Trip Report - Our first family DCL Cruise - Disney Fantasy Oct 13 2012 - UPDATED!!!

[TPR]

When my wife (sharktums on this forum) and I aren't traveling for roller coasters and theme parks, we love to go on cruises!

This was my first ever Disney Cruise (Elissa did one about 12 years ago), and this was the first time we did any of the "newer" Disney ships. The Disney Dream was released in 2011, and we considered doing that ship, but we knew that a sister ship was in production, and the Disney Fantasy launched earlier in 2012. While the two ships don't differ *that* much, just like between Oasis and Allure, whenever two similar ships are being built back-to-back, the second one always gets whatever issues are found on the first one, fixed before it set sails. That was the main reason for waiting to sail the Fantasy, and the fact that we like longer cruises, and the Dream only alternates between 3/4 night cruises.

Anyway, we had an excellent time...onto the photos and some video!

The first part of this report will be our arrival at the cruise terminal, and the first day hanging around the ship...

Lets see... There's a Disney ship and a Carnival ship... I wonder which one we're heading to?

Getting ready to board the Disney Fantasy!

Awww...thanks Mickey! Let's go check out some of the ship...

One of the many kids club areas on the Disney Fantasy!

Not even on the ship an hour and already have character photos!

Disney Fantasy is like a floating WDW deluxe resort!

The kids clubs on the Disney Fantasy are just insane.

AquaDuck is the "water coaster" on the ship, and here is the exact moment where it goes off the side of the ship and over the water!

Each of the interior staterooms has a magic porthole which shows you what's going on outside as if you had an actual window (along with some neat Disney magic.) We get in our stateroom and KidTums asks "Why is the Klassy Kruise on our porthole? How do we turn it off???" (She actually said this!) lol

Mini-Golf on the Disney Fantasy!

Entrance area of the Disney Fantasy. This is "Classy!"

KidTums playing with many of the interactive screens and "enchanted art" all over the ship!

"Enchanted Art" are these amazing high-def retina screens all over the ship that when you walk past them, they look just like paintings...but, if you walk up to them and stand in front of them...something magical happens... watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltPfSKtEhkE

Loving all the little Disney touches!

Frozone serves up the "adult" treats!

Sail away party! (note that this is the pool deck, and they can quickly convert the pool deck into a show area when they need to!)

Finding Nemo kids water play area! (This ended up being one of KidTums' favourite places on the ship!)

Mickey & Friends at the sail away party! Our cruise has "officially" begun!

The way dining works on the Disney ships is very different from other ships. You have three different restaurants, and depending on your itinerary and your "rotation" will depend on how many times you end up at different dining rooms. I'll explain more as the report continues. Our first dinner location is in the Animator's Palate.

The dining room is VERY different than anything you'll see on any other cruise line! No typical "round tables", no windows to see outside, the focus on this dining room is the "experience" you're about to have.

Everything starts off mostly in Black and White or muted colours when you first arrive in the dining room.

The theming inside the restaurant is absolutely amazing!

I'm told this is not as "Black and White" as on the older Disney ships, but this room will start to transform and change colour soon enough!

Let's take a look at the menu for Animator's Palate!

 

[TPR]

The menu items are very high end! It's much like a Disney fine dining restaurant with "fun" atmosphere.

The one thing I will say is that the food on this ship was exceptional! But be prepared for it to be a bit "exotic" - if you're a picky eater, or like really basic food, you might find yourself eating from the kids menu! lol

More detail in Animator's Palate.

These are actually very high definition screens that will eventually turn into the Animator's Palate version of Turtle Talk.

These screens also stay in theme for what night you're at this dining room. On the second night, when they do a different show, the screens display different artwork reflecting the theme for that evening. It's touches like these that just make the ship that much more "magical."

Here's what the table looks like before people wreck it!

Our server in his cool costume!

Animator's Palate's first colour change! It reflects being underwater, because look who's about to appear...

Crush comes out and gives us all an intro to Animator's Palate.

The pasta purse was amazing!

Bruce reminds us all that fish are friends, not food... which is funny because many of us are eating fish! lol

Animator's Palate changes colour again!

Random underwater stuff appears on the screen from time to time...Here the fish playing ball with the pufferfish.

The cheddar cheese soup is VERY similar to the one at Epcot!

KidTums very colourful meal!

Steak was amazing! Could cut it with a fork! Colour seemed to be a VERY important role in the dishes served in this dinning room. The plates were mostly black and white, but the food provided the colour.

Same thing with the chicken!

Crush coming out to talk to everyone.

