Sunday, October 5, 2014

Disney Fantasy Caribbean Cruise: Day 3 – Driving Pirate Ship on Deck 5


Date of Visit: September 29, 2014

While waiting for our private vehicle port adventure to start, Mik and I took a little stroll around Deck 5 Midship and discovered a fun Peter Pan themed “painting.” It had a ship wheel in front of it and when you spun it the painting came to life and you could steer the ship around the lagoon. Mik really enjoyed playing with it and was proud to say he did not run the ship aground, as I had tried it first and did not realize you were really controlling the ship and ended up with it sort of stuck on one edge.

Disney Fantasy Caribbean Cruise: Day 2 – French Cuisine at Royal Court



Date of Visit: September 28, 2014

The second evening we were in the Royal Court restaurant, which has steps at the main entrance. The accessible entrance is on the port side.


Mik tried the Duck Confit as his appetizer.


For the soup/salad, he had the Potage Parmentier (potato and leek soup)


For dinner he enjoyed the Chateaubrand-Roasted Filet Steak. He also enjoyed having the server cut it up for him, which I remember him having done all last cruise and did not get why Dad did it the first night when the servers will gladly do it for anyone that asks (and they also offer to do it often).


Mik could not decide on just one dessert, so he had the Peanut Butter Mousse and the Strawberry Shortcake Sundae. He enjoyed both, but especially the peanut butter mousse because it was tasted like Reese’s peanut butter cups.

Disney Fantasy Caribbean Cruise: Day 1 – Continental Market Cuisine at Enchanted Garden

 
Date of Visit: September 27, 2014

Our first dinner was in the Enchanted Garden with the restaurant’s Continental Market menu.


For the appetizer Mik enjoyed the Lobster Ravioli.


For the soup/salad portion he went with the Heirloom Tomato Soup, which he ended up only having a few bites of because it had too much basil for his liking.


He loved the Slow Roasted Prime Rib he choose for the main course.




Mik went with the Apple Cinnamon Crunch Sundae for dessert, which he enjoyed, although not as much as other sundaes he ended up having on the cruise. There were also some little chocolate and jelly things they brought for dessert.


The food was good as usual, but the real fun thing about the Enchanted Garden is the ceiling/sky changes and the flower lights open up as you proceed through dinner.




Disney Fantasy Caribbean Cruise: Day 1 – Senses Spa & Salon Haircut



Date of Visit: September 27, 2014

Mik had been in major need of a haircut for probably going on two months and about a week ago Dad decided why not just get it cut on the cruise. Thus, as soon as the spa was open we made Mik an appointment to get his haircut. Mik enjoyed getting it styled, but most of all he enjoyed it for the scalp massage part. Sure it was more expensive than back home, but it was not that much more and he got a scalp massage. Plus, he looked good for family pictures the rest of the trip.


Disney Fantasy: Stateroom 8184


Date of Visit: September 27-October 4, 2014

This was our fourth Disney Cruise and our first on one of the newer ships. We enjoyed the back of the ship on our first cruise and have stuck with it ever since. To some extent the older ships are nicer because they are smaller; but accessibility wise the Fantasy is much better than when we have been on the Magic and Wonder (Magic is probably nicer now than when we were last on it, though).

The common area accessibility is not much different overall other than the bathrooms tend to have accessible stalls rather than companion ones. However, the stateroom has many nice accessibility touches that make a huge difference.

First off, when you use your key to open the door the door automatically opens. Inside there is also a button to open it or you can just start pulling it open and it activates the power opening. It’s a little slow to wait and make sure it closes before you leave; but definitely a helpful feature that I now want on our condo door.

The room is very spacious, but Mik was disappointed the space is in the stateroom rather than having a giant walk-in closet like he was used to on the other ships. He liked using the walk-in closest as a room.

The closet itself is cool, though, as it is designed so you can pull the top row of hangers out and down.


The verandah was nice and huge. We also liked that it was a regular style door rather than a sliding door. That makes it more accessible for getting in and out. The only issue is that the door seemed to tend to open on its own if you did not get it pulled closed just right and the lock is up high. I get that for child safety reasons; but it would be nice if they put an upper and lower lock so you could use just the lower one if you don’t need it for child safety reasons.



The bathroom is nothing special. In fact, it kind of seems smaller than the ones we have had on the Wonder and Magic. However, the layout does work out to be easier to navigate when we did want to take the wheelchair in there. Also, the shower is nice with a flip down grab bar as well as a flip down seat.



We still wish they had the flip down bar right by the toilet like we once had on the Wonder. While there is a grab bar on the wall to the right of toilet, it is not all that close to toilet and for Mik it’s nice to have something on both sides or at least on the left.


Two other things we noticed different is that there were constellations painted above the bed that comes out from the ceiling and there is space under the bed for storing stuff (or in Mik’s case it’s for hiding Dad’s shoes).

 

Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom - Sleepy Hollow


Date of Visit: September 26 & 27, 2014

Mik now has a new favorite place at the Magic Kingdom. He loves waffles, so I have no idea why we have always skipped past Sleepy Hollow before; but now that he has discovered it I am sure this will be a regular stop on our Disney World trips.


The first morning he tried the breakfast waffle with eggs, cheese, tomatoes, and prosciutto. He did not really like the prosciutto part; but he loved the rest and it’s easy to take off.

During the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, Mik enjoyed the pumpkin spice waffle sundae.

Destination Info:
Magic Kingdom – Liberty Square
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom - Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party


Date of Visit: September 27, 2014

For us the Halloween Party was somewhat of a disappointment. It just seemed more crowded and hard to get between things compared to when we did the one in Disneyland. Of course, comparing anything at Disney World to Disneyland always ends with Disneyland winning in our opinion (we even once got into a debate with a cast member when checking in at Disney World that we were not at the Happiest Place on Earth like they said because that’s Disneyland).


We did go to three trick-or-treat locations and accessibility wise they are fine, but other than the one at the Tomorrowland Terrace they were hard to find the end of the lines for because of general crowd for the parade or going to other attractions depending on the location.


Mik thought it was all worth it for the Spiced Pumpkin Waffle Sundae at Sleepy Hollow, though, and I am happy to have picked up the Sorcerer of the Magic Kingdom card for my collection. However, because we were frustrated just by the crowds and trick-or-treating, we didn’t even end up staying for the parade. That is the one thing I would have liked to see, but I also didn’t want to sit and get a spot for at the beginning of the party like we did last year for the Christmas party because Mik would have ended up asleep before it started like he did that time.



Overall we are glad we tried it out, but yeah Disneyland is better. I guess the biggest thing that makes Disneyland better is that the trick-or-treating is not as spread out because the whole park is more compact. However, I think there being no giant Mickey pumpkin on Main Street was the biggest disappointment, as we wanted a Halloween shirt picture in front to go with our Disneyland one. We did accidentally end up with a spooky one with Dad’s hand as a shadow, though.

Destination Info:
Magic Kingdom
Lake Buena Vista, FL