October 1, 2025 • 34 mins
Get ready to set sail with us as Krystle and Julie share pre-trip excitement for Julie's upcoming Disney Cruise Line vacation! In this episode, we talk all about Julie's plans for a magical Halloween on the High Seas cruise aboard the Disney Magic. From spooky-fun deck parties to festive décor, Disney goes all out for this seasonal sailing.
Julie and her family will be visiting both of Disney’s private islands—Castaway Cay and Lighthouse Point—as well as Nassau, Bahamas, and we’ll dive into what Julie and her family are most looking forward to at each stop. Expect chats about Halloween-themed entertainment, family-friendly activities, dining, character meet-and-greets, and a few tips to keep in mind as you prepare for your Disney cruise.
Whether you have your own upcoming Disney Magic cruise, curious about holiday cruises, or just love hearing about the unique touches that make Disney Cruise Line special, this episode is the perfect kickoff to our trip report series. Join us for all the anticipation and insider planning details before we set sail!
If you missed our episode on packing for your next cruise, check out "Episode 30: What to pack and not pack for your cruise"
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-30-what-to-pack-and-not-pack-for-your-cruise/id1749012067?i=1000680798054
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Wonderlust and Wishes, the
podcast where we explore theworld one destination at a time.
I'm Julie.
And I'm Crystal.
As travel agents withfantastical vacations, we are
here to share our passion fortravel and help you turn your
wonderlust into reality.
From hidden gems to bucket listadventures, join us as we dive
into the sights, sounds, andstories of our favorite
(00:20):
destinations.
So grab your passport, pack yourbags, and let's embark on this
journey together.
SPEAKER_01 (00:32):
Welcome to episode 71 of Wonderlust and Wishes.
Today we are going to go overthe pre-trip report for my
Disney cruise.
Yay! I'm so excited.
It seemed like it was foreverago, and then it's finally here.
So really excited.
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
I'm so excited for you.
All right.
How about you give us a quickrundown of your itinerary?
Like how many days, where areyou gonna be?
SPEAKER_01 (00:57):
Okay, so we are we are sailing out of Port
Canaveral, and it is a five-dayor my I think it's five-night
cruise, but it actually ends upbeing like six days, the way
that if you include embarkationand disembarkation day.
So first day, we embark, we geton the ship.
Day two is castaway key.
(01:18):
Day three is Nassau, day four isLighthouse Point, and then day
five, we're gonna be at sea, andthen day six is when we come
back and get off the ship.
Boo.
SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
I'm so excited that you are going to Castaway and
Lighthouse and you can compareand contrast for us.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
Me too.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
That was a future episode coming soon.
SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Yeah, I'm I'm very excited about being able to see
both of them.
I'm overwhelmed by it to somedegree too, just because you
know they'll be the first timethat I'm seeing both of them.
So I'm gonna try my best toabsorb as much as I can.
I'm nerf-sided, as Ella likes tosay.
SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
But at least you'll you'll have fresh eyes on both.
And it's not like you're comingin like you already love one,
and then you're trying to deeplycompare the other.
Right.
Or it's been so long sinceyou've been to one and you don't
remember bits and pieces.
So yeah.
Yeah, great, great way to seeit.
SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
So we get off the ship on Wednesday, the 8th, and
we're gonna stay for a few daysat the Riviera.
We do have tickets to Mickey'sNot So Scary Halloween party on
Thursday, the 9th of October.
I don't know if we're gonna doanother park day yet.
The other thing I was thinkingof doing, Ella always talks
(02:28):
about wanting to go to one ofthe water parks, and we just
don't ever really plan a day inthere since we have free water
park day on check-in day.
I thought maybe we could trythat.
And even if she doesn't want togo, I'm thinking I might just go
over there to get content, getsome videos, and walk around.
SPEAKER_00 (02:44):
Yeah, just to get a lay of land is always helpful.
SPEAKER_01 (02:46):
Yeah, because we've never been to one of the water
parks, and it would be right nowit's Typhoon Lagoon, I believe.
I think so.
One of them's definitely closedsince September.
SPEAKER_00 (02:55):
Yes, I think it was Blizzard Beach because I was
thinking it was strange theBlizzard wasn't open for
Christmas, just with thetheming.
All right, tell us why why youchose this cruise.
Like how oh, we did say it'sfive nights, but tell us tell us
all the things.
SPEAKER_01 (03:10):
So that it was five nights was part of why we wanted
to go on this cruise.
I knew that we couldn't do afull week or seven days because
I have two nervous nellies.
My oldest daughter, Lena, and myhusband Rob are a little bit
nervous about going on a cruise,just in general, just being out
on a boat out in ocean.
(03:31):
And so I didn't want to dosomething that was too long, but
I wanted it to be long enoughthat we were able to really
experience it.
The other part of it, the timeframe in general, they have fall
break for school.
So this was a full week of thatthey're out of school that we
can use for traveling, which isamazing.
They changed the schedule to amodified year-round.
(03:54):
So they now will get a week offin the fall, they'll get a full
week off in February, andthey'll also get spring break,
and then of course they havewinter break, and they'll just
have a shorter summer, which isfine with me.
So yeah, it just gives us moreopportunities to travel and do
things that's not in the middleof the summer heat.
This also was a Halloween on thehigh seas, and I love Halloween.
(04:19):
I'm actually a Halloween baby,born on Halloween, so I love the
theme, and I'm really excitedabout that.
The magic just happened to bethe ship that was sailing on,
you know, that fit the timingand everything.
However, I also think it's agood, it's a good ship for the
first cruise because my fa someof my family are a little bit
(04:40):
nervous.
It's a smaller ship, it's not aschaotic.
I think it's just in general,it'll be better for them as kind
of the starter ship because youknow I'm going to be booking a
placeholder at least someone.
And then I love that it had bothislands.
Um, also, I'm honestly not superexcited about Nassau.
(05:00):
I don't even know if we'll getoff a ship at Nassau.
I'm not, I'm I'm still havinglike decided yet.
We'll see.
SPEAKER_00 (05:06):
Get off second safety been in the Bahamas and
then hop right back.
SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
Right.
Yeah.
Like I don't, I just don't knowthat it's I'm not as excited
about that.
I'm more excited about the twoDisney Islands.
We also are going with myparents and they celebrated
their 50th anniversary in June.
So this is also kind of acelebratory trip that you know,
we're all just gonna be able tokind of go together.
(05:30):
And I'm planning to treat themto massages, maybe a couple
massages, or we're gonna figurethat out once we get on board.
SPEAKER_00 (05:38):
That's so exciting.
Congratulations to them.
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
Like I was saying, it's my family, so it's the four
of us and my parents.
And I did ask them, I sent out atext and said, Hey guys, what
are you most excited about forthis?
This is gonna be exciting tohear.
Yeah.
So it's really funny because Istarted to make notes first, and
then I thought, you know what, Ineed to just ask them and not
guess, you know.
(06:02):
But the first thing that I putdown for my husband, I just put
probably reading by himself onthe cruise deck, and I put L O L
in the notes.
So when he actually texted backwhat his favorite or what he was
looking forward to, he said thebalcony and reading to the sound
of water and seeing wide openocean for the first time.
So you know him well.
(06:25):
He's gonna be reading on abalcony somewhere, or he's gonna
be reading in a beach chairsomewhere.
That's what he's gonna be doing.
So go on, pause.
What kind of stateroom do youhave?
Oh, good point.
My family, the four of us, arestaying in a veranda room.
My parents are staying in anocean view room.
So are you close?
I don't think so.
(06:45):
I'm on, and I think some of itis just based on the logistics
of the way this, you know, theships are built, built with
those types of rooms.
I think they're on deck two orthree, and we are on deck seven.
SPEAKER_00 (06:59):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (06:59):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:00):
So he could sit on the veranda and listen or and
read.
He could sit up by the pool.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:05):
He could sit in the adults-only area.
Absolutely.
Oh my gosh.
I can't, I probably should nevereven tell him that there's an
adults-only area because hewon't, we probably won't see him
for the rest of the trip.
So the girls, I asked them, andLena said food.
