dreamer17555
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2007
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So I was able to sail a 4 night cruise on the Disney Wish followed immediately by a 5 night sailing on the Disney Magic. I will leave out the actual side by side process review as I have already posted about it.
Stateroom:
I had an OGT room on the Wish and was assigned a Deck 2 Portside Room near the Aft Elevators. On the Magic we had a Sideways Inside room on Deck 6. The bathroom(s) are far superior on the Wish (love that they got rid of the nasty shower curtains) but overall I much preferred the amount of storage on the Disney Magic. I hate how the Wish class has almost no drawers. It is sad that the smallest room on the Magic had so much more storage than the Wish.
Winner: Magic
Bars\Lounges:
While I love the D lounge on the Magic (who thought that Triton’s Lounge was an acceptable space for music trivia is crazy) and enjoyed the Soul Cat Lounge, the lounges on the Wish are just cooler. I say this as someone who is deeply unimpressed with the Hyperspace lounge but it does have some very different and unique cocktails. The Rose (while busy at 6 PM) is outstanding and I really enjoy the Bayou even though activities fill fast there (similar issue to La Piazza on the Fantasy). I love Nightingales and I did get a bird drink (but I was extremely nervous to make sure I wasn’t accidentally charged for the glass and did not knock it over). I also enjoyed Ale & Compass but it is not a great set up for trivia with a long bar table and I much prefer O’Gills with the number of seats and booths with TVs. So while the Magic lounges weren’t a total loss overall I still like the Wish lounges more. The theming is wonderful at them (I just wish we could have gotten a Fantasy layout with the Wish level of theming).
Winner: Wish (but not by much)
Halloween Activities:
The Wish does not do Halloween well. It didn’t last year but I was hopeful that after all the feedback things would change. They didn’t. They did not have Trick or Treating but prefilled (and the one I was given had less than 10 pieces of candy but might have been an outlier) treat bags at the pool deck. The Magic had actual trick or treating scattered among the venues on Deck 3 & 4. They were very generous with the candy but the actual fun for me and my son is the process of trick or treating. Prefilled treat bags are not the same at all.
They did the same deck party on both ships but the Wish offered it twice (once for each dining time). This made it less crowded and the characters were actually able to come out and dance with the crowd so that part was nice and the one thing I wish the Magic had done.
However the Magic also had Halloween focused activities for Adults (including Halloween Isn’t Just For Kids). They had Halloween Music Trivia (which I had never seen before) and an adult Halloween costume contest and a cool little dance intro by the villains. This is what the Wish needed. Not just the standard Oogie Boogie Bash and Villain Game Night offered year round.
The Halloween Tree show is also IMO much better on the Magic as it lends a bit spooky (but not really scary) and felt like a real performance. The Wish one is well themed but doesn’t feel as immersive nor really “Halloween”.
Halloween character lines were especially brutal on the Wish too which is not surprising but they also had the characters in their Halloween costumes on more than one day on the Magic. I really wish DCL would list the character outfits in the App but still much easier on the Magic to see the characters (especially the Sanderson Sisters)
Winner: Magic
Pools\ Waterslides\Hot Tubs:
Yes, the Magic has a better adult pool and hot tubs. The infinity adult pool on the Wish is stunning but far too small for the ship. If the Wish added the Chip & Dale Pool as Adult Only I would feel much better but I do love the Aqua Mouse so much more than the Aqua Dunk, especially because lack of stairs means I can enjoy it over and over without risk of getting lightheaded. Also the drop on the Aqua Dunk is terrifying (I might be a baby) but I kind of love the smaller pool set up in front of the funnel vision on the Wish because it means pools are less likely to close for a code brown.
Winner: Tie (If they ever make the Chip & Dale pool Adult Only the winner will be the Wish)
Crowding on Ship:
So the last time I was on the Magic was right during the covid restart with reduced occupancy… and I was poorly prepared for how slammed packed Cabanas would be every morning. I hated it. It was a struggle to find a table each morning. I do not like standing with food trying to scan for someone leaving. It was just not a great feeling. The rest of the venues did not feel too crowded but that Cabanas issue each morning was the thing that just made me dread breakfast. I did the sitdown option on our sea day and that was easy but was only an option because my son was sleeping in and I was okay with skipping churro waffles as my son much prefers the breakfast buffet options.
Also due to only one Halloween Deck party it was too crowded for the characters to come down and dance in the crowd like on the Wish.
The Wish crowds feel worse than the Magic at trivias in the smaller venues like Trition’s. However I can show up to trivia 20 mins early to get a seat. I do not want to hold a table if I am not eating at Cabanas and I do not want to stalk for tables early in the morning.
Winner: Wish (I’m surprised too)
Crowding on the Islands:
Magic wins this easily and with no surprises. Lookout in particular does not hold crowds well IMO (which is odd considering Castaway was designed for the smaller ships and Lookout for the larger ones). We got one of the highly coveted serenity bay hammocks and either myself or my son were in it all morning except when we got lunch together. At Lookout it was far easier to get a table at lunch and a good oceanfront serenity spot than on the Dream this past January.
