By Michelle Spatafore, SVP of Consumer Marketing | July 20, 2022 ( Comments)
It doesn't matter if you are a kid, have a kid, or act like a kid - every inch of the Disney Wish ship has been Disney-fied for your personal enjoyment.
From the baseboards to the ceilings - the Disney Wish is oozing with magical illusions, creative technology, and lots (and I mean lots) of twinkle lights. Perhaps the best part is the attention to detail taken in compartmentalizing the ship's themes & activities that are adults-only (like Bourbon Tastings), family-inspired (like interactive dining experiences), or simply pure magic for kids (like making wishes with fairies or high-fiving Minnie Mouse - the ship's Captain). From Marvel diehards to Princess magic, there is something for everyone.
Disney App
The first thing you do is download this Disney Cruise Line specific app! From deck plans and dining menus to debarkation information - it's all included in an easy-to-use app. Plus, gone are the days of waiting in your room on hold or going to Guest Services for help. You can chat right to your Cruise Host/Hostess with any questions - about debarkation, your portfolio, room service, shore excursions, luggage - you get in a "chat line" and they text you when it's your turn.
Parent Pro Tip
Before your cruise, you can schedule a "character call" - and either Goofy, Daisy, Donald, Mickey, or a combination will buzz your cell and hype your kiddo up. It has a magical "Santa is calling" impact! One of the many features you can access on your Disney Cruise Line app.
Surprisingly spacious, engineered for mobility with families, and loaded with smart technology nuances. Details like lights around the makeup vanity mirror, two bathrooms for kid/adult utility, curtains to partition the pull-out sofa area from the main bed and dimming light options in the cabin to create "small" and "private" spaces for kiddos to unwind - they've done a great job maximizing a small space. Look closely at the artwork and you can see twinkle/glitter/fairy dust. The front cabin doors are a nod to the 1920s original Disney studio designs - and for Disney enthusiasts - a very Walt and Club 33-inspired theme.
Staff
The moment you walk onto the ship, each child is handed a fairy wand and has a personal interaction with the hostess fairy. Tiana overlooks the lobby from a magical balcony - emulating the famous Disney nighttime parades. They ask all the kiddos to stay in the lobby area near the fairy's stage and kick off the cruise with a magical spell as all the kids hold up their fairy wands and recite a special "dreams can come true" spell together. And they always refer to a kiddo in costume as "princess".
Bourbon Tasting
Moms & Dads unite! There are back-to-back bourbon tastings next door to Hook's Barber Shop.
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
This is an adorable princess shop and salon. Different packages are available & complete with a princess dress, hair styling, and metric tons of glitter.
Disney Wish (L)Bourbon Tasting and (R)Bibbidi Bobbidi BoutiqueArtwork
Every inch of this ship has been Disney-fied with thought. The ceilings twinkle with fairy dust LED lights. Each hallway is lined with unique portraits of different characters' lineage - Tiana, Hook, Gaston, etc. - and even their "modern lineage lines" with punk and modern-day versions of their family tree. Art installations hang from the ceilings, on the elevator walls - and each space has unique textures & media used, no two spaces are the same.
A Spin on Main Dining
Typically, you have your main dining in one central restaurant most nights of a cruise. Disney is changing it up and making it fully interactive during your meal! It was a blast. Each evening, you rotate between a different dining experience - 1) Marvel Night, 2) Frozen's Arendelle, and 3) Mickey's 1923. Have food allergies? No problem. They cater a menu SPECIFIC TO YOU and your wait staff are prepared to service your every food need. Your wait staff follow you with each evening dining experience - so they know you personally along with your food preferences. Our waiter, Gabrielle, specialized in magic tricks and each evening we got excited to see what he had in store for us.
- Marvel Night: This was an Ant Man theme. First, you walk down a "Space Mountain" like Marvel-ized hallway. The hallways are lined with the menu selections for the evening (very Marvel/Star Wars spaceship vibe), and you feel like you're in a Disney line for a ride. Once you're seated, there's a mysterious and futuristic machine on your table. You are instructed NOT to touch it at all costs. So of course, the kids are now itching to touch it. As dinner starts, monitors lining the walls flash with a live telecast of Ant Man and Wasp - taking you through an adventure to correct a malfunctioning "shrink/grow" machine. Ant Man, in true style, screws it up - and the ship shrinks. The desserts shrink too (they hand out mini "shrunken" desserts), and the kids at each table save the day pressing the machine at just the right time. To end the night, an oversized dessert is held up like a trophy as Ant Man and Wasp enter the dining room to thank people for their courageous work. It was hysterical, it was fun, it was not intrusive to the meal, and they did it well
- Arendelle Night: This was a party! It was Anna and Kristoff's "engagement dinner". Folk musicians come out to shred (yes I said shred) on the violin and then the characters come out. And they can sing! Elsa does her traditional hand swish and suddenly the floor-to-ceiling lights up with glittered LED "magic fairy dust" in frozen swirls and she puts on a show for each side of the room. Then, the characters go table-to-table thanking everyone for attending their engagement dinner and touting details of their wedding planning. This is the first time I saw Lennon "fan girl" aside from the Jonas Brothers concert...just saying. Every detail is considered in the ballroom - down to the frozen mint chocolate chip desserts and the napkin embroidery
- 1923: This restaurant is intended to emulate an animation studio from the origination of the Disney franchise. The restaurant is posh, in swanky 1920's decor, and the walls are lined with actual sketches from the animators of key movies including Cinderella, Mulan, Lion King, and others. They even include storyboards and concepting samples of ideas they want - like the plates in Beauty & the Beast, the textures of Beast's castle - all the inspiration boards pre-Pinterest
- Joy Ice Cream: The coolest ice cream joint on the ship - fun flavors, interesting toppings, all exploring emotions
Kids' Club
Kiddos slide down a deck/floor right into the kids' club to check in! The slide has a tangled and whimsical woodland theme, and the kiddos get checked in on Deck 4, take the slide, and enter right into the club. Parents pick up using a "secret word" they establish with the staff.
Disney's Castaway Cay Private Island
Disney's Castaway Cay is large! They have ample umbrellas and loungers with crisp blue water. You can select an island bike tour, or our pick, Stingray feeding and snorkel. They have 37 stingrays which all happen to be female and 50% of them are pregnant (6-7 months). They can carry up to six "pups" and you can swim with them and check out how many babies they are carrying. Very friendly and pack-like creatures, they didn't mind company and were more than happy to swim right up to the shore to let you explore them. There are also thousands of fish swarms. You need to pretend it's not happening otherwise it gets in your head, and you panic. It got to Lennon 30 minutes in, and she climbed up me like a tree. But if you pretend it's a wave not a swarm of fish, you feel a little more grounded. Don't let the clean sandy beach fool you either, look closely and you can find little baby crabs, the size of your pinky nail humming up & down the shoreline.
Overall - worth the hype if you're considering it. Disney Wish is packed with great value, large stateroom spaces, incredible food, tons of activities, and a healthy balance of kiddo magic, family time, and adult events too.
