Trip Report Disney Land & Sea is the place to be! COMPLETED

belledream · Oct 30, 2015

Wendy Plealey said:
Great trip report.

The cruise line is really an example of Disney at their best. The upkeep is perfect, everything screams quality, and there are plenty of "only at Disney" experiences.

Thank you! I agree wholeheartedly. A lot of cruises try to be a little more 'trendy' or 'edgy' I think, and Disney really sticks to quality that is both whimsical and elegant.

belledream · Oct 30, 2015

I love the feel of the cruise ship's hallways. They seem so low and it just accentuates the details of the walls and carpeting.

We eagerly skipped down the hallways until we hit 2510. Hi 2510! You're our home away from home and we're so excited to see you!

We opened those hefty doors and set eyes on our perfect room. It was exactly how I remembered it on the Dream. It's even orientated the same way! My eyes feasted on the bedding and that $189 pillow. And our Castaway Club gift!!!

A silver tote bag. Wahoo!!

Sitting area complete with a song that became the little tune that played in my head all trip. We had one of those biiig portholes too. Just what I wanted!

Absolutely love this vanity set up. So many drawers, a little pouf seat, just an overload of perfection.

Moving onto the bathroom, where there's actually two bathrooms due to the split-bathroom layout. Whoever thought of this is a genius. Bathroom #1 with shower and sink.

Bathroom #2 with toilet and sink:

And of course, the trio of shampoo, conditioner, and lotion!

It's all too perfect and already feels like home! We were surprised at how much space we had too. It was just like our verandah room on the dream, but with a porthole instead of the verandah.

Also completes the journey down these hallways is the variety of Disney music they play. It's not overpowering or anything. In fact, it kind of feels like it's playing in your own head!

belledream · Oct 30, 2015

Each level on each stairwell has a different painting or artwork of some sorts. The variety is awesome!

Our wanderings brought us back to the Atrium, where we found Lumiere's, the restaurant we would be eating at tonight. So pretty, I'm already a fan! You can bet that when we first decided to cruise on the Magic and we read about the restaurants, I was so excited to see that we got Lumiere's!

So I guess this will become a tour of the restaurants! Next stop, we found Carioca's. Festive, yet calming at the same time. Looks good!

Then we came towards Animator's Palate...

...oh boy. I can't wait to eat here. I've heard lots of good things but haven't let myself actually see anything so I can appreciate it for the first time with my own eyes. But ahhhh!

After that, we headed to a quick safety drill, and it was back out on the deck for some Sail Away Party fun!

Sailor Mickey and the gang sure can dance!

We popped into Cove Café to see what sweet treats they might have to hold us over til our 8 PM dinnertime. It was quiet and homey and smelled like coffee. Great combo.

How cute is that?

And we were off! So long! Farewell!

Our last glimpse of land before we hit the sea.

belledream · Oct 30, 2015

What a sight to see.

We just stood against the railings on Deck 4 listening to the waves and breathing in the air.

And right away, things got interesting I'll say. Natalie, our Cruise Director, came on the intercom and announced that due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Joaquin in the Bahamas, we would head to Key West, FL first tomorrow instead of Castaway Cay, and that we would wait for Joaquin to hopefully pass the Bahamas in the next few days so we could make our stop at CC then. I was actually okay with this. Save the best for last, right? Plus, it's a matter of safety and I can get down with that.

So with that, we headed to the Walt Disney Theater for our first show of the cruise. Walt Disney: The Dream Goes On? I didn't see this on the list of shows on the Magic. What is this?

According to the internet, it was specially designed for the Mediterranean/Baltic cruises. Maybe they had a casting emergency or something, I don't know. Either way, it told the story of Walt Disney's life, from creating animation masterpieces in Snow White, Oswald, and Mickey, to his visions for Disneyland and Disney World. While not up to the scale of grandeur that we were used to in DCL shows, it was a different take on entertainment, by paying homage to the man who gave us the magic.

You're not supposed to take pictures during the show...so I took one at the end. Just so I could remember.

We exited the theater and went back out to the deck to catch the sunset juuust in time. We actually watched the sun going down. It's like watching a clock and trying to see the minute hand move, but much faster.

