Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy? - All Aboard the Disney Fantasy 3/23/13-3/30/13

Hi everyone!! I'm back for one more trip report!! This time it's my journey on the Disney Fantasy. My family decided to cruise again with Disney (we cruised on the Magic in 2010) and they did not disappoint.



Our sail dates were March 23 - March 30th. We also stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge on the 30th since it was easier to fly back the next day. You can read about my 4 parks in one day solo adventure here.

 

[disneyfan1995]

Day 2: March 24, 2013 - Day at Sea

Since it was a day at sea I decided to sleep in later than usual. I think I got rolling around 10 or so. Not really sure to be quite honest. I went up to deck 11 so I could get some breakfast at Cabanas! The breakfast there was great. I really enjoyed all of the offerings except for the bacon. I don’t know what it is about Disney bacon, but it is just absolutely awful.



After a great breakfast, my sister and I decided to try out the detective game on board. We headed down to deck 2 so we could check in only to find out that the station there was broken. Instead we had to go up to deck 5 to check in, along with everyone else who wanted to go on a detective mission.

We decided on doing the Muppet mission which was the case of the stolen props. I think they have different versions of this case since over the course of the week I saw multiple outcomes occur.

This detective game has you all over the ship. It’s a great workout running up and down those stairs (since the elevators are awful and unreliable) after eating such a big meal at Cabanas! We decided to stop for characters during our mission if the lines were short.

We ran into two characters throughout the mission: Donald and Princess Minnie. My picture with Donald is probably my favorite character picture from the entire trip. It was also pretty neat to meet Princess Minnie considering I thought I’d never get to meet her in that outfit. She appeared every time that a princess gathering was happening (the sea days at 10:00 AM). Those seemed to be very popular with a lot of the smaller children onboard.

 

[disneyfan1995]

Back to our mission: We were running all over the ship and then arrived to Pepe’s door where we took down some very important pieces of information. I definitely recommend taking a picture of both Pepe’s door (deck 5, aft) and the Muppet call board (deck 4, forward) incase you have to reference it again (which you will) during your mission. I did not take a picture of Pepe’s door the first time I was there so I was very irritated that we had to go all the way back again to find out one thing to complete clue. I would also say that the best way to complete the detective missions are to do each part of the ship in one piece. For example if you start in the aft, then do all of the portraits in the aft and then move onto midship and then forward. The cases went so much smoother once I figured that out.

Sooner than later we figured out who stole the missing props from the Muppets. For my case, it was Bobo (the security guard) although it may be different depending on how your case pans out.

I dropped my sister off at the Oceaneer Club and then went up to Cabanas to grab some lunch. I debated on going to the pool, but it was really hard to find a chair so I decided to skip it for now. After lunch I went on a bit of a character hunt before the matinee of Aladdin. I’m a little bummed that some of the pictures came out ‘meh’ but I guess that’s what happens when you ask the character attendant to take them. I was able to meet Stitch, Buzz, Woody/Jessie, Phineas/Ferb, and Mickey. I think it would have been cool if they had Woody, Buzz, and Jessie appear together, but I think it would have been a little too much in the space that they had set up for their meet and greet.





After my character hunt I headed over to the Walt Disney Theatre so I could see the matinee of Aladdin. Let me just say that this show was incredible. I thought it was going to be just ‘eh’ but it was phenomenal. It was by far my favorite show onboard. I definitely think it will do well on Broadway next year (regarding they bring a version similar to this one there). The Genie was hysterical and made the show for me. He had a lot of pop culture jokes which were great.

After the matinee let out I went to pick up my sister since she wanted to see Chip and Dale. After we met them we went up to the pool to meet up with my parents. Of course being up on deck 11 meant that there was going to be food and ice cream involved. And then of course one ice cream cone isn’t enough. I think I had two or three. Gotta love the unlimited food!!

 

[disneyfan1995]

It was almost time for the evening show of Aladdin so we all got ready for formal night (or not so formal night in our case) and headed to the Walt Disney Theatre for the show. The show was great again and the Genie actually changed up some of his jokes which was nice. We had to hang out in the atrium a little bit before dinner so we decided to hop in line for one of the picture spots that they had set up. It was such a madhouse down there since there were so many people who wanted photos. The best time to have photos done was after the later seating of dinner. Literally no one was in the atrium at that time.

