Disney Fantasy March 2012

I had the opportunity to be on the inaugural sailing of this ship, so it wasn't it's typical 7 day itinerary, it was a short 3 day to Castaway Cay and back.

Here are some of the highlights

SHOWS: I had previously been on the Wonder, and to my surprise, there were 3 new shows that I had not seen, so that was great. One was Wishes, One was Believe, and the other was Aladdin. They used screens in front of and behind the cast members on stage, and they also used pryotechnics too. I was seriously blown away by the shows. They were even better than I had remembered the Wonder to be.

STATEROOMS: I had the opportunity to tour quite a few staterooms, inside, outside, balcony, one bedroom even the Roy O. Disney Suite, which was amazing. I have posted the pictures to our facebook page. The virtual portholes were impressive, I watched the interaction of the characters in the portholes for about 15 minutes, and I can absolutely understand the draw of these types of rooms.

DINING: Rotational dining is what Disney is known for, and the restaurants to visit are once again impressive. Our first night was at **Enchanted Garden, and the ambiance of this restaurant was like you were walking into a garden outside. The lighting was perfect, and the look and feel was wonderful. Mind you, this restaurant is on the 2nd floor. So to feel like you're outside, and be that low on the ship, was awesome. **Royal Court was our next night for dinner, and this was elegant, and you felt like a princess walking into this room. The little princess touches were great. Even the bread bowl was shaped like a carriage that would hold the royals themselves. **Animators Palate reminded me a lot of the one on the Wonder, with a few more magical touches. You got to draw a character on your placemat, and see it come to life on the screen while you ate. That was really cool. The chairs were designed to look like Mickey's pants, it was cool.

When it comes to Disney, there is so much MAGIC that is put into every single trip, I don't want to spoil it all for you, but there was plenty of magic all around!!!!!!

This slideshow is of the stateroom tour that I was able to do.

There are some really impressive cabins onboard the Disney Fantasy.

Just wait until you see the Roy O. Disney suite!!! WOW!

This slideshow is of our dinners. 

The rotational dining is fun!

This slideshow is of the kids and teen areas. 

This is an exclusive look, especially in Vibe, as it's not open to adults during the sailing.  It's exclusive for teens.

The Oceaneer's Club and Lab are fun for me to see, as this is where my kids will want to hang out for the entire cruise.  They love it!!!

Disney Cruise Line Adult Exclusive restaurants are romantic onboard dinner destinations that cater exclusively to adults looking for the finest in onboard dining amid a refined and elegant atmosphere.
This next slideshow is all about Palo and Remy, these restaurats are hard to get into, are very exclusive, and are a luxury dining experience all the way around.  There is a surcharge for these 2 restaurants only.

Staying along the adult only lines...I had the chance to enjoy Europa!!!

This is the evening adult area to enjoy.  What fun!  The pictures don't really do this are justice, but you can get a glimpse of just how cool and fun Europa nightlife can be!!!

Here are the pictures from Disney's Castaway Cay.  We spent most of our time over in the adult only beach, but I have pictures of both beaches.

We had such a unique experience with the Fantasy and the Dream sailing around together.  They have these songs on their blow horns, and when we were sitting at the private island, we could hear them tooting them back and forth at each other.  It was SOOO cool, I literally stopped where I was and stood there and listened for about 15 minutes.  So cool!

Some of the songs they tooted:

When you Wish Upon a Star

Yo-Ho-Yo-Ho A Pirate's Life for Me

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

It's A Small World After All

Hi Diddly Dee An Actor's Life for Me

Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest Put our Service to the Test

This is my last slideshow, and it contains pictures out and about around the ship.

Enjoy!

Disney World and Disney Wonder December 2009

My family and I took a trip to Disney.
We had a fabulous time!!!
We started the trip at Fort Wilderness Campground Resort, then moved on to the Disney Wonder for their 3 night Disney cruise to the Bahamas and Castaway Cay, then we came back to Disney and stayed at Disney's Boardwalk Inn Resort.

Here is some info on my trip:

Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground

THE ROOM: At the Fort Wilderness Campground, we stayed in a cabin. These cabins are very roomy and large in comparison to a regular hotel room. When you walk in, you're in the kitchen, there is a full fridge, sink, microwave, stove, oven, all the kitchen utensils and cupboards full of dishes and pans. To the right is the table with bench seating, along with a few chairs (perfectly decorated to the up north woodsy theme) and onto the living room where there was a couch, and another couple chairs that match the kitchen table chairs. Up in the wall, is a pull down murphy bed, full size. Which we used a lot for snuggling in to watch movies and such at night.

