Yoriel_Wiz
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2016
Our family just got back from our Feb. 6 sailing and I gotta say, it was an overall good experience.
Let me start by saying this was our first time cruising with DCL. I read a few SWDAS reviews online before leaving so I was trying to see if anything changed for our cruise (lowered my expectations for it at least).
So a little about us: In our group of four (me[25], mother, grandma, sister[15]), I'm the only one who knows about Star Wars. I'm not a super fan by any means, but I do love the franchise so you can imagine how excited everyone else was about SWDAS in my family.
Anyhow, here's what happened on our day:
We all woke up around 8AM to attend Jedi Training. My sis and I were too old to join, but we decided to take a peek because we've never seen it before. We headed down to WD theatre for the 8:30 showing and they actually didn't start until 9ish because they were still waiting for kids to show up! My advice to parents who want their children to get picked: attend an earlier showing and get there early! We noticed the first few families trickling in and immediately the CMs asked the kids to take part. They were practically pulling every youngling they could see when the doors first opened. After about 15 mins, larger crowds came in and that's when they started getting choosey. It was especially heartbreaking to see a group of three boys excitedly want to join in the fun, but only one of them got chosen for the show. :c It seems DCL did up the amount of kids per show. We stayed for the whole event, but it was getting old by the time the last kid got up stage, haha.
After the Trial of the Temple, we roamed around the atrium. Saw some Jawas interacting with guests, but we didn't stay long. Our group split up after this. My sis and I headed to Deck 11 for the Pool Patrol. It was...underwhelming IMO. Only two stormtroopers and their ways kept getting blocked by people crowding around them trying to take photos. Luckily for us, a stormtrooper passed us by (we were standing in the middle section by the soda machines on the port side). Snapped a great photo of him, but he walked by fast. At this point, my sis left to go play Battlefront in VIBE, so I stayed to see Boba Fett. He came out and did a whole bunch of poses with voiced lines, but that was it. I overheard kids and adults alike wondering if he was going to jump off from that height.
At this point, there was some down time before the next event, so I headed back to our room to put on my costume for our Meet&Greets. Ran into the rest of my family on my way to our first pick (Dark Side). We were running a little late (1:10 ticket and we got there for 1:20). The CM was very nice and allowed us to go ahead of the 1:20 groups. We chatted with a few families ahead of us and everyone mentioned they got two tickets for these events. We definitely did and also got the ones we wanted. Darth Vader was there for our 1:10 and R2-D2/C-3PO for our 3:40. It was unfortunate to see that C-3PO didn't have his red arm and he didn't talk either. I wanted to ask about his red arm. :c Also, it felt more like photo ops than interactive experiences. Granted, some families did get a line from Vader here and there. He couldn't use any of his preset lines on us though since we were Rey and Kylo Ren, lol. He stared at me really closely so I said in a really loud voice "HI GRANDPA!" and the kids right behind us started laughing like crazy.
During the break between our first Greet and second, we joined the costume celebration at 2PM. My sister didn't feel like participating so we settled to look at the proceedings by Shutters. And a good thing we did too because Ahsoka surprisingly (and quietly) snuck behind us and we got great pictures of her. She was roaming around behind all the groups watching the celebration. We took a breather out on deck 4 afterwards. Got a couple of pics of us in costume lounging on the deck chairs. It was around 4PM now and we were surprised to see two stormtroopers walking on by. There were maybe a total of 8 people outside (us included) so it was weird seeing them there without anyone around. They stopped by and warned us to be on the lookout for resistance sympathizers. And then promptly pulled my sis away and asked her for ID (she was still Rey at this point). Got a good laugh out of that. We grabbed some good photos and then everyone on the inside realized there were stormtroopers outside so lets just say it got crowded again, real fast.
Sis and I did a few more activities after this, but they weren't SW themed. We had first dinner so we headed back to the room to change. The show where they ask for audience participation in character roles was super funny. Retelling the movies in 5 mins each is a lot more entertaining when everyone's into their role. I don't know the name of the guy who was picked for Darth Vader on our sailing, but kudos to you man! You did an amazing job!
When 5:45 rolled around, everyone was eager to see the new SW menus. And wow, they were gorgeous! I definitely agree with all other people I've talked to and reviewers alike: these things are da bomb! Holographic-like and they give a cool 3D effect when you move it a little. Wish these suckers were for sale. Now since the rest of my family knows nothing about SW, they were totally cool with the menu and dishes that were served. I, however, blindly wished they would have fixed this detail from past sailings: aside from the name of the dish, nothing about it reminded me of SW. The only redeeming quality were the desserts, but those were there from the start. Lord Vader's Nerf Steak and Obi Wan's Shroom Steak were just regular meals with SW names attached. Like everyone else said, the servers just wore regular server clothes with SW name tags. Everyone else in my family thought they were just the regular tags they wore!
