What do you get when you combine Disney, a large moving vessel on the sea, about 2,000 guests, and seven nights? Give up? You get a plethora of Disney characters to meet and greet throughout the ship!
The adventure begins at Disney's Port Terminal. As you wait for your group number to be called to enter the magic portal and board your vessel, the characters begin to appear and greet the waiting guests. Sailor Mickey joined us for the photo above and Sailor Goofy for the photo below. If you look at the photo with Goofy, you can see the large Mickey ears to the left in the background. That's the entrance to the gangway and then on to the ship!
Once on board, the characters appear regularly. You can plan your day around meeting characters with the Personal Navigator delivered to your stateroom late each evening. The Personal Navigator lists all the activities on the ship for the next day. You can also dial 7-PALS from your stateroom phone for a current list of character locations. In the lobby atrium, a digital display lists character meeting times and locations.
If you are on a seven night or longer Disney Cruise, you will be scheduled for a character breakfast. To read more about the character breakfast on board, click here.The photo above and below were taken New Year's Eve. Goofy is "Father Time" and Donald is "Baby New Year."
Ships' photographers are on hand to capture photos for you at character meeting locations. Taking the photos is free. The cost comes in purchasing the photos. Click here to read more about photo services on board.
Notice that many of the characters dress as if they are at sea. Just another bit of Disney theming and magic!
There are many locations throughout the ship where characters gather. One location is at the entrance to the Walt Disney Theater as shown in the photo below. There's a dedication to Walt just outside the theater.
Another character location is in the lobby atrium. The atrium is 3 stories high and typically Deck 3 and Deck 4 are host to character meet, greet, and photo locations.
On "sea" days the characters meet and greet throughout the day. One example of this is the Princess Gathering. Click here to read more about the Princess Gathering.
On "port" days, the characters are typically seen in the mornings and then again at dinner time. On any day, you can find "character" activities scheduled for the children's clubs. The Playhouse Disney characters join them, as does Captain Hook.
We could usually meet a few characters before going to dinner and then a few more after dinner. Disney Cruise Line does a great job of scheduling multiple meet and greets so that everyone gets a chance to meet the characters.
On our last two cruises, I have taken aboard a white 8 X 10 photo matte for a frame. The first day on board, I take the matte to Guest Services with a Sharpie markers and ask for the character autographs. Guest Services fills out a form with our stateroom number and the autographs we would like. On our last night, the photo matte shows is delivered to our stateroom with all the character autographs. Then, all we have to do is pick out the character photo we want to display in the matte and voila, a great souvenir.
The photos above and below were taken on a morning before we headed off for our Port Adventure for the Day.
You can also find your favorite characters in various dress themes. Daisy in the photo above is Princess Daisy and Minnie in the photo below is Princess Minnie.
The photo above and below are from the Golden Mickey's show. This show is no longer shown on board, as Roy E. Disney was the narrator of the show via video. We got to see one of the last showings as Roy had died just days before we were on board and Disney Cruise Line had yet to be able to change the production. Our Cruise Director, Brent, asked us to think of it as a tribute, which we did. A short time later, the Golden Mickey's show was taken from Disney Cruise Line's line-up. The Golden Mickey's was a play off of the Oscar's and featured highlights from many Disney films. Mickey and Minnie donned their "golden" dress clothes for the evening.
Pirate night featured your typical pirate, as shown in the photo above, as well as your not so typical pirate, as shown in the photo below. Along with Pirate Mickey, Pirate Minnie typically makes an appearance.
It is comforting that an experienced sailor, like Captain Mickey, is guiding your vessel across the sea!
In addition to the posted and publicized character locations, you just never know when and where characters might show up. Mickey and Minnie just happened by when I was seeking out deck chairs. The husband and the boy had ventured off somewhere. Luckily, I had the camera and a cast member volunteered to snap the photos.
Disney Cruise Line offers so much during all of its voyages. While we love being at the parks, cruising gives us a more relaxing vacation with just as much magic. And, our feet hurt less at the end of a cruise! °o°
Ships' photographers are on hand to capture photos for you at character meeting locations. Taking the photos is free. The cost comes in purchasing the photos. Click here to read more about photo services on board.
Notice that many of the characters dress as if they are at sea. Just another bit of Disney theming and magic!
There are many locations throughout the ship where characters gather. One location is at the entrance to the Walt Disney Theater as shown in the photo below. There's a dedication to Walt just outside the theater.
Another character location is in the lobby atrium. The atrium is 3 stories high and typically Deck 3 and Deck 4 are host to character meet, greet, and photo locations.
On "sea" days the characters meet and greet throughout the day. One example of this is the Princess Gathering. Click here to read more about the Princess Gathering.
On "port" days, the characters are typically seen in the mornings and then again at dinner time. On any day, you can find "character" activities scheduled for the children's clubs. The Playhouse Disney characters join them, as does Captain Hook.
We could usually meet a few characters before going to dinner and then a few more after dinner. Disney Cruise Line does a great job of scheduling multiple meet and greets so that everyone gets a chance to meet the characters.
On our last two cruises, I have taken aboard a white 8 X 10 photo matte for a frame. The first day on board, I take the matte to Guest Services with a Sharpie markers and ask for the character autographs. Guest Services fills out a form with our stateroom number and the autographs we would like. On our last night, the photo matte shows is delivered to our stateroom with all the character autographs. Then, all we have to do is pick out the character photo we want to display in the matte and voila, a great souvenir.
The photos above and below were taken on a morning before we headed off for our Port Adventure for the Day.
You can also find your favorite characters in various dress themes. Daisy in the photo above is Princess Daisy and Minnie in the photo below is Princess Minnie.
The photo above and below are from the Golden Mickey's show. This show is no longer shown on board, as Roy E. Disney was the narrator of the show via video. We got to see one of the last showings as Roy had died just days before we were on board and Disney Cruise Line had yet to be able to change the production. Our Cruise Director, Brent, asked us to think of it as a tribute, which we did. A short time later, the Golden Mickey's show was taken from Disney Cruise Line's line-up. The Golden Mickey's was a play off of the Oscar's and featured highlights from many Disney films. Mickey and Minnie donned their "golden" dress clothes for the evening.
Pirate night featured your typical pirate, as shown in the photo above, as well as your not so typical pirate, as shown in the photo below. Along with Pirate Mickey, Pirate Minnie typically makes an appearance.
It is comforting that an experienced sailor, like Captain Mickey, is guiding your vessel across the sea!
In addition to the posted and publicized character locations, you just never know when and where characters might show up. Mickey and Minnie just happened by when I was seeking out deck chairs. The husband and the boy had ventured off somewhere. Luckily, I had the camera and a cast member volunteered to snap the photos.
Disney Cruise Line offers so much during all of its voyages. While we love being at the parks, cruising gives us a more relaxing vacation with just as much magic. And, our feet hurt less at the end of a cruise! °o°
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Jody
ReplyDeleteI am so excited about our cruise, and it is SOOO long from now! Its fun to read your post and see your pictures! I took a good hard look at the vacation club by Disney. JR and I added up nearly 100,000 in membership cost, closing fees and annual charges for maitenance...not to mention the additional cost of food and tickets over 45 years. Its hard to see how this makes sense for anyone??