Down the hall to the left from when you first walk in, is the bathroom, and the bedroom. In the bedroom there was another full size bed, along with bunk beds, that the kids LOVED! The closet was small but enough room, and we had plenty of nooks and crannies to store all of our luggage, and we had a LOT!

GOLF CART: We rented a golf cart, as it's almost necessary, unless you want to spend a lot of time walking and walking and walking. I do enjoy walking, so I did walk around a bit, but having the golf cart to ride around in was extra nice. The cost was $54 plus tax per night stay. That's a pretty expensive golf cart! UGH! But, I had figured this into our trip cost, so was prepared.

FOOD: We ate at Trail's End Buffet restaurant twice. It too was a bit on the spendy side, but the food was great. The salad bar was sufficient, and the meats to choose from was the highlight, the ribs and fried chicken, and carved roast beef were great. We did not do take out, but the menu was small, and we did not do Hoop-Dee-Doo or the Backyard BBQ, it just didn't work out this time. But thumbs up to the food.

ENTERTAINMENT: We did do the sing-a-long around the campfire with Chip-n-Dale twice while we were there, and I have to admit, it was not exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting these huge fire pits to roast marshmallows, and a stadium type setting so you wouldn't dream of seeing the characters, but to my surprise, it was so much better!!! There were 2 fire pits, rather small, but perfect for my small children, I didn't feel that they would be 'burned', and you could purchase the marshmallows right there, and the sticks came with it, I think it was around $4 or something close to that, so we didn't think that was too bad. They roasted the marshmallows, and then we took a seat while the guitar/banjo playing guide sang songs into the night. Chip and Dale did make an appearance, and they were up on the little stage, and then in an orderly fashion, they made their way around to see and take pictures with each and every individual that was there. Amazing!! So we each got a snippet of time with the characters. Very fun! We didn't stay to see the movies under the stars, it just got too late.

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Disney Cruise onboard the Disney Wonder
3 night Bahamian Cruise

GETTING THERE: We used Happy Limo, and they were great. We paid approx $150 for our family of 4, including one car seat to get us from our hotel to the pier (nonstop) in a Town Car. The driver was exceptional (thanks Maurice!) and professional, he helped us load all of our MANY suitcases and stroller into the car, and we sang songs all the way there. (well, the kids sang songs, and Maurice laughed along with us) It was comfortable, and great.

THE SHIP: We had a category 6 stateroom with balcony, deck 6, stateroom number 6032. We were in a great location to the elevators and stairs, just right around the corner, and down 2 flights of stairs from the Walt Disney Theatre. Perfect! The bathroom is a split bath, so there are literally 2 bathrooms, one has the toilet and sink, and the other has the shower and sink. The kids had bunk beds, and we had a queen sized bed (2 twins pushed together). The cabin felt roomy, probably because of the balcony and the floor to ceiling windows.

FOOD: We had Cesar as our waiter, and James as our assistant waiter. They were great! The recommendations they had for meals was right on, and James provided us all with great entertainment while we waited for our food. The food was great, as expected. I wouldn't say that it was too much better or worse than any other cruise line that I've been on. But it was good.

SHORE EXCURSION: We did a shore excursion from Shore Trips, and we have always highly recommended Shore Trips, and this excursion was no exception!!! Booking this was simple and easy. Upon arrival in Nassau, our voucher stated for us to walk over to the boat to take us to the island for the adventure, but to our surprise, there was a nice rep waiting for us as soon as we got off the ship! What a nice surprise, we were not expecting a guide. The instructions were clear, so we figured that we could figure it out. After following the crowd down to the boat, we were on our way to the island for our stingray adventure. My kids (age 4 and 2) did not have too much interest in the stingrays, but the beach was WONDERFUL! We had plenty of time to enjoy all parts of this little island. There wasn't much there, but the weather was perfect, and we all enjoyed this day very much!

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Blackbeard's Stingray Adventure in Nassau, Bahamas

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Castaway Cay, Disney's Private Island

DISEMBARKATION: I have to admit, this was THE most orderly, most professional, and best disembarkation process that I have experienced. We had an assigned breakfast time, and got off the ship without any lines, crowds of people smashing luggage into each other, and happy and stress free. Everyone is happy here! Once we were through customs, which took a snap, we went to the bus, and they took a quick look at our key to the world card, and onto the bus, and on our way right away. The entire process was fabulous!


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Disney's Boardwalk Inn

THE ROOM: The room was very large. I have stayed at Value and Moderate properties with Disney before, but this nice deluxe property had very big rooms. The beds were super comfy, and you practically melted right into your sleep for the night! There was a little patio out of our room, which was nice to see the courtyard outside of our room. Flat screen TV was a nice little perk. The vanity area had 2 sinks and lots of room to stand.