Shocker.
Um, Ella said ice cream.
So basically food and ice cream.
(07:25):
And she is excited because we dohave the stingray encounter
booked at Castaway Key.
It's just the two of us becauseRob and Lena would totally freak
out if they were in the waterwith the stingrays.
So Ella and I are gonna do thattogether.
And my parents actually bookedit too, so we'll be able to do
that.
My parents, this is their firstDisney cruise, but they've
cruised a good amount, I wouldsay like at least five times,
(07:47):
five plus times.
So for my mom, she is excitedabout that.
Our weight staff will follow usin dining because you know,
Disney's unique in that yourweight staff stay with you, and
they when you're doing yourrotational dining, they stay
with you.
So she's excited about that.
She's excited about the spa.
And though she didn't say it, Iwas actually surprised that she
(08:09):
didn't say it.
I'm gonna add the 5Ks on herebecause both islands have a 5K
that you can run, and I know shewants to do that on both
islands.
SPEAKER_00 (08:17):
And my dad said her for doing it on both, and I'm
very curious to see how shethinks about the lighthouse one,
since that's like new, it'snewer, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:27):
Yeah, the I mean the one on Castaway key is like very
tried and true.
Like every you know, it's beenrun plenty of times.
My dad, he just said the magicand the characters, and and I
think he means like not thecruise ship magic, but Disney
magic, and then the spa, and hesaid, of course, ice cream,
because he agreed with Ellawhenever she said ice cream.
So what are you most excitedfor?
(08:51):
Yeah, I'm excited about theisland, seeing both the islands.
I'm very excited about theSingray encounter.
I think I didn't want to do toomany excursions since it's the
first time we're doing this.
If we go and do Nassau again, Iwould want to do one of the
dolphin encounters as well.
But I just felt like it wasgonna be, it would just be too
(09:12):
much, you know, to try to likecram all that stuff in.
And I want to be able to enjoythe islands and see them and
really just let everything soakin.
The food for sure, and honestly,that's kind of my one of my
favorite things about Disney ingeneral, like going to Disney
World, because I always have alot of options that are
gluten-free, and I don't feellike I have to be excluded from
(09:36):
the good stuff.
It's nice, and then the verandabalcony.
I definitely look forward todrinking a cup of coffee on the
veranda in the morning.
SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
I've heard that they're even more over the top
with food allergies on DCL thanthey are at the parks.
So I'm excited to hear yourfeedback on that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Oh, I'm just pack me in your bag.
I know, I know.
Speaking of packing, I haven'treally packed.
SPEAKER_00 (10:02):
You might want to get on that.
SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
I have my list.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
I seem to work better.
Go back and listen to our cruisepacking might help you.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
I was thinking of the same thing.
I was like, I need to go backand re-relisten to that to make
sure I'm sure I'm not forgettinganything, but I can link that in
the show notes for anybody who'sinterested.
So you want to talk a little bitabout the ship itself, the
magic?
SPEAKER_00 (10:23):
We've talked about DCL kind of as a whole, and I
know we've like done short deepdives, but nothing just like on
one specific ship.
So yeah, let's jump into thispart.
The maiden voyage for the DisneyMagic was July 30th, 1998, and
it is the first of the DisneyCruise Line ships.
(10:44):
And now look where we are andlook what's coming.
So this is the thing thatstarted it all.
It has 11 guest decks.
Passenger capacity is rightaround 2,700 people, which in
comparison to something likeRoyal's icon, who boasts like
7,500 or something, it's verysmall in comparison.
(11:09):
So yeah, this is one of theships actually that sometimes
they'll take to Alaska or likesome of those smaller ports that
they can't get the big ones in.
So it is a very, very welltraveled, very neat ship.
SPEAKER_01 (11:21):
Even Disney's larger ships, they're still at like
around 4,000, maybe 4,500.
So in general, Disney shipsdon't have the same crazy
capacity numbers that some ofthe Royal Caribbean ships have.
But this is pretty small.
I mean, that's 2,700 people maxcapacity, is that's not that's
not very many for a cruise ship.
(11:42):
Some notable refurbishmentssince it was built in '98.
In 2013, they added Aqua Dunk,that is a slide, and Aqua Lab,
which is a splash zone for thesmaller kids.
And then in 2018, theyintroduced Rapunzel's Royal
Table.
They refreshed the Vibe TeenClub area and also updated the
(12:02):
Cove Cafe theming.
SPEAKER_00 (12:04):
Let's talk a little bit about dining.
As we've mentioned, the Disneycruise line has the rotational
dining restaurants.
So you and your servers rotatetogether and you're in a
different dining room everynight.
Julie will not know her rotationuntil she checks in the port.
But there are three differentplaces.
(12:26):
There's the animators palette ondeck four.
This is Pacific Asian CaliforniaFlavors Interactive Animation
Elements.
There's Lumineers, which is ondeck three.
This is American by Day,Contemporary French at dinner.
So think Lumier from Belle.
And then there's Rapunzel'sRoyal Table on deck three.
So this is a tangled themedcelebration with live musicians,
(12:49):
characters, and a mini paradeduring dinner.
I've heard it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (12:54):
Yeah, I'm excited about that one for sure.
Rapunzel is one of my for suretop five princesses, maybe even
like top three.
I love her.
For casual and poolside dining,they have cabanas, which is the
buffet quick service area.
They have Duck and Diner,Pinocchio's Pizzeria, Daisy's
Delights, Ice Cream, and FrozoneTreats.
(13:15):
So those are some of the optionsfor just being able to grab a
quick bite.
SPEAKER_00 (13:26):
There is adult exclusive dining.
This is one of the few upchargeson the ship.
It's called Palo.
It's on deck 10.
It's northern Italian, aHallmark Adult date night spot.
Everybody I know who has beenthere, loves it, raves about
brunch usually.
Yes.
But everything else isdelightful as well.
SPEAKER_01 (13:44):
I didn't do any specialty dining this time
around, just like I was saying.
I just wanted to kind of get afeel for everything first, and
then it might be something thatwe do next time around.
So this is probably another oneof my things I'm excited for
that I didn't previouslymention, but um they do have
lounges for trivia and just gamenights and stuff like that.
So D Lounge is where they havethe family games and trivia.
(14:05):
Um they have Fathoms, PromenadeLounge, O'Gill's Pub, Keys, Cove
Cafe, and then Signals.
Several of these will turn intoan adult-only environment after
a certain time frame.
But I'm definitely going to begoing to trivia.
I love trivia and I'm verycompetitive.
(14:26):
So we're going to see how thisgoes down.
You mean family's probably goingto be afraid of me because I'm
bring back a trivia medal.
SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
As you know, Disney, they have Broadway caliber
shows, and they are in the WaltDisney Theater on deck four.
The shows for this ship areTangled the Musical.
This debuted in 2015.
There's Disney Dreams.
It's a enchanted classic, andthen Twice Charmed, an original
twist on Cinderella.
SPEAKER_01 (14:54):
So a couple of other things, show-wise or kind of
party-wise.
They have the deck parties.
So you obviously have Mickey'sSailor Waves party as you're
leaving the dock when they playthe horn, which is so fun.
They have Pirate Night withFireworks at sea.
And then they also just have amovie theater where you can go
(15:15):
in and see Dizzy movies whileyou're there.
And a lot of the schedules andthings, we'll see those once
we're on board.
SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Oh, they'll probably have Tron Ares because it debuts
October 10th.
And then I'm sure something likea Freakier Friday or Fantastic
Four, since they're newlyreleased, will also be on board.
SPEAKER_01 (15:36):
And I think they also mix in like just classics
and stuff too.
I think that they'll throw thosein sometimes as well.
SPEAKER_00 (15:41):
Yeah.
As far as pools, they haveGoofy's Pool and Quiet Cove
Pool.
They have the Aqua Dunk and theAqua Lab that we talked about
from the 2013 Dry DocRefurbishment.
SPEAKER_01 (15:53):
For kids' clubs, this is pretty standard for the
all of the ships.
They have it's a small worldnursery for six months to three
years.
