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

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]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

The last few hundred metres of the trail were slightly more challenging, steeper with pebbles underfoot and a bit slippery

And then the glacier with its beautiful turquoise lake

Our tour guide had told us not to go too close because of the risk of falling ice, there is a sign and roped off section at the end of the beach

I was so glad I’d chosen such an early time for my excursion, it was still only just after 9 am, there were only a handful of other people on the beach. I was also glad I’d worn suitable waterproof footwear. There were a few shallow streamlets and puddles on the beach and it was easier to walk straight through them than jump about like the people wearing converses and athleisure type shoes

I enjoyed the quiet for a while, although I had hoped for a bit of creaking from the glacier. I wasn’t lucky enough to see any ice falling either

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

It didn’t take long for the beach to start filling up. One of my table mates who was booked on a later bus said the beach was very busy when she got there

The guy with the camera stick was particularly annoying, waving it about everywhere

It was also starting to rain again, so I set off back down the trail

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

I passed a lot of people going up when I was going down the trail. There was even a runner and her dog at one point, I think I would need the dog to help drag me up if I was running . A downhill run would be fun though. Also the little troll cars had started running, small open top electric cars for people who didn’t want to walk up

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

The last few photos from the walk down

I browsed the gift shop at the bottom of the trail but didn’t see anything I really liked, then headed over to the cafe. Refreshments were included in the cost of the excursion and there was an area of the cafe sectioned off for us. There was a really good selection of cakes in mini servings so you could try a lot, unfortunately no school bread that I had hoped for. There was also tea, coffee and water but I wanted hot chocolate so did have to pay extra for that. Again I was one of the first to arrive but it soon started filling up so once I was finished I headed back to the bus to free up the table for someone else

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

On the way back to the port we stopped off for a different view of the glacier

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

It was a lovely viewing spot

Then from the bus

I thoroughly enjoyed this excursion and would highly recommend it if you want something that’s a little bit active. At just over $100 it was a reasonable price for Disney and the whole trip lasted 4ish hours in the morning so I was back on the ship for lunch. There were more active hikes available but they took all day and there were less strenuous activities like the Loen skylift (one of the steepest cable cars in the world) which I would have loved to do but I couldn’t fit in the day

 

[littleroo]

These photos are fabulous!! What an amazing experience!! Thank you for taking us with you!!

 

[cgersic]

As a born and raised Colorado girl, there is absolutely nothing like the feeling of being inside the clouds when you are on a mountain. It's so quiet and still, but also increasing the levels of everything else you hear - like the waterfalls. Absolutely stunning - I'm definitely putting this on my bucket list!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Wow I have never seen a glacier. Thank you for sharing your stunning photos.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

As a born and raised Colorado girl, there is absolutely nothing like the feeling of being inside the clouds when you are on a mountain. It's so quiet and still, but also increasing the levels of everything else you hear - like the waterfalls. Absolutely stunning - I'm definitely putting this on my bucket list!

Colorado is on my long list of places I would love to visit. I love mountains, I grew up in North Wales with mountains on my doorstep. This cruise was the perfect combination of my love of mountains and of the sea (and obviously of Disney)

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Wow I have never seen a glacier. Thank you for sharing your stunning photos.

Seeing a glacier in real life was top of my list of things to do on this cruise. So beautiful

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

Back on the ship, Piglet was playing hide and seek

After some lunch I set off to explore the sprawling metropolis of Olden, home to approximately 500 people.
It is a stunning location but there is not a lot to do in the actual village, a small supermarket, a couple of tourist shops and a couple of bars/cafes. Some friends of mine visited earlier in the summer and said there was a lake in walking distance that they did a loop of but the path to it looked very isolated and being a solo female not something I was comfortable doing. I settled for a walk along the footpath next to the main road

I imagined that a troll lived inside the little tumbledown hut

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

I was enjoying my walk even though it was raining again

Trying to get some photos of the ship

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

More walking

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

The last few photos from my very enjoyable walk

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

Bye Olden

As we’d missed out on a fjords viewing day, my plan for the rest of the afternoon was to sit on my verandah and enjoy the beauty and quiet of the fjords. Unfortunately my next door verandah neighbours had other ideas and were talking at the tops of their voices, it doesn’t help that the verandas can be a bit echoey. I ended up putting on noise cancelling headphones and listening to some chilled out music while we sailed down the fjord

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

The last few photos in the fjord. It started sleeting at one point, but didn’t turn to the snow I’d been hoping for

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 18th September (cont)

That evening was a slightly weird version of pirate night. I knew there weren’t going to be any fireworks because they’re not allowed on the Northern European cruises, but the characters were still out in their pirate costumes and lots of people dressed up including me. The pirate show was due to take place up on deck but poor weather meant it had to be moved to the atrium. But we didn’t get the pirate night menu, we had the frozen themed menu instead which is probably my least favourite of all the main dining menus. The servers just had their regular uniforms on, not pirate ones or the frozen themed ones they have

Rather than deal with the crowds in the atrium I headed to La Piazza to listen to the piano player. This is another well themed area much better than the District Lounge on the Dream. In fact the whole of the Europa bar area on the Fantasy is better themed than the District on the Dream

I had a limoncino spritz

At dinner I had chicken, my back up when I’m not impressed with anything else on the menu and it was fine. Dessert however was probably the worst I’ve had on a Disney ship. I’d wanted a lemon mousse but the chef had said that wasn’t suitable for my allergy, I don’t know why. Instead he sent out a carrot cake that I don’t think was even on the menu. It was topped with what I think was a raw carrot ribbon with a bit of syrup on it, and the sponge itself wasn’t like any carrot cake I’ve had before. I was actually laughing with my table mates about how bad it was, and said to Kanya that next time the chef said I couldn’t have a dessert could she please just bring me a bowl of ice cream instead

Back in the room

I could still see land in the distance

Then up to Cove Cafe for my traditional pirate night espresso martini. Excellent towel folding on the way there

It was a bit too cold to watch Pirates of the Caribbean on funnelvision so I took my drink back to my room