Our dinner was in the Animator’s Palate and it did not disappoint at all. This night was by far my favorite night of dinner for the week. I loved how everything came to life with the Finding Nemo theme. It was a lot better than the Animator’s Palate on the Magic.




For my appetizer I had the black truffle pasta purseittes. They were a pasta purse which was filled with truffle scented cheese and then were coated with a delicate champagne sauce. These things were amazing. Once again it was a little out of my comfort zone to order, but it exceeded my expectations by a mile. I found myself wishing I could have them again later on in the cruise!

For my entree, I had the lemon-thyme marinated organic chicken breast. It was served with sour cream mashed potatoes and roasted root vegetables with a grain mustard jus. It was delicious. The mashed potatoes were great and had a nice consistency and the chicken was to die for!

For desert, I had the crunchy walnut cake. It was okay, but I didn’t really like the raspberry coulis that it had.

After dinner we wandered the ship for a bit and then went back to the room. Of course we ordered a midnight snack from room service since we could! And by snack, I mean a meal!

 

[Zman-ks]

Great pics!

 

[disneyfan1995]

Great pics!

thanks

 

[farrellbarrel]

Ugh the jealousy!! Love it !

 

[disneyfan1995]

Day 3: March 25, 2013 - Day at Sea

I got a really late start today, like around 11:30. I was just exhausted from running around the ship the day before. I headed up to Cabanas to eat since I was starving. My sister wanted to do another detective game, so we headed down to deck 5 so we could pick up our case file.

This time we were doing the case of the stolen artwork. This case went a lot smoother since we knew what we were doing this time. The only thing that got frustrating was that there would be small lines at almost all of the paintings so you would have to sit through the same spiel over and over again which got really old really quickly.

We solved our case in no time and we were just in time to meet Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. While line we spotted Jake, the Neverland Pirate leaving. I thought it was interesting that Jake was onboard with us, especially no other Playhouse Disney/Disney Jr. characters were. After we met Hook and Smee we decided to go up to the pool to lounge around in the sun.





I thought I was gonna lay out and get a nice tan and just enjoy the beautiful day! Right? Nope.. Wrong. Completely wrong. There was not a chair in site on deck 11 so we had to go up to the next deck. We found some chairs, but it was so windy that it wasn’t even worth laying out. I could barely hear my music and it was actually somewhat chilly with all of the wind blowing. I think I sat out for about 10 minutes and then I had had enough.

I went back in the room and laid in the porthole for a little bit. It was nice to sit there and look out to the ocean. It was very peaceful. I only wish it was a little bit bigger so I could fit comfortably. If that was the case, then I probably would have slept there.



Since I wasn’t going to lay out at the pool, I decided to go and catch the matinee of Wishes. I arrived with 10 minutes to spare until curtain and I was able to snag a seat in the third row center! That was pretty great considering if that had happened for the evening show I would have been in the very back. I hate sitting in the back since you’re so far away and it’s harder to see facial expressions on the performers.

The show was a lot better than I had expected. It was about three high school seniors who were nearing the end of their senior year and they had just one last night to spend in Disneyland together. For me, the story really hit home considering Disney is such a huge part of my life and I’m a high school senior. I don’t really know when I’ll be returning to Disney again... and I don’t really like not knowing to be honest. There were some parts that really got to me and then there were some parts that were just eh. I did really like that King Louie could blink and talk to everyone so I tried my best to get a picture of that. Too bad that it came out horrible since flash was not allowed.

 

[disneyfan1995]

After the show ended I went to meet Pinocchio up on the balcony on deck 4. I really liked that they had “rarer” characters out for meet and greets on the cruise. You wouldn’t see Pinocchio, Captain Hook and Smee, Princess Minnie, Dopey, Lilo, and Genie out at the parks on an everyday basis so it was nice to be able to see them here, with very minimal waits. I think the longest we waited for character meet and greets was about 20 minutes, which was for Jack Sparrow on pirate night.



I said goodbye to Pinocchio and then headed back up to the room for a while. I got bored of just hanging there real quickly so I headed back out with my sister to explore the ship once more. In the interim, we met Princess Tiana in the lobby.

