(Part 1) 10 things to know before going for your Disney Adventure cruise
Going for the Disney Adventure? Here are ten tips from our own experience to help you get the most out of your cruise!
I finally got around to writing this blog post about our Disney Adventure cruise! I know it’s been a while—we went in June—but better late than never! 😁
There’s already lots of content on social media about what to see and do on the cruise, so I thought instead of doing a full review on those, I’d share some helpful tips and some of the things to expect instead. Hopefully this will be more up to date too, since the Disney Adventure’s maiden voyage from Singapore was in March. A few things have changed since then, and the experience for paying guests is quite different compared to the early influencer voyage. Disney also has had time to iron out those initial teething problems.
Overall, we really enjoyed our 5D4N cruise. I did go with slightly lower expectations after seeing complaints online, things like attractions not working or certain features missing compared to the maiden voyage. But I’m glad to report everything was running smoothly when we went, and my family and I really enjoyed ourselves.
Disney Cruise truly feels magical, especially if you’re a Disney fan. Having been on other non-Disney cruises, the atmosphere is just different when you're surrounded by Disney-themed decor, music and attractions—it’s almost like you're in Disneyland😊. So if it’s your first Disney Adventure cruise or you’re planning to go soon, here are some tips that might help with your planning. (Just a note: everything I’m sharing is based on our June trip, so keep in mind that some systems may continue to evolve!)
1) Download the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app for bookings and check-in
Once you’ve booked your cruise, you’ll be prompted to download the Disney Cruise app so you can stay updated. You're also need this app during your cruise.
Activity bookings open 75 days before your sail date, which means you can start reserving certain activities like the Disney Princess and Marvel character makeovers, spa treatments, massages and photo packages once the window opens. Just note that these are for the paid activities. If you're certain that you want to go for certain activities you might want to just go head and book them as pre-cruise purchases are usually slightly cheaper than booking when onboard.
Check-in opens 30 days before your sail date, and this is something you’ll want to do as soon as possible. During online check-in, you’ll select your Port Arrival Time. The earlier your slot, the sooner you can board and start enjoying the amenities. Arrival times are staggered to help with crowd control, so try to grab the earliest window you can.
We checked in a day late (I didn’t get a notification because I was logged out of the app. So do set your own reminder and don’t rely on the app notification!). We got a 1pm arrival time, though I believe the earliest slot is around 11am, so yes, check in right away to snag that early boarding window.
2) Prepare room door decor and gifts for pixie dusting
I actually didn’t know that decorating your room door and “pixie dusting” were such big traditions on Disney cruises until just a couple of days before we sailed, and I’m so glad I found out! At first I thought, aiya, so ma fan, decorate for what? But then I saw some social media videos of the gorgeous door decorations on the Disney Adventure and thought, okay, this might actually be fun. See an example below of how elaborate the decor can be 😄
Since I didn’t have much time to prepare, I just grabbed whatever magnets we had at home (you’ll need magnets to attach decor to the door) and some old Disney balloons. Later, my girls decided to make their own drawings, which I feel turned out way nicer and more original than store-bought Disney decor. So you really don’t need to spend money and just DIY, which also makes a fun pre-sail project for kids.
If you’re new to pixie dusting, it’s basically a Disney Cruise tradition where guests leave small gifts at each other’s doors. Some people buy little goodies like stationery or candy, but since I was late to the game, I just brought new and unused Disney stickers, board books and spare stationery we already have at home, while my girls hand drew Disney character art cards.
You’ll also want to hang a bag outside your room for people to drop gifts in. Just a word of caution: only use decor or bags you wouldn’t mind losing. Sadly, there are thieves onboard. I saw posts about people rummaging through bags to steal gifts, and a friend of mine even had her entire fish extender stolen! I believe it’s only a small minority that would be so disgusting to steal people's room decor and pixie dust, but it can happen. So my advice is to decorate with items you’re okay parting with, and bring any gifts inside whenever you return to your room.
