Disney Fantasy Cruise Review with Ship Activities and Pictures
If you’re heading out on a Disney Cruise Line vacation, you may be looking for Disney Fantasy cruise reviews to prepare for your trip. Maybe you’re also wondering what activities are available onboard or what the restaurants are like on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship.
This Disney Fantasy trip review is from my family’s 3 day vacation with our toddler. On this Disney Cruise Line itinerary, we sailed to Castaway Cay in the Bahamas. Since this was considered a “double dip” cruise, we were able to spend TWO amazing days on Disney’s private island in the Bahamas.
In this review, we will take a look inside the Disney Fantasy cruise ship, including all the exciting activities and entertainment to enjoy onboard!
Booking the Disney Fantasy
I booked this Disney cruise pretty last minute- about 35 days before sailing. This was nice because it meant we didn’t have long to wait before our much-anticipated trip. However, it also meant I had a lot of cruise planning to do in a short amount of time.
During the booking process, I was able to choose a stateroom that was a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. Disney Cruise Line offers these family staterooms for cruisers who want a little extra space. I was worried about not having enough storage space and feeling cramped inside the cruise cabin.
These family sized staterooms seemed to be the way to go to help ease my fears of claustrophobia. My husband also suggested booking a room with a verandah. We thought it would be a good place to sit and relax each day/night while our three-year-old slept.
In addition to choosing our stateroom, I also picked our dining time while booking the Disney Fantasy cruise. Disney Cruise Line offers two dining options for cruisers on the Fantasy: Main Dining at 5:45 and Late Dining at 8:15. Since we were cruising with our toddler, I felt really relieved that the Main Dining time was still available!
Cruise Itinerary
Because we were only 35 days away from our sail date, I was also able to check in for our Disney cruise right after booking it. I filled out all of our personal information and scheduled times for our daughter to attend the Princess Gathering and the Frozen Meet and Greet.
I feel like I should mention here that this sailing of the Fantasy was not the typical 7-day Caribbean itinerary. This is because the Disney Fantasy ship was just coming out of a dry dock where she received new upgrades. Once on board, I realized that a large number of the cruisers were travel agents who were cruising to see these new enhancements.
I am guessing that we probably would not have been as lucky with our last-minute Main Dining and character meet and greet times had more families with children been on board. After booking the cruise and events online, I called Disney Cruise Line to add on a pre-cruise hotel stay at the Hyatt Orlando Airport and Disney Cruise Line ground transportation to/from the port.
Since I arranged this through Disney, I did not have to choose a Port Arrival Time. This worked out perfectly for us because we really wanted to be on the ship early to enjoy the pools before our toddler would need a nap.
Port Canaveral
Our vacation on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship was scheduled to start in Port Canaveral, Florida. The Orlando International Airport is the most convenient option for us when wanting to sail from Port Canaveral. My family and I flew into Orlando the day before the Fantasy was scheduled to depart just to be on the safe side.
Once we got off the plane, we grabbed our bags and walked to the Hyatt, which is conveniently located inside the airport. The employee behind the desk gave us a sheet with information on our Disney Cruise Line luggage pickup for the next morning. The room and bathroom at the Hyatt were both really nice and clean.
↓↓ Visit My Etsy Shop ↓↓
I was a little disappointed in the lack of any furniture on the balcony because my husband and I had planned to sit outside when our three-year-old went to bed. This turned out not to be a big deal because I ended up falling asleep early. Travelers have their choice of many restaurants inside the airport, but we chose to eat dinner at the Hyatt’s restaurant called Hemisphere.
Luckily, we didn’t have to wait for a table, and the food was really good. After dinner we walked around the nearly empty airport. The shops were still open and full of Disney, Universal, and Seaworld memorabilia. Our daughter loved seeing all the character statues that were outside the stores.
Day 1 – Boarding the Disney Fantasy
Because we opted to have the Hyatt transfer our bags to Disney Cruise Line, we had to have them packed and sitting inside the hotel room door by 8:30 am the morning of our cruise on the Disney Fantasy. I kept an embarkation day backpack with us to carry items that we would need throughout the day.
My husband ordered breakfast from room service so that we could eat and get ready quickly in order to have our bags ready on time. We arrived at the Disney Cruise Line ground transportation area inside the airport at around 8:15 that morning. There were quite a few people already there waiting.
At the time of our cruise, DCL did not hand out tickets for the transfer. Instead, we sat and waited until close to 9:00 when everyone was asked to line up at once. My family happened to get lucky and make it onto the very first shuttle. Once the bus was fully loaded, it pulled out and we were on our way to Port Canaveral.
