WDW and Disney Wish - Land and Sea Adventure (Complete 1/11)

[Nicnicnic.nic]

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[mickeystoontown]

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[Disney102015]

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[Disney102015]

Last Night at MK​

When we left off I was feeling pretty stressed about getting the laundry done and getting all squared away to head on our cruise the next morning. When booking this trip I really debated doing parks first then cruise, or cruise first then parks. Conventional wisdom seems to be parks first, then cruise, so you are go-go-go at the parks and then relax on the cruise. For me, though, I think for our first cruise I wish we did the cruise part first. I just felt like there were so many unknowns with our very first cruise and I was kind of nervous about it so I wish we did that part first. Oh well!



We got back to OKW and I loaded up all our dirty laundry in the double stroller to take down to wash. N got all 3 kids to lay down for a nap which was a small miracle! Only 1 washer was available when I got down there so I started our first load and waited around to start the second.



Here is a question - how long do you wait before moving someone’s stuff from a washer machine that is finished? This was the conundrum I faced shortly after arriving as a machine stopped and no one appeared to move their stuff. Personally I had an alarm set so I’d be back at my machine a couple minutes before it shut off so I could move my stuff right away. But the minutes ticked by and no one came to empty their washer and I was getting more and more aggravated. I actually posted on a Disney Facebook group asking for opinions on how long I should wait, but of course the responses ranged from “I wouldn’t wait at all” to “I’d never touch someone else’s stuff no matter how long they were gone.” Ultimately I waited almost 30 minutes and finally moved the stuff to a drier. Then bolted away to avoid confrontation in case the person came back!!



I had planned to go back to the room while the laundry ran but with juggling multiple machines with different end times it just made sense to stay downstairs. I grabbed a drink from Gurgling Suitcase and enjoyed some quiet time in the post-rainstorm afternoon, while N and the kids snoozed. It could’ve been worse!!



I did run into a snafu at the end with my last load in the drier - either someone opened it while I wasn’t looking, or the weight of the wet clothes knocked the door opened…regardless, the end result was that my last load was far from dry by the time I had to head back upstairs to get the crew moving, so I had to be that person who left their clothes in the drier!!!!



I went back upstairs and woke up N and the kids, who were snoozing blissfully. I felt bad waking everyone but we did have to get moving. We quickly got down to the bus stop where we had to wait a bit but were walking back into Magic Kingdom by 7:00.



All…if I had this trip to plan over again I would’ve planned a quiet, chill night for the night before we boarded our cruise. As it was, I was anxious about the laundry and the packing and the logistics for the morning and ultimately just didn’t enjoy our last night as much as I would’ve liked. Learn from my mistakes!!



Anyway. We mobile ordered from Cosmic Rays and quickly realized we had no real way to carry all the food plus a double and single stroller. We loaded several orders of chicken nuggets into the basket of the stroller and headed to check in for the Happily Ever After dessert party. This was N’s request for this trip - we did it during our August adults only trip and absolutely loved it. I don’t do well with crowds so the reserved seating coupled with a few post-fireworks glasses of bubbly made this a major hit for us. It was pricey to do with the whole family but the kids had never seen HEA so I think it was a worthwhile splurge.



We were in the garden seating area by 7:30 for an 8:00 show. We were able to bring the strollers into the viewing area and park at the back which was perfect. The kids barely picked at their chicken tenders so that was a bit of a waste but the girls had a blast waiting for the show. The group next to us had a ton of glow necklaces which they kindly shared, and E ran around basically accosting anyone with a bubble wand to play in the bubbles. C was a little anxious about the fireworks and wanted to stay in the stroller but just as the show started he agreed to come out if N held him. Success!!



I cannot overstate how much E loved the fireworks. She was dancing up a storm and running in circles - zero fear at all. G was scared of the noise but she was absolutely determined to see Tink fly so she stood there resolutely with her hands clapped over her ears. I was so proud of her!! And C, for watching from N’s arms. I didn’t sob as much as last time since I was a little preoccupied keeping eyes on E, but I did ugly cry when “You’ll Be In My Heart” played - that’s me and the kids’ special song



The after party was good but not as good as without kids G spilled half an orange juice on my lap immediately after sitting down so that was a bummer. The cookie decorating station was a big hit for the kids though, as was drinking lemonade from a VERY fancy plastic champagne flute.



After we finished our dessert we went to cross the hub and stopped to try to get a picture of the three kids in their Mickey ears, but E kept darting away, so she’s just a blur on the edge of the photos, haha. We used our Genie for Jungle Cruise - the kids found this a little scary, probably because it was nighttime. Then G wanted to ride Aladdin’s Magic Carpets so her and I did that, but she got bummed out halfway thru when she realized she wasn’t going to see Princess Jasmine. We had our anytime pass for Big Thunder after that but all 3 kids had dozed off in the stroller so N rode alone. I could’ve ridden after him but decided to skip it - like I said, I was anxious about all that still had to be done to prep for the following morning so I was ready to call it a night.



We had one final task on our way out of the park, which was upgrading my ticket to an Annual Pass since I was coming back later in the year with my sister! This was super easy and only took a few minutes.



THEN, we caught the SpaceX launch on our way out of the park which was SO COOL to see!! I wish the kids had been awake!



We grabbed a Minnie Van back to OKW (I shudder to think what we spent on Minnie Vans this trip) and immediately put the kids to bed. N ran down with the stroller to grab the clean laundry which miraculously had not even been moved from the drier where I left it!! I quickly folded the clean laundry and I set my alarm for 5:30am to get us packed up for cruise day!!