If you’re thinking of skipping this, please don't! 😄 In hindsight, pixie dusting and door decorating are really part of the Disney Cruise magic. Even my teenage girls got excited checking if people left us gifts, and we loved admiring all the creative door designs. Some guests even leave “take one” gifts at their doors for others, which is really sweet. I also saw lotsa kids who really looked to be enjoying themselves when they drop off little surprises for others. If you don’t join in, you might feel a bit left out 😉
3) You can arrive slightly earlier than your designated Port Arrival Time on sailing day
The Disney Cruise app will tell you to arrive only during your designated Port Arrival Time, and technically, if you show up earlier you may be asked to wait. In reality though, we arrived about half an hour before our slot—and our friend came 45 minutes early—and both of us were allowed to check in. It really depends on how quickly they clear the earlier groups. If boarding is moving along, they’ll usually let you through even if your slot is later. From our experience, I feel arriving 30–45 minutes ahead of your Port Arrival Time is pretty reasonable.
4) Get started once you board
Once you’re onboard, you can head straight for lunch at any of the restaurants or eateries that are already open.
If you’ve checked in your bags, they’ll be delivered to your room later, so there’s no need to worry about picking them up. After lunch, your room will likely be ready, and that’s when most people start decorating their doors so they can start pixie dusting.
There are also sailaway parties happening on the first day, basically big performances that are super crowded but still fun to check out.
I also noticed a lot of guests rushing to queue for the Ironcycle ride (which is exclusive to the Disney Adventure) right away, and there was a very long queue for it. I think many were worried they might miss out since the ride wasn’t working during parts of earlier cruises. But I’d say it's not necessary to rushing for it immediately when you board. We queued for it later and the line was a lot shorter. More on that later!
5) There's no need to buy WIFI packages if you only need basic services
There’s free Wi-Fi onboard, but it’s only good for the basics like accessing the Disney Cruise app, sending WhatsApp messages (photos and videos won’t go through though), and receiving emails. I found that is good enough as it's just reassuring to know you can stay in touch with family back home if need be.
Beyond that, there’s so much to do on the cruise that we didn’t feel the need to surf the net or scroll social media. The only thing we wished we could access was our eBooks on Libby, but since that wasn’t possible, we brought physical books instead, which came in handy during queuing.
If you do need more than the basic Wi-Fi, packages are available for purchase. I didn’t note down the prices, but like most cruises, I recall they’re pretty costly.
6) Try to arrive earlier if not, on time, for dinner
On the Disney Adventure, you’ll be assigned specific dinner times and restaurants. The earlier shift is around 545pm and 815pm. You can choose the shifts when you book and I think most people prefer the earlier shifts such that we were automatically assigned the late shift as we booked rather late and the early shifts were full. I would have preferred the earlier shift when my girls were younger but now in their teens, the later shift worked better for us as they are able to stay up later.
Also, try to arrive a little earlier, or at least on time at your assigned restaurant. On our first night, we showed up slightly late and found the servers were already swamped, which meant longer waits and less flexibility with special requests.
For the rest of the nights, we arrived a bit earlier. There’s usually a short queue outside, but it moves quickly since tables are pre-assigned. Arriving early made a big difference on our enjoyment of the dinner as the servers were more attentive before the dinner rush kicked in.
If you're on a cruise for the first time, you'll probably know you aren’t limited to one appetiser, one main, and one dessert per person at sit-down dinners. You can order multiple items to share, so don’t feel pai seh (embarrassed) about asking for more if your family wants to try different dishes. Just let your server know you’re ordering to share. Of course, only order what you can finish la!
Another good hack is to decide what you want before you even sit down—the menu is available on the app—so you can place your order quickly and get served before the restaurant gets busier.
And of course you can ask for the Mickey Mouse ice-cream bar during dinner, which you'll specially need to let your server know as it won't be on the menu!
7) Buffet breakfasts at can get pretty crowded
Breakfast at the buffet restaurants can get pretty crowded. The food is more or less the same across the different venues, so you can just pick whichever one you like for a change of scenery. We really love the Pixar Market Restaurant that is themed to the different Pixar movies. Here's the Monster University section:
And the Red section:
It looks empty as the photos were taken when we were there for dinner and it was still early. Breakfast is a lot more packed and chaotic 😅
There’s also the option of a la carte breakfasts at certain restaurants, but the menu is the same every day. I’d suggest going for this if 1) you want to avoid the busy buffet crowds, 2) try it for once for the experience, especially if you weren’t assigned that restaurant for dinner and have yet to been to that restaurant or 3) save this for the last day before disembarkation, since only a la carte breakfast is served then.
