Trip Report Finally Back in Our Happy Place. A Three Week Trip With a Cruise Included. Now with a Norway Cruise on the Disney Fantasy *COMPLETED*

We’ve been back for just over a week from what was a wonderful three weeks. There were a few hiccups, but for the most part Disney World was just as we remembered it.

This trip was me and my two youngest daughters, Alice (18) and Lexi (15)

We stayed at Pop Century from July 7th-20th, then sailed on the Disney Magic from July 20th-25th, then French Quarter for the last three nights, July 25th-28th. For the Pop Century part of the trip we had the UK 14 day park tickets which included the waterparks.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st July (cont)

The menu is the same as the one on the Dream and Fantasy

Pasta purseittes for all of us

Then tuna for Alice and beef for me. Lexi had pasta (again) which I don’t have a photo of

Desserts

Lemon icebox pie for me and cheesecake for Alice. We’d lost Lexi to the teen club

I enjoyed seeing the sketches on the screens being coloured in

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st July (cont)

The lighting was changing the colours of the walls

And then the main event, Sorcerer Mickey!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st July (cont)

There was a little parade with all the servers

This was our head server, she was lovely

It felt like Mickey was thanking the servers for all their hard work

We loved this version of Animator’s. We’ve seen the Crush version on the other ships quite a few times and it was nice to have something different

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st July (cont)

On our way out of Animator’s, there’s just so much detail

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 21st July (cont)

A post dinner stroll around deck 4

Then some funnelvision with a Baileys

We weren’t very late back to our room, we wanted to be up early to make the most of our Castaway Cay day.

We had remembered to take the do not disturb sign off our door so we had our towel/blanket animal. It became a bit of a running joke with our room host, she would ask us if we’d taken the sign off if she saw us in the hallways

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July: Castaway Cay

Our family have always loved spending time on Mickey Island.

Our first visit, back in 2013.

Breakfast view

After breakfast it was still too early to get off the ship so we enjoyed the view from the pool deck

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July (cont)

We were some of the first people off the ship. Surprisingly we didn’t have to queue to get off, we always have in the past.

It was overcast but still very warm, we were keeping our fingers crossed that it wouldn’t rain

The characters were just starting to come out to enjoy their island time

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July (cont)

We enjoy the walk to the beach rather than getting the tram

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July (cont)

We have a favourite spot on the family beach so headed there to get some loungers.

I’d paid for a couple of packages where you get a snorkel, float and a bike ride. Alice and I went for our ride straight away, we wanted to do it before it got too hot, Lexi wanted to wait for her friends

This was the first time we’d cycled on the island and it was a pleasant way to spend some time

We passed some people running the 5k, it was far too hot to be running

After our ride was a first on the island for us, Serenity Bay the adult beach. We’d always prioritised family time on cruises so had missed some of the adult only experiences. I knew Lexi would want to hang out with her friends all day, so no guilty feelings about leaving her

We spent a very pleasant few hours lounging. It lived up to its name, very serene

I’d forgotten how shallow the water was on Castaway, you can go out a long way before being out of your depth

Lots of teeny tiny fishes

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July (cont)

Lunch was also at Serenity Bay

Then some more lounging

I was going to go back in the water and I saw a lifeguard at the waters edge looking down at something. I looked down and it was long and wiggly, I thought it was a and so did the lifeguard. I am terrified of them so no more going in the water for me that day. I did google it later and it was probably an eel, Bahamas does not have any sea

Early afternoon Alice wanted to head back to the ship. I walked as far as the family beach with her, I needed to wait for Lexi because I had not given permission for her to get on and off the ship by herself (it is needed for under 18s)

Cocktail time, I think it was a pina colada

 

[belledream]

Animator’s Palate on the Magic is the best! The music, the way the room comes to life, is magical. Enjoying all the pictures!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July (cont)

Lexi and I headed back to the ship around 3ish. We’d started to hear a few rumbles of thunder so decided to get the tram back rather than walk. It had been overcast all day but still very warm

Goofy being goofy

Then some deck 4 lounging

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July (cont)

It was pirate night

The atrium was very busy so Alice and I opted for some more deck 4 time

You can see the anchor chains on the Magic, these bits are walled off in the other ships. I wish you could do a backstage tour on one of the ships, I would love to see how everything works.

We were back in Animator’s for dinner. I think this is the best dining room for pirates night, it can be themed because of all the screens

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July (cont)

The crab cake and shrimp to start

Alice and I had pasta

Surprisingly Lexi didn’t have pasta, she had the lamb

Then desserts, none for Lexi because she’d gone to meet her friends

The coconut flan for me

Alice went with the secret menu item (you can get Mickey bars for dessert any night)

After dinner up to the pool deck for the pirate show and fireworks

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 22nd July (cont)

We were really looking forward to this. The last cruise the girls had been on was a short one to Spain the previous summer, and while it had pirates night there weren’t any fireworks. And I may have mentioned once or twice that I love fireworks

It was busy but we managed to get quite a good spot

We enjoyed the show

Mickey zip lining in to save the day. This was new to us, we loved it

Then the fireworks, I’d decided not to take any photos because I just wanted to enjoy them. While I loved the fireworks, I did not love the music. Alice and I looked at each other wondering what was going on. Rather than the usual amazing Pirates music, it was some slightly weird techno version. Definitely do not approve of this

After the fireworks I got a drink from the bar. I’d asked for an espresso martini, it was definitely coffee flavoured and I enjoyed it but it wasn’t the drink that I usually get.

We decided to watch Pirates of the Caribbean in our room rather than on funnelvision

We only made it this far into the movie before we got too tired

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Wednesday 23rd July: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point

This was the first time for the girls visiting Disney’s newer private island, the second time for me as I had stopped there on my solo transatlantic cruise last year. We were all really looking forward to the day.

The walk along the pier to the tram is about a kilometre. There are golf carts for people who aren’t able to walk that far, the rest of their party do need to walk though and meet them at the other end of the pier. There were also wagons for young children, I hadn’t seen those before.

It was much sunnier than the day before although it was quite blustery

We were some of the first people off the ship so it was very quiet at the entrance to the tram stop

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Wednesday 23rd July (cont)

The narration on the tram journey mentions the money moths of the Bahamas, they are supposed to bring good fortune if they land on you. We saw quite a few of them, they are huge.

We explored a bit

We went for a walk along the beautiful beach

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Wednesday 23rd July (cont)

We wanted to find a spot to sit on the family beach rather than the adult one so that Lexi could come and go if she wanted to. My last time here I hadn’t been able to have an umbrella up most of the day because it was too windy, it wasn’t quite as breezy this time and it was less so behind the sand dunes. We had our choice of loungers, Lookout Cay has a lot more space than Castaway

Luckily we could keep our umbrella up, it was very hot

After lounging for a while it was time for lunch, I think the food is better on this island

 

[Tuvalu]

My son traveled to Eleuthera before DCL. He said it was the most beautiful place he’d ever visited. Your pictures prove it - well except for the money moths, you can keep those thank you very much.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

My son traveled to Eleuthera before DCL. He said it was the most beautiful place he’d ever visited. Your pictures prove it - well except for the money moths, you can keep those thank you very much.

It is definitely the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to. And Disney have done a good job of keeping it looking untouched by having all the buildings behind the dunes