We sat on some loungers and just hung around to enjoy the view. It's pretty windy down here!

This became our favorite deck to lounge on.

As it neared dinnertime, we popped into the shops. They're called Mickey's Mainsail, Sea Treasures, and White Caps. How adorable is that?

I got so excited at all the DCL-themed gear! What should I have expected, right? It's still great to see with your own eyes. MORE DISNEY SHOPPING!

Exploring is fun. Dinner would be even more fun!

prfctlyximprct · Nov 1, 2015

Just read your whole report and I'm in love. Cannot believe all your Be Our Guest meals! Super jealous! And I am so with you on trying to watch Star Wars.. we need to get up on our movie game! We should make a group movie viewing thread so we can all catch up and learn together! Loving your report so much, you seem just like myself... thoroughly obsessed and in love with all things Disney. Thank you again for taking me along on the journey.

belledream · Nov 2, 2015

prfctlyximprct said:
Just read your whole report and I'm in love. Cannot believe all your Be Our Guest meals! Super jealous! And I am so with you on trying to watch Star Wars.. we need to get up on our movie game! We should make a group movie viewing thread so we can all catch up and learn together! Loving your report so much, you seem just like myself... thoroughly obsessed and in love with all things Disney. Thank you again for taking me along on the journey.

Thanks so much for the kind words! I really need to stop watching the same movies over and over and try something new...haha! And yes, so glad we have something as special as Disney in our lives to bring us happiness, no matter what they are!

Stay tuned for more!

belledream · Nov 2, 2015

This is going to be an extensive post, or two, because as this was the first meal of the cruise, and everyone knows that eating is what you do best on cruises!

There was so much we wanted to try. Couple that with the fact that we're at Lumiere's, which is a Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant. How well they know me.

Ahh, new realms of discovery...

The details of the rose in the lighting...

Napkin game goin' strong.

Hmm...what should we eat...what should we eat? How about...let's give all four appetizers a try? We promise we won't waste!

We started with Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp. Fresh, fresh, FRESH!

Duck Confit...savory yet sweet with that cranberry and walnut garnish.

Gaston's Escargot Gratinee was a revelation. I don't believe I've had snails before and usually wouldn't be willing to try it in place of something I know I would like, but since this was a free-for-all, I gave it a shot and it was...really good. It was like a really chewy mushroom doused in a heavenly butter-garlic creation and we scraped all six pods.

Who doesn't love fried cheese? Breaded and Deep Fried Brie...exactly what you'd expect.

Now we're moving onto the Soup/Salad portion of the menu. Yup, not considered appetizers, though they are always very appetizing. For this, we just chose the soups. J's Potage Parmentier (aka potato and leek soup). Rich and delicious.

My French Onion Soup...an overload of gruyere cheese, onions, and soaked-to-the-core croutons. Beautiful.

Before we move onto the main courses, now is the time to delve into the perfection that is the DCL dining rotation. Over the course of the cruise, we got to eat at all three restaurants on board, which of course, comes with the variety of cuisine and themes, but we also get a designated dining team of servers to follow us. And they are literally some of the nicest people we have ever met, and you become friends over the course of four nights. Our wonderful team this year was Gede from Indonesia, and Darko from Montenegro. They made our experience so easy, so fun, and so special. Can't thank them enough.

belledream · Nov 2, 2015

Surprisingly, after eating four appetizers and two soups, we weren't feeling full. This was a good sign! Onwards towards the main courses we go.

I went for the Crispy Roasted Duck Breast and it was a good choice. The skin was so crispy and it was probably my favorite part. The sauce was some red wine jus that I just mopped up with the tender pieces of duck. All of top on a parsnip mash. Good stuff.

J got the Roasted Rack of Lamb, cooked medium, accompanied with delicious mashed/scalloped/something potatoes and brussel sprouts. It sounds as good as it tastes.

With our first meal underway, we ate, we laughed, we wondered what we'd do tomorrow at Key West, and we really felt the difference between the cruise in the parks. There are noticeably less people around, no sense or urgency to do something before this time, and dressed in something other than a t-shirt and tennis shoes, everything felt more intimate and it was a nice change of pace.