8) Try all the casual eateries
Some of the food at the quick service & casual eateries are really good, so definitely consider them for lunches or snacks between meals. We often just ordered one portion for everyone to share to sample different dishes without overstuffing cos, yup, you do a lot of eating on cruises. We highly recommend the burgers at Ohana Grill...
...the butter chicken at Mowgli’s Eatery, and the Mediterranean fare at Cosmic Kebabs.
Generally I find the food at the casual eateries are all pretty good. The buffet and dinner food were a bit hit and miss, but overall still quite enjoyable.
The only eatery I found underwhelming was Pizza Planet by the pool. You’d think pizza is a safe bet, but erm… yeah, not worth the stomach space or the queue.
Do note that during peak times like lunch, these eateries can get crowded. If you want to dine inside and you’re in a group, have one person secure a table while the rest queue to order to save time. Another option is to takeaway and enjoy your food at the outdoor seating area at the Disney Discovery Reef, or bring back to your room if you have sufficient space there.
Most of the eateries in the cruise are complimentary, but there are a few specialty spots that charge. We skipped those since there was already so much good food included in the cruise fare!
9) Be prepared to queue early for the entertainment if you want good seats
For two Broadway-style shows—Disney Seas the Adventure and Remember—you’ll be assigned a designated time for it. Even so, if you want good seats, you’ll need to go early and queue. For these two shows, we lined up about an hour before the start time and there were already people ahead of us! If you’re not too particular about snagging the best seats, arriving around 30 minutes early should be fine. (No pics for the performances as photography and videography are not allowed.)
Other shows usually have a few scheduled sessions at outdoor performance venues, and if you want to get front row seats, you'll need to go early as well. We didn't do so for Moana: Call of the Sea so it was a bit hard to find a good spot with unobstructed views.
One show we really looked forward to was the Avengers Assemble show. So for this, we queued an hour early, and watched it twice. The first was from the stepped seats at the back, and while you can get a full view of the performance area, it did feel a bit far from the stage.
For the second time, we went an hour earlier but sat at the fake grass patch right in front of the stage. The latter was hands down the better experience! So if you can, I’d highly recommend heading to the grass patch about an hour before the show starts to secure a good spot.
10) Be prepared to queue for the Ironcycle
The Ironcycle is a coaster ride exclusive to the Disney Adventure, and it was definitely a highlight for us. Actually we were prepared not to ride it at all since I’d seen on social media that it sometimes wasn’t operating due to maintenance, or that people couldn’t get a booking through the app.
But when we went in June, you no longer need to book on the app, you just queue at the ride. A good tip is to try lining up during the opposite dinner shift (so if you’re on the later dinner shift, go during the early dinner shift). That way, part of the crowd is away eating and the line might just be shorter. We queued during the early dinner shift and it took about an hour.
Do note that bags and loose items aren’t allowed on the ride. There’s a spot near the end of the queue to leave your belongings, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving valuables there since you can’t keep an eye on them. The best option is to leave your things in your room and head to the ride with no phones or bags.
The system feels a bit silly since you can’t even bring a book to entertain yourself during the hour-long wait. Still, the ride itself was amazing, definitely more intense than it looks, and surreal to be on a coaster above the sea. I’d definitely recommend trying it at least once!
Do note that riders need to be between 120cm-195cm tall, and children under 7 years old must ride accompanied by someone who is at least 14 years old.
As for the other rides, like the Groot Galaxy Spin...
...and Pym Quantum Racers...
...they are geared toward younger kids and generally don’t have long queues, so you can just drop by whenever.
Okay, this is just part one of my review of our Disney Adventure cruise. I'll be putting up part two very soon! Do look out for it! In the meantime, if you'd like to see more pics and videos, do head over to the IG stories on my Instagram page!
Disclaimer: We paid for our cruise. As always, all opinions are ours.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.
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