I remember wondering if we would be allowed to bring our backpack onto the motor coach with us or if we would have to store it under the bus with the luggage. No one mentioned our bag so I held it on my lap the whole time. At just after 10:15 we started pulling up to the Disney Cruise Line terminal at Port Canaveral.
Cruise Terminal
Since we didn’t have any carryon luggage stored under the bus, we hopped off and made our way into the Disney Cruise Line terminal and through security. We were among the very first people allowed in, and there was no line to check in. The process was really easy, and we were soon able to grab a table with a few seats right beside the mouse ears.
My husband walked over to the vending machines to grab a snack for our daughter. While she ate we looked over the Disney Cruise personal navigator to see what activities were offered that afternoon and evening. Shortly thereafter, Mickey Mouse came out to greet guests in the terminal. We stood in line to meet Mickey, but Goofy had taken his place by the time we got to the front of the line. I always love seeing Goofy!
We had been assigned to boarding group number 3, but the cast members didn’t begin calling numbers until around 11:30. I was surprised by how many people were assigned to each boarding group. Every time a number was called, it seemed like a hundred people went through. I guess that makes sense being that the Disney Fantasy cruise ship holds thousands! Luckily the line moved fairly quickly, and we were walking on board within fifteen minutes or so.
Boarding Day Activities
The Disney Fantasy cruise ship is massive, and it provides lots of fun activities for all different age groups. Below, I will walk you through the activities we experienced after boarding.
Pools
I wanted to make sure our toddler had plenty of time to swim before her nap, so we grabbed food from the counter service restaurants on the pool deck. We were able to sit and eat at one of the many available tables. My husband realized later in the trip that he really liked the food options at Cabanas. In hindsight he was bummed that he didn’t grab his food from the buffet this first afternoon. There’s always the next cruise though!
Once we finished eating, we explored the toddler splash pad area called Nemo’s Reef and the Mickey Pool. My daughter wore one of the swim vests Disney Cruise Line had available, but the pool is really shallow. So, she probably didn’t necessarily need it.
While my husband and daughter played at the pool, I headed down to one of the main dining rooms where dining requests were being handled. I had called to request a private table for our dinners, and I was curious to see if our request had been granted.
After waiting in line for about 5 minutes, the nice gentleman behind the desk assured me that we had been given a table for just our family. After this, I walked down to Guest Services to borrow one of the ship’s strollers. I believe they charged my credit card for the rental, but once I returned the stroller the charge was removed.
Rooms
It was now close to 1:30, which meant our room was ready. I headed to our stateroom to meet up with my husband and toddler. Our room looked just like the pictures I had seen. We had plenty of space for the three of us, and the storage space was more than adequate.
I have to admit that I laughed when I saw the two bathroom areas though. I was prepared for them to be small, but they were tiny! They ended up being completely fine because I didn’t realize the outlets for hair dryers etc. were at the desk inside the stateroom and not in the bathrooms.
Our verandah was a nice addition to our room; although, we actually didn’t use it very much. Throughout the cruise I used my toddler’s nap times to get ready for dinner instead of sitting and relaxing on the verandah. At night, we didn’t get back to the room until almost 10:00, so we all just went to bed.
Shortly after we put our three-year-old down for her nap, our luggage arrived at our stateroom door. I used this time to unpack and organize all of our things. I had never heard of packing cubes prior to my cruise research, but I bought some for each of us to use on this trip.
They are amazing and I don’t know how I ever traveled without them! My husband even told me they are the best things I’ve ever ordered from Amazon! You can see the ones I ordered in our printable Disney Cruise packing list.
Life Boat Drill
It was around this time that I started to feel the movement of the ship. I’m not sure if they were getting ready to pull away from the dock or what, but I put on my seasickness bracelets just in case. Eventually, the announcements started for the safety drill. We woke up our toddler and made our way to our assigned spot on Deck 4.
The Muster Drill was organized really well and didn’t take too long. Our three-year-old was still sleepy and upset that we woke her up, but they let me hold her throughout the drill. We had decided that we didn’t want to fight the crowds for the Sailing Away party and that we would rather explore the Oceaneer Club during this time. The problem was that we weren’t exactly sure how to get to the kids club.
All of the cruisers seemed to be headed up to the pool deck, so we had to walk against the crowds on Deck 5 where the clubs were located. We were completely confused and trying to walk through swarms of people. Next time, I will make sure I know the exact path to take from the safety drill to get to our intended destination.
Oceaneer Club
The three of us finally made our way to the Oceaneer Club for their open house. We never dropped off our daughter in the clubs, but we did use them during their open house times. Several of the child caregivers were around to meet, and they were all really sweet and personable.
