That was new for us this sailing, too! The mango one in the drink of the day at Castaway Cay was actually a pretty delicious combo, LOL. I did not enjoy the lime one!


We were in 9112 on the Wish this trip and it was also considered an aft room. It was definitely more midship than we expected it to be (pleasantly surprised, as that's what we wanted, but had slim pickings at the time of our booking, too!)


That is one of my most favorite parts of the whole cruise! I love the original horn on the Magic and Wonder most of all, but the other songs played on the newer ships are pretty fun.

I can't wait to hear more about your cruise adventure!!! It'll ease my own pain of having just disembarked. Ha!

OMG no! I would be so sad if I couldn't walk through the ears!! That would totally bum me out!

HAHA, that's funny- the lime one was my favorite But I like really tart things!!

I was a smidge disappointed that we didn't get the OG "When You Wish Upon a Star!" But I loved hearing it as a little "alert" every time they made an announcement!

Hi Molly, finally able to find some time to sign on and read all about your adventures!!

Yeah, I KNOW that feeling well. I always check my bags a zillion times specifically for dox because forgetting them would be trip-ending and disastrous.

That would send me THROUGH THE ROOF with anxiety! Holy heck! Been there and done it too.

Phew!! The relief must've been so real.

There's those smiling faces!

An hour is what it takes on an ideal day. Carry-on only, Uber close by, everything on time.

And I saw you did!

Worth the extra money for peace of mind.

At first I thought you meant leave them outside the door, and I was like.... WHAT?!

Then the nickel dropped.

Awwww!!!

Coffee has come such a long way at Disney. My fave is the Joffrey's though.

I love that they do this. Probably saved some headaches along the way.

AGAIN?! But at least being on Disney transport, you weren't liable.

ruh roh....

Hi Liesa!! So glad to see you over here and on the DIS It was a CRAZY travel day and continued to get crazier and crazier (even after we went to bed)! But the cruise was such a fun change of pace!! We loved it and can't wait to do more!

 

[Mollydolly334]

“Sea” Trip- Day 2, Part 3!


Hi everyone! Jake and I returned from our “Land” Trip 6 days ago.







It was SUCH a magical vacation- really one of our best ones yet. We had an absolute blast, and I’m just so grateful that I get to make these magical Disney memories with my amazing partner. Once I’m done with my “Sea” Trip updates, I’ll be sure to fill you guys in on this trip as well!

Where I last left off on our “Sea” Trip, Jake and I were just heading back up to the stateroom to get ready for an evening of fun. It was 4:45, and the Fantasy had not left port yet, despite the Sail Away Party ending!

Just before I got in the shower, they played all of the different horns. I yelled to Jake, “Come and get me if we start moving!” If only I knew how long it would be… Not gonna lie, I was feeling a little anxious and wanted the ship to get moving. I was already paranoid about motion sickness and just wanted to “get it over with” so I’d know how I would feel!

However, when we headed down to Deck 3 at around 5:40 PM, the ship was still stuck at port! I figured that we absolutely get moving when we were in the theatre, so I grabbed some ginger ale to prepare. The smell of fresh popcorn was also calling my name!



The show started right at 6:00. It was nice to meet our cruise director, Peter, and hear all about our fun weekend! He briefly mentioned that our cruise was still at port, but said that it was no big deal and we should be on our way very soon.

Aladdin was really cute! I saw Aladdin when the Broadway tour came to Milwaukee last year, so the show was slightly underwhelming. Unfortunately My chair was being kicked for 95% of the show. Also, the combination of the dark theatre, being doped up on Bonine, and FINALLY sitting still after a busy day definitely got to me.

There was a moment during the show where I suddenly flinched and gasped for seemingly “no reason”; I thought “Oh, the ship for sure just started moving!” Later, I found out that I was wrong- the ship was still at port and my flinching came from me nodding off and scaring myself awake. That’s not necessarily a reflection on the show, though! The Genie was SO funny and all of the actors are so talented. I think it was just not a good night for me to see a show, LOL!

The show let out at about 7:15, and dinner wasn’t for another hour. I knew that I needed to keep moving if I wanted to stay awake! Since shopping was out of the question, Jake and I decided to try our hand at Disney Music Trivia in the D Lounge!



This was a nice little intro to the many games of trivia we played this trip!! It was harder than we expected; we scored in the top 6 or so teams, but it was still tricky. Jake came in clutch, recognizing songs from “Brother Bear” and “Turning Red!”