We did 15810 steps this day. Ultimately we only used 2 LLs so I would say this was not worth the price for us. I think we are still figuring out how to best make LLs work for our family - I’m sure it’ll be different on our next trip, when the whole LL system is revamped and we likely don’t have DAS. I thought our morning would look a little differently and envisioned churning thru them doing Dumbo, Barnstormer, maybe Buzz…but it just didn’t work out that way, and we did a lot of non-ride stuff on this day. Makes me cringe a little to think how much we spent on Genie this trip but what can you do!



I think when I start the cruise portion of this trip report, I’ll post it over on the cruise boards but I’ll post a link when I do. Thanks for following along!!

 

[Jeepdisney]

I have loved reading your trip report and so happy how the fireworks worked out for your kids!

 

[Disney102015]

Boarding the Disney Wish​

Whew, it’s been a minute!! Sorry all, with all the end of summer activities and the back to school madness, I haven’t been able to post an update in a while. Never fear, I’ve got the next few updates all typed up and ready to go!!



Now where were we…



It was finally cruise day!!!!! I woke up at 5:30, a bundle of excitement and nerves, which sounds so silly to say, but it was our very first cruise so I felt like there was just so much unknown and so many logistics, that I felt a bit nervous!!



We had booked transport to the cruise terminal through DCL so we got a letter via email a day or two beforehand letting us know of procedures for the morning. Our luggage had to be ready by 7:00 (although we know it wasn’t actually picked up til 8:30ish because we saw it going by).



This was a huge perk of Disney transport - we didn’t see our luggage again until it was delivered to our room on the ship! Also, as first time cruisers we initially got a port arrival time of 2:45pm. Once we signed up for the DCL transport, our boarding time was moved to 11:45am, in group 5. Hooray for more time on the ship!!



I spent some time packing and organizing before waking the crew. I wanted be as organized as possible since I knew we’d be a little tight on space once we were in our cabin. I had one whole carry on suitcase dedicated to stuff we’d only need on the cruise - fish extender gifts, our fish extender, our door magnet, a pool bag, etc. etc. I had done laundry the day before so we’d have all clean clothes for the second leg of our trip so I got that all sorted and soon we were ready to go!!



We had a 7:30am breakfast reservation at Olivia’s - I knew we had a long travel morning ahead and figured we’d better get everyone a full belly to avoid any hangry meltdowns. N and I got eggs and the kids got Mickey waffles, and we also got mimosas because why not?? We had a great server who was telling us all about the Wish which got the kids really pumped.



We were supposed to meet at 9:15am just off the OKW lobby, for a 9:45am boarding time. We checked in right on time and the kids settled in to watch cartoons while we waited. The bus boarded at 9:45 and we just had 1 other stop at Saratoga Springs, then we were off to Port Canaveral! Since I had done the early wakeup, N held the baby on the bus so I could try to doze a bit. G was EXHAUSTED and belting out “Let It Go” (which hopefully our fellow passengers found charming and adorable?) until she finally fell asleep.



It was almost exactly an hour ride to the port and it was SO exciting to see the ship come into view!! Everyone on the bus was so pumped, it was really cool.



Our kids were literally bouncing off the walls with excitement which was very cute but also a little hard to contain as we made our way off the bus and into the terminal. When we got inside we waited in the first line for about 15 minutes. This was where we showed our citizenship documents and I was nervous for this part - did I read all the requirements correctly?! Did we really have everything we needed? Spoiler alert, yes we did, and we moved on to the second line, which was super quick - we just had to have our bags scanned and then we were on our way upstairs.



It was about 11:45 and they were already up to boarding group 12! The kids were really into the model ship so we stopped for a quick photo then hopped in the boarding line.


I was also able to get into the Navigator app once we got into the terminal so I was able to see our dining rotation. Then we stopped to take a quick family photo in front of the Wish backdrop - we had paid for the photo package and I was determined to make the most of it! Then it was time…we walked through the huge Mickey ears entrance and into the ship!!



All…I love Disney World. And I get so excited for every single trip. But doing something brand new Disney-related with my family for the very first time?? Next level excitement. I can’t even describe how excited we all were to walk onto that ship and see everything in person for the first time, after months of planning and watching YouTube videos and just imagining what it would be like. It was SO cool.



We got announced by name and the kids were handed wands, which they quickly weaponized as swords and we had to confiscate them. It was a little overwhelming figuring out what to do next! The main hall was a little chaotic. The kids zeroed in on the Cinderella statue - Baby E absolutely loved this and we returned to it many times throughout the cruise - so we got some pictures there, then decided to go explore a bit.



The kids were very anxious to see the kids club because we had watched allllllll the YouTube videos showing all the cool stuff in there. So down the slide C went! G was feeling a little nervous and we figured E was too little so we took the stairs.



The kids were over the MOON in this kids club! We got them registered and let them explore a bit. Hot tip: if you have multiple kids bring something (maybe a sticker?) to distinguish between the kids club bands! We were constantly needing to go up to the desk to figure out which band belonged to which kid. C absolutely loved the Marvel virtual reality station and we even bumped into Spider-Man (although the kids wanted to keep their distance, haha). At the Small World Nursery, we were able to adjust a few of our nursery reservations that we had made in advance. For example we had snagged a last minute Palo reservation but I hadn’t been able to book the corresponding nursery time in the app - but it was no problem to book once we were on board.



We were getting hungry so we had to drag the kids away from the kids club to grab lunch. We were feeling a little bit overwhelmed so decided a sit down lunch was in order, and headed to Arendelle. Our servers were AWESOME and I wish they had been our servers for the whole cruise! It was great to sit down for a bit and kind of regroup. N and I each had a Frozen Fractals cocktail.