Winner: Magic
Pirate Night:
On our Wish sailing the early Mickey and pal’s pirate show was moved inside and the Rockin’ Parlay Party was cut very short due to rain (but fireworks still happened) but as I have sailed the Wish before I will base this review on a typical pirate night experience. The Wish has a Mickey and friends show at 7:30 (perfect for littles who cannot make it till 10pm) and the amazing live music Rockin’ Parlay Party which is my favorite pirate show on the fleet. The Magic had one pirate show at 10 PM with Mickey and friends which felt like more like a random dance party vs a pirate focus. While I love Pirate Mickey swinging into action the Wish is such a better set up, something more adult later and something kid focused early
Winner: Wish
Theater Shows:
I am someone who tends to love super cheesy Disney shows (Believe and Golden Mickey’s are favorites) but I HATE Disney Dreams on the Magic. I know some people love it but I find it both grating and I really, really hate that we have a child being pressured to jump off a roof by a character or she will grow up and never believe in magic again… I hate the message this is sending to young children. It is past time to retire this show IMO. I also did not care for the Twice Charmed show, they had amazing actors (like insanely talented) but the story is weak and the songs are not very strong. That being said, Tangled was AMAZING. Everyone just killed in it and if I could I would have this show on more DCL ships.
On Wish we skipped Little Mermaid. I have seen it 3 times and it is not my favorite show and I put it on par with Twice Charmed (maybe slightly higher) but both Seas the Adventure and Aladdin are wonderful on the Wish and I am always excited to see them. If the choice was between the seeing all 3 shows on the Magic vs all 3 shows on the Wish I would take the Wish shows every sailing (but I would love the new Triton ship to have Tangled offered as a show)
Winner: Wish
Main Dining:
I much prefer the restaurants on the Disney Magic, especially the space between tables. We had a stellar location on the Wish (literally next to the stage for Arendelle’s) but I much prefer both the menus and the shows on the Disney Magic. Also we had some of the best service we have had in the main dining room ever on the Magic. The Wish service was just fine. Not the normal Disney level I am used to.
Winner: Magic
Pool Deck Food:
Wish class kills this. No surprise but I wish all options were open later
Winner: Wish
Now I am sure I could keep going but this is already a book but if I was given a choice? I think if the Magic was going to Lookout for another Halloween sailing we might consider it but for any other circumstance we would pick the Wish (and she is not my favorite ship at all). My 18yo son said the same (but he wishes Hideaway was open more for 1820 society but that was his only big complaint). My biggest disappointment in the Wish is the way they are handling Halloween vs the Magic. It seems like an easy thing to have real trick or treating and an adult costume contest, I cannot understand why DCL does not offer them on the Wish but overall I had more fun on the Wish.
Stateroom:
I had an OGT room on the Wish and was assigned a Deck 2 Portside Room near the Aft Elevators. On the Magic we had a Sideways Inside room on Deck 6. The bathroom(s) are far superior on the Wish (love that they got rid of the nasty shower curtains) but overall I much preferred the amount of storage on the Disney Magic. I hate how the Wish class has almost no drawers. It is sad that the smallest room on the Magic had so much more storage than the Wish.
Winner: Magic
Bars\Lounges:
While I love the D lounge on the Magic (who thought that Triton’s Lounge was an acceptable space for music trivia is crazy) and enjoyed the Soul Cat Lounge, the lounges on the Wish are just cooler. I say this as someone who is deeply unimpressed with the Hyperspace lounge but it does have some very different and unique cocktails. The Rose (while busy at 6 PM) is outstanding and I really enjoy the Bayou even though activities fill fast there (similar issue to La Piazza on the Fantasy). I love Nightingales and I did get a bird drink (but I was extremely nervous to make sure I wasn’t accidentally charged for the glass and did not knock it over). I also enjoyed Ale & Compass but it is not a great set up for trivia with a long bar table and I much prefer O’Gills with the number of seats and booths with TVs. So while the Magic lounges weren’t a total loss overall I still like the Wish lounges more. The theming is wonderful at them (I just wish we could have gotten a Fantasy layout with the Wish level of theming).
Winner: Wish (but not by much)
Halloween Activities:
The Wish does not do Halloween well. It didn’t last year but I was hopeful that after all the feedback things would change. They didn’t. They did not have Trick or Treating but prefilled (and the one I was given had less than 10 pieces of candy but might have been an outlier) treat bags at the pool deck. The Magic had actual trick or treating scattered among the venues on Deck 3 & 4. They were very generous with the candy but the actual fun for me and my son is the process of trick or treating. Prefilled treat bags are not the same at all.
They did the same deck party on both ships but the Wish offered it twice (once for each dining time). This made it less crowded and the characters were actually able to come out and dance with the crowd so that part was nice and the one thing I wish the Magic had done.
However the Magic also had Halloween focused activities for Adults (including Halloween Isn’t Just For Kids). They had Halloween Music Trivia (which I had never seen before) and an adult Halloween costume contest and a cool little dance intro by the villains. This is what the Wish needed. Not just the standard Oogie Boogie Bash and Villain Game Night offered year round.