Um, you do have to pay a fee forthis particular feature.
Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab.
That's for three to twelve yearolds.
Edge is 11 to 14, and vibe is 14to 17.
(16:14):
I do not know if my girls aregonna use the kids' club.
I can't get a good feel on itbecause they act like they're
too cool to do it, but then theymay get there and think that
it's awesome because it has likeyou know video games and that
kind of stuff, and it's just aspot where they can go and like
be away from parents.
(16:35):
So I don't know.
We'll see.
SPEAKER_00 (16:36):
Are you gonna do the kind of like your self-guided
ship tour on embarkation day?
So you can like go check themout.
Yes.
Yeah, I do want to do all ofthat.
SPEAKER_01 (16:46):
Maybe they'll get in there and be like, oh, this is a
lot a lot more to it than Iexpected.
Yeah, I do want to do I want todo that for the kids' clubs and
definitely the the spa as well,because you can do the same
thing.
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
Speaking of spa for the fitness and sports, they
have census spa, which is an 18plus, they have the chill spa
for teens and a fitness center.
You also have the wide world ofsports deck, which is like an
open-air activity deck.
So you can have like basketballand they run all kinds of games
and activities up there.
SPEAKER_01 (17:18):
Yeah, I think that's pretty cool.
I definitely want to go, likeeven if I don't, I'm not gonna
play basketball because I stockat basketball, but but I think
just being able to go up thereand see it is pretty neat.
Yeah.
They do have also dailycharacter greetings that get
listed in the app once on board.
I will be stalking Daisy forsure, and the Sanderson sisters.
SPEAKER_00 (17:39):
Yeah.
I forgot about the Sandersonsisters.
SPEAKER_01 (17:43):
Yeah, because it's Halloween on the high seas.
I'm totally stalking them.
SPEAKER_00 (17:46):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (17:48):
So, but yeah, I'm excited about I'm excited about
everything, but definitely wantto be able to go to the pool for
a little bit, sit on the havesome time to maybe sit on the
deck and just read and relax andlike look out at the water, do
the shows and triv and I talkedabout I want to do trivia and
then stalk the Sandersonsisters.
SPEAKER_00 (18:06):
All right, let's uh talk through some of your plans
for port.
We kind of mentioned a couple ofthings, but on Castaway Key, are
you thinking like family beach?
Are you gonna sneak away to theadult section?
What are you gonna do?
Um I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (18:25):
That's another thing.
Like I'm a you know me, I'm likea rope dropper.
I want to get up and go, and Robis too, so we'll probably do our
best because I want to be ableto get out there and I want to
be able to make sure that wehave a space and we have like a
lay of the land.
Yes, I'm probably gonna want toget up and go as soon as we can.
It's a little bit more of achallenge when you have teenage
(18:46):
daughters that don't want to getout of bed and that are crabby
in the morning.
So we'll see.
But Ella is very she's typicallyvery crabby in the morning.
She doesn't get up very well,and that's totally all my fault.
Like that's that's a hundredpercent from me.
But when she wants something orshe's interested in something
(19:09):
and she's excited aboutsomething, she is up and at
them.
So she may surprise me withgetting up and being being like
good to go and ready because shewants to go see the island and
see the water and just do allthe things.
(19:30):
So we do have the the 5k that mymom wants to do, and then and
that's not like scheduled, youjust go and you know run the the
course.
We have a stingray excursionthat's booked, and that is Ella
and myself and my parents, andthen I also have a double kayak,
like sea kayak excursion formyself and Rob and Lena and
(19:54):
Ella.
And I think that's gonna be Idon't know, it could go one, it
could go like could be both fromone extreme to the other.
I'm hoping it's gonna behilarious us trying to like
figure out how to use a kayaktogether.
Like one of us probably Lenawill probably go with Rob and
Ella will probably go with me.
That's typically the way we likepair off.
And I just I think it's gonna behilarious.
(20:14):
And I'm gonna have my littlelike phone phone case.
Yes, my waterproof phone case,and I will be recording as much
as possible.
So may have to like bleep outsome of the foul words that come
out of Rob's mouth if they liketip over or something, but
hopefully, you know, we'll see.
We'll see how this is gonna go.
What about for Lighthouse?
So, Lighthouse, as everybodyknows, it's the newest private
(20:36):
island experience with Disney'scruise line.
They also have a 5k, and we'reprobably gonna do that as well.
I know my mom's definitely gonnado it.
She wants to do she wants thosemedals, good for her, and then
we also have a snorkelingexcursion scheduled for
Lighthouse Point, so we'll seehow that goes as well.
(20:58):
And then our last stop will beNassau, Bahamas.
And like I mentioned before, Ididn't, I'm not I'm not 100%
sold on just going and doing awhole lot there.
But like Crystal said, you know,maybe just get off the boat
there just to just to go andjust to like walk around and do
a couple things, but we don'thave any excursions planned
there.
(21:18):
I just didn't want to overdo it,really.
We'll see.
We'll see how that goes.
So for packing, I haven't doneany yet, but I have purchased
things that I'm going to pack.
I just haven't put them in anorganized fashion in a suitcase.
And I think, to be honest, Ellais the only one that has done
any packing yet.
(21:39):
She was doing, she was actuallypacking right before I walked in
here to sit down to record.
She was walking, she was askingme, where's her pirate shirt?
So that she could put it in hersuitcase.
So we do have Halloween-themedshirts for like the
Halloween-themed night.
And then we have Pirate Nightshirts for pirate night.
(22:00):
And then we'll probably bringsomething like, you know, a
little, maybe a little dressier.
They have a formal, kind ofsemi-formal if you want to dress
up night, but it's a little bitmore casual with Disney cruise
line.
We're going to drive toJacksonville on Thursday
evening.
I mean, we already have ourhotel booked.
(22:20):
Uh, my parents are gonna meet usthere, so we're gonna stay at
the same spot.
And then on Friday, we're gonnaget up and drive to the port.
It should only be like maybe acouple hours, I think two max.
Um, our boarding time is at12:30 on Friday, so we just need
to be able to get up and getthere by that time.
(22:40):
I am a little bit nervous aboutmotion sickness, so I've
basically packed like everymotion sickness remedy uh known
to man.
I have multiple different typesof motion sickness like
medication, and then I also havethe the behind the ear sticker
(23:02):
things.
I have my and I have my reliefband.
So I hope that I I will be allset.
SPEAKER_00 (23:09):
Thursday, you board Friday?
We board Friday.
So just start your your patchThursday, give it time to get in
your system.
SPEAKER_01 (23:16):
Oh yeah.
I mean, I'm definitely gonna belike, I will be taking the I'll
start taking medicine probablyon Thursday, Thursday evening.
And then I have our air tags umthat I want to have in our
basically in like the kind ofthe like the backpack like
carry-on kind of bags, just incase so that I think I w I saw
(23:38):
something posted in a Facebookgroup where this dad had had was
posting that his daughter likejust left her backpack somewhere
in the cruise terminal and theycouldn't find it, and Disney
said they couldn't find it.
Um they did eventually find it,but uh there were all these
people that were like, that'swhy you need to put air tags in
(23:59):
your everything, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (24:00):
So how about one of our agents who had a suitcase
that they gave to a porter andit was never brought to their
room, and Disney said theycouldn't find it, but it turned
out it was just stored somewhereunderneath, and they had an air
tag in it so they could see itlike they knew it was there.
SPEAKER_01 (24:16):
Yeah, yeah.
I am gonna bring some magnetichooks just because I have two
teenage daughters that areprobably gonna bring like a
bathing suit for every singleday, potentially multiple, you
know, because they have to likeyou know, switch things out.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh, I've already been told.
I've already been told that I'mgonna be required to take videos
(24:39):
and do pictures of them on theship and like certain like poses
and things like that.
And I was like, you know what?
As long as you guys do the samefor me, because I'm gonna need
you guys to take videos of me,so that's fine.
Do you guys have a shot list puttogether?
Yeah, I probably should.
I don't have one, but I probablyshould.
They may have one, like,especially Lena.