I can’t remember what everyone ordered to eat but I do remember the kids all had their first of MANY ice creams for the cruise!



Up next we decided to continue exploring and popped up to Deck 11. We could see dolphins in the water below, it was SO cool!!



Our room was ready by about 2:00 so we decided to head there to check it out. The kids were sooo excited to see the room, which was Sleeping Beauty themed. It felt much more spacious than I expected!! It had the split bathroom and a huge veranda - we were thrilled. I had a bit of work to wrap up before logging off so I ducked out on the veranda to make a few calls. Then we put our phones on airplane mode and got ready to relax!!



We didn’t get an internet package initially but ended up purchasing it on one of the last days due to a work issue that had to be addressed. Without the internet we were able to connect to the ship WiFi and use WhatsApp to send messages (to each other, and to home) plus we could message each other through the Navigator app. Unplugging was one of my MOST FAVORITE things about the cruise!! (This is jumping ahead a bit but when we did ultimately purchase the internet package it barely worked at all. I’m not usually a complainer but it was really a huge waste of money - I ended up going to guest services and they gave me a 50% refund for the internet package.)



Next up was the muster drill. I will say, this was the most stressful hour or so of the cruise. Our muster location was on one of the decks in the blazing sun and it was really difficult to keep the kids in one spot for the half hour or so that it took from the time we showed up to the time we were dismissed.



But that was nothing compared to getting OUT of the muster drill! If I have one piece of advice for future cruisers, it’s this: don’t judge your cruise by the hour or so surrounding the muster drill!! Literally everyone is heading in the same direction - from the muster drill to the Sail Away party - and the elevators and hallways are EXTREMELY crowded. I cannot emphasize this enough - this will NOT be the case for the entire cruise! But it is a rough hour or so. We bumped into a mom in the elevator who was near tears - she said it was her first cruise and she had no idea what was going on and was totally overwhelmed! I felt so badly and tried to reassure her that things were going to settle down very quickly once everyone got where they were going after the muster drill.



Next up…things get much more relaxing as we set sail!

 

[Disney102015]

Embarkation Day, Part 2​

When we left off we were fighting through the crowds leaving the muster drill. We made our way to one of the upper decks and they had frozen cocktails waiting in bulk at the bar so you just had to scan your band and you were on your way. This was MUCH appreciated after all the chaos of getting out of the muster drill.



Now…I don’t want to say I had low expectations for the cruise. But, I did try to be realistic and realize that we would not have time to do absolutely everything in just 4 nights, so I really wanted to prioritize. So one of my very few MUST do’s was the Sail Away Party! I must’ve watched this on YouTube fifty times before the cruise and cried every time. I was so excited to see this show!!



Plus, N and I used to live in St. Thomas USVI and I worked in an office overlooking the harbor. At the end of most work days I could hear whichever Disney cruise ship was in port that day playing “When You Wish Upon A Star” on the horn as it prepared to depart. I was very excited to actually hear this tune from onboard a ship!!



I had read that it’s a good idea to watch the show from a couple decks up instead of joining the crowds on the ground level so that’s what we did - we found a great spot right against the bannister. The show was scheduled for 4:45 and we grabbed our spot around 4:20.



The Sail Away Party did not disappoint. The show was great, the kids were so excited to see all the characters, and of course I cried as the horn played “When You Wish Upon A Star!” It was a GREAT start to the cruise and I’m so glad we made it a priority.



We stopped back at our room after the show and found our luggage waiting. I quickly unpacked our stuff - I had brought hooks to hang things on but it really wasn’t necessary, we thought there was ample space for our stuff. I had packed the kid clothes in hanging fabric shelves which worked out great and made for easy unpacking.



We had the early seating for dinner and our first night we were assigned to Marvel. We had booked the cruise a bit last minute so initially we were assigned to late dining (which probably would’ve been a hot mess with the kids) but I joined the waitlist for early dining and it came through a couple weeks before we set sail.



The show was cute - the kids were a little worried it was real, haha. Spider-Man came around for a SUPER quick photo - make sure you have your camera ready! None of the cocktails were calling to us so we decided to split a bottle of wine which was fun. I got the Golden Mystic pasta which I actually didn’t love but G ate it and LOVED it so it didn’t go to waste! You can get as many apps or entrees as you want at each meal which is pretty cool. We also got the Pym donut sundae and cheesecake byte.



I hesitate to say this because people RAVE about the service on DCL, but our servers just weren’t great. We felt really rushed. Also our head server wouldn’t take our drink orders because that was the assistant server’s job but sometimes we wouldn’t be able to catch the assistant server until later in the meal - so sometimes our food came before we ever got drinks. Like I said, people seem to have really great experiences with DCL service generally so hopefully our experience was a one-off.



Marvel has no windows and I was feeling a LOT of ship movement! N wasn’t feeling much but I was practically falling out of my seat and holding onto the walls as I walked down the hallways. It was so weird! I really think it was the lack of windows throwing me off balance because I felt fine once we were back outside. And I never felt nauseous or anything - just unsteady!



We explored a bit more after dinner and visited E’s favorite Cinderella statue again. We realized with all the long hallways, we probably would’ve benefited from bringing a stroller for E. Oops! We dropped the big kids at the kids club - C was over the moon but within 15 minutes we were getting messages thru the app that G was crying and wanted to be picked up, which was fine. The kids were all pretty tired from the long day. I had made an evening nursery reservation for E, but with how tired she was I didn’t think it was a good idea for that to be her first nursery experience. We called down and it was no problem to cancel it.