Andy’s Room and the race car were both big hits with our little one. She actually ended up liking the video games and drawing activities in the Oceaneer Lab even more than the Oceaneer Club activities.
Characters
After playing for a bit in the clubs, we headed to the atrium to meet some of the Disney Fantasy cruise ship’s characters. Guests had already started lining up, and I heard someone say that the first day of the cruise always has the longest lines for character meet and greets. The lines moved fairly quickly, though, and all the characters were great as always.
Disney Fantasy Restaurants
The Disney Fantasy cruise ship offers three main restaurants (aka dining rooms) for guests: Enchanted Garden, Animator’s Palate, and Royal Court. We were assigned to Enchanted Garden as our dining room for the first night of our cruise. Our two servers had wonderful personalities, and they even did magic tricks and made balloon animals to entertain kids at dinner.
We had a table to ourselves as requested; but all of the tables were really close together in every dining room onboard. We ended up talking to the family beside us quite a bit since they were seated so closely to us.
Disney Fantasy Entertainment
One of our favorite things about cruising is the ship offers so many fun things to do with kids in the evenings. Even though we sailed with our toddler on the Disney Fantasy, we were still able to enjoy nightly entertainment on the ship.
Basketball Court
After dinner we walked up to the sports deck and attempted to play miniature golf. It was really windy, and our toddler didn’t have the attention span for it so we stopped after a few holes. Then we walked over to the empty basketball court and let her run around for a bit. The view of the ocean looked really pretty from up there.
Shows
The Broadway style show for the first night was Disney’s Wishes. I was worried that we wouldn’t make it through the whole production with a three-year-old since she is normally in bed at that time at home. We bought her some popcorn to snack on during the show, and our toddler really enjoyed herself! After the show, we headed back to our stateroom to get some sleep before our big day at Castaway Cay.
Day 2 – Castaway Cay
On the morning of our second day aboard the Disney Fantasy, my husband, 3 year old, and I woke up to a really pretty view of Castaway Cay. I had signed up my husband for the 5k at Guest Services on our first afternoon on board. **Update- You can now reserve your spot in the Castaway Cay 5k right on the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App!
Castaway Cay 5k
While my husband headed to meet up with the runners in the Disney Theater at 8:00, my three year old and I went up to Cabanas for breakfast. We had tickets for the Frozen Meet and Greet and the Princess Gathering this morning. **Note that you no longer receive tickets for these events in your stateroom. Instead, a cast member at the meet and greet will check your name off a list when you arrive at your scheduled time.
Once we finished our scheduled character meet and greets, I let my toddler play in the Oceaneer Club since it was having an open house. We killed time in there until my husband was back from the Castaway Cay 5k. After he returned and we had all changed for the beach, we put our daughter in the stroller and headed onto the island.
Beaches
Once we strolled off the ship, the three of us walked to the first family beach area and grabbed a couple chairs. There is a tram that comes around to pick you up if you don’t want to walk. We enjoyed our stroll, though, so we didn’t use the provided transportation.
It was probably close to 10:30 at this time, and the beach was nearly empty. Our server told us at dinner that night that the adult only beach had been packed that day. This was another example of how our cruise experience onboard the Disney Fantasy was a little different since we seemed to have less kids on board.
The beach was perfect for us and our toddler loved playing in the sand and calm water. My husband and I pulled chairs up to the water while she played with the beach toys we had brought. The water was warm and crystal clear. **Packing Tip- The sand had some shells and rocks in it, so you may want to pack water shoes.
Lunch Buffet
After a couple hours on the beach, we strolled over to the lunch buffet where we enjoyed the BBQ style food. After lunch we strolled around the island to look around. At one point we walked passed Olaf on his way to a meet and greet. He gave our toddler a high five as he passed by, and she still talks about that to this day!
Empty Ship
We have traveled regularly with our 3 year old; but, this Disney Cruise was definitely the most relaxing trip we have had with our toddler. She ended up falling asleep in her stroller on Castaway Cay, so we decided to head back to the ship. Deck 4 has the most comfortable lounge chairs with such pretty views of the island. It’s also really quiet on that deck, so I parked the stroller beside a couple of chairs.
My husband went in to one of the open cafes and brought back dessert and drinks for us. We relaxed and enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere while our three year old slept away in the stroller.
Strollers
The ship is stroller friendly, but we preferred to take the stairs instead of the elevators. It was easier for us to leave the stroller in the room while at breakfast. You can borrow a stroller from Guest Services like we did after we boarded the cruise. The ship provided a City Mini stroller, which worked perfectly because it was easy to push through the hallways. I had debated bringing a compact umbrella stroller from home, but ours didn’t recline.