Now Crush comes out to talk to our table. At this point it's pretty much *exactly* like Turtle Talk...which is insanely cool!

Mickey pops dessert are amazing! (Also note our plates are now green thanks to the lighting!)

Because you can't just have one dessert!

Crush waves goodbye!

Whatever the last character was on the screen near you in 3D animated form, it changes into a sketch of them!

To give you an idea of how the dining room changes colour:

Animator's Palate before....

Animator's Palate after!

 

[TPR]

They do the "world time" by what time it is at each Disney park... Awww... This is our favourite world clock!

KidTums will LOVE this store!

Pretty sure KidTums gets this dress on her pirate night at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique!

Some old dude trying to hit on Snow White! Clearly Walt does NOT approve! lol

Fun places for the "adults" while the kids play!

More themes bars on the ship.

So lets take a night time tour around the Disney Fantasy...

Cabana's is the breakfast and lunch buffet restaurant on one of the upper decks of the ship. It's open for "casual dining" most nights of the cruise as a table service restaurant.

It's pretty well themed!

Some cool stuff inside this restaurant.

Checking out the pool area at night... (remember, this was covered up earlier for the sail away party!)

"Funnel Vision" movies and AquaDuck!

I'll probably ride this tomorrow or the next day...

Another look at the Nemo water play area...

Mickey holds up the other water slide!

Love that soft drinks are "included" on the Disney ships!

Aha! So that's where Cinderella has been hanging out!

The main atrium area of the ship. Very "classy" with a"C"!

This is where movies and stuff play.

It's a totally legit theater!

I could do without "The Help", but I'd totally go and see Muppets! Frankenweenie plays in here later this week!

This is where all the "big shows" are performed.

Yo, Walt....How's it going?

Mickey statue just outside the theater.

 

[TPR]

More of the "enchanted art" (watch the video above...I even included this one!)

Random Muppet stuff!

Even the hallways are awesome!

Tons of Disney Cruise stuff for tons of money!

There was something going on in here... But I avoided it!

Oh, it was "family karaoke!" No thank you! lol

This is not the entrance to Europa Park, but the entrance to the "adult" area.

Random band that played some musical stuff.

European themed area of the adult deck.

Some sort of scary game show was about to happen in the Jolly Jolly Jolly UK themed bar.

It's called "The Tube" and I assume that means the London Underground, not the things you get tied.

Yup, London.

The skyline lounge is themed to...

You guessed it! City skylines!

Another use of these high def retina displays that change the city skyline every few minutes. VERY cool!

Another pub...

Walking by Animator's Palate again.

Here's a better look at the menu, and the graphic design of it. Everything had so much detail it was insane!

Page two of the menu!

Another suitcase in another hall...

Royal Court is the second of the three themed restaurants on the ship. This one is a bit more of a traditional cruise ship dining room themed to the princesses, royalty and things.

Royal Court's first night menu.

You never get the same menu twice, so each time to go to one of your dining rooms, even on multiple visits, you get totally different menu items.

Another look at the entrance area. Note that the ship is NOT empty, Disney just does a very, VERY good job at trafficking and scheduling so that people are right now all in a show, at dinner, etc. There will be times where this atrium is PACKED with people...then ten minutes later it's totally empty. It was actually very impressive to watch this machine work.

Hooray! Chandelier! Don't fall on us!

Anyway, that's plenty of photos for the first update, and I think it gives you an idea of what the ship is like. I'll post more photos and videos soon if you guys want me to!

 

[DVC Jen]

yes post away. loving the photos

 

[TPR]

OK, now that you've gotten a look around the ship, let's continue our report....

Good morning everyone! We are currently in the Enchanted Garden restaurant. Beautiful!

Breakfast on the Disney Fantasy starts with a plate of Mickey Waffles! Yum! (Ok, so maybe these are brown sugar coated, syrup covered Mickey waffles that would kill most diabetics just looking at them...)

Those booths in the Enchanted Garden actually spin! Totally "Elissa Friendly!" (NOTE - We never actually saw anyone spinning them, so I wonder if they actually still do this?)

Well, that didn't take long for Elissa to find her dudes! I guess we know where she'll be the rest of the cruise!

Today we played "Mid-Ship Detective Agency" which is Disney Fantasy's answer to the "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom" game you can play at Walt Disney World.

There are three different "cases" to play, one based on Disney characters and Villains, one based on 101 Dalmatians, and one based on the Muppets. We chose the Muppets themed case to play.

Here's our case booklet...

This tells us where we can find the game stations around the ship. Remember those "enchanted art" paintings you saw the video of (you did watch the video, right?) They also double as stations for the Midship Detective game, and via RFID, it can sense that you're holding a game card.

