From March 5th to March 13th, I was on a Disney Cruise and then had a two-day Disneyland adventure to celebrate my sister’s 30th birthday! I want to start this recap by pointing out that we had planned this trip for over a year before any unfortunate events with our Southern neighbours. We continued to have as much fun as we could and not have anything go to waste!
March 5th:
This was my first-ever cruise! We had a very early morning to fly to Vancouver and get on the cruise to embark the same day. This boat was massive and apparently, it was the smallest one of the Disney Cruise line, with over 1,000 cast members on the boat; could you imagine that?! They welcomed us on board, then we headed up to our rooms, and immediately decorated our doors. After everything was settled, we finally set sail and watched the Vancouver skyline pass by. The coolest part was sailing right under the Lions Gate Bridge! A bridge I used to drive on all the time and now I’ve sailed under it.
It was a relaxing day, we all did a bit of trivia, explored the boat, and had our first dinner at Tritons, a beautiful restaurant with, you guessed it, a Little Mermaid Theme. It was our first day so the most eventful part was just making it on the bridge and checking everything out!
March 6th:
On the second day, we docked for the day at Victoria. We didn’t end up going off on a port city adventure, instead, we stayed on board and went to events happening on the boat. We started with breakfast at Cabana’s (this was always our breakfast and lunch place besides the quick service options on the top decks) they had a ton of options! We then drew Goofy and we all agreed that my sister had the best one. We took advantage of the sunny day and went to the pool! I think one of the best parts on board was the adult-only pool and area; it was really nice to have a quiet place to relax. The hot tubs were great and the pool wasn’t that cold! It was a nice break before we headed for lunch, more trivia, karaoke, and a game show.
I will say that while this amazing stuff was going on, I was squeezing and meeting characters in between everything. I brought a white pillowcase for characters to sign as my big main souvenir and I was determined. I was so set on getting every character on the boat so that when we got to Disneyland, I could get other unique signatures. And on our 5-day journey, I got every single character’s signature that was on the boat. It was quite an accomplishment!
We had dinner at Animator’s Palate; I think the name is adorable! It was decorated with palettes on the ceiling with light-up paint and paintbrush pillars. It also had TV’s around the room showing different character art and how they were made. It was an awesome day but this night is where it took a turn.
March 7th:
Between the time of year and the fact that we were out running a storm forming behind us, it started getting rocky. Luckily, we were prepared and brought almost every seasick remedy under the sun so it was manageable. Unfortunately, about half of us felt sick, but still, we pushed on. This day was filled with a one-room scavenger hunt, a windchime craft, and just a lot of meeting characters and relaxation. Many of the others felt better when relaxing and lying down, not me though. I needed to be up and moving to distract myself from the fact that I was on a rocking boat!
This day was also Pirate Night! We went to Animator’s Palate again and ginger ale became my best friend. We all got pirate-themed bandanas to wear and it was a ton of fun! One other thing that was amazing while on board was the fact that we had the same dinner waiters each night. They learned our preferences, were super compassionate, and made dinner fun!
March 8th:
We started with a delicious light breakfast; the seasickness was getting a bit better with the previous day being the worst of it. Others drew Heihei but the one I didn’t want to miss was BB8. Yes, it was a bunch of circles and mechanical details, it was amazing! I met more characters, did lots more trivia, and went to the Frozen Musical Spectacular which was the main show that evening. It truly was spectacular! The puppeteer work was phenomenal, and the singing and acting were so great.
That evening we were at Tiana’s Place for dinner. Which was hands-down the BEST restaurant on the ship; we were sad to only see it once! It was all beautifully themed; Tiana came around to each table in her gorgeous white dress, and there was a jazz band playing music all throughout dinner. The band was so talented; they played renditions of classic Disney songs. Towards the end of the night, they welcomed people to dance and share in the enjoyment. At the end of the dance line, a not-so-very-low bar for a little limbo. It was so much fun and if I had to pick just one night to let the inner child out, it was this one!