The Halloween Tree show is also IMO much better on the Magic as it lends a bit spooky (but not really scary) and felt like a real performance. The Wish one is well themed but doesn’t feel as immersive nor really “Halloween”.
Halloween character lines were especially brutal on the Wish too which is not surprising but they also had the characters in their Halloween costumes on more than one day on the Magic. I really wish DCL would list the character outfits in the App but still much easier on the Magic to see the characters (especially the Sanderson Sisters)
Winner: Magic
Pools\ Waterslides\Hot Tubs:
Yes, the Magic has a better adult pool and hot tubs. The infinity adult pool on the Wish is stunning but far too small for the ship. If the Wish added the Chip & Dale Pool as Adult Only I would feel much better but I do love the Aqua Mouse so much more than the Aqua Dunk, especially because lack of stairs means I can enjoy it over and over without risk of getting lightheaded. Also the drop on the Aqua Dunk is terrifying (I might be a baby) but I kind of love the smaller pool set up in front of the funnel vision on the Wish because it means pools are less likely to close for a code brown.
Winner: Tie (If they ever make the Chip & Dale pool Adult Only the winner will be the Wish)
Crowding on Ship:
So the last time I was on the Magic was right during the covid restart with reduced occupancy… and I was poorly prepared for how slammed packed Cabanas would be every morning. I hated it. It was a struggle to find a table each morning. I do not like standing with food trying to scan for someone leaving. It was just not a great feeling. The rest of the venues did not feel too crowded but that Cabanas issue each morning was the thing that just made me dread breakfast. I did the sitdown option on our sea day and that was easy but was only an option because my son was sleeping in and I was okay with skipping churro waffles as my son much prefers the breakfast buffet options.
Also due to only one Halloween Deck party it was too crowded for the characters to come down and dance in the crowd like on the Wish.
The Wish crowds feel worse than the Magic at trivias in the smaller venues like Trition’s. However I can show up to trivia 20 mins early to get a seat. I do not want to hold a table if I am not eating at Cabanas and I do not want to stalk for tables early in the morning.
Winner: Wish (I’m surprised too)
Crowding on the Islands:
Magic wins this easily and with no surprises. Lookout in particular does not hold crowds well IMO (which is odd considering Castaway was designed for the smaller ships and Lookout for the larger ones). We got one of the highly coveted serenity bay hammocks and either myself or my son were in it all morning except when we got lunch together. At Lookout it was far easier to get a table at lunch and a good oceanfront serenity spot than on the Dream this past January.
Winner: Magic
Pirate Night:
On our Wish sailing the early Mickey and pal’s pirate show was moved inside and the Rockin’ Parlay Party was cut very short due to rain (but fireworks still happened) but as I have sailed the Wish before I will base this review on a typical pirate night experience. The Wish has a Mickey and friends show at 7:30 (perfect for littles who cannot make it till 10pm) and the amazing live music Rockin’ Parlay Party which is my favorite pirate show on the fleet. The Magic had one pirate show at 10 PM with Mickey and friends which felt like more like a random dance party vs a pirate focus. While I love Pirate Mickey swinging into action the Wish is such a better set up, something more adult later and something kid focused early
Winner: Wish
Theater Shows:
I am someone who tends to love super cheesy Disney shows (Believe and Golden Mickey’s are favorites) but I HATE Disney Dreams on the Magic. I know some people love it but I find it both grating and I really, really hate that we have a child being pressured to jump off a roof by a character or she will grow up and never believe in magic again… I hate the message this is sending to young children. It is past time to retire this show IMO. I also did not care for the Twice Charmed show, they had amazing actors (like insanely talented) but the story is weak and the songs are not very strong. That being said, Tangled was AMAZING. Everyone just killed in it and if I could I would have this show on more DCL ships.
On Wish we skipped Little Mermaid. I have seen it 3 times and it is not my favorite show and I put it on par with Twice Charmed (maybe slightly higher) but both Seas the Adventure and Aladdin are wonderful on the Wish and I am always excited to see them. If the choice was between the seeing all 3 shows on the Magic vs all 3 shows on the Wish I would take the Wish shows every sailing (but I would love the new Triton ship to have Tangled offered as a show)
Winner: Wish
Main Dining:
I much prefer the restaurants on the Disney Magic, especially the space between tables. We had a stellar location on the Wish (literally next to the stage for Arendelle’s) but I much prefer both the menus and the shows on the Disney Magic. Also we had some of the best service we have had in the main dining room ever on the Magic. The Wish service was just fine. Not the normal Disney level I am used to.
Winner: Magic
Pool Deck Food:
Wish class kills this. No surprise but I wish all options were open later
Winner: Wish
Now I am sure I could keep going but this is already a book but if I was given a choice? I think if the Magic was going to Lookout for another Halloween sailing we might consider it but for any other circumstance we would pick the Wish (and she is not my favorite ship at all). My 18yo son said the same (but he wishes Hideaway was open more for 1820 society but that was his only big complaint). My biggest disappointment in the Wish is the way they are handling Halloween vs the Magic. It seems like an easy thing to have real trick or treating and an adult costume contest, I cannot understand why DCL does not offer them on the Wish but overall I had more fun on the Wish.