(I should mention here - we had booked some extras like beverage tastings prior to the cruise and ended up canceling almost all of it. I think as a first time cruiser it’s easy to get FOMO when you see all these experiences booking up ahead of time and you feel like you need to schedule things. Let me tell you - there is NO shortage of things to do onboard, even if you don’t reserve a single thing ahead of time. And, if there’s something you really do want to schedule, don’t stress if it’s booked up when your booking window opens - I was able to book a bunch of things, including Palo, just by checking the app frequently.)



I wanted to make sure we caught the first night show, Seas the Adventure, which started at 8:30. We grabbed drinks and snacks from Preludes on the way in and sat toward the back in case we needed to make a hasty exit with the kids. It was a really neat show (and of course, I cried), but C and E did doze off during it!



When we got back to our room we found our first fish extender gifts! Someone got the kids Disney towels with their names on them! They were so nice and super cute. Before the cruise I kind of regretted signing up for a fish extender group because it was a lot of extra stuff to bring on the flight and the ship. But seeing how much fun the kids had with it made it totally worth it and I’d definitely do it again. (And the kids were just as excited for small things they found in their baskets, like candy, as they were for the super nice towels!)



The kids loved finding the towel animals!!

I also really loved seeing how people decorated their doors - one room went all out with all kinds of string lights which always helped us remember which way to turn when we got off the elevator - we knew we were headed toward the lights! There were also plentyyyy of people who didn’t decorate at all so if that’s not your thing, don’t stress about it!



We put our hanging tag out for room service for the morning which I was pretty excited about. We had a small kerfluffle over the sleeping situation - E was in the pack and play and we thought the big kids would take the bunks but they both had a bit of a panic about sleeping on the top bunk and a meltdown ensued. I ended up sleeping in the bed with C and G while N took the bottom bunk. It worked out fine!



We were off to sleep after a very full day! Even though we didn’t do any parks we still did 9753 steps! Our very first cruise was off to a great start.

 

[Disney102015]

Nassau Day​

We woke up early for our first full day on the Wish! We had scheduled room service for 7-8am and they were knocking on our door at 7:00 on the dot. This was one of the most LOVELY parts of cruising - waking up to the delivery of hot coffee, fresh croissants and donuts, to enjoy on the veranda. Pure heaven!! The veranda room was about $300 more than the ocean view room and for us it was absolutely worth every penny.



When we made our way onto the balcony, the ship was still approaching Nassau. We watched the harbor master boat pull up to the Wish and the harbor master came onboard. The kids really enjoyed seeing this!



We had the Royal Gathering scheduled for 9am. I’m a little torn on this - the girls always love meeting princesses but we had just spent a few days in Disney so I sort of felt like we could’ve skipped it and not felt like we were missing anything. But since we had booked it, the girls and I went down - E in her Snow White dress, G in her Tiana dress. N and C opted to hang out in the room. We waited maybe 10 minutes in the line (our reservation was right at 9:00 when they started meeting - I think the line would’ve been longer if we had a later reservation) and the girls were chatting away to each of the princesses. I wish I had been closer so I could’ve heard what they were saying!! We got some great pictures. I should mention here that we got the Photo Pass - I’m torn on this as well as it is a bit pricey and if you’re not super into characters I think it might be hard to get your money’s worth. But I did see a lot of unique photo opps in the app so if you’re committed to going to some of those I’m sure it’d be worth the money.



After the Royal Gathering it was time to hit the pool! You can’t bring a kid who isn’t potty trained into the pool in a swim diaper on a cruise. (I did extensive research on this before selecting DCL and it’s a standard rule across cruise lines.) So we knew going into the cruise that we’d be splitting up a bit. I brought E to the Toy Story Splash Zone and I cannot overstate how much she loved it!! She went up and down the little slide…and up and down again…and again and again and again! She was absolutely in heaven. It was a little hard because she needed a little push to get down the slide but then I needed to be at the bottom to catch her so I ended up running back and forth a lot!!



Meanwhile N took G and C to the pool areas. To us, the pools were probably the biggest negative of the Wish. Instead of a larger pool or 2, the Wish has 6+ fairly small pools. These were like people soup during the busy parts of the day!! Some were pretty shallow while others were deeper - like Disney hotels, the cruise had life jackets of all sizes which were much appreciated.



We were a bit surprised how crowded the pools felt given that it was a port day but we suspect not a lot of people got off at Nassau. This was during the time frame when all the Blue Lagoon excursions were canceled, plus there was (is?) a State Department advisory regarding the Bahamas which I know was causing some anxiety, from the cruise Facebook groups I was in. Personally, we had traveled with just birth certificates for the kids rather than passports (due to how last minute we booked the cruise) so we weren’t comfortable getting off at Nassau based on that. Plus there is SO much to see and do on the ship, and 4 nights is a relatively short cruise, so we wanted to take advantage of the Wish itself, as well. We did go to see about the wait for the Aqua Mouse but it was about 30 minutes so we decided to check back another time.



Around 11:30 it was time to drop the kids at their respective clubs for our Palo brunch. I snagged this just a few weeks before the cruise so again, if you don’t get to book what you want right away, just keep checking!! It was E’s first time at Small World Nursery and she marched right in like she owned the place. They put her little ID tag on the loop of her shorts right above her bum which I thought was pretty smart - that way she wasn’t messing with it! G was a little hesitant about going to the Oceaneer’s Club but walked in without tears, and C of course ran right in. Don’t forget to leave plenty of time for drop offs at the clubs! We actually got a push notification at one point during the cruise that the clubs were seeing higher than normal volume and to expect a wait for pickup/drop off. There’s also some paperwork involved at the nursery drop off, which takes a few minutes.