(25:01):
She may have one of like this isshe wants to have like these
certain things.
SPEAKER_00 (25:05):
I need a copy of that, Lena.
SPEAKER_01 (25:06):
Oh yeah.
See it.
And then we're gonna bring somefun Halloween magnets that I had
made.
It was like to put on our door.
The there's a big magnet thathas like our family name on it,
and that's Halloween on the highseas, and and then and then it
has like a Halloween-themedDisney character and our one and
(25:27):
our names on like each one.
And then I also have magnetsmade with our podcast on it.
So I'm gonna put that on thedoor too.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
Very nice.
If anybody needs a WonderlessSwimmish podcast magnet for
their cruise, I will personallysend you one.
So yeah, I have that all done.
Are you doing fish extenders?
No, I didn't do any of thatstuff.
I feel like it's so like such alot.
SPEAKER_01 (25:51):
Are you doing um that's what I'm saying?
Like, I just feel like it's athe first time we're going, and
I just want to like soak it in.
Yeah.
I didn't want to try to do allthese different things.
I just felt like that was addingto my stress level to do that
kind of stuff.
And it and it probably fine,like maybe like once you've been
on several and it's not a bigdeal.
And I think it's great.
(26:12):
I love like the whole likecommunity, like camaraderie and
all that stuff of people likewanting to do those things.
I think it's fantastic.
I just felt like it was a littletoo much for me.
SPEAKER_00 (26:22):
Are you taking a lanyard with some pen trading to
hang outside your?
SPEAKER_01 (26:28):
No.
I don't I mean, the girls dohave that, but I wasn't.
I mean, they may bring them.
I think they usually bring themwhen we go to the parks anyway.
Because they do like to getpens, but I don't, but they've
never really done trading.
I don't they like to keep theirpins.
SPEAKER_00 (26:43):
I I'm in the same boat.
I don't think someone asked meabout my cowboy Mickey, and I
was like, mm-mm, no.
Giving that away.
Go find your own.
SPEAKER_01 (26:54):
Yeah.
The girls, you know, theyusually put a lot of thought
into like whatever pen it isthey buy, you know, and it means
something.
And so I just don't think theywanna, they don't want to trade
them.
SPEAKER_00 (27:02):
So I've been trying to pick up not cheap, but like
some official Disney pens fromthe outlets.
So when I finally do, I'll belike, I don't really care about
these.
Take them, give me somethinggood.
All right, let's talk about theextras for Halloween on the high
seas.
SPEAKER_01 (27:20):
As I mentioned, I I love the Halloween on the high
seas theming for this wholething.
You don't really get a like trueschedule until you get on board,
but this is tentative.
For Halloween night, they'regoing to do the they're gonna do
that on October 4th and PirateNight, which that's not
(27:40):
Halloween specific, um, that'son the 6th, and then also just
like the kind of dress-up night,that's on the seventh.
Again, those are not necessarilyspecific to Halloween, uh, but
just something that we'll runinto.
Some of the fun things they dohave for Halloween, they have
the pumpkin tree that they putin the atrium, and each ship
that does the Halloween on thehigh seas sailings has its own
(28:02):
signature pumpkin tree.
They transform or they light thetree with jack-o'-lanterns on I
think on embarkation day.
And when they do, there's astorytelling ceremony, and the
cast members, they're alsocalled caretakers of the tree.
(28:22):
They narrate the legend of thetree.
And I will definitely want to dothat.
And we don't want I don't knowwhat the timing is of that, just
because you don't find out thatstuff until you're on board.
They do also have Halloweenthemed music.
I think they have like livemusic in some of the different
lounges, and then I think ingeneral, they just the music
that they play on the ship, theythrow in Halloween themed music.
(28:44):
They have the Mickey's MouseGeraid party.
It's considered the signatureevent of Halloween on the high
seas.
It's held out on the pool decktypically, depending on weather.
And it has your care yourtypical characters, Mickey,
Minnie, Goofy, Donald.
They arrive in their Halloweencostumes and get out and dance,
(29:07):
which is fun.
Yeah, it's just basically like abig fun like dancing and music
and deck.
It's like a big deck party.
It'd be so fun to see them intheir Halloween outfits.
I know.
I'm excited too.
They also have Halloween-themedtreats and drinks, so I'll be
excited about that as well.
I want to try to find as much asI can that I can actually eat.
(29:28):
And even if I can't, I'llprobably buy stuff for the
girls.
SPEAKER_00 (29:31):
They have seen a pumpkin-spiced coffee.
SPEAKER_01 (29:34):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, oh yes.
SPEAKER_00 (29:36):
Coffee will be every day.
We need to know if it comparesto your Joffrey's at the parks.
Okay.
Does it taste better at sea?
SPEAKER_01 (29:44):
Oh, you think so?
Is that the word?
I don't know.
That's what I'm saying.
You need that word on thestreet.
Okay.
Okay.
I need to verify.
Okay.
And then they have somethingwhich I honestly was not aware
of this at all.
They have something calledHalloween Isn't Just for Kids,
and it's an adult costume partythat's in.
In one of the adult only areas.
SPEAKER_00 (30:04):
Are you gonna go to that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:05):
Doubtful.
But I don't know.
We'll see.
unknown (30:08):
Probably.
SPEAKER_00 (30:12):
Halloween party?
SPEAKER_01 (30:12):
No, I have shirts.
I'm telling you.
I've like I've double dip inhere.
So it's hard.
It's and I think all you parentsout there that have kids that
are like tweens and teens,they're not they don't want to
do fun Halloween costumes rightnow.
And so the fact that I'm gettingthem to wear matching shirts is
(30:33):
I think about as much as I canget them to do right now.
So they also have Halloweencrafts, and Ella and I will
definitely be checking that out.
We'll we'll definitely want togo find that.
And of course, we already kindof mentioned that the characters
in their Halloween attire andmaybe finding the Sanderson
sisters.
I'm excited about all thosethings.
SPEAKER_00 (30:52):
I'm so excited for you.
I can't wait to hear all aboutit and see all the pictures.
Are you gonna do on the go?
Maybe we'll see.
SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
We'll see.
We'll see what I can do.
I mean, I definitely will beposting updates.
And I'm I think I'm pretty goodabout posting updates on my
stories, even if it's like aquick video.
I'm pretty decent about doingthat.
I also am not sure about how I'mI'm guessing I'm gonna have to
buy like the streaming internetpackage because otherwise I'll
(31:25):
have a riot on my hands.
The other thing that hashappened is the Reds are in the
playoffs now.
I was just gonna say today'sbaseball playoff season, so and
so potentially he he could go tothe sports bar because I'm sure
they'll have them on, but heusually likes to watch the games
on his own because he gets likeriled up, and so I think if
(31:49):
there's a way for him to be ableto stream and watch the games,
then that's what he's gonna do.
Any of our listeners that haveexperienced either the Disney
Magic or if you've doneHalloween on the high seas and
you have something specific thatany like tips or anything that
you want to give me or anythingthat you want me to look at or
content that you want to see,and also specifically the
(32:10):
islands.
If you want to see somethingabout either one of the islands,
whether it's you know, excursionoptions or food or you know, the
chairs or seating or any ofthose things, just let me know.
I will definitely post as muchas I can while also trying to
enjoy the you know the time.
SPEAKER_00 (32:28):
We'll definitely do a post-trip and round everything
up when you get back.
SPEAKER_01 (32:32):
Yeah, because I'm gonna have Mickey's not so scary
to talk about as well, becauseI've never done that before.
SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
So I know it's hard to do on the goes selfishly if
you can.
I would love to hear them.
SPEAKER_01 (32:42):
But I know it's hard.
It is hard.
It's hard.
You're much better about themthan I am.
I'm I'm better about like doinglike the I think the story
posting like in real time, butlike actually like sitting down
and like doing like a full dayrecap.
It's very I'm very bad at that.
But we we hope that you haveenjoyed this pre-trip, and I
(33:04):
look forward to being able tochat through everything that I
experience while I'm there.
This so this episode will poston October 1st, and I will be
leaving the following Friday.
