A Magical Honeymoon Aboard the Wonder!
Written: Aug 21 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Atmosphere, amenities, service, ambience, romance, and Mickey!
Cons: We didn't want to leave!
The Bottom Line: A fantastic trip I would recommend to anyone. Even if you do not have children or are not a Disney fan, the Disney Cruise is still amazing.
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| cheers4bree's Full Review: Disney Wonder |
My husband (now of two years) and I chose to take a 3 day land/4 day sea cruise aboard the Wonder as part of our two week honeymoon vacation in Florida. I am a huge Disney fan and had never been on a cruise so this seemed to be a dream vacation for me. My then fiance agreed that it sounded fun but came home about 100 times more enthusiastic about it than he was before we left.
When we arrived in Orlando, we weren't going straight into our Disney vacation. I felt a little wistful as I passed the Disney check-in counter to get our rental car and drive to Tampa. As it turns out, spending a few days in Tampa and Miami was great to relieve the stress of the wedding and rejuvenate for our "main" vacation.
After returning our rental car and being shuttled to the Disney desk in the airport, we were settled onto the bus that would take us to WDW. I had read in other reviews that we might have to wait awhile for the bus to fill but we only waited about five minutes and then the bus left even though it wasn't full. On the way we watched videos about the "land" part of our vacation and it took no time at all to get to WDW. The bus dropped off the other passengers and then we were dropped off at the Polynesian.
As we entered the Polynesian, we felt a little disoriented as you always do when entering a place you've never been. Fortunately, the cruise representative met us right inside the door and took all of our documentation right there. She then guided us to the check in desk where they upgraded our room to a balcony view of the Magic Kingdom and gave us our Key to the World cards. The view of the castle over the lagoon was gorgeous, especially at night. Right away we dropped our carry-on bags and left for a day at Magic Kingdom. I recommend doing Magic Kingdom on your arrival day, especially if you live in California and do Disneyland a lot. MK was a lot like Disneyland, with fewer rides. Since we took our honeymoon in July, it was extremely hot and humid, but we knew that it would be if we came to Florida in July! One place we cooled off a lot was Mickey's House in Toon Town. His bedroom is air conditioned! Our trip to MK was cut short due to a really bad thunderstorm which shut everything down for at least three hours. By the time the storm was over, the park was closed.
We were really surprised with how early the parks in Florida close. Each of the parks closed at 9 pm and we are used to staying at Disneyland until midnight. Luckily, we were too tired to stay much past closing each night but it would have been nice to get to do stuff after dinner since we always seemed to eat late.
We loved the transportation system at WDW- Polynesian is right on the monorail line so we took it each day and took a water taxi back- so fun and different from Disneyland! We also really enjoyed Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster- two rides they didn't have in California at the time (now we have Tower of Terror at California Adventure).
We thought that we wouldn't get to go to Animal Kingdom since it wasn't at the top of our list and we wanted to devote a day to each of the other parks. We were excited to read that we could spend the morning of embarkation day at Animal Kingdom and then board the cruise bus there. I guess most people are like us and would skip AK if they had to make a choice. It was nice to get to do the main things at AK (safari, Tarzan show, river rapids, dinosaur ride) before getting on the bus. The only warning I would give is that choosing the Animal Kingdom option gets you to the ship around 2 pm. I was apprehensive about getting there late since I had read that you had to do spa bookings and Palo reservations right away. True enough, we didn't get the Palo booking we wanted, although we did get our second choice, but the spa booking was no problem.
Embarkation was flawless, down to the cheerful security guard reminding the kids that the drug/bomb/contraband sniffing dog was "not Pluto, so don't pet him!" We both caught our breaths when we stepped onto the ship- it is absolutely gorgeous. We had heard that we wouldn't be able to go right to our stateroom but since we got there around 2 pm- we went right up after doing the reservation rush and our bags were already there! No horror story of waiting until evening to get your clothes! The welcome buffet at Beach Blanket Buffet was delicious and the Sailaway Party was exuberant.
We dined at Triton's the first night and met the family that we ate with, a really nice mom, dad, and preteen boy and girl from St. Louis. We enjoyed their company even though we were on our honeymoon and would have preferred to eat alone or with other couples. We were given the early dinner/late show which I thought was given mostly to families. It was fine but I still wonder if we would have had to sit with kids if we would have had the other seating (I like kids but I am a high school teacher and like to have time off from that age group in the summer). We had the Hercules show that night and it was good. I was impressed with some of the special effects that they manage on a floating theater. We also loved that you could bring your alcoholic drinks into the theater and that they always had a drink that related to the show or movie at the bar at the entrance to the theater. We don't drink much usually but we really enjoyed trying the drinks that were themed.
The first day we spent in Nassau. We took the glass bottomed boat excursion which was nice but next time we go I think we will just do a little shopping on the island and then get back on the ship to participate in the programming or watch a movie. We did get to see the premiere of Country Bears that night which was a treat since it was the same day it came out in the States. Dinner that night was at Animator's Palate which was really cool. Even though I had done a lot of research about the cruise and knew about the "show," I hadn't shared the little details with my husband and he really enjoyed it. It ended up being his favorite restaurant on the ship.
Our cruise was the four day one that included the day in Freeport rather than the day at sea. We took the dolphin encounter excursion and it was fantastic. I think next time we will choose the cruise with the day at sea and do the dolphin swim at Nassau. I really felt like we didn't have enough time to spend on the ship- most of our waking hours on the ship were spent eating. We only went in the pool once (the adult pool was deserted during the second dinner seating). Since it was our honeymoon, we ended up going to bed earlier than we normally do and didn't do much of the nightime programming. The night we went to Freeport we ate at Palo which was incredible. The food was great and it was nice to have a table to ourselves. We also purchased a bottle of wine which our server said we could finish the next night.
Our last day was at Castaway Cay and I am happy to say that it lived up to all of my built-up expectations. I think we were actually the last two people back on the ship that afternoon- that's how long we stayed. A word of caution- the sun is extremely hot since you are closer to the equator. I left my sunglasses on a beach chair while I went snorkeling and when I came back and put them on my face, the plastic snapped because it had come so close to melting! Put your things in a bag- probably a good idea since you won't be watching them. We went on the snorkel trail early since we had read that the sand gets churned up and the fish get full. We didn't follow the trail but we found Mickey and took lots of pictures of the fish. After that we headed to the adults-only beach which is where we spent the rest of the day. I have a picture of me sitting in the beach chair in the water looking out on the horizon and it looks just like the Corona commercial. It was surreal being there because it really was paradise! We ate at the barbeque place near the adult beach and it was delicious. The only thing bad about it was that it was uncomfortable sitting to eat when you have your sandy, sweaty, sticky bathing suit on but who can complain? The tropical fruit selection was delicious. We went snorkeling at the adult beach which was so clear! I do have to warn you that the sign at the adult beach is true. There is no net surrounding the beach like there is at the family beach and we came up close and personal with a barracuda. It didn't bother us since we didn't bother it but it was still scary! We made sure to send postcards from the post office and received them about two weeks after we got back! That night we had the same restaurant as our first- Triton's. We never got to eat at Parrot Cay and hopefully next time we will get to book Palo for the last night so we get to eat at all four restaurants without repeating. Triton's was still great and they served a different menu. That night we saw Disney Dreams and it was wonderful. I am a huge broadway fan and I was so impressed with the show.
All I can say to wrap up with that the Disney Cruise was the best vacation we have ever taken. My husband is not a Disney lover (he tolerates my fascination) but he would go back in a second! I highly recommend the experience to anyone!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
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Epinions.com ID:
cheers4bree
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Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
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