For the sweet tooth in me, I got the Sweet Temptation, which is a trio of select desserts on every menu so you can try a little bit of a variety of things. This included Mango Cheesecake, Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brulee, and Raspberry Mousse Slice. Favorite was Crème Brulee (as usual), Raspberry Mousse, then Mango Cheesecake. Mango isn't really my thing, but cheesecake is, so I was hoping this would help me like mango, but it didn't. I also like the miniature size of everything...it's cute.

J got the Grand Mariner Souffle which was a piece of art. Had this orange zesty flavor to it, and it was toasty inside. Good choice.

And with that, the first of many meals was complete and we couldn't believe how great everything was! The food, the service, the setting, the way we could eat everything you just saw and then walk out of the restaurant. Fun times.

So where did we head to next? Well it was almost 10 PM and that meant all the kids go to sleep and the adults get to go out and play right? Well, we do anyways! So we headed to After Hours. It was a little early for the nighttime entertainment to start, so we popped into Fathoms to admire the undersea-ness of this club.

And Keys, a piano bar. (Sorry for the blurriness).

We ended up heading back to Fathoms to partake in a couples-scavenger hunt-type game where the crew member would say something like 'bring me a napkin' or 'bring me a straw' and one representative from each couple (aka all the guys) would do so and run up to the crew member, trying to be first. It got interesting towards the end, with things like 'all the gentlemen come up and twerk for me' or 'bring me a lady's bra'. Needless to say, we did not win but it was kinda hilarious and I got to see J do some things I'd never thought he'd do...especially in public.

From there, we headed outside to stroll along the top deck at night. Lights glowing everywhere, Muppets paying on Funnelvision, everything seemed so ambient and relaxing.

Now it was late, and we had the Atrium all to ourselves. I seriously could not stop ogling at all the little lights. It's like being under the stars, indoors, in a bright ballroom. One of the moments that I realized that Disney magic is everywhere on the Disney Magic, and that's the difference that matters most to me.

Hello, Helmsmen Mickey! You're ready to navigate us through this adventure aren't you?

Finally back to our room for our first sleep at sea, and oh the little surprises! A penguin towel animal, some Disney mail, and tomorrow's Personal Navigator. Perfect reading material as we settle down for the night.

MotherofaPrincessLover · Nov 2, 2015

I can't wait until our cruise next September. I would also finish each day looking at the Navigator and circling everything I wanted to do the next day (to make sure I didn't miss anything!).

belledream · Nov 2, 2015

MotherofaPrincessLover said:
I can't wait until our cruise next September. I would also finish each day looking at the Navigator and circling everything I wanted to do the next day (to make sure I didn't miss anything!).

That's so exciting! What ship are you sailing on and where is your destination? It's so much fun to see what's in store for the next day!

MotherofaPrincessLover · Nov 2, 2015

belledream said:
That's so exciting! What ship are you sailing on and where is your destination? It's so much fun to see what's in store for the next day!

We will be on the Dream for a 4-night Bahamian Cruise (so Castaway Cay and Nassau). We were on the Fantasy for a 7-night Caribbean before which was awesome. I'm excited to check out another ship!

belledream · Nov 2, 2015

MotherofaPrincessLover said:
We will be on the Dream for a 4-night Bahamian Cruise (so Castaway Cay and Nassau). We were on the Fantasy for a 7-night Caribbean before which was awesome. I'm excited to check out another ship!

Awesome!! That was our first cruise - Bahamian 4 nights on the Dream. And I feel ya on checking out new ships. That's why we trekked down to Miami to sail on the Magic instead of the Dream again from Port Canaveral. The Fantasy is definitely on our wishlist when we have more time to cruise in the future. And we hope to sail on the Wonder in Alaska someday.

MotherofaPrincessLover · Nov 2, 2015

belledream said:
Awesome!! That was our first cruise - Bahamian 4 nights on the Dream. And I feel ya on checking out new ships. That's why we trekked down to Miami to sail on the Magic instead of the Dream again from Port Canaveral. The Fantasy is definitely on our wishlist when we have more time to cruise in the future. And we hope to sail on the Wonder in Alaska someday.

