Trip Report Dreaming My Way Back to Disney. A First Ever Solo Trip

I’ve been back for over a month now and am finally getting around to writing about one of my best ever Disney trips. I spent 2 nights at All Star Movies, the first time staying here.

This was my first time back at Disney World since January 2020 when I did this:

But, I’m getting ahead of myself because the main part of the trip was…

A transatlantic cruise on the Disney Dream.

This has been a cruise I’ve wanted to take ever since my first cruise 11 years ago, so I was very excited to finally be able to do it.

So the plans were:

October 20th to November 2nd: 13 night Westbound Transatlantic cruise from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale with stops at Vigo (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), Ponta Delgada (Azores) and Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point.

November 2nd: Brightline train from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando

November 2nd to November 4th: All Star Movies resort only stay with lots of good food, resort hopping and fireworks

And I did all of this completely solo, which as a mum of four was not something I’d had the opportunity to do before.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 31st October: Day at Sea 8 (cont)

I had a little wander around as there was still some time to go until dinner

 

[Go.Nijntje]

You got a lot of great pictures of the Halloween party.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 31st October: Day at Sea 8 (cont)

Dinner that night was the Captain’s Gala menu which meant - another lobster night

I couldn’t decide on an appetizer so had two, shrimp and the eggplant

We’d had the same butter every night but I’d only just noticed it was Welsh butter . I’m originally from North Wales, the now world famous town of Wrexham.

And then lobster

Dessert menu

I had the apricot trio which was delicious, I wish I’d had room to get the crème brûlée as well.

Dinner was excellent, definitely one of my favourites.

Tonight’s towel creation, not sure if it’s supposed to be a ghost as it was Halloween

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I'm jealous of the desserts, they all look so good. Have you sailed with any other cruise lines? And if so how does the food compare?

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

I'm jealous of the desserts, they all look so good. Have you sailed with any other cruise lines? And if so how does the food compare?

There were some very good desserts.

I’ve only sailed with Disney so can’t compare

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point

I was both excited and a bit nervous about visiting the new island resort. Some of the early reviews hadn’t been particularly favourable, from the long walk along the pier to issues with flies around the food and the resort having a not quite finished feel to it. I was hoping that these reviews were exaggerated and I was looking forward to spending a relaxing day on the beach.

As usual I was awake early and spent some time on my verandah waiting until Cabanas was open.

Morning view, I was on the wrong side of the ship to see the island

Last churro waffle of the cruise

All ashore wasn’t until 9.15 so I wandered around the pool deck for a while

The view from the ship of the long walk and the island

It was already very warm, with temperatures forecasted to be in the high eighties to low nineties later that day and not a lot of cloud cover expected.

As the all ashore time approached I made my way down to join the queue to leave the ship. I wanted to make sure I was off the ship as early as possible as we didn’t have that long on the island, all aboard time was 3.30 that day.

First view off the ship

The view on the walk along the pier

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

The view from the other side of the pier

The first set of private cabanas are at the end of the pier. I’d love to rent one of the cabanas someday but I’m not sure about the placement of these, there’s nothing else there and you would need to get a tram to get to the main area for lunch. It is a beautiful setting though.

Arriving at the tram stop

I really didn’t think the walk was that bad. I recorded it to see how far it was, it was just under a kilometre from the ship to the tram stop and took me 14 minutes which included a lot of stopping for photos. But I’m reasonably fit and run and walk a lot so I can see how it might be more difficult for some people. There are golf carts for those less able and there is a water stop halfway along the pier.

The view from the tram, it’s a similar view for the whole journey

The tram route is about a mile along a dusty road. There is a bike path alongside it and bike rentals are available at the tram stop so next time I might cycle there. One thing that that did feel a bit weird was seeing cars on a side road. As it’s part of a larger island, not completely private like Castaway Cay, people who work at the resort can drive there.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

As there weren’t many children on this cruise I thought it would be a good opportunity to spend some time on the family beach while it was quite quiet. I still have one daughter under 18 so we would probably go there if the whole family came on the next cruise.

On Castaway Cay all the shops, bars, etc are on paved areas just behind the beach, whereas at Lookout Cay they are on a mix of paved areas and raised wooden boardwalks.

The first set of loungers are just off the boardwalk and behind some sand dunes. I left my bag and towels here while I explored a bit.

You can see from the photos that even though it was a beautiful sunny day, it was very windy. So windy that we weren’t allowed to have umbrellas up because it was too dangerous.

Off to the beach

Wooden steps over the dunes to the beach

And then the stunningly beautiful beach

My family love Castaway Cay, or Mickey Island as my girls have always called it. We’ve been lucky and always had lovely weather and have had lots of fun playing on the nice beach there. But Lookout Cay really outdoes it where the beach is concerned, it is one of the loveliest beaches I have ever been on.

 

[Tiggerish]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

As there weren’t many children on this cruise I thought it would be a good opportunity to spend some time on the family beach while it was quite quiet. I still have one daughter under 18 so we would probably go there if the whole family came on the next cruise.

On Castaway Cay all the shops, bars, etc are on paved areas just behind the beach, whereas at Lookout Cay they are on a mix of paved areas and raised wooden boardwalks.