Here is the front of the Detective Agency card.

And the back of the card. I'm not exactly sure how this system works...but it's damn impressive!

Hold the card up to these "paintings..."

And they come to life with clues or mini-games you need to play. The card acts kind of like a "Wii Remote" in that you use the card to control objects on the screen. You have to turn some pieces, push things in, throw things, etc. I believe this is more advanced than Magic Kingdom's Sorcerers game as I don't think it has this level of interaction.

Head?

The image quality on these displays is really impressive! Some of the cleanest looking retina screens I've ever seen.

Pépe has his own stateroom door on the ship which you have to go find, and it also contains clues!

And yes, if you dial this number from your Stateroom phone or does connect you with Pépe!

We solved the case! The Muppets thank us for finding their props so the show can go on!

As a reward, we got to play a mini-game were we lit off the fireworks! Yay! It was a really fun game to play!

Today's lunch was in Royal Court, which is themed to all princesses...

It's a bit more like a "traditional" cruise ship dining room, but certainly with a Disney touch!

Here is the menu for lunch at Royal Court.

And the second part of the menu. Again, the food was just so impressive on this ship!

Salad was pretty decent...

And their take on a simple item like meatloaf? Wow... It was pretty awesome!

We also got involved with a group of people who do these "fish extender" things. In short, it's a Disney Cruise gift exchange! Here's our door filled with goodies from other people that we traded with! I have to be honest, I was a bit skeptical about this at first, but it turned out to be really amazing! So much so that we'll even do something similar on our next TPR group cruise!

 

[TPR]

Some of the people involved do a lot of decoration of their doors and fish extenders.

Wow, some people got a LOT of presents! (that bag on top was filled with something called "Churro Nuggets" which were amazing!)

Disney cruise people go all out!

It's sort of fun to see how enthusiastic people get...

Disney cruisers kind of have their own little sub-culture.

Some people give gifts every day, some do it once per cruise.

Some of the doors you can write notes to people. (I didn't write anything dirty!)

Other doors keep things simple, but cute!

It was fun going around the ship dropping off everyone's TPR "bag-o-crap!"

One of the people involved in the exchange actually made the Mickey for everyone to go on their door! It was a nice touch!

Love the bleeding skull! lol

Lots of random stuff!

Just a fish extender! lol

Keeping it simple...

It was cool to see people use other people's presents on their doors! Really added a sense of community to the whole thing.

I guess Canadians?

All of these doors are the people who we gave our gifts to, and in exchange, gave them back to us!

Just a Mickey and a fish extender. (Ok, I guess technically a SeaHorse extender for starboard rooms!)

Today was time for KidTums' first of three visits to Disney Fantasy's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is like the ultimate in "dress up" for little girls! Her fairy godmother "Nicki" asks her to choose her nail colours, etc...

KidTums has two "fairy godmothers" tend to her and teach her how to become a princess. :mickey:

Fairy godmothers Nicki and Sarah transform her by doing hair and nails...

Nicki works on her hair...

...while Sarah dolls her up! =) (And yes, Sarah, she really does want a bearded dragon!) lol

 

[TPR]

Today she is being transformed into "princess Minnie" (which is also the costume exclusive to the Fantasy.)

She gets some pink "diva" hair extensions. (Maybe she can be a Theme Park Diva?)

She's almost ready!

...just a few more finishing touches from fairy godmother Nicki...

The final "Princess Minnie!"

And even the real princess Minnie approves!

I'll post more photos and videos soon if you guys want me to!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Yes, please post more pics and vids. Awesome TR!

 

[Callymum]

It was nice to see the Cruise we should have been on. The Fantasy looks great and I loved your wee ones Dress. A Real Princess.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Cant wait to hear more!

 

[jamelynn24]

Love seeing all the pics of the ship! We will be in the Fantasy next Oct!

 

[NoraNow]

Loved all the pictures, we will be there in a just a few weeks! I am so looking forward to it!

 

[LisaHK]

Thank you for the great pictures. I look forward to seeing the rest.

 

[jenpink]

Enjoying your trip report.

 

[TPR]

The ship does some very random activities, and one of them was the "Jack Jack Diaper Dash."

It was a baby crawling contest. Now, I pretty much hate babies, but this was pretty funny!

Love that this is the name of their cooking classes!

This was on someone's door... Um... We support cancer... too? I think?

Hooray for Toy Story movies playing on the "Funnel Vision."

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/306558_10151237747398566_689916388_n.jpg

Tonight's dinner was in the Enchanted Garden.