I really liked that there was always a trivia scheduled at 7:30 PM. It was the perfect buffer between the 6:00 PM show and 8:15 dinner seating. Right as trivia let out, we headed straight to Royal Court for dinner!



And… we were STILL not moving. Since we still had WiFi, I sent my mom and Haley some pictures.

At each dinner seating, they handed out alcohol wipes to clean our hands. I discreetly sniffed mine; I remember some of you guys saying that the smell of isopropyl alcohol can curb motion sickness! Curiosity got to me- hopefully nobody saw me and was wondering why I was huffing my cleaning wipe.

We were seated right away at Table 82, which was our table number for all 3 dining locations. This was the moment I had been slightly worried about. When we booked this cruise a whole two weeks ago, I had (conveniently) not mentioned to Jake that dinner was family-style seating. I knew that Jake would not be a fan of this idea, and I thought that it would make him change his mind about doing a Disney Cruise. So, I totally lied by omission, haha! As we sat down, Jake was like, “Uhhhh, why are we at a table for 6??”



Needless to say, Jake wasn’t thrilled when I told him. I consider myself an “introverted extrovert.” I cherish my alone time, but it’s very easy for me to put on my “extrovert hat” and I have a naturally bubbly and outgoing personality. Jake, however, is a true introvert, and prefers to listen and observe rather than take over the conversation. I think that’s why we work so well as a couple . But, small talk in particular is not Jake’s thing, especially with people he doesn’t know well. And, he was like, “With how much we are paying for this cruise, we should at least get the luxury of sitting at our own table.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that pretty much all cruise lines do family-style seating for dinner.

That being said, our fears were quickly squashed once our tablemates sat down. I broke the ice by saying, “So, any idea why we haven’t left port yet?” This started an exciting conversation with many conspiracy theories! We were seated with another young couple named Brad and Cassie, and we became fast friends! I truly think that DCL tries to make a strong effort to seat similar people together. We had so much in common; around the same age, newly married, and huge Disney fans. They were very easy to talk to, and by the end of the cruise, we actually looked forward to chatting with them every night and catching up about our days! There was also another couple that was supposed to be at our table, but they didn’t join us until the last night (they had eaten at Palo and Remy the first two nights).



I loved this picture of Aurora and Prince Phillip. Sleeping Beauty is such an underrated Disney movie!

Our waiter for the cruise was a lovely man named Pepe. Another man named Jackson also helped with bussing/water/etc.! These two were such gems; Jackson had a ton of riddles for us to solve each night (I think this was also a tactic to get all of the tablemates chatting), and Pepe was very sweet and attentive. Right away, I told Pepe that I had a garlic/onion allergy. In reality, it’s not an “allergy,” just an intolerance, but I was NOT about to gamble with any tummy troubles when I was already concerned about motion sickness!

I could tell that Pepe was very thrown off by my request- I’m sure it’s not a common allergy! When he returned from the kitchen, he stated that EVERY SINGLE item in the restaurant (besides desserts) either had garlic or onion in it. I felt so bad for being “difficult,” but he rebounded immediately, saying that our food just may take slightly longer tonight. For the next two nights, I was able to pre-order my appetizer and dinner for the next night, which I think really helped them a lot.

Both Jake and I ordered waters to drink. For an appetizer, I got the Breaded and Deep Fried Brie with Orange and Cranberry Chutney.



This was great; like a fancier fried cheese curd (something that us Wisconsinites are fluent in). For my entree, I ordered the Chateaubriand Roasted Filet Steak with mashed potatoes and green beans.



Ugh, this kind of reminded me of bad wedding/airplane food. I asked for the steak to be done “medium,” but in my opinion, it was way too pink to be considered “medium.” It also wasn’t warm temperature-wise. I mostly picked at this; I wasn’t too hungry anyway.

I was saving up for dessert! Jake and I split three desserts between us: the Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brulee, the Classic Opera Gateau, and the Grand Marnier Souflee!





Yikes- we weren’t impressed with dessert either! My favorite was the creme brulee probably. The Grand Marnier Souflee was super weird; I wanted to try this because everybody raves about it on the DIS! But, it was very egg-y, I don’t know if it wasn’t cooked properly! Before I even opened my mouth, Jake literally said, “It tastes like we’re eating orange-flavored scrambled eggs.” It was bizarre. Maybe an off night?