After seeing Tiana we headed up to Luigi’s for a quick snack and then we went to get ready for dinner. My sister didn’t want to see the show so we dropped her off at the Oceaneer Lab and then headed over to the Walt Disney Theatre for the show. It was good the second time around, but it didn’t have the same value for me the first time around. I really did love the Hawaiian Roller Coaster ride part with Lilo and Stitch! That was a lot of fun to watch. It was also neat how the performers came down into the aisles to interact with some people.

Once the show was over we meandered around the shops a bit and then went down to deck 2 for our dinner in the Enchanted Garden. I thought it was an interesting choice of a restaurant for the ship. It was themed after the Garden of Versailles in France. I just thought it was a little out of place.





Personally, this was my least favorite meal out of the entire cruise. Mainly because I ordered the wrong thing!! I could have gotten something else, but we told our dining team to slow down our dinner this time so everything didn’t come out quick so it took a while for everything to come out so by the time we were done eating I was ready to leave the restaurant since it had been close to a 2 hour ordeal.

I did not have an appetizer or soup of any kind since none of them really seemed appealing to me. There was a lot of seafood on the menu and I’m not a lover of seafood at all. I was debating on the pork tenderloin or the chicken at first, but last minute changed my mind to the slow roasted prime rib for my entree. The only part of the plate that I liked was the double-baked potato. I didn’t really care for the meat since it was kind of fatty and because I’m a picky, difficult eater. I did not have desert either.



After dinner my parents and I went to go meet Donald so that made everything better. I swear the characters can make anything better!



After we met Donald, we went back to the room and I ordered room service because I was starving!





Up Next: A Very Busy Day in St. Thomas.

 

[joanna71985]

I've had a 50/50 shot with my character pictures, because of the lighting in the atrium. Luckily on my last cruise, the pictures came out better then my first one

 

[joanna71985]

Sounds like an awesome first day onboard the ship!!

character interactions are also some of my favorite things to do at Disney. I love seeing them all in their different costumes and I can't WAIT to sail on the Dream in September with the rest of the WDWMagic girls for our girls cruise It will be my first one!!

It's going to be so much fun! I can't wait until Sept

And I love meeting the characters in their different outfits. I recently counted mine, and I've met Minnie in over 30 (however, that barely makes a dent in her closet)

 

[Raven66]

I really enjoy your trip reports. And your pictures are great too. Can't wait to see what other fun you all have.

 

[disneyfan1995]

I've had a 50/50 shot with my character pictures, because of the lighting in the atrium. Luckily on my last cruise, the pictures came out better then my first one

That's how I felt about my character pictures too. Hoping you can meet many characters on your next cruise!!

 

[disneyfan1995]

I really enjoy your trip reports. And your pictures are great too. Can't wait to see what other fun you all have.

Thanks for reading! I'll have day 4 up soon!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

It's going to be so much fun! I can't wait until Sept

And I love meeting the characters in their different outfits. I recently counted mine, and I've met Minnie in over 30 (however, that barely makes a dent in her closet)

30?! Oh my gosh that's a lot!! lol I think I have met her in like 10, if that. haha. I do have a picture of me and her from way back at Epcot when they wore the silver metallic outfits with the rainbows on them

 

[sam_disney]

Thank you so much!! Yes, I am 17 - soon to be 18 though!

Disney has been such a huge part of my life (first visit was at 3 years old, so some of my first memories are Disney related)!

I've always loved the character interactions because it really helps you feel like a kid again. You can be carefree and not have to worry about any of the outside world once you're in Disney.

I completely agree with this! I first visited disney world from the uk in 1998- I was 11 and I was very lucky enough to go every year (apart from 1999) up till 2009 and again in 2011. Its my childhood and when I go there i feel exactly the same... you really do forget the outside world!

Very good report--- very jealous of all cruise reports, as I am desperate to go on one! lol Looking forward to reading more!!

 

[RmeDad]

"... caught in a landslide, no escape from reality."

 

[disneyfan1995]

I completely agree with this! I first visited disney world from the uk in 1998- I was 11 and I was very lucky enough to go every year (apart from 1999) up till 2009 and again in 2011. Its my childhood and when I go there i feel exactly the same... you really do forget the outside world!

Very good report--- very jealous of all cruise reports, as I am desperate to go on one! lol Looking forward to reading more!!

Thanks for reading along! I highly recommend cruising with Disney if you can!