So, Palo brunch. It was great. It is a seriously amazing value at $50 (which included a mimosa!) On another ship/longer cruise, I’d absolutely do it again. However, on a 4 night cruise, in retrospect we both wish we had skipped it. At the start of brunch our waiter asked how we’d like the pace to be, which was very thoughtful of him. Knowing G hadn’t taken to the kids club the night before, we opted for a fast pace. Well…good thing we did, because the “fast paced” brunch was over 2 hours!! I’d also recommend maybe doing Palo on a sea day (or maybe Castaway Cay day?) because our view was just of the ship parked next to us at Nassau.

This is not meant as a complaint in any way!! The chicken parm is every bit as good as everyone says. We were encouraged to order as many things from the menu as we wanted.



We got a second drink, which was a kind of spritz with blood orange and I LOVED it.



I loved the 3 cheese omelet, N loved the celery soup, we both loved the goat cheese and sun dried tomato flat bread…I could go on and on. We actually skipped dessert because we were so full!! Plus we were a little worried about how G was doing.



About 1.5 hours in, I got a message thru the app that G wanted to be picked up from the kids club. They had a phone just outside Palo where I could call down - as soon as I told them I was at Palo, they said they’d redirect her and not to worry about it! So that was great. As soon as we finished brunch we headed for the club to get G - but C didn’t want to leave!! And the nursery said E was napping peacefully so we didn’t want to bother her either.



So, N and I decided to trade naps. I took G around the ship, exploring and dropping off some of our fish extender gifts. We also got some ice cream from Minnie’s.



Around 2:45, we picked up E and stopped by the atrium just in time to catch the end of a show featuring Mickey, so E was over the MOON! Then I dropped the girls off to N and I took my nap for an hour or so while they explored the ship and finally pried C out of the kids club. In the meantime we were pixie dusted in our fish extender - there were little sand toys for the kids (such a good idea with the beach stop the following day!) and ice cream kits as well!



Dinner was 5:45 at Arendelle. This was probably our least favorite meal of the trip. Our seats were about as far from the stage as you could get, and the food was not our favorite. But the musicians were great and our kids loved seeing Anna and Elsa! G was a little disappointed that the characters just walk by and don’t stop for a photo, but what can you do.



We decided to skip the Little Mermaid show that night because the kids were tired and not really feeling it. N took the kids back to the room while I popped by Hook’s Barbery to grab us 2 old fashioned’s to go. This was one of our “must do’s” for the trip and it smelled soooo good in there!



I took our drinks back to the room and we enjoyed them on the veranda. We also ordered room service - a round of Mickey bars to end the night!



We were in bed early-ish, to get a good night’s sleep before our day at Castaway Cay!

 

[Disney102015]

Castaway Cay​

It was Castaway Cay day! This was one of the things I was most excited about on the cruise. We had again ordered room service for 7-8am and it arrived at 7:00 on the dot. We watched the ship dock from our veranda while we had breakfast and coffee - it was SO lovely!! It was pretty overcast so we weren’t sure what to expect for beach weather but we were excited nonetheless.



We had a 9:00 reservation for N and C to swim with the stingrays so we headed off the boat right at 8:30 - the crowds were BONKERS!! I think if we had been able to wait even a little bit longer it would’ve been less stressful. There were no CMs in sight and it was pretty chaotic until we got off the ship and crowds thinned out.



We weren’t sure where the tram stop would be in relation to the stingray shack so decided to walk to the beach - it felt like a looong walk with 3 little kids (one of whom needed to be carried) and all our stuff - but probably nothing compared to the walk at Lighthouse Point! Unfortunately when we got to the stingray shack they let us know the water was too rough and the 9:00 feeding was canceled. We weren’t too surprised given the weather. They let us know we could check back later to see if things had calmed down - we did pop back around 10:40 and they were letting people in the water, but no feeding, so we decided to skip it. They gave us a refund no problem. We did see 1 huge stingray while swimming in the ocean, though!!



They had life jackets for the kids on the island which was great. The kids immediately wanted to get in the water so that’s what we did. It was a tiny bit chilly (again, it was overcast and a bit windy) but not bad. N grabbed us a round of drinks in Castaway Cay coconut cups which were fun! The kids always have a ball in the ocean so this was great. We didn’t attempt to head down toward any of the water play areas - we figured the kids were too little and anyway, they were content where we were.



It started spitting rain a bit so we decided to head to the BBQ right when it opened at 11:30. This was decent, nothing to write home about. After lunch we wandered down to Mount Rustmore for some photos and poked around in the shops - we always love to buy an ornament as a souvenir.



Everyone was tired at this point and we decided to call it a day at the beach! We took the tram back to the boat which was very convenient, and were back on the ship by 2:00. There’s a lot we didn’t do on Castaway Cay as we felt a little limited by having to carry E - but we had a great morning and will have lots to explore next time!



Then…..a true miracle occurred. ALL 5 OF US NAPPED AT THE SAME TIME. I know!!!! For HOURS! It’s true!! I’m not sure this has ever happened, before or since, but we were all sleepy and relaxed and we just needed a doze!! It was lovely. We woke up well past E’s check in time for the nursery but it was no problem to drop her off late. We dropped her at the nursery and C at the kids club. G wanted to stick with us so we decided to let her tag along for Baby’s First Bar Crawl.



At this point it was 5:30ish. There was a lot we still wanted to explore on the ship so we decided to skip pirate night dinner and do some adventuring instead. This would turn out to be a small miscalculation - stay tuned!



