Going on the Magic in October leaving out of NYC on Oct. 29th. Never been on a Disney cruise so any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Stops include Castaway Cay and Port Canaveral. A day trip to WDW is included with our trip, does anyone know how it works to get to/from WDW from the port? How much time we should leave to start to make our way back to the ship? Would hate for my daughter (4 years old) to miss the fireworks. How is halloween on the ship? Are the characters frequently roaming the ship or is it just during the set times that they will be around greeting passengers? Thanks for all the help.
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Disney Magic in October
- Thread starter Jeff L
- Start date
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
Awesome! It's great to have DCL back in our neck of the woods again. I sailed on the Magic out of NYC in 2012 and loved it. So nice to save that airfare!!
My biggest tip is to read the FAQ thread in this forum: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/disney-cruise-line-faq-tips-2015-edition.904690/
You'll find lots of information and answers to all kinds of questions, regarding dining, dress codes, shore excursions, gratuities, etc. It's a perfect read for a first time cruiser.
DCL will provide bus transportation at no charge to all passengers to and from Walt Disney World. You'll also have a Park Hopper pass, so you'll be able to visit more than one park during your stay. (I'm pretty sure you'll have to use the regular WDW transportation to get around once you're there, but that's also very easy.)
The Magic will be in port in Port Canaveral until at least midnight, meaning that the last bus leaving from the Magic Kingdom would probably be between 10:30 and 11:00 pm. That would be late enough to see the fireworks. And my guess is that they WANT passengers to be able to see the fireworks. But that really is just a guess. Be sure to verify the time of the last bus with DCL.
Characters are available regularly onboard. There are set meet-and-greet times every single day, which will be posted in your Daily Navigator. Some of the very popular ones (particularly when all the Princesses are together at once) may require you to get a ticket ahead of time. There's no charge for the ticket, it just limits the crowd size. You may also see characters just wandering the ship, but those are not scheduled, and you just have to get a little lucky. The main tip here is to check your Navigator and make sure you know where the meet-and-greets are being held.
It's going to be a great experience for you and for your daughter, too. My daughter was 6 on her first Disney Cruise. She's 20 now and scheduled for a cruise just for her and her college roommates in January. Enjoy!
Thanks a lot. That was very helpful. Originally my wife and I was planning doing a cruise out of Florida then these NY sailings were announced and it was a no brainer to wait 6 more months and leave out of NYC. Save on airfare/hotel/transportation, and get to have my daughter celebrate her first halloween on the cruise (previous halloweens we had a trip, and a wedding so she never experienced it). Thanks again.
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
Jeff, I forgot to mention that the characters also show up in the kids' clubs. So if you enroll your daughter in the Oceaneers' Club, Belle may come in and read them a story, for example. So that's another way for your daughter to have character interactions. You just won't be around to get pictures of those.
EOD K9
Well-Known Member
Chip, Dale, and Cinderella stopped by the nursery on my cruise in December.
Michael Shahi Mathis
New Member
Port Canaveral from disneyworld is about 50 mins to an hour depending on traffic and oct is a great time to cruise...
jme
Well-Known Member
Has anyone done this cruise before (NYC -> Bahamas)? I'm considering it and wondering what the weather is like before you get to FL/Bahamas in October. The fall can be chilly in the mid-atlantic region so I'm wondering if this is a 'dress warmly' cruise for half of it until you get to warmer waters.
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
Here's the average high and low in Nassau for the month of October:
