Sailing the Disney Fantasy: day 4, at sea

Senses Fitness Center, breakfast, and Cove Cafe

We had a full day at sea today, and no real plans until late morning. The rocking of the boat was okay during the day (we had some rough seas in the evenings). I decided to get another run in, and went to the fitness center attached to the spa.

They had a nice variety of machines and equipment, and plenty of treadmills. They were definitely a step up from my Planet Fitness treadmills at home, too! There were a number of different guided treadmill workouts you could choose from, for various ability levels. They had videos of “trainers” who walked you through the workout and gave tips and reminders along the way.

After a 3 mile run on the treadmill, it was time for breakfast! It was still relatively early at this point (at least, early for people on vacation), so the buffet wasn’t very crowded. I put myself together a plate that included one “signature” item on today’s buffet that the ship’s crew had highly recommended the previous day – a churro Mickey waffle! This was definitely a sweet treat, and I enjoyed it – a little “breakfast dessert.”

Once I had finished eating, I still had some time before my next scheduled activity. I decided to get a fancy coffee at Cove Cafe and do a little blogging. Writing the blog is something I really enjoy doing it, but the writing part of it often gets pushed to the side for many of the other things that need to get done. So vacation is actually a good chance for me to write, and I am grateful for that. I found myself a good spot, pulled out my laptop, and started writing my recap of the cruise before I forgot everything.

Beer tasting

At 11am we had a beer tasting! I had done a beer tasting on my last Disney Cruise on the Wish, but I was excited to do this again and hopefully try some different beers. And that’s one of the great things about these drink tastings – depending on the sailing, you can have a completely different experience.

The tasting started off with a discussion of how beer is made, and different styles of beer. We tried 5 different types of beers and then got some more detailed info on them. Some of the beers had included a lambic, a trappist ale, a brown ale, a Belgian blonde, and a golden ale.

The cast member also shared some fun facts about other beers, including telling us about the most expensive bottle of beer in America. Would you be surprised to learn that’s a Sam Adams? It’s called Sam Adams Utopia. They passed around the bottle for us to look at, but sadly (of course) we did not get to try that one. They only make 20,000 bottles every other year, and sells for about $400.

Jack-Jack’s Diaper Dash

Next up on the schedule? I was excited to spectate the Diaper Dash! If you haven’t been on a Disney Cruise or you’re not familiar with it, this is one of my favorite events. They host it in the atrium, and race babies.

Yup, baby racing! The babies must be crawling and unable to walk yet to compete. Disney Cruise Line does such a great job with this. They really play it up, and it’s just so funny to watch. The parents place their babies at the starting line, and then on “go” they start the race…

…but since they are babies, they have no idea what they are doing. And it is so funny. They flop down in the middle of the track, go off the side, race almost the end and just stop. And the cast members are commentating the whole time as if it’s a real race. It’s just a really cute and unique experience on Disney Cruise Line.

Disney Fantasy ship tour

Another event on the schedule that I was interested in was a guided tour of the ship. A cast member walked us through parts of the ship and pointed out some of the details and hidden touches. She mentioned that the cast members who do the tour have many options to choose from, so it will most likely be different if you do it with another person.

She focused a lot on the signature restaurants and the lounges, all of which had some interesting stories. I had eaten at Palo on the Magic, but I’d never seen Remy’s before so it was fun to peek get a glimpse of that restaurant.

A couple of other “fun facts” I learned from the tour:

• Deck 5 has lower ceilings and portholes than the other decks. This is because the kids clubs are here, and doing so makes the kids feel like they are a little bit bigger.
• I knew that Pepe the Prawn’s stateroom door was on board, but I didn’t realize you could call Pepe from your ship phone and get some fun messages from him! (Dial 75148)
• The Europa area of lounges has no Disney music playing in the background. Instead it plays music from each of the different countries represented there.
• The Spanish “cave” style bathrooms in the Europa section are the second most expensive bathrooms Disney has ever made. Number one is the Tangled restroom area in Magic Kingdom.
• Lifeboats are normally orange on cruise ships, but Disney wanted them to be yellow to go with their color scheme. They had to run a series of tests to prove to the coast guard that yellow was just as visible as orange.

Show + Skyline Lounge

After a nap and some time in the Rainforest Room, I got ready to go see that evening’s stage show. This one was called “Believe,” and I had seen it on one of the other ships before. I have to admit, it was my least favorite of the shows we saw this sailing (it might be my least favorite Disney Cruise Line show I’ve seen, honestly). It’s fine, and it has some fun songs. And of course everyone is very talented. It’s just a bit cheesy and lackluster compared to some of the other stuff I’ve seen.

I had been wanting to get to the Skyline Lounge but hadn’t really had the chance yet, so we used the time between the show and dinner to get it out and get some drinks. I kind of wish I had come sooner because I really enjoyed it!

The atmosphere is a lot of fun. The skylines on the screen change every so often between different European cities. But the drink menu was a highlight. There were 12 cocktails, and 2 were inspired by each of the 6 countries whose skylines are represented there. They were pretty unique cocktails.

Our group tried the Aquincum (tequila, Grand Marnier, paprika, and lime juice), the El Conquistador (gin, Absolut Peppar, fresh muddled strawberries, basil, and fresh cracked pepper), the Aphrodite (Metaxa, Cointreau, Orange Passion Juice, Freshly Muddled Thyme, Coriander, Rosemary, Basil and Mint), and the Apollo (Ouzo, Blanton’s Single Barrel, Freshly Muddled Raspberries, Fresh Cilantro, and Honey).

They were all interesting, but I think the Aphrodite might have been my favorite. The majority of the 8 other cocktails all sounded really good too, so if I end up on the Fantasy again I will try to check out the Skyline Lounge more often to sample a few more!

Dinner at Animator’s Palette

Our final dinner was at Animator’s Palette, which is a fun restaurant. There are screens all around the room, and Crush from Finding Nemo “swims” around and interacts with guests. We were at a table right in the middle of the room though, which meant we weren’t near any screens. I think it’s probably more fun if you are next to the screens.

The food here is pretty good, though as far as I can tell the menu is the same on all 4 of the ships that have Animator’s Palette. They have an appetizer I really love here though, so I’m always happy to have that! It’s the black truffle pasta and it’s excellent.

Once dinner was over it was back to the room to pack. I wish they would let me stay longer! Sadly, I would also have to pay a lot more money to do that, so instead I did my best to get everything into the suitcase while watching Moana on the room TV.

Departing

Your last “day” on the cruise is usually quite short, since you get off the ship in the morning. Usually as early as 7am, and they want everyone off by 10am. (Though my trip on the Wish had a different sort of departure day!).

We did head to breakfast in the morning to visit our lovely friends at our table on more time. It was so great to get to know them and spend some meals with them! And the breakfast hash here was really tasty.

I had scheduled the Disney bus from the port to the airport, and that all went smoothly. It was very easy to find where to go. And before I knew it was back at MCO, soon to be home in Pennsylvania. It was sad to end this trip, but it was really a wonderful experience.

Oh, and I booked a placeholder on board – which means I am most likely cruising Disney again at some point in the next 2 years!