We started at The Bayou, which is just beautiful. There was live music playing and it was a fun vibe. N and I got Hurricanes and we got some beignets for G.



After our drink we hit up Hyperspace Lounge. They had a tool that blew these huge bubbles on the drinks - it was pretty cool and G was VERY impressed!!



We stopped by Mickey’s Mainsail and G picked out an Elsa doll, then we went to pick up the other kids around 7pm.



We had mistakenly assumed that Marceline Market and the other quick service spots stayed open for dinner but that was incorrect! Our only option was Goofy’s (or room service, I guess?) which was fine but not great. If we realized this ahead of time we would have gone to our assigned dinner, or made sure to get to one of the quick service places before they closed at 6pm, but oh well. We’ll know for next time!



A biiiiig storm was brewing as we ate. There was a ton of lightning which was pretty cool to see from the ship! We weren’t rocking too much but definitely felt a bit more movement this night. It was fun to see people walking around in their pirate gear and hear all the pirate music playing - some people went all out!! Due to the storm, the first show had to be moved indoors. We had really hoped to see the second show (not sure if it happened outside or not) but the kiddos weren’t making it to 10:15pm anyway!



We went back to the room and I took care of booking the placeholder for our next cruise At some point some fireworks did go off but it was literally like 2 minutes of fireworks - not sure if the whole show is typically that short or if it was abbreviated due to weather.



Despite our epic naps, everyone was asleep relatively early! It was a chill day and we were all feeling very relaxed!



Next up - our day at sea!

 

[Disney102015]

Day at Sea​

I bet you can guess how this day began - with room service promptly at 7:00 We were pretty hooked on this amenity. Everyone wanted to have a slow morning - I tried to convince C to head upstairs with me early so we could hit the Aquamouse but he wasn’t ready. So, we sat on the veranda and enjoyed coffee and mimosas. (We had packed prosecco and asked for OJ with our room service - brilliant!)



It was a REALLY nice morning to sit out. We could see a couple rainbows popping up, another ship in the distance, and even saw a water spout, which was sooo cool!!





Eventually I got twitchy from too much sitting around, as I usually do on vacation! It was definitely weighing on my mind that it was our final day and there was still SO much we hadn’t done. I kind of dragged everyone out of the room - I really wanted us to meet Captain Minnie so we lined up at 9:45. Then we wanted to visit the front of the ship to check out the view but it was SO windy so we didn’t stay up there long. We also passed the spa - next time, I’d definitely substitute a spa treatment in place of Palo Brunch!



We tried to do the Uncharted Adventure because my kids LOVE a good scavenger hunt. Unfortunately it was only partially working and kept glitching - oh well, it was a cool way to see a few different parts of the ship. A violinist was playing above the grand hall - as we passed by she was playing “You’ll Be In My Heart” which is the song I’ve sang the kids since they were babies, so of course I teared up!



We popped back to the room and ordered some room service lunch. I’m not sure if I mentioned our stateroom attendant yet - this man was an absolute ninja. I have no idea how he got in and out of our room so swiftly and got it so tidied up so quickly, but he was absolutely amazing. I cannot say enough good things about him!! He was so friendly and helpful.



Around 12:30 we headed back out again - I was DYING to check out the adults pool even if for a short time, so we convinced the kids to head back to their respective clubs. (Well, C and E needed no convincing, but G did!)



The adult pool was a little small and crowded but we didn’t care. It was soooo relaxing! N had the drink of the day while I had some wine with a popsicle in it - it was absolutely lovely. There were no chairs available as it was pretty crowded but we were content to stay in the pool so we didn’t mind. I kept hopping out to check my phone, expecting a message from the kids club, but G lasted a lot longer than I thought - she didn’t message us til after 3pm!



We gathered all the kids from their clubs. The one character they had wanted to meet and hadn’t yet was Pluto so we hopped in line to meet him. Then we headed to Joyful Sweets for some ice cream - this was an extra charge but it was really good!



One spot we wanted to visit and hadn’t yet was Keg and Compass so we popped by there but they were setting up for Marvel Trivia so we left. There was definitely a bit of a learning curve for us with the app, figuring out what was going on when, and I think we’ll have a better handle on it next time!



N had made himself a reservation for a fancy shave at Hook’s Barbery for 5:00. This man…God bless him. He is VERY Midwestern (I say that lovingly!) and this Cast Member rightfully saw a sitting duck. He talked N into buying all the products he used, and of course N was too polite to ask the cost before committing…let’s just say we are now the proud owner of $300 of Elemis skincare products, hahaha. I about fell over when N confessed to me what had happened but we laugh (a lot) about it now. Beware the upsell!!!



Meanwhile I was chasing the kids all around the ship and was soaked in sweat! E kept taking her shoes off and trying to run away from me. There were a bunch of kids in the atrium running around and dancing so my kids were thrilled to join in. We met back up with N at 1923 at 5:45.



This was my favorite meal of the cruise! The four cheese tortellini appetizer was amazing, and we actually got 2 apps on this night as we wanted to try the burrata too. I got a nice peppery filet mignon for my meal which was delish. N got a lillet flight, which I didn’t even know was a thing! This restaurant probably isn’t as engaging for the kids but I almost think the other dining rooms were kind of sensory overload for my particular kids, so this was more our speed. We were also seated by a bunch of drawings and statues of Elsa so G was THRILLED about that.