So just follow along onWonderless and Wishes Podcast
and also Dorso Mouse Adventures,and I will have content posted
(33:26):
for as much as I can throughoutthe trip.
SPEAKER_00 (33:29):
Have so much fun.
SPEAKER_01 (33:31):
Yay! We hope you all have a fantastic week.
We'll chat with you next week.
Bye.
SPEAKER_00 (33:47):
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Wonderlust
and Wishes.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe and
leave us a review on yourfavorite podcast platform.
And remember, the world is fullof wonders waiting to be
explored.
SPEAKER_01 (34:02):
Until next time, happy travels.
Bye for now.
Welcome to Wonderlust and Wishes, the
podcast where we explore theworld one destination at a time.
I'm Julie.
And I'm Crystal.
As travel agents withfantastical vacations, we are
here to share our passion fortravel and help you turn your
wonderlust into reality.
From hidden gems to bucket listadventures, join us as we dive
into the sights, sounds, andstories of our favorite
(00:20):
destinations.
So grab your passport, pack yourbags, and let's embark on this
journey together.
SPEAKER_01 (00:32):
Welcome to episode 71 of Wonderlust and Wishes.
Today we are going to go overthe pre-trip report for my
Disney cruise.
Yay! I'm so excited.
It seemed like it was foreverago, and then it's finally here.
So really excited.
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
I'm so excited for you.
All right.
How about you give us a quickrundown of your itinerary?
Like how many days, where areyou gonna be?
SPEAKER_01 (00:57):
Okay, so we are we are sailing out of Port
Canaveral, and it is a five-dayor my I think it's five-night
cruise, but it actually ends upbeing like six days, the way
that if you include embarkationand disembarkation day.
So first day, we embark, we geton the ship.
Day two is castaway key.
(01:18):
Day three is Nassau, day four isLighthouse Point, and then day
five, we're gonna be at sea, andthen day six is when we come
back and get off the ship.
Boo.
SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
I'm so excited that you are going to Castaway and
Lighthouse and you can compareand contrast for us.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
Me too.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
That was a future episode coming soon.
SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Yeah, I'm I'm very excited about being able to see
both of them.
I'm overwhelmed by it to somedegree too, just because you
know they'll be the first timethat I'm seeing both of them.
So I'm gonna try my best toabsorb as much as I can.
I'm nerf-sided, as Ella likes tosay.
SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
But at least you'll you'll have fresh eyes on both.
And it's not like you're comingin like you already love one,
and then you're trying to deeplycompare the other.
Right.
Or it's been so long sinceyou've been to one and you don't
remember bits and pieces.
So yeah.
Yeah, great, great way to seeit.
SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
So we get off the ship on Wednesday, the 8th, and
we're gonna stay for a few daysat the Riviera.
We do have tickets to Mickey'sNot So Scary Halloween party on
Thursday, the 9th of October.
I don't know if we're gonna doanother park day yet.
The other thing I was thinkingof doing, Ella always talks
(02:28):
about wanting to go to one ofthe water parks, and we just
don't ever really plan a day inthere since we have free water
park day on check-in day.
I thought maybe we could trythat.
And even if she doesn't want togo, I'm thinking I might just go
over there to get content, getsome videos, and walk around.
SPEAKER_00 (02:44):
Yeah, just to get a lay of land is always helpful.
SPEAKER_01 (02:46):
Yeah, because we've never been to one of the water
parks, and it would be right nowit's Typhoon Lagoon, I believe.
I think so.
One of them's definitely closedsince September.
SPEAKER_00 (02:55):
Yes, I think it was Blizzard Beach because I was
thinking it was strange theBlizzard wasn't open for
Christmas, just with thetheming.
All right, tell us why why youchose this cruise.
Like how oh, we did say it'sfive nights, but tell us tell us
all the things.
SPEAKER_01 (03:10):
So that it was five nights was part of why we wanted
to go on this cruise.
I knew that we couldn't do afull week or seven days because
I have two nervous nellies.
My oldest daughter, Lena, and myhusband Rob are a little bit
nervous about going on a cruise,just in general, just being out
on a boat out in ocean.
(03:31):
And so I didn't want to dosomething that was too long, but
I wanted it to be long enoughthat we were able to really
experience it.
The other part of it, the timeframe in general, they have fall
break for school.
So this was a full week of thatthey're out of school that we
can use for traveling, which isamazing.
They changed the schedule to amodified year-round.
(03:54):
So they now will get a week offin the fall, they'll get a full
week off in February, andthey'll also get spring break,
and then of course they havewinter break, and they'll just
have a shorter summer, which isfine with me.
So yeah, it just gives us moreopportunities to travel and do
things that's not in the middleof the summer heat.
This also was a Halloween on thehigh seas, and I love Halloween.
(04:19):
I'm actually a Halloween baby,born on Halloween, so I love the
theme, and I'm really excitedabout that.
The magic just happened to bethe ship that was sailing on,
you know, that fit the timingand everything.
However, I also think it's agood, it's a good ship for the
first cruise because my fa someof my family are a little bit
(04:40):
nervous.
It's a smaller ship, it's not aschaotic.
I think it's just in general,it'll be better for them as kind
of the starter ship because youknow I'm going to be booking a
placeholder at least someone.
And then I love that it had bothislands.
Um, also, I'm honestly not superexcited about Nassau.
(05:00):
I don't even know if we'll getoff a ship at Nassau.
I'm not, I'm I'm still havinglike decided yet.
We'll see.
SPEAKER_00 (05:06):
Get off second safety been in the Bahamas and
then hop right back.
SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
Right.
Yeah.
Like I don't, I just don't knowthat it's I'm not as excited
about that.
I'm more excited about the twoDisney Islands.
We also are going with myparents and they celebrated
their 50th anniversary in June.
So this is also kind of acelebratory trip that you know,
we're all just gonna be able tokind of go together.
(05:30):
And I'm planning to treat themto massages, maybe a couple
massages, or we're gonna figurethat out once we get on board.
SPEAKER_00 (05:38):
That's so exciting.
Congratulations to them.
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
Like I was saying, it's my family, so it's the four
of us and my parents.
And I did ask them, I sent out atext and said, Hey guys, what
are you most excited about forthis?
This is gonna be exciting tohear.
Yeah.
So it's really funny because Istarted to make notes first, and
then I thought, you know what, Ineed to just ask them and not
guess, you know.
(06:02):
But the first thing that I putdown for my husband, I just put
probably reading by himself onthe cruise deck, and I put L O L
in the notes.
So when he actually texted backwhat his favorite or what he was
looking forward to, he said thebalcony and reading to the sound
of water and seeing wide openocean for the first time.
So you know him well.
(06:25):
He's gonna be reading on abalcony somewhere, or he's gonna
be reading in a beach chairsomewhere.
That's what he's gonna be doing.
So go on, pause.
What kind of stateroom do youhave?
Oh, good point.
My family, the four of us, arestaying in a veranda room.
My parents are staying in anocean view room.
So are you close?
I don't think so.
(06:45):
I'm on, and I think some of itis just based on the logistics
of the way this, you know, theships are built, built with
those types of rooms.
I think they're on deck two orthree, and we are on deck seven.
SPEAKER_00 (06:59):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (06:59):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:00):
So he could sit on the veranda and listen or and
read.
He could sit up by the pool.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:05):
He could sit in the adults-only area.
Absolutely.
Oh my gosh.
I can't, I probably should nevereven tell him that there's an
adults-only area because hewon't, we probably won't see him
for the rest of the trip.
So the girls, I asked them, andLena said food.
Shocker.
Um, Ella said ice cream.
So basically food and ice cream.
(07:25):
And she is excited because we dohave the stingray encounter
booked at Castaway Key.
It's just the two of us becauseRob and Lena would totally freak
out if they were in the waterwith the stingrays.
So Ella and I are gonna do thattogether.
And my parents actually bookedit too, so we'll be able to do
that.
My parents, this is their firstDisney cruise, but they've
cruised a good amount, I wouldsay like at least five times,
(07:47):
five plus times.
So for my mom, she is excitedabout that.