The Disney Fantasy ship’s stroller laid back enough for our toddler to nap, which was a huge plus. This is the same stroller that I rent at Disney World because it is super easy to collapse and can be carried with one hand. I eventually ended up just buying it because we loved it so much.
Evening Activities
After nap time, we headed back to the stateroom to shower and get ready for dinner. Our main dining room on the second night was Royal Court. We really enjoyed all the dining spaces and liked the food and atmosphere in each one.
Pirate Night
Since it was Pirate Night, we headed up to the pool deck after dinner to watch the pirate show. We watched it from Deck 12 where we could look down at the stage. Our daughter danced and sang through the whole production. When the pirate show finished up, we headed down to grab popcorn before entering the theater to watch Aladdin.
Disney’s Aladdin
The Broadway style shows on the Disney Cruise were really entertaining for all of us. Our toddler did get scared of the cave and villain early on during Aladdin, so we ended up leaving without watching the whole production. It seemed like it was going to be a really cute show though! I had read that you can watch the shows on the TV in your stateroom, but we never did end up catching it.
Disney Characters
There were always musicians playing popular songs in the atrium at night. We ended up spending some time there instead of watching Aladdin. Then Chip and Dale came out and were exceptionally energetic and funny. We were one of the only families around at the time.
The two chipmunks spent a lot of time dancing and being silly with the kids in the atrium. Once our toddler tired herself out from dancing, we went back to the stateroom to get ready for bed.It’s always fun to see what kind of towel animal your stateroom host leaves you!
Day 3 – Double Dip
On Day 3, our daughter slept in until close to 8:30 which was a really nice surprise! We took our time getting beach ready and then walked up to Cabanas for breakfast. After eating we had to go back down to the room to get the stroller before heading to the island.
We walked back to the same area of beach where we had been the day before. There were a lot more people around on this day though. We played in the sand and the water for a couple hours. Then, we loaded up our things to head back to the ship for lunch. Since it was our last time to enjoy the pools, we decided to eat at the buffet onboard and swim before nap time.
Things to Do Onboard
Because so many people were still on the island, the pool deck was nearly empty! I wanted to ride the Aquaduck so I stood in line for about twenty minutes or so for that. Since the minimum height requirement is 42 inches, my toddler stayed at Mickey’s Pool with my husband. There is a smaller water slide too, but I think the age requirement was 4 on that.
Later that afternoon, we went back to the room to put our three year old down for a nap. While she slept, I started packing so that we would be able to set out our luggage that night for a crew member to collect. Once nap time was over, we all cleaned up for dinner. Then, we headed out to meet a few characters.
Restaurants and Shows
Dinner this last night was at Animator’s Palate, and it was definitely our favorite dining experience. The show with Crush from Finding Nemo was really cute and kept all of our attention. After dinner we strolled around the jogging track on Deck 4. Then we headed to watch the last show of our trip, Disney’s Believe, in the theater.
We made it all the way through the show tonight, and we all really enjoyed it! After the show we wandered around the ship one last time. These interactive pictures hanging on the walls were really entertaining.
Our three year old would touch them over and over to make them come to life. I think these may be part of the Mid-ship Detective Agency game on the Disney Fantasy. We didn’t get a chance to do the game on our cruise, but it is definitely on our list for next time! Once we got back to our room, we finished packing. Then, we put our bags outside our room for Disney to collect later that night.
Debarkation Day in Port Canaveral
Our final morning on the ship was not a standard final cruise day morning. We had learned the night before that the ship was having engine problems. Because of this, we were going to be returning to Port Canaveral later than expected. We ended up having to change our 12:30 flights because we were not going to make them on time with our postponed arrival.
The positive side to this unplanned morning was that we were able to sleep in and take our time eating breakfast that last morning of our vacation. Disney was also great about keeping everyone entertained. Characters hosted meet and greets all over the ship.
Once we were able to disembark, we walked off the ship to find our luggage. The previous night, our room host had left Donald Duck luggage tags for us to attach to our bags. Once we were back inside the Port Canaveral cruise terminal, we easily found our luggage in the Donald Duck section. We rolled our bags out to the Disney Cruise Line ground transportation area, boarded the waiting shuttle bus, and were on our way to the Orlando airport.
In Conclusion
The entire Disney Cruise Line fleet features amazing ships with great activities and entertainment. Whether you’re traveling with young kids or older kids, your whole family is sure to have so much fun onboard the Disney Cruise Line ships.
The Disney Fantasy cruise ship is one of my family’s favorites because it offers so many exciting things to do for guests of all ages. You’re sure to have a great time enjoying the beautiful ship and scenic ports of call!
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