One thing I absolutely wanted to do was get a photo on the Grand Hall stairs so we hopped in line to do that after dinner. By now it was about 7:15 and the girls were tired, but C wasn’t so I offered to take him down to swim. This was a really lovely way to end the cruise, just him and I. We swam for a bit then realized there was NO line for the Aquamouse so we ran over to ride. Well, there was still no one in line when we got off so we ended up riding FIVE times in a row without ever getting off!! We could’ve kept going too but C was (understandably!) ready to be done after 5 rounds. It was awesome.



I brought C back to the room then went to get a few administrative tasks done. I had to return the wrist bands to the kids club and also went to guest services to talk about our internet package that did not work. They ended up giving me a 50% discount which was…fine, I guess.



My last stop was Nightingales. I had really want to come here with N but it’s adults only and only open after 6pm, so it never really lined up with our kid-free time. I decided the next best thing was to grab a round of drinks to go.



These were LOVELY. I told the bartender I wanted them to go but he was so nice and insisted on making the Sweet Nightingale in its proper glass first - “you’re going to want a picture,” he said. He was right!! This was gin, passion fruit, rosemary and mint and it was the best drink I had the entire cruise. For N, I got the Dreams Come True which was gin, elderflower, white cranberry, and champagne. He loved this, as well. This bar will be a priority if we ever get back on the Wish!!



If you want your luggage taken off the ship for you, it has to be outside your room by 10pm. We sipped our cocktails while we packed and had everything outside by 9:45. We ordered chicken tenders from room service because C was hungry, but he fell asleep before they arrived!



We finished our drinks out on the veranda and called it a night. We were sad our cruise had come to an end but we had the BEST time and were already talking about a return trip!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Your cruise sounds lovely! I like that you just kind of rolled with whatever happened and didn’t stress about stuff. That has to increase the enjoyment factor! Also LOL on your husbands shave experience. I bet he has great skin these days!

 

[Paulaparm]

Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[Disney102015]

Your cruise sounds lovely! I like that you just kind of rolled with whatever happened and didn’t stress about stuff.

Haha yup - with 3 kids you gotta learn to roll with it! From your username, sounds like you might know something about that!

 

[Disney102015]

Disembarking and Flying Home​

It was disembarkation day AND there is no room service on this day Double whammy right?!



I had heard disembarkation day can be pretty stressful but our experience was actually pretty smooth. We were up at 6:15 because our assigned breakfast time was 6:45 and we figured we had a loooong day ahead so we better fuel everyone up first!! We kept 1 piece of luggage with us to throw in our PJs, toiletries, etc. that we had needed for our final night. They had us leave the suitcase outside the restaurant, which was 1923. They called for express walkoff at 7:20, and then they called for anyone with Mickey luggage tags (that was us) at 7:45.



When we got to the terminal we used a porter to help with our bags. HIGHLY recommend this if you’ve got little kids or otherwise have your hands full. The terminal is obviously crowded and this guy was bobbing and weaving thru the crowds like nobody’s business. In no time, he had our luggage loaded on a cart and was steering us to the departure line. We were on a bus by 8:10 and on our way to the airport by 8:19!! I was honestly shocked how smoothly it all went and we were at the airport by 9:05.



We had a long day ahead, though. Our flight wasn’t until 3:00pm. I had intended to book a day room at the airport Hyatt but I waited too long and nothing was available. I would not have waited so long if I had realized we’d have alllllllll our luggage with us all day. In my head I thought we’d check all the luggage right away, go thru security, and be free to kind of explore the airport for the day. Unfortunately we were flying Breeze and found out they do not accept checked luggage in Orlando until 2 hours before flight time! So we had to wait outside security, with 3 kids and all our suitcases, until about 1:00.



It wasn’t great but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. We found a bench to set up and the kids could kind of run around in our little area. E was an absolute chaos demon and kept taking off her shoes and running away from us. G and C did really well though, it helped that they had not been in front of screens all week while we were on the cruise so they were more than happy to zone out in front of tablets and phones for a few hours!



We got in the Breeze line at 12:30 and they started accepting luggage at 1:05. Aside from the inconvenience of sitting around with our luggage all day, I found this a bit stressful - when traveling with the kids, and especially at MCO, I like to leave plentyyyy of time to get thru security since it can be a zoo. The luggage drop line moved slowly and we weren’t at security til 1:30, only 1.5 hours before our flight. Luckily we had TSA precheck because we still needed to feed the kids before take off!



We found a Ruby Tuesday’s with no wait which should’ve been a warning sign. Weirdly, they had no kids menu and no kids cups. Odd for an airport restaurant right?? I don’t remember exactly what the kids got but I do know it was a huge waste of money as most of it went uneaten. Oh well.



We were a little delayed but boarded by 3pm. I sat with G, who promptly fell asleep. There was a nice guy sitting next to me so we chatted, which distracted me a bit which was nice since I am terrified of flying (and Breeze doesn’t have in flight entertainment). N sat behind me with E, who was still a lap baby, and C, who slept off and on. Everyone was worn out from our adventure! I had one canned old fashioned on the flight - whewwww, you guys!! Exercise caution if you see these on a flight. I only had 1 and suddenly I was not feeling so nervous anymore!



We made it to Providence in what seemed like record time - 2 hours 17 minutes! It was not a bad flight at all (or maybe that old fashioned just made it seem that way, haha). It had been an amazing trip but we were happy to get home to our house and doggie. I have to say, where the cruise ended on a Friday, I had been so tempted to go back to WDW for a couple more days and fly home Sunday night and I am soooo glad we did not do this! With kids I am coming around to the idea that it is very nice to have a buffer day (or two) between landing from vacation and going back to the real world. We were couch potatoes all day Saturday and then had Sunday to prep for our return to reality.