I also hope to do an Alaskan cruise someday. I think our next cruise (no idea when that will be) we might do one out of Miami. I want to explore new places on cruises, not just the same ports over and over.

belledream · Nov 3, 2015

Rise and shine...I think? We woke up pretty early because we are explorers, and this is how we do it!

The sun rose rapidly fast as we made our way around the ship on this quiet morning.

The Quiet Cove Pool wasn't even open yet.

A nice hearty breakfast at Cabanas was sure to wake us up. I mean, you got bacon, sausage, omelets, eggs benedict, potatoes, smoked salmon, and Mickey waffles...all that is good and delicious in this world

Literally the only people here...

Batteries fully charged, we decided to walk around outside until we were allowed to get off the ship.

Some freakin' awesome views. The sky just filled me with joy! It was like saying, today is a beautiful day, so go celebrate!

These moments were frozen in time...it was like one of those moments we couldn't believe this was our life. It feels like a blessing and dream.

Hello Key West!

As we pulled into the port, we decided to go shoot some hoops at the Wide World of Sports Deck. Where else to you get to play basketball on the ocean? Pretty cool stuff.

My basketball shot is terrible.

belledream · Nov 3, 2015

Here we go...our first steps off the ship onto land! It's pretty cool to go all the way down to Deck 1. They scan your Key to the World card and you see your mugshot flash on the screen so I guess they can keep tabs on you in case you don't make it back on time...not going to be a problem for us!

I don't know if it was because of our itinerary change or if this is how they always do it at Key West, but there were tons of complimentary shuttle services waiting for us when we disembarked, ranging from buses to trolleys.

We hopped on a party bus and were on our way. We found ourselves at an awesome bar, though it was quite early. I can imagine this place would be an absolutely amazing atmosphere when the sun goes down.

Probably where all the rich people live.

This place is some kind of vacation resort. I can totally see the resemblance to Old Key West. Disney theming for the win!

Meandering around town...where are all the people!?

Hey there!

We walked around Mallory Square for a bit, and got free water bottles. Then happened upon this key lime shop. When in Key West I suppose!

One really weird thing about Key West that we did not come across when researching was the rooster thing. There are roosters, everywhere. At first, when we were by the water, we heard a 'cockadoodledoo' and I didn't really make much of it. I think I was actually so overstimulated by all the Disney we've experienced over the past week that I thought it was just ambient sound.

But it wasn't. Roosters everywhere. Chickens crossing the road and all.

So this was Duvall Street, supposedly some famous street but it didn't really do much for us. Shortly afterwards, we decided to head back to the ship for lunch. So we grabbed a trolley this time and took a breezy ride through some residential areas which had some of the cutest houses in the best colors ever. Also equally cool was that every time we'd hit a bump in the road, we'd essentially fly upwards. I felt like I was on a ride again! We laughed insanely every time it happened.

Oh the little things.

belledream · Nov 3, 2015

Some sights as we approached the port again...

Back to the Disney bubble...where we really belong...yes please!

Our first glimpse of Goofy. My hardworking baby!

Isn't she beautiful? Hey, we can see our stateroom! From here, we decided I would go back to the room first and bring Goofy and Pluto to the porthole and J took a picture of us from outside. We are so silly...

A different view of those houses we saw when we were walking around Key West.

We hopped into the glorious and refreshing pool.

I love these types of pools where you can sit on the ledge and be in the water, but not have to completely submerge yourself.

Endless miles of clouds and water...picturesque paradise.

This is the life.

After a little lounging, we were hungry, but it wasn't quite lunch time yet, so we grabbed some pizza from Pinocchio's Pizzeria and sat down and watched Cinderella on FunnelVision.

After all, this is what a Disney Cruise Line vacation is about!

belledream · Nov 3, 2015

En route to lunch, we passed through some of the upper decks of the Atrium to observe it from a different point of view.

I adore it. I adore the carpet. I adore the design outside the elevators. All of it. Love.

The Dream's chandelier takes the cake for sure, but the Magic's look like upside-down wedding cakes and that's pretty cool too.

Buena Vista Theatre where they play movies pretty much all day. We didn't spend any real time here other than to peek and saw they were playing AntMan.

