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]

Friday 19th September (cont)

There is a lovely town park at the bottom of Mount Aksla

That’s a lot of steps

Going up

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 19th September (cont)

Carrying on up the steps

There were a few stopping off points on the way up to catch my breath and enjoy the views

And up

It was a pleasant walk up there. The steps weren’t too steep and I was ahead of the crowds again

Finally at the top for some lovely views

I could see the rain on its way

There are some trails at the top but I was a bit worried about getting lost while on my own

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 19th September (cont)

I enjoyed about 15 minutes at the top before the rain started and decided to go back down before it got any heavier

I struggled more with the downhill than the uphill. I have an arthritic knee which is fine going up steps but doesn’t always like going down steps, plus the rain was making the steps slippery, so I had to hold onto the handrail and take it slowly

The firemen running drills made it look easy

Carrying on down

Looking over the side, luckily I’m not scared of heights

 

[cgersic]

Gorgeous views!!! That is a hike I would love to do.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 19th September (cont)

Back in the park

Weird sculpture

A more traditional statue of the Viking Gange-Rolv, conquerer and founder of Normandy (I did have to google that)

Another google told me not to go this way, the coastal pilgrim route is over 1000 km, takes 24 days and is a mix of boat, bus and walking

I settled on a walk around Alesund harbour instead, unsurprisingly in the rain

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 19th September (cont)

More rainy wanderings

It would probably be lovely sitting outside that hotel overlooking the water on a drier day

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 19th September (cont)

The last few photos from my enjoyable walk around Alesund, it has some lovely buildings and interesting statues

Then back to the ship for lunch. I don’t have any photos from the early afternoon, I think I just stayed on the ship and relaxed

 

[cgersic]

Now, that is a town that I feel I could spend some time in! Love the photos, you really got some great architecture ones

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 19th September (cont)

Leaving Alesund, I’d really enjoyed my time there despite the weather

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 19th September (cont)

Verandah time as we sailed away

I noticed quite a lot of these little boathouses in the residential areas along the fjords

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 19th September (cont)

Back in La Piazza for some Muppets themed music which was very entertaining. Both pianists on this cruise, Andy and Daniel were fabulous. The drink was a red version of Prosecco which I’d never had before and quite liked

After dinner a browse around the shops. As it was the end of the European season all the Europe specific merchandise was 40% off. I got the spirit jersey, T-shirt and one other T-shirt for around $90 after my additional 10% castaway club discount

Back in the room, Piglet doesn’t look sure about tonight’s animal

 

[Baron Von Capybara]

Piglet doesn't have a great track record with heffalumps...

 

[Baron Von Capybara]

Alesund is lovely. Can't wait to see what you thought of our favourite Norway port next.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 20th September: Stavanger

We found out the previous day that we would be later arriving at this port than originally scheduled and I was glad that my excursion was booked through Disney even if it did cost a bit more. I remember people with early non-Disney excursions were getting stressed about rearranging their times while mine changed automatically.

There are very strict noise regulations in the port of Stavanger, I think because of how close it is to a residential area. Our ship wasn’t allowed to turn around in the port area, it creates a lot of engine noise, instead we turned around quite a way out and very slowly reversed in. The rules also meant that funnelvision movies that day had to play without any sound

So slow we were almost just drifting in, you can see how little movement there is of the water

I thought maybe this had something to do with the oil industry. As well as being Norway’s fourth largest city, Stavanger is known as the oil capital of Norway. It even has a museum dedicated to it

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 20th September (cont)

More photos from the slow drift into Stavanger

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 20th September (cont)

For my excursion I had to walk from the big boat

To a little boat

The boat was heading into Lysefjord for a closer look at the stunning scenery. The lady in the photo was our tour guide and she was fantastic, very informative

I settled into the comfy seat in the nice warm and dry cabin, and stayed there for the first part of the journey. The weather was pretty awful outside, rainy and windy. The guide was giving us lots of information about the fjord, about the history of Norway and about the oil industry.

At one point we all rushed outside to the front of the boat because a beluga whale had been spotted. I did see it briefly but it was too crowded to get a photo

My only photo from the early journey, part of a salmon farm

We stopped off at a little cafe/information centre for traditional Norwegian waffles which were very yummy

And then I had to brave the weather, I wasn’t going to see much from inside the boat. I was already fully waterproofed up: hat, jacket, trousers, shoes, and I added a poncho over the top to keep my backpack dry. For a little while there were only two of us out there, but gradually others started drifting up

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 20th September (cont)

We then spent about 45 minutes exploring in the fjord. I think the wind and rain and low cloud just seemed to add to the experience, I don’t think it would have been quite so awe inspiring in the sunshine

I did see approximately a bazillion waterfalls . Some are harder to spot and just look like thin white lines running down the cliffs

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 20th September (cont)

There were a few other boats out there including some of the open RIB boats, I’m not sure I’d want to be on one of those in that weather

We sailed into a little cove with a cave at the back. I imagined pirates or smugglers used it

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 20th September (cont)

More waterfalls

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 20th September (cont)

Goats!!!!

And more waterfalls. I was enjoying this so much