A very "elegant" restaurant which looks nothing like your typical cruise ship restaurant. This one of the reasons I like Disney so much!

While this restaurant doesn't transform as much as Artists Palate does, you'll see some things change by the end of the meal.

Lets take a look at the menu...

Page one...

Page two... All yummy!

Here's one of the flowers that will bloom by the end of the meal.

Having a bit of fun at dinner! (and yes, KidTums had pulled out all her fancy hairdo by dinner time!) lol

Ahi Tuna and avocado tower.

Yummy salad...

All the food has been exceptional.

Joey Ray would absolutely die!

Yay! The birds sing words and the flowers bloom! Well, the flowers bloom.

Another Mickey bar! These are so much better than at the parks... First of all, they aren't frozen solid to the point of chipping your teeth, and secondly... Toppings!!!

Who needs Carsland?

The "fake" portholes are amazing. I seriously like this better than having an exterior or balcony cabin!

In the adults section of the ship, there are these ridiculously high-end toilets.

Why? We have no idea... But it's cool.

Again, the portholes are so cool! I haven't been this entertained by any balcony stateroom we've ever had.

 

[TPR]

We've probably seen at least 25-30 different shows so far!

Hooray! Grand Cayman... We won't be getting off the ship! Lol.

Beautiful day to NOT go to Grand Cayman and have the ship to ourselves while everyone else is on shore.

Since this was our first port, everyone got off the ship! It was amazing!

It was so much fun exploring without anyone around.

Gotta love all the Disney movies shown all day and all night on the Funnel Vision.

Time for us to ride Aquaduck!

Sorry, Time to marathon AquaDuck! Check out the POV video below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgbQVVCjbMc&feature=relmfu

While I realize this isn't the most "wild" water slide in the world it's pretty darn cool being about 20 feet above the pool deck and at one point, the slide goes off the side of the ship over the water! It's actually a lot of fun! A mix of a water slide and a "lazy river!"

While its not the wildest ride in the world, it's VERY cool and a lot of fun!

Elissa and KidTums about to ride AquaDuck!

KidTums played on the slide for what seemed like hours!

Her favourite was actually in the Nemo area!

And after AquaDuck...PIZZA!!!! The pizza on the ship was actually pretty decent!

You know, not only is it the Disney magic that makes this ship awesome, it's the little things. For example, they have these little lid dispensers that work perfectly! They aren't disgusting or a mess, and when you are on a ship with a crap load of kids, you NEED cup lids!

Same thing with these wipes. While other ships have gel dispensers, which again get kind of disgusting, the Disney ship hands out full hand wipes. It's the "little" things...

Still can't believe the porthole idea has never been done before. Such a simple concept yet VERY effective!

And the "enchanted art" are probably my favourite "little" thing on the ship... In case you missed the video earlier in this report...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltPfSKtEhkE

Hello Nigel!

This is so much better than Grand Cayman!

Our next dinner was at the Royal Court...

Here's our place setting... Very fancy...

And our menu...

The French Onion soup is Elissa approved!

Have we mentioned how amazing the food is?

 

[TPR]

My steak kinda looks like it ran over something! But OMG that balsamic glaze was amazing.

Here is how the dessert menu comes packaged.

I see something that I want!

"Amazing cupcakes!"

This peanut butter thing was better than normal sex! OMG! It was like a rich persons Reese's cup. Incredible!

Yay! We got fireworks on our porthole!

Once again, Disney perfects how to move people around! This place is going to be SLAMMED with people momentarily as the show let's out and the characters arrive.

So lets have some fun before everyone else gets here!

OMG! It's Princess Tiana!

I found me a new woman!!!

Drink menu at "The Tube."

We upgraded our fish extender with a present that someone left us! (Thank you Mickey cut-out person!)

Today we are in Costa Maya, Mexico!

For some reason I think it's funny that they are flying a Disney flag and a Mexican flag together!

Every cruise ship port pretty much has the exact same crap...

In Mexico, everyone has a ukulele, do you should, too.

All of Mexico looks exactly like this.

I'm told this is actually Jesus' skull... For reals!

In Mexico, they have chairs that look like butts!

I'm sure this has a double use! =)

Some every-day Mexican stuff going on here.

Thanks for covering up, dude!

One of these things is not like the other... One of these things does not belong...

"Excuse me, I'd like to buy everything on this table for $1. Thank you!"

¡VIVA MEXICO!

 

[TPR]

Best part of Mexico is the great view of our ship!

Yup, there's where Aquaduck goes over the side!

The Dumbo on the back is an amazing touch!

I'll post more photos and videos soon if you guys want me to!

 

[Kman34]

GREAT report & pics!