March 9th:
The last day on the boat was filled with mixed feelings. On one hand, I was excited to be on solid ground again, on the other, the boat became your home for the past 5 days. You went to your usual spots and started seeing the same crew and guests. It was a bit sad but I was confident that I had gotten the most out of what the Disney Wonder could offer. Today’s activities consisted of a character dance party, checking out the front of the boat, Foosball, Moana 2 at the theatre, and the last main show which was Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic. It was beautifully made and performed but I did sneak out at the end to catch the last sunset on the boat. It was definitely worth it!
We had our last dinner at Tritons again and we took a picture with our two waiters. They were so friendly and filled each night with laughs! And lots of Crème Brûlée of course! I finished the day by watching the small farewell show in the lobby. We cheered for the crew, cooks, performers, and characters. We said goodbye to them and they all said goodbye to us. It was a meaningful little show and worth staying up a bit later. The last Disney magic I was given was our room’s blanket animal that evening, a sea turtle! My favorite animal, I was so excited and it was a great way to end the final night.
March 10th:
This was our disembarkation day; we ended up in San Diego and had a train to catch to take us to Anaheim. We had a quick breakfast, packed up our things, and were some of the first crowd off the boat to make it to the train station. Were we about two hours early? Yes. But we weren’t late! We relaxed in the terminal and then had a comfortable train ride all the way to Anaheim. Next was a short bus trip where we fit a bunch of people and suitcases on board to take us all to Disneyland. We were staying at a hotel that was a 5-minute walk away. It was a bit small for all five of us, but since we weren’t lounging in it all day, it was worth being that close.
This day was settling into the hotel and Downtown Disney. We shopped around a bit; I got some Star Wars pins and scoped out the World of Disney store to come back to since we still had the shops inside the parks to look at. My parents and sister had a simple dinner in the hotel room so Calvin and I went out and had a little date night. We went to Black Tap, sat at the bar, and attempted to crush the monster portions that were our dinner! We also had some milkshakes and they had soy-based options! I was so ecstatic to learn this being lactose intolerant, I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a milkshake all to myself! I had the cookies and cream of course and it definitely wasn’t my only one on the trip.
March 11th:
This day was our California Adventure day. Since we were celebrating my sister’s birthday and it was Calvin’s first time, they both got buttons. We used the lightning lane and single rider lane where we could to make sure we got on the rides we wanted. It was fun showing Calvin all the different rides and differences between Disneyland and Disneyworld. Of course, we also met more characters to grab signatures for my pillow.
The one part of California Adventure that I was very excited to see was Avengers Campus. I had not been there yet and it was gorgeous! The whole layout and landscape were breathtaking and I loved the small shows that went on throughout the day. Definitely hard to top but oh, it was getting topped.
March 12th:
Our Disneyland day! It was a bit rainy like the previous day but we were all prepared and it was very light rain on and off throughout the day. We did the lightning lane and single rider again which made ride hopping very easy; we got all the rides on our list crossed off! If we were only here for a day, we were gonna make the most out of it. We met more characters, tried treats, walked all around the park, and had a fun-filled day.
My biggest highlight was Galaxy’s Edge and I think it was Calvin’s too! The characters walking around and interacting with guests made for hilarious moments. Calvin got stopped by some stormtroopers and gave them some wrong information on the whereabouts of Chewie. Kylo Ren essentially told me I was basic for taking pictures and I gave finger guns to a stormtrooper which was one of the things I most wanted to do. The greatest moment though was when I took a walk with Ahsoka. Okay, I’m gonna nerd out a bit more than I already have. She was so gorgeous and I wasn’t afraid to tell her. She did amazing; we had a lovely chat and talked about how the sky had stopped crying but where I was from, the sky cried frozen tears. It was great and Calvin captured the whole thing on video! We took a quick picture and said goodbye so she could go make another person’s day.
This was my favourite moment especially because I started to feel a bit unwell towards the end of our day. Thankfully, I sucked it up to grab a nice quick picture with Calvin and my family in front of the castle.
March 13th:
To the surprise of no one, I caught a cold! Cold medicine to the rescue, I made it through our travel day and relaxed the rest of the weekend before heading to my normal routine the next week. This trip felt fast looking back but I had such fun-filled days and tons of pictures and videos to look back on. I still have to edit all the camera pictures I took; feel free to guess how many images I took in the comments! Spoiler: it was a LOT! That’ll take some time to go through but that just means I can relive the fond memories all over again.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my adventure; it was a vacation that was much needed!