After the dinner, we all went to see Force Awakens. It was fun to see it in 3D again, but I felt it was much darker, lighting-wise? It may have had something to do with the 3D glasses. I don't recall it looking so dark at the AMC theatre. And then right after the show, we went up to Deck 11 for the show/fireworks. They didn't change the show. It still played like a catwalk with SW characters, unfortunately. The fireworks were good though!
We did go to the late-night buffet, but were too full from dinner to really try anything. The desserts were the only things we found that were remotely SW themed, but by little chocolate decors. And as for decors, they definitely didn't add more SW decorations around the ship. There were the shops, the giant SWDAS display in the atrium...and the late-night buffet stuff that was 80% borrowed from the shops/popcorn places.
My sis decided to go to VIBE at this point again so I went to the superfan contest. Mom wasn't feeling up to it so I went alone. Everyone who walks in is handed a remote. There are three rounds and each gets progressively harder. Padawan<Jedi Knight<Jedi Master. Only 20 people make it to Jedi Knight. The remotes are only used for the Padawan round with multiple choice and quickness in selecting answers count. Very fun, very enjoyable. And congrats to the two gals who made it to the final Force Lightning round! Once that was over, I headed back for some sleep.
Overall, I came in hoping they'd fix a few things here and there from past sailings, but it seems like they didn't. One thing they did do, which I was super happy about, was to leave the SW music on the whole day! When I headed back to our room, SW music was still playing. I can't deny that I did have lots of fun, but I feel like for the price we paid, there should have been more.
Our first Disney cruise was truly spectacular and we loved everything about the Fantasy. It's only been 12 hours and I sorely miss it. Here's hoping they listen to everyone's comments and suggestions for future sailings.
Let me start by saying this was our first time cruising with DCL. I read a few SWDAS reviews online before leaving so I was trying to see if anything changed for our cruise (lowered my expectations for it at least).
So a little about us: In our group of four (me[25], mother, grandma, sister[15]), I'm the only one who knows about Star Wars. I'm not a super fan by any means, but I do love the franchise so you can imagine how excited everyone else was about SWDAS in my family.
Anyhow, here's what happened on our day:We all woke up around 8AM to attend Jedi Training. My sis and I were too old to join, but we decided to take a peek because we've never seen it before. We headed down to WD theatre for the 8:30 showing and they actually didn't start until 9ish because they were still waiting for kids to show up! My advice to parents who want their children to get picked: attend an earlier showing and get there early! We noticed the first few families trickling in and immediately the CMs asked the kids to take part. They were practically pulling every youngling they could see when the doors first opened. After about 15 mins, larger crowds came in and that's when they started getting choosey. It was especially heartbreaking to see a group of three boys excitedly want to join in the fun, but only one of them got chosen for the show. :c It seems DCL did up the amount of kids per show. We stayed for the whole event, but it was getting old by the time the last kid got up stage, haha.
After the Trial of the Temple, we roamed around the atrium. Saw some Jawas interacting with guests, but we didn't stay long. Our group split up after this. My sis and I headed to Deck 11 for the Pool Patrol. It was...underwhelming IMO. Only two stormtroopers and their ways kept getting blocked by people crowding around them trying to take photos. Luckily for us, a stormtrooper passed us by (we were standing in the middle section by the soda machines on the port side). Snapped a great photo of him, but he walked by fast. At this point, my sis left to go play Battlefront in VIBE, so I stayed to see Boba Fett. He came out and did a whole bunch of poses with voiced lines, but that was it. I overheard kids and adults alike wondering if he was going to jump off from that height.
At this point, there was some down time before the next event, so I headed back to our room to put on my costume for our Meet&Greets. Ran into the rest of my family on my way to our first pick (Dark Side). We were running a little late (1:10 ticket and we got there for 1:20). The CM was very nice and allowed us to go ahead of the 1:20 groups. We chatted with a few families ahead of us and everyone mentioned they got two tickets for these events. We definitely did and also got the ones we wanted. Darth Vader was there for our 1:10 and R2-D2/C-3PO for our 3:40. It was unfortunate to see that C-3PO didn't have his red arm and he didn't talk either. I wanted to ask about his red arm. :c Also, it felt more like photo ops than interactive experiences. Granted, some families did get a line from Vader here and there. He couldn't use any of his preset lines on us though since we were Rey and Kylo Ren, lol. He stared at me really closely so I said in a really loud voice "HI GRANDPA!" and the kids right behind us started laughing like crazy.