View attachment 841423

The first set of loungers are just off the boardwalk and behind some sand dunes. I left my bag and towels here while I explored a bit.

You can see from the photos that even though it was a beautiful sunny day, it was very windy. So windy that we weren’t allowed to have umbrellas up because it was too dangerous.

View attachment 841425View attachment 841426

Off to the beach

View attachment 841429

Wooden steps over the dunes to the beach

View attachment 841430

And then the stunningly beautiful beach

View attachment 841432View attachment 841433View attachment 841434View attachment 841435View attachment 841436

My family love Castaway Cay, or Mickey Island as my girls have always called it. We’ve been lucky and always had lovely weather and have had lots of fun playing on the nice beach there. But Lookout Cay really outdoes it where the beach is concerned, it is one of the loveliest beaches I have ever been on.

Agree. I think that Lookout Cay is much nicer than Castaway Cay.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

I spent the morning reading and relaxing on my sun lounger, it was wonderful. I did have to take a few breaks over at the main buildings to get a break from the sun, there was no shade out on the beach without the umbrellas.

I found the closest bar

There were quite a few people at the bar so I went back to my lounger to wait for a nice drinks person to come round. I didn’t have to wait very long for my cherry colada which was very good.

I treated myself to the souvenir cup mainly because it was still so windy that a regular plastic cup would have blown over. Unfortunately it didn’t make it home with me because it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.

Towards the end of the morning I made my way over to True-True BBQ, I wanted to eat lunch early thinking it would be difficult to find a table later on.

I had a few salads, a spicy chicken sandwich which was good but I didn’t realise it had a mayonnaise sauce on which I really dislike but did manage to scrape off. The standout was the seafood rice bowl, I really enjoyed that. There was another rice option available, I think it was chicken.

There were also the usual burgers and hotdogs available, there was lots of choice. And I’m very happy to report that there were absolutely no issues with flies in the food serving areas, this had been a problem when the resort first opened. In fact, I don’t remember any kind of insect problem that day.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

The beach looks beautiful and relaxing. A shame about your pineapple souvenir cup but it does look bulky.

 

[RememberWhen]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

I spent the morning reading and relaxing on my sun lounger, it was wonderful. I did have to take a few breaks over at the main buildings to get a break from the sun, there was no shade out on the beach without the umbrellas.

I found the closest bar

View attachment 841609View attachment 841610

There were quite a few people at the bar so I went back to my lounger to wait for a nice drinks person to come round. I didn’t have to wait very long for my cherry colada which was very good.

I treated myself to the souvenir cup mainly because it was still so windy that a regular plastic cup would have blown over. Unfortunately it didn’t make it home with me because it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.

View attachment 841611

Towards the end of the morning I made my way over to True-True BBQ, I wanted to eat lunch early thinking it would be difficult to find a table later on.

View attachment 841612View attachment 841613

I had a few salads, a spicy chicken sandwich which was good but I didn’t realise it had a mayonnaise sauce on which I really dislike but did manage to scrape off. The standout was the seafood rice bowl, I really enjoyed that. There was another rice option available, I think it was chicken.

View attachment 841614

There were also the usual burgers and hotdogs available, there was lots of choice. And I’m very happy to report that there were absolutely no issues with flies in the food serving areas, this had been a problem when the resort first opened. In fact, I don’t remember any kind of insect problem that day.

Was it windy at the food area? Maybe the flies aren’t so bad on a windy day.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Was it windy at the food area? Maybe the flies aren’t so bad on a windy day.

It was a bit windy over there, not as much as the beach. Maybe that was the reason

 

[RememberWhen]

It was a bit windy over there, not as much as the beach. Maybe that was the reason

Hoping they have figured out a solution (or it’s windy!) when we go in June.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

Heading back to the beach after lunch, it was still pretty windy

The family beach at 1pm, so crowded

The lifeguard stations had red flags up all day, the sea was quite rough. I’m not a very strong swimmer so I didn’t go all the way in the sea.

I decided to take a walk to the farthest point of the beach, a very slow stroll splashing in the water along the way

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

It was about half a mile to the farthest point, so I walked about a mile in total. Even though it was hot, it felt very comfortable because of the wind.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

The beach looks so peaceful. I hope you put on some suncream because it looks very .

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

The beach looks so peaceful. I hope you put on some suncream because it looks very .

It was so peaceful, hardly anyone went down that far end of the beach.

I put on very high factor suncream, but still got a little bit pink

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)

I had thought about going to the adult beach in the afternoon, but it was so quiet on the family beach and I had a lovely spot so I stayed there for a while. I’d noticed people had their umbrellas up so I put up mine and relaxed and read my book for a while.

Too soon it was time to head back to the ship so I took a slow walk back to the tram stop detouring to explore the boardwalks on the way.

The Junkanoo performers were heading out

I stopped in Disney T’ings to look for a few souvenirs, along with what seemed like half the passengers from the ship. It was absolutely packed in there, the only time all day that anywhere had been busy. I decided on a couple of pins for Alice and Lexi, but couldn’t choose between some T-shirts for myself so ended up getting three.

 

[RememberWhen]

Friday 1st November: Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point (cont)
. I decided on a couple of pins for Alice and Lexi, but couldn’t choose between some T-shirts for myself so ended up getting three.

I like the way you shop!