 

[disneyfan1995]

Day 4: March 26, 2013 - St. Thomas

I really wanted to see the ship pull into the dock in St. Thomas so I got up around 6:30 with my dad in order to do so! We headed on up to Cabanas to take in the view of the land. After two days cooped up at sea we finally arrived to land!


There was still sometime after breakfast until they were going to let us off the boat so we walked around decks 11 and 12 while I snapped some pictures of the pool area and of the island. We started to make our way down to deck 1 for the gangway as it was approaching the time for us to get off the boat! We stopped in the empty atrium and I stood there and admired all of the amazing work put into it. I also stopped for a picture with the Minnie statue!







We had booked the Kon Tiki tour as our port excursion, but it was not until later in the day so my dad and I went out ashore to explore the downtown as soon as they let us off the boat. We immediately found a taxi which was great, since the walk was probably really far.

We thought the shops would be open when we arrived which was around 8, but unfortunately they did not open till 9. We had an entire hour to kill and I barely had good cell service. Talk about really boring. I sat in the central plaza of the downtown shopping area and stared out to the sea for almost an hour. It was fun to watch all of the locals on their morning commute though!





The shops were fun, but also boring at the same time! Being in a jewelry store for over an hour and a half was incredibly boring. It did end well for everyone though so that’s always good!

We made our way back to the ship to meet up with the rest of the family and so we could get ready for our excursion.





We met up in the D Lounge and then walked out to the gangway where we got on our boat for the adventure. The excursion was probably around 2 1/2 - 3 hours or so which was fine. We started the tour with a little history of the island and then we went over to the other gangway (on the other side of the island) to pick up passengers from the other two boats that were docked for the day. There was a total of 4 ships docked for the day (with probably at least 4,000 people a piece) so that was almost 20,000 tourists in St. Thomas just for that one day!! Talk about a lot of people!!

 

[disneyfan1995]

We continued the tour by heading toward one of the local beaches with a stop to let down the glass bottom along the way. I had done a glass bottom boat tour once before so I thought it was going to be similar to that, but boy was I completely wrong. I was actually really unimpressed with this portion of the excursion. The glass was very dirty so you could barely see any of the fish or the coral that the guy was talking about. It was really irritating to be honest.

Sooner than later we arrived at the beach that we were going to be stopping at. We had a total of 90 minutes to spend on the beach which I was looking forward to... until there were no chairs to sit on. Let me tell you just how horrible it is to lay out on the small little towel that they gave us when we got off the ship. I wound up finding a lawn chair to sit on, but it was just wasn’t what I was expecting. The beach also was full of pebbles at some parts which was uncomfortable to walk on.








On our way back to the ship the band onboard played some music and everyone got up and did the limbo and danced. It was kind of fun to sit there and play guess who’s drunk and who isn’t (considering a lot of the adults had been hitting up the bar on the boat and on the beach). Overall, I really didn’t enjoy this excursion a whole lot and I thought it was just okay. I probably wouldn’t do it again.







We got back on the boat around 4:00 and I knew Captain Jack Sparrow was going to be appearing out by the shops onboard so I quickly raced to get ready and ran down to the line. I think I was inline by 4:10. Jack Sparrow was a lot of fun to meet as he had a nice conversation with us! (some of the talking characters can be a little awkward at times...)

 

[disneyfan1995]

After meeting Jack Sparrow, my sister and I wandered around the atrium so we could meet a couple of the other characters who were appearing all decked out in their finest pirate attire. We were able to meet Donald and Mickey which was great! I wanted to see Minnie, but it just wasn’t meant to be with the time schedule.





We said goodbye to our character friends and I went back to the room to change again (that’s the fourth time I changed during the day for those of you keeping score) for pirate night. I will admit that I did not fully deck out for pirate night like I saw some people did (which was really neat by the way), but I had a pirate shirt that I got earlier in the day and I had one of the bandanas that I had bought earlier on during the cruise.

We decided to skip the showing of Oz: The Great and Powerful in the Walt Disney Theatre considering there would be hardly anytime to relax in between that and dinner and because I knew they’d probably show it at least 5 more times over the second half of the trip. So instead of that we dropped my siblings off at their respective kid clubs and I went up to deck 13 with my parents and hung there for awhile. It was neat to see the sun set and then to see the moon rise and then go over the mountain in the island. I was actually kind of happy we were stuck at the dock since Carnival was blocking us. It made for some fun pictures.