During the break between our first Greet and second, we joined the costume celebration at 2PM. My sister didn't feel like participating so we settled to look at the proceedings by Shutters. And a good thing we did too because Ahsoka surprisingly (and quietly) snuck behind us and we got great pictures of her. She was roaming around behind all the groups watching the celebration. We took a breather out on deck 4 afterwards. Got a couple of pics of us in costume lounging on the deck chairs. It was around 4PM now and we were surprised to see two stormtroopers walking on by. There were maybe a total of 8 people outside (us included) so it was weird seeing them there without anyone around. They stopped by and warned us to be on the lookout for resistance sympathizers. And then promptly pulled my sis away and asked her for ID (she was still Rey at this point). Got a good laugh out of that. We grabbed some good photos and then everyone on the inside realized there were stormtroopers outside so lets just say it got crowded again, real fast.
Sis and I did a few more activities after this, but they weren't SW themed. We had first dinner so we headed back to the room to change. The show where they ask for audience participation in character roles was super funny. Retelling the movies in 5 mins each is a lot more entertaining when everyone's into their role. I don't know the name of the guy who was picked for Darth Vader on our sailing, but kudos to you man! You did an amazing job!
When 5:45 rolled around, everyone was eager to see the new SW menus. And wow, they were gorgeous! I definitely agree with all other people I've talked to and reviewers alike: these things are da bomb! Holographic-like and they give a cool 3D effect when you move it a little. Wish these suckers were for sale. Now since the rest of my family knows nothing about SW, they were totally cool with the menu and dishes that were served. I, however, blindly wished they would have fixed this detail from past sailings: aside from the name of the dish, nothing about it reminded me of SW. The only redeeming quality were the desserts, but those were there from the start. Lord Vader's Nerf Steak and Obi Wan's Shroom Steak were just regular meals with SW names attached. Like everyone else said, the servers just wore regular server clothes with SW name tags. Everyone else in my family thought they were just the regular tags they wore!
After the dinner, we all went to see Force Awakens. It was fun to see it in 3D again, but I felt it was much darker, lighting-wise? It may have had something to do with the 3D glasses. I don't recall it looking so dark at the AMC theatre. And then right after the show, we went up to Deck 11 for the show/fireworks. They didn't change the show. It still played like a catwalk with SW characters, unfortunately. The fireworks were good though!
We did go to the late-night buffet, but were too full from dinner to really try anything. The desserts were the only things we found that were remotely SW themed, but by little chocolate decors. And as for decors, they definitely didn't add more SW decorations around the ship. There were the shops, the giant SWDAS display in the atrium...and the late-night buffet stuff that was 80% borrowed from the shops/popcorn places.
My sis decided to go to VIBE at this point again so I went to the superfan contest. Mom wasn't feeling up to it so I went alone. Everyone who walks in is handed a remote. There are three rounds and each gets progressively harder. Padawan<Jedi Knight<Jedi Master. Only 20 people make it to Jedi Knight. The remotes are only used for the Padawan round with multiple choice and quickness in selecting answers count. Very fun, very enjoyable. And congrats to the two gals who made it to the final Force Lightning round! Once that was over, I headed back for some sleep.
Overall, I came in hoping they'd fix a few things here and there from past sailings, but it seems like they didn't. One thing they did do, which I was super happy about, was to leave the SW music on the whole day! When I headed back to our room, SW music was still playing. I can't deny that I did have lots of fun, but I feel like for the price we paid, there should have been more.
Our first Disney cruise was truly spectacular and we loved everything about the Fantasy. It's only been 12 hours and I sorely miss it. Here's hoping they listen to everyone's comments and suggestions for future sailings.
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, I've already been berated by someone from my cruise meet and told that, basically, I must be stupid to think that 'A' list celebrities would be on the boat and I should just get over it. Firstly, I never expected 'A' listers. I was thinking maybe bit part actors, voice actors, or those who may have worked behind the scenes on the movies. Secondly, this was one of the main reasons we booked this cruise instead of a non-SWDAS one, the meet and greet with characters being the other. Due to the popularity, this cruise was more expensive than what I would normally pay, but thought it was worth it for what was being offered. Others on my cruise meet have made it seem that I should just be happy Disney was willing to take my money and allow me the privilege to sail with them. 
If you had a great time and thought everything was perfect, that's wonderful! If you were disappointed and felt the cruise that was advertised, this was not, you should get to vent without judgement. Everyone understand the rules? Great! And go........