Our weight staff will follow usin dining because you know,
Disney's unique in that yourweight staff stay with you, and
they when you're doing yourrotational dining, they stay
with you.
So she's excited about that.
She's excited about the spa.
And though she didn't say it, Iwas actually surprised that she
(08:09):
didn't say it.
I'm gonna add the 5Ks on herebecause both islands have a 5K
that you can run, and I know shewants to do that on both
islands.
SPEAKER_00 (08:17):
And my dad said her for doing it on both, and I'm
very curious to see how shethinks about the lighthouse one,
since that's like new, it'snewer, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:27):
Yeah, the I mean the one on Castaway key is like very
tried and true.
Like every you know, it's beenrun plenty of times.
My dad, he just said the magicand the characters, and and I
think he means like not thecruise ship magic, but Disney
magic, and then the spa, and hesaid, of course, ice cream,
because he agreed with Ellawhenever she said ice cream.
So what are you most excitedfor?
(08:51):
Yeah, I'm excited about theisland, seeing both the islands.
I'm very excited about theSingray encounter.
I think I didn't want to do toomany excursions since it's the
first time we're doing this.
If we go and do Nassau again, Iwould want to do one of the
dolphin encounters as well.
But I just felt like it wasgonna be, it would just be too
(09:12):
much, you know, to try to likecram all that stuff in.
And I want to be able to enjoythe islands and see them and
really just let everything soakin.
The food for sure, and honestly,that's kind of my one of my
favorite things about Disney ingeneral, like going to Disney
World, because I always have alot of options that are
gluten-free, and I don't feellike I have to be excluded from
(09:36):
the good stuff.
It's nice, and then the verandabalcony.
I definitely look forward todrinking a cup of coffee on the
veranda in the morning.
SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
I've heard that they're even more over the top
with food allergies on DCL thanthey are at the parks.
So I'm excited to hear yourfeedback on that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Oh, I'm just pack me in your bag.
I know, I know.
Speaking of packing, I haven'treally packed.
SPEAKER_00 (10:02):
You might want to get on that.
SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
I have my list.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
I seem to work better.
Go back and listen to our cruisepacking might help you.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
I was thinking of the same thing.
I was like, I need to go backand re-relisten to that to make
sure I'm sure I'm not forgettinganything, but I can link that in
the show notes for anybody who'sinterested.
So you want to talk a little bitabout the ship itself, the
magic?
SPEAKER_00 (10:23):
We've talked about DCL kind of as a whole, and I
know we've like done short deepdives, but nothing just like on
one specific ship.
So yeah, let's jump into thispart.
The maiden voyage for the DisneyMagic was July 30th, 1998, and
it is the first of the DisneyCruise Line ships.
(10:44):
And now look where we are andlook what's coming.
So this is the thing thatstarted it all.
It has 11 guest decks.
Passenger capacity is rightaround 2,700 people, which in
comparison to something likeRoyal's icon, who boasts like
7,500 or something, it's verysmall in comparison.
(11:09):
So yeah, this is one of theships actually that sometimes
they'll take to Alaska or likesome of those smaller ports that
they can't get the big ones in.
So it is a very, very welltraveled, very neat ship.
SPEAKER_01 (11:21):
Even Disney's larger ships, they're still at like
around 4,000, maybe 4,500.
So in general, Disney shipsdon't have the same crazy
capacity numbers that some ofthe Royal Caribbean ships have.
But this is pretty small.
I mean, that's 2,700 people maxcapacity, is that's not that's
not very many for a cruise ship.
(11:42):
Some notable refurbishmentssince it was built in '98.
In 2013, they added Aqua Dunk,that is a slide, and Aqua Lab,
which is a splash zone for thesmaller kids.
And then in 2018, theyintroduced Rapunzel's Royal
Table.
They refreshed the Vibe TeenClub area and also updated the
(12:02):
Cove Cafe theming.
SPEAKER_00 (12:04):
Let's talk a little bit about dining.
As we've mentioned, the Disneycruise line has the rotational
dining restaurants.
So you and your servers rotatetogether and you're in a
different dining room everynight.
Julie will not know her rotationuntil she checks in the port.
But there are three differentplaces.
(12:26):
There's the animators palette ondeck four.
This is Pacific Asian CaliforniaFlavors Interactive Animation
Elements.
There's Lumineers, which is ondeck three.
This is American by Day,Contemporary French at dinner.
So think Lumier from Belle.
And then there's Rapunzel'sRoyal Table on deck three.
So this is a tangled themedcelebration with live musicians,
(12:49):
characters, and a mini paradeduring dinner.
I've heard it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (12:54):
Yeah, I'm excited about that one for sure.
Rapunzel is one of my for suretop five princesses, maybe even
like top three.
I love her.
For casual and poolside dining,they have cabanas, which is the
buffet quick service area.
They have Duck and Diner,Pinocchio's Pizzeria, Daisy's
Delights, Ice Cream, and FrozoneTreats.
(13:15):
So those are some of the optionsfor just being able to grab a
quick bite.
SPEAKER_00 (13:26):
There is adult exclusive dining.
This is one of the few upchargeson the ship.
It's called Palo.
It's on deck 10.
It's northern Italian, aHallmark Adult date night spot.
Everybody I know who has beenthere, loves it, raves about
brunch usually.
Yes.
But everything else isdelightful as well.
SPEAKER_01 (13:44):
I didn't do any specialty dining this time
around, just like I was saying.
I just wanted to kind of get afeel for everything first, and
then it might be something thatwe do next time around.
So this is probably another oneof my things I'm excited for
that I didn't previouslymention, but um they do have
lounges for trivia and just gamenights and stuff like that.
So D Lounge is where they havethe family games and trivia.
(14:05):
Um they have Fathoms, PromenadeLounge, O'Gill's Pub, Keys, Cove
Cafe, and then Signals.
Several of these will turn intoan adult-only environment after
a certain time frame.
But I'm definitely going to begoing to trivia.
I love trivia and I'm verycompetitive.
(14:26):
So we're going to see how thisgoes down.
You mean family's probably goingto be afraid of me because I'm
bring back a trivia medal.
SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
As you know, Disney, they have Broadway caliber
shows, and they are in the WaltDisney Theater on deck four.
The shows for this ship areTangled the Musical.
This debuted in 2015.
There's Disney Dreams.
It's a enchanted classic, andthen Twice Charmed, an original
twist on Cinderella.
SPEAKER_01 (14:54):
So a couple of other things, show-wise or kind of
party-wise.
They have the deck parties.
So you obviously have Mickey'sSailor Waves party as you're
leaving the dock when they playthe horn, which is so fun.
They have Pirate Night withFireworks at sea.
And then they also just have amovie theater where you can go
(15:15):
in and see Dizzy movies whileyou're there.
And a lot of the schedules andthings, we'll see those once
we're on board.
SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Oh, they'll probably have Tron Ares because it debuts
October 10th.
And then I'm sure something likea Freakier Friday or Fantastic
Four, since they're newlyreleased, will also be on board.
SPEAKER_01 (15:36):
And I think they also mix in like just classics
and stuff too.
I think that they'll throw thosein sometimes as well.
SPEAKER_00 (15:41):
Yeah.
As far as pools, they haveGoofy's Pool and Quiet Cove
Pool.
They have the Aqua Dunk and theAqua Lab that we talked about
from the 2013 Dry DocRefurbishment.
SPEAKER_01 (15:53):
For kids' clubs, this is pretty standard for the
all of the ships.
They have it's a small worldnursery for six months to three
years.
Um, you do have to pay a fee forthis particular feature.
Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab.
That's for three to twelve yearolds.
Edge is 11 to 14, and vibe is 14to 17.
(16:14):
I do not know if my girls aregonna use the kids' club.
I can't get a good feel on itbecause they act like they're
too cool to do it, but then theymay get there and think that
it's awesome because it has likeyou know video games and that
kind of stuff, and it's just aspot where they can go and like
be away from parents.
(16:35):
So I don't know.
We'll see.
SPEAKER_00 (16:36):
Are you gonna do the kind of like your self-guided
ship tour on embarkation day?