And we enter Shutters, the photo-viewing-and-purchasing-place.

I just love the concept. You look up your stateroom on the machines and it'll tell you where on the shelves to locate your pictures. You open your book and there are your pictures that are taken by the pro photographers on board. Not that I actually wanted any of them, but it's super exciting to open LOL.

Moving onto the Art Gallery, a place with little fanfare and lots of interest for us. I feel most people just pass by without a second thought. But we took time to look at each and every painting, because they're not only beautiful, but they're Disney!

This reminded me of us, and also Beauty and the Beast.

Always love seeing my babies around the ship.

I feel this is a somewhat iconic pose of Mickey & Minnie and the fact that they're sitting by a castle and a DCL ship is in the distance makes this picture absolute perfection for me.

If you look closely, you'll be able to tell this is Carl and Ellie on one of their many adventures. You don't see much Up around. A touching story really does deserve a beautiful painting like this.

LilWalt · Nov 3, 2015

Looks like so far you had a great trip.

My wife wants to do a DCL but I have a couple fears. 1. We have an 8 yr old that is very adventurous and whole balcony thing with him freaks me out 2. We did a cruise, not Disney, for our honeymoon and found we gambled to past the time. Just don't want to spend that much money and be bored.

belledream · Nov 3, 2015

LilWalt said:
Looks like so far you had a great trip.

My wife wants to do a DCL but I have a couple fears. 1. We have an 8 yr old that is very adventurous and whole balcony thing with him freaks me out 2. We did a cruise, not Disney, for our honeymoon and found we gambled to past the time. Just don't want to spend that much money and be bored.

I can understand the fear of the balcony. Safety is definitely the priority. That being said, all balconies have railings that come up to at least my chest and I'm 5'5, so it's not like just walking around would risk your son's safety. You just have to be mindful. Also, you don't have to have a room with a verandah. It can be interior (no windows/anything) or porthole (like ours).

As for the entertainment, DCL doesn't have casinos on board so no worries there! As two adults (albeit on the childish side who love to do kiddie things) we never felt bored. If we didn't really have anywhere to go/an activity to do, we would just plop down and relax with some food. That's always fun!

belledream · Nov 4, 2015

For lunch, we opted for a change of pace and decided to go a la carte at Lumiere's instead of buffet-ing at Cabanas again. We chose a table next to a porthole window so we could see the happenings on the dock.

So I forgot to take note of what we ate and I can't seem to find the lunch menu for this place anywhere online, so I'm just going to give everything my own special name that hopefully somehow gives you an idea of what we ate.

My appetizer: Seafod platter of Shrimp Cocktail, Scallops, and Crab Leg. Seafood + Cruise = Must-Have.

J's appetizer: Quesadilla with Guacamole. Anything with guac is a go for J.

My entrée: some kind of Fish onto of Spanish Rice. The fish was good, but the highlight of this dish was the sauce. Had some chopped up olives in there and was dangerously delicious.

J's entrée: Meatloaf?? I stared at this picture for a long time before figuring out what it was. We ate a lot of things this trip ok?? Hard to keep track...

My dessert: Cheesecake topped with strawberry, blueberries, choco sticks, and raspberry coulis. Oh so tasty. A nice combo of heavy cake and light toppings.

J's dessert: some kind of Molten Lava Cake topped with powdered sugar, submerged in a sauce made of crack...SO GOOD.

During lunch, we consulted our Personal Navigator to see what we should do next. We noticed that the Oceaneer's Club was having an Open House soon, and that meant we could check it out! We are such children...

Pixie Hollow, a cute, modest little space.

Marvel's Avenger's Academy, where J geeked out in awe.

The Mickey Mouse Club where we both went, "Awwww!"

But the winner of the Oceaneer's Club was Andy's Room. I am convinced you cannot lose with this theme.

This little excursion provided us with new avenues of exploration, and I'm so grateful that something as simple as visiting [a feature on the ship that really has no effect on us] brought such smiles to our faces.

Trip Report Disney Land & Sea is the place to be! *COMPLETED*

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Trip Report Disney Land & Sea is the place to be! COMPLETED