Overall, Royal Court was BY FAR Jake and I’s least favorite main dining restaurant between the three. The food wasn’t great, and we preferred the ambience of the other two restaurants. So, I’m really glad we had it on our first night, because it only goes up from here! If we ever sail the Fantasy again, we’ll try to do Palo or Remy on our Royal Court night instead.

It was 9:30ish at this point, and we STILL HAD NOT LEFT PORT CANAVERAL! Jake was even starting to get antsy; he was worried that we wouldn’t make it to Castaway Cay! I assured him that we still would; since Castaway is so close by, this was being called the “cruise to nowhere” on Facebook since we were basically just floating right off the coast of Florida most of the time. People in the Facebook group had been talking about a rocket shooting off at Cape Canaveral tonight around 9:30. We didn’t make an effort to see it, but we heard that it was cool!

I had gotten a second wind from my earlier sleepiness, and I REALLY wanted to check out Europa! So, that’s where we headed next!

We were surprised, it was deserted in there. I was expecting this to be a loud and happenin’ atmosphere! We wanted to go to La Piazza, but we were literally the ONLY ones in there and felt weird ordering a drink... So, we went to a spot where there were at least a few other patrons: Skyline Lounge!

We both decided on the signature drinks: Jake got a “Paris 75” (Grey Goose Citron, Peach Schnapps, Blue Curacao, Pineapple Juice, Sugared Rim), and I got an “Ooh La La” (Bacardi White Rum, Elderflower Liqueur, Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice, Mint, Soda Water).



The bartender in here was super funny and definitely a ball buster; we enjoyed hearing him interact with everyone. Since Jake got a blue glow cube with his drink, I asked for a pink glow cube, because I thought it would look nice in the dark bar. When I asked, the bartender immediately shouted “no!” sarcastically. But, when he brought us our drinks, I realized that he actually didn’t get me a glow cube. When I piped up to remind him, his teasing facade immediately faded; he felt SO BAD! He was like “I promise I was just being sarcastic, I actually honestly forgot your glow cube!!!” It was really fun to dish the teasing back to him!



We loved that we matched our drinks!

This drink was STRONG. WHEW. It had elderflower liqueur, so it had a nice floral note without being too sweet. But this was definitely a drink that I needed to sip on. We sat and enjoyed the bar for about a half hour, but I wasn’t even close to finishing my drink, so we headed back to La Piazza for a change of scenery. I really liked that I was able to walk around and change bars with my drink and I didn’t feel pressured to finish my drink right then and there.

We returned to La Piazza, and it was much busier now. There was a small band playing some live music, and we ended up getting a nice seat on one of the couches. It was really nice to just snuggle up, finish my drink, and people watch for a half hour or so. We saw Brad and Cassie and tried to get their attention, but they were headed into O'Gill's and my tispy self was happy just to stay on the warm comfy couch.

At 10:45, they added some late-night snacks to a small buffet area right in Europa. We thought this was such a good idea in case anyone got the late-night munchies! Since neither of us ate that much during our lackluster dinner at Royal Court, we grabbed some food and brought our plates back to the room to eat.

The lobby had cleared up by now- I couldn’t get enough pictures of this amazing chandelier!




We dug into our snacks when we got back to the room. This was a very “beige” spread but perfect junky options. They had pizza bagels, cheeseburger empanadas, beef wrapped in puff pastry, and pork potstickers.



We also had some nice Dove chocolates and a towel swan on our bed!



It was 11:00 by now, and we were absolutely exhausted. It had been such a long and busy day! We got ready for bed quickly and fell asleep immediately- hoping we would wake up at sea tomorrow!

Coming Up Next... "Can We Leave The Port Tonight?!"




​

 

[kclark9830]

Fun, fun, fun!!! We went on the Fantasy in January/February. I am SO enjoying your TR

 

[buzzrelly]

Wow, so did you actually ever leave port?? Crazy!

I do think the Fantasy has some of the best crew members. Our servers on both the Wish and the Treasure seemed very rushed and none of them had the games that they did on the older ships.

Happy you got a second wind, sounds like a fun night out!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Great to hear of the fun you enjoyed night one! I love to hear what others do on a cruise. I've been on the Fantasy 3 times and you experienced some places I have not yet. Hoping to cruise on the Fantasy again sometime and will check out some of the adult spaces now that my daughter is older.

Looking forward to more posts as you have time to share.