So you can like go check themout.
Yes.
Yeah, I do want to do all ofthat.
SPEAKER_01 (16:46):
Maybe they'll get in there and be like, oh, this is a
lot a lot more to it than Iexpected.
Yeah, I do want to do I want todo that for the kids' clubs and
definitely the the spa as well,because you can do the same
thing.
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
Speaking of spa for the fitness and sports, they
have census spa, which is an 18plus, they have the chill spa
for teens and a fitness center.
You also have the wide world ofsports deck, which is like an
open-air activity deck.
So you can have like basketballand they run all kinds of games
and activities up there.
SPEAKER_01 (17:18):
Yeah, I think that's pretty cool.
I definitely want to go, likeeven if I don't, I'm not gonna
play basketball because I stockat basketball, but but I think
just being able to go up thereand see it is pretty neat.
Yeah.
They do have also dailycharacter greetings that get
listed in the app once on board.
I will be stalking Daisy forsure, and the Sanderson sisters.
SPEAKER_00 (17:39):
Yeah.
I forgot about the Sandersonsisters.
SPEAKER_01 (17:43):
Yeah, because it's Halloween on the high seas.
I'm totally stalking them.
SPEAKER_00 (17:46):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (17:48):
So, but yeah, I'm excited about I'm excited about
everything, but definitely wantto be able to go to the pool for
a little bit, sit on the havesome time to maybe sit on the
deck and just read and relax andlike look out at the water, do
the shows and triv and I talkedabout I want to do trivia and
then stalk the Sandersonsisters.
SPEAKER_00 (18:06):
All right, let's uh talk through some of your plans
for port.
We kind of mentioned a couple ofthings, but on Castaway Key, are
you thinking like family beach?
Are you gonna sneak away to theadult section?
What are you gonna do?
Um I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (18:25):
That's another thing.
Like I'm a you know me, I'm likea rope dropper.
I want to get up and go, and Robis too, so we'll probably do our
best because I want to be ableto get out there and I want to
be able to make sure that wehave a space and we have like a
lay of the land.
Yes, I'm probably gonna want toget up and go as soon as we can.
It's a little bit more of achallenge when you have teenage
(18:46):
daughters that don't want to getout of bed and that are crabby
in the morning.
So we'll see.
But Ella is very she's typicallyvery crabby in the morning.
She doesn't get up very well,and that's totally all my fault.
Like that's that's a hundredpercent from me.
But when she wants something orshe's interested in something
(19:09):
and she's excited aboutsomething, she is up and at
them.
So she may surprise me withgetting up and being being like
good to go and ready because shewants to go see the island and
see the water and just do allthe things.
(19:30):
So we do have the the 5k that mymom wants to do, and then and
that's not like scheduled, youjust go and you know run the the
course.
We have a stingray excursionthat's booked, and that is Ella
and myself and my parents, andthen I also have a double kayak,
like sea kayak excursion formyself and Rob and Lena and
(19:54):
Ella.
And I think that's gonna be Idon't know, it could go one, it
could go like could be both fromone extreme to the other.
I'm hoping it's gonna behilarious us trying to like
figure out how to use a kayaktogether.
Like one of us probably Lenawill probably go with Rob and
Ella will probably go with me.
That's typically the way we likepair off.
And I just I think it's gonna behilarious.
(20:14):
And I'm gonna have my littlelike phone phone case.
Yes, my waterproof phone case,and I will be recording as much
as possible.
So may have to like bleep outsome of the foul words that come
out of Rob's mouth if they liketip over or something, but
hopefully, you know, we'll see.
We'll see how this is gonna go.
What about for Lighthouse?
So, Lighthouse, as everybodyknows, it's the newest private
(20:36):
island experience with Disney'scruise line.
They also have a 5k, and we'reprobably gonna do that as well.
I know my mom's definitely gonnado it.
She wants to do she wants thosemedals, good for her, and then
we also have a snorkelingexcursion scheduled for
Lighthouse Point, so we'll seehow that goes as well.
(20:58):
And then our last stop will beNassau, Bahamas.
And like I mentioned before, Ididn't, I'm not I'm not 100%
sold on just going and doing awhole lot there.
But like Crystal said, you know,maybe just get off the boat
there just to just to go andjust to like walk around and do
a couple things, but we don'thave any excursions planned
there.
(21:18):
I just didn't want to overdo it,really.
We'll see.
We'll see how that goes.
So for packing, I haven't doneany yet, but I have purchased
things that I'm going to pack.
I just haven't put them in anorganized fashion in a suitcase.
And I think, to be honest, Ellais the only one that has done
any packing yet.
(21:39):
She was doing, she was actuallypacking right before I walked in
here to sit down to record.
She was walking, she was askingme, where's her pirate shirt?
So that she could put it in hersuitcase.
So we do have Halloween-themedshirts for like the
Halloween-themed night.
And then we have Pirate Nightshirts for pirate night.
(22:00):
And then we'll probably bringsomething like, you know, a
little, maybe a little dressier.
They have a formal, kind ofsemi-formal if you want to dress
up night, but it's a little bitmore casual with Disney cruise
line.
We're going to drive toJacksonville on Thursday
evening.
I mean, we already have ourhotel booked.
(22:20):
Uh, my parents are gonna meet usthere, so we're gonna stay at
the same spot.
And then on Friday, we're gonnaget up and drive to the port.
It should only be like maybe acouple hours, I think two max.
Um, our boarding time is at12:30 on Friday, so we just need
to be able to get up and getthere by that time.
(22:40):
I am a little bit nervous aboutmotion sickness, so I've
basically packed like everymotion sickness remedy uh known
to man.
I have multiple different typesof motion sickness like
medication, and then I also havethe the behind the ear sticker
(23:02):
things.
I have my and I have my reliefband.
So I hope that I I will be allset.
SPEAKER_00 (23:09):
Thursday, you board Friday?
We board Friday.
So just start your your patchThursday, give it time to get in
your system.
SPEAKER_01 (23:16):
Oh yeah.
I mean, I'm definitely gonna belike, I will be taking the I'll
start taking medicine probablyon Thursday, Thursday evening.
And then I have our air tags umthat I want to have in our
basically in like the kind ofthe like the backpack like
carry-on kind of bags, just incase so that I think I w I saw
(23:38):
something posted in a Facebookgroup where this dad had had was
posting that his daughter likejust left her backpack somewhere
in the cruise terminal and theycouldn't find it, and Disney
said they couldn't find it.
Um they did eventually find it,but uh there were all these
people that were like, that'swhy you need to put air tags in
(23:59):
your everything, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (24:00):
So how about one of our agents who had a suitcase
that they gave to a porter andit was never brought to their
room, and Disney said theycouldn't find it, but it turned
out it was just stored somewhereunderneath, and they had an air
tag in it so they could see itlike they knew it was there.
SPEAKER_01 (24:16):
Yeah, yeah.
I am gonna bring some magnetichooks just because I have two
teenage daughters that areprobably gonna bring like a
bathing suit for every singleday, potentially multiple, you
know, because they have to likeyou know, switch things out.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh, I've already been told.
I've already been told that I'mgonna be required to take videos
(24:39):
and do pictures of them on theship and like certain like poses
and things like that.
And I was like, you know what?
As long as you guys do the samefor me, because I'm gonna need
you guys to take videos of me,so that's fine.
Do you guys have a shot list puttogether?
Yeah, I probably should.
I don't have one, but I probablyshould.
They may have one, like,especially Lena.
(25:01):
She may have one of like this isshe wants to have like these
certain things.
SPEAKER_00 (25:05):
I need a copy of that, Lena.
SPEAKER_01 (25:06):
Oh yeah.
See it.
And then we're gonna bring somefun Halloween magnets that I had
made.
It was like to put on our door.
The there's a big magnet thathas like our family name on it,
and that's Halloween on the highseas, and and then and then it
has like a Halloween-themedDisney character and our one and
(25:27):
our names on like each one.
And then I also have magnetsmade with our podcast on it.
So I'm gonna put that on thedoor too.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
Very nice.