It was an amazing trip and I cannot wait to book our next cruise using our placeholder!!



Next up: wrap up and overall thoughts on DCL and the Wish!

 

[Disney102015]

Wrap Up and Final Thoughts​

I have a lot of thoughts on the cruise, so buckle up! TLDR: we absolutely loved it and can’t wait to go back, but there are some things we’d do differently next time and definitely some things we wish we knew before the cruise. In no particular order…



We debated doing 3 vs 4 nights for our first cruise. It was about $1000 more for the 5 of us for an extra night. We are really glad we opted for 4 nights. As it was, there was a ton of stuff we didn’t end up doing on the ship and Castaway Cay, and I think 3 nights would’ve felt very short. That said - 3 nights absolutely would’ve been better than not going at all, and if you really research ahead of time and prioritize the things you really want to do, I think you can absolutely make the most of a 3 night cruise.



Here are some things we had wanted to do or thought about doing that we didn’t do this trip:

• Keg and Compass
• Hero Zone
• Beverage tastings
• Palo/Enchante dinners
• Actually sit down in Nightingales
• Basically all of pirate night
• Trivia and other activities
• Spa
• 2/3 of the evening shows
• Marceline Market

Seems like a lot right? That said…we really did not leave with the feeling that we missed out, at ALL. There is soooo much to do on the ship and ultimately we were all really happy with how we spent our time, including a couple naps and lots of family time just hanging out on our veranda! So, I don’t list all the “didn’t do’s” to scare you away from a 4 night cruise, but to explain that you really don’t have to rush around and try to squeeze in every last thing to feel like you had an amazing time.



Things we DID do and would maybe skip next time:

• We had just come from Disney World so I think we could’ve skipped the Royal Gathering.
• We’d skip Palo brunch on a 4 night cruise. It was FANTASTIC, just not how we’d choose to spend our limited cruise time.
• N is never ever allowed back at Hook’s Barbery, for obvious reasons

I cannot emphasize this enough: do NOT get overly stressed about booking stuff in advance!

1. Almost everything had availability pop up at some point between the booking date and the cruise. I think the only exceptions might be cabanas and Olaf’s Picnic. I saw openings pop up for Palo, Enchante, all the beverage tastings.
2. Other than Palo brunch, we did not end up doing a single activity that could’ve been booked ahead of time and we had an INCREDIBLE time. Really, there is soooo much to do and see and eat…don’t stress yourself out.

I did feel like there was kind of a steep learning curve. It is definitely less “planning” than a Disney World trip, but I felt like it was more LEARNING than a Disney World trip, if that makes sense. Almost like learning a new language. As we did certain things I’d think, “oh, this makes sense now! This will be so much easier next time!”



I really do wish they’d publish the activities schedule maybe even a week or two in advance of the cruise because I did feel a little overwhelmed once we boarded and saw everything there was to do in the app, and tried to come up with a game plan for what we wanted to do and when.



Our least favorite thing about the Wish was the pools. I’m glad we got lots of pool time at OKW before our cruise because we didn’t spend a ton of time swimming on the Wish. Depending on the time of day, they were kind of like people soup. Also, my advice would be not to be deterred by the chaos of day 1. Going through security, boarding the ship, exploring, going to the muster drill, figuring out the app and the schedule…it can all be a bit chaotic but I promise things chill out after that!



In retrospect, I would’ve brought at least a small umbrella stroller for E, as lugging her everywhere got a bit tiresome and there are some long hallways on the ship! That said, the cruise was SO family friendly and I probably won’t even consider another cruise line until the kids are older. I felt very comfortable leaving the kids in the nursery and kids clubs. We had a diaper genie in our room, a pack and play was provided, they cut up the kids food at dinner…I could go on and on.



My MOST favorite thing about the cruise was everyone in the family unplugging and putting their phones and tablets away!!!! Cannot wait to do another cruise for this very reason. I will treasure this time forever, especially the time we spent just sitting on the veranda together watching the ocean. We also really liked Castaway Cay despite the weather. Since it’s Disney’s island it kind of had an “all inclusive” feel to it, and the beach is just gorgeous.



While our dinner service wasn’t great, the service overall was amazing. Our stateroom attendant…I literally cannot think of another thing he could’ve done. He was SO helpful. He saw we brought wine onboard and immediately brought us wine glasses. He tidied up our many phone cords with tiny little straps to keep them organized. Just so thoughtful, without even being asked. Again, I could go on and on and on! The service throughout the ship was great too. At one point we were walking through the atrium as N finished his drink and he said “oh I wonder where I can put this glass down.” Like magic, a CM appeared and asked if she could take his empty glass! It reminded me of Janet in The Good Place, if you’ve ever watched that show. Just top notch service. So all that said, my advice is to make sure you account for extra tipping! We did the prepaid gratuities but would up leaving more in cash for everyone especially the stateroom attendant - it was well deserved.



Is DCL “worth” the extra expense as compared to other cruise lines? I’ve only ever done Carnival, one time in college. Obviously a VERY different experience, but DCL was wayyy better - there’s just no comparison. Like I said, at this stage of life with 3 young kids, DCL was absolutely “worth it” for us. Once are kids are older, and/or if we were doing an itinerary where we’d be getting off the ship a lot more and the ship itself mattered less to us, I’d start spending more time looking into other cruise lines and doing more cost comparisons. For the immediate future, though…we’ll be saving our pennies for DCL.



I think those are all of my thoughts! Feel free to ask any questions. We cannot WAIT to be back on Disney Cruise Line and will be sure to post another trip report when that happens!



See ya real soon!