If anybody needs a WonderlessSwimmish podcast magnet for
their cruise, I will personallysend you one.
So yeah, I have that all done.
Are you doing fish extenders?
No, I didn't do any of thatstuff.
I feel like it's so like such alot.
SPEAKER_01 (25:51):
Are you doing um that's what I'm saying?
Like, I just feel like it's athe first time we're going, and
I just want to like soak it in.
Yeah.
I didn't want to try to do allthese different things.
I just felt like that was addingto my stress level to do that
kind of stuff.
And it and it probably fine,like maybe like once you've been
on several and it's not a bigdeal.
And I think it's great.
(26:12):
I love like the whole likecommunity, like camaraderie and
all that stuff of people likewanting to do those things.
I think it's fantastic.
I just felt like it was a littletoo much for me.
SPEAKER_00 (26:22):
Are you taking a lanyard with some pen trading to
hang outside your?
SPEAKER_01 (26:28):
No.
I don't I mean, the girls dohave that, but I wasn't.
I mean, they may bring them.
I think they usually bring themwhen we go to the parks anyway.
Because they do like to getpens, but I don't, but they've
never really done trading.
I don't they like to keep theirpins.
SPEAKER_00 (26:43):
I I'm in the same boat.
I don't think someone asked meabout my cowboy Mickey, and I
was like, mm-mm, no.
Giving that away.
Go find your own.
SPEAKER_01 (26:54):
Yeah.
The girls, you know, theyusually put a lot of thought
into like whatever pen it isthey buy, you know, and it means
something.
And so I just don't think theywanna, they don't want to trade
them.
SPEAKER_00 (27:02):
So I've been trying to pick up not cheap, but like
some official Disney pens fromthe outlets.
So when I finally do, I'll belike, I don't really care about
these.
Take them, give me somethinggood.
All right, let's talk about theextras for Halloween on the high
seas.
SPEAKER_01 (27:20):
As I mentioned, I I love the Halloween on the high
seas theming for this wholething.
You don't really get a like trueschedule until you get on board,
but this is tentative.
For Halloween night, they'regoing to do the they're gonna do
that on October 4th and PirateNight, which that's not
(27:40):
Halloween specific, um, that'son the 6th, and then also just
like the kind of dress-up night,that's on the seventh.
Again, those are not necessarilyspecific to Halloween, uh, but
just something that we'll runinto.
Some of the fun things they dohave for Halloween, they have
the pumpkin tree that they putin the atrium, and each ship
that does the Halloween on thehigh seas sailings has its own
(28:02):
signature pumpkin tree.
They transform or they light thetree with jack-o'-lanterns on I
think on embarkation day.
And when they do, there's astorytelling ceremony, and the
cast members, they're alsocalled caretakers of the tree.
(28:22):
They narrate the legend of thetree.
And I will definitely want to dothat.
And we don't want I don't knowwhat the timing is of that, just
because you don't find out thatstuff until you're on board.
They do also have Halloweenthemed music.
I think they have like livemusic in some of the different
lounges, and then I think ingeneral, they just the music
that they play on the ship, theythrow in Halloween themed music.
(28:44):
They have the Mickey's MouseGeraid party.
It's considered the signatureevent of Halloween on the high
seas.
It's held out on the pool decktypically, depending on weather.
And it has your care yourtypical characters, Mickey,
Minnie, Goofy, Donald.
They arrive in their Halloweencostumes and get out and dance,
(29:07):
which is fun.
Yeah, it's just basically like abig fun like dancing and music
and deck.
It's like a big deck party.
It'd be so fun to see them intheir Halloween outfits.
I know.
I'm excited too.
They also have Halloween-themedtreats and drinks, so I'll be
excited about that as well.
I want to try to find as much asI can that I can actually eat.
(29:28):
And even if I can't, I'llprobably buy stuff for the
girls.
SPEAKER_00 (29:31):
They have seen a pumpkin-spiced coffee.
SPEAKER_01 (29:34):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, oh yes.
SPEAKER_00 (29:36):
Coffee will be every day.
We need to know if it comparesto your Joffrey's at the parks.
Okay.
Does it taste better at sea?
SPEAKER_01 (29:44):
Oh, you think so?
Is that the word?
I don't know.
That's what I'm saying.
You need that word on thestreet.
Okay.
Okay.
I need to verify.
Okay.
And then they have somethingwhich I honestly was not aware
of this at all.
They have something calledHalloween Isn't Just for Kids,
and it's an adult costume partythat's in.
In one of the adult only areas.
SPEAKER_00 (30:04):
Are you gonna go to that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:05):
Doubtful.
But I don't know.
We'll see.
unknown (30:08):
Probably.
SPEAKER_00 (30:12):
Halloween party?
SPEAKER_01 (30:12):
No, I have shirts.
I'm telling you.
I've like I've double dip inhere.
So it's hard.
It's and I think all you parentsout there that have kids that
are like tweens and teens,they're not they don't want to
do fun Halloween costumes rightnow.
And so the fact that I'm gettingthem to wear matching shirts is
(30:33):
I think about as much as I canget them to do right now.
So they also have Halloweencrafts, and Ella and I will
definitely be checking that out.
We'll we'll definitely want togo find that.
And of course, we already kindof mentioned that the characters
in their Halloween attire andmaybe finding the Sanderson
sisters.
I'm excited about all thosethings.
SPEAKER_00 (30:52):
I'm so excited for you.
I can't wait to hear all aboutit and see all the pictures.
Are you gonna do on the go?
Maybe we'll see.
SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
We'll see.
We'll see what I can do.
I mean, I definitely will beposting updates.
And I'm I think I'm pretty goodabout posting updates on my
stories, even if it's like aquick video.
I'm pretty decent about doingthat.
I also am not sure about how I'mI'm guessing I'm gonna have to
buy like the streaming internetpackage because otherwise I'll
(31:25):
have a riot on my hands.
The other thing that hashappened is the Reds are in the
playoffs now.
I was just gonna say today'sbaseball playoff season, so and
so potentially he he could go tothe sports bar because I'm sure
they'll have them on, but heusually likes to watch the games
on his own because he gets likeriled up, and so I think if
(31:49):
there's a way for him to be ableto stream and watch the games,
then that's what he's gonna do.
Any of our listeners that haveexperienced either the Disney
Magic or if you've doneHalloween on the high seas and
you have something specific thatany like tips or anything that
you want to give me or anythingthat you want me to look at or
content that you want to see,and also specifically the
(32:10):
islands.
If you want to see somethingabout either one of the islands,
whether it's you know, excursionoptions or food or you know, the
chairs or seating or any ofthose things, just let me know.
I will definitely post as muchas I can while also trying to
enjoy the you know the time.
SPEAKER_00 (32:28):
We'll definitely do a post-trip and round everything
up when you get back.
SPEAKER_01 (32:32):
Yeah, because I'm gonna have Mickey's not so scary
to talk about as well, becauseI've never done that before.
SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
So I know it's hard to do on the goes selfishly if
you can.
I would love to hear them.
SPEAKER_01 (32:42):
But I know it's hard.
It is hard.
It's hard.
You're much better about themthan I am.
I'm I'm better about like doinglike the I think the story
posting like in real time, butlike actually like sitting down
and like doing like a full dayrecap.
It's very I'm very bad at that.
But we we hope that you haveenjoyed this pre-trip, and I
(33:04):
look forward to being able tochat through everything that I
experience while I'm there.
This so this episode will poston October 1st, and I will be
leaving the following Friday.
So just follow along onWonderless and Wishes Podcast
and also Dorso Mouse Adventures,and I will have content posted
(33:26):
for as much as I can throughoutthe trip.
SPEAKER_00 (33:29):
Have so much fun.
SPEAKER_01 (33:31):
Yay! We hope you all have a fantastic week.
We'll chat with you next week.
Bye.
SPEAKER_00 (33:47):
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Wonderlust
and Wishes.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe and
leave us a review on yourfavorite podcast platform.
And remember, the world is fullof wonders waiting to be
explored.
SPEAKER_01 (34:02):
Until next time, happy travels.
Bye for now.
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