A few weeks ago, my family returned from back to back sailings on the brand new Disney Wish. We sailed on the August 15 (4 night) and August 19 (3 night) sailings. This is part 3 of my trip report, in which I will share my thoughts on the entertainment experiences onboard the Wish. You can start with part 1 (embarkation) here.
Sail Away Party
We enjoyed the Sail Away parties. While the original (now retired) “Adventures Away” party from the Magic & Wonder will always be my favorite, this one ranks second, ahead of the Dream, Fantasy, and new “Sail-A-Wave” parties on the Magic & Wonder. The music is really catchy. For the first cruise, we didn’t stake out a spot early enough and ended up towards the back.
For the second one, we got there super early and got a good spot on deck 12 just beside the stage:
There was a large crowd. Note that they only have to close the pool under the stage, which leaves 5 pools open during the party.
SpaceX Rocket Launch
Because we were incredibly lucky, we got to see the SpaceX Rocket launch on August 19, which was the first day of our second cruise. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen! I know this isn’t technically part of the entertainment onboard, but it was to cool not to share.
I was taking the above video and didn’t get any photos, but I stole this one from our cruise group’s Facebook page. I hope whoever took it doesn’t see it and get mad! If so, I apologize and kudos because it is a spectacular photo!
I feel very fortunate to have witnessed this and it was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip!
Pirates Rockin’ Parlay Party
We LOVED the pirate deck party!!! It was probably my favorite thing of the entire cruise! I love the addition of the live band, the music choices were fantastic, and the talent level of the performers was off the charts. The fireworks seems to last a lot longer as well. I thought it was the perfect length – not too short, not too long, and the whole thing was just so, so fun! On our first cruise, we didn’t get up there soon enough and were in the back but could still see so it was fine. Since we enjoyed it so much, we made a point to watch the clock and leave dinner in enough time to stake out a good spot for the second cruise.
The live band were actually the jazz trio that often played in the Bayou Lounge throughout the cruise and I thought it was really neat to see them put on wigs, get into character and rock out. The singers and dancers were performers from the Walt Disney Theater and are so talented and fun to watch.
While someone did make an entrance by rappelling from the funnel during the first party, they did not in the second one. I’m not sure if it was wind, sea conditions or technical difficulties.
Evening Shows
The Walt Disney Theater is beautiful, though in my recollection it seems smaller than the Dream and the Fantasy. It has been years since I have been on those ships, so maybe I am wrong. It is 2 levels and I always sat on the lower level, though my husband once sat in the upper level and he said the view was very good up there too.
Disney Seas the Adventure
This is the show on the first night and we enjoyed the most. I am glad we got to see it twice. It is short (maybe 30-45 mins?) but packed with some great musical numbers, including my favorite Disney song, Go the Distance. Don’t miss this one!
The Little Mermaid
I appreciate the fact that they wanted to try to put a different spin on a classic, but sometimes I just don’t think it’s necessary (or best) to reinvent the wheel. While the overall plot is the same, there are some choices made to try to perhaps “freshen” it up and add a unique element. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so I don’t want to be too specific, but pay very close attention to the first few minutes in order to see exactly what the premise of the show is. This helps explain the odd costumes and some of the strange details throughout. Also, don’t sit very close to the stage – there are a lot of projections on the theater walls that you will miss and really add to the story. Also, don’t sit on the right side of the theater unless you are in the first or second seat from the aisle. I was about 5 or 6 seats down and couldn’t see what was happening on the right side of the stage in one scene. I don’t think the show was terrible – I didn’t want to get up and walk out or anything, but it just didn’t have that extra something that every other show I have seen on a Disney cruise has (well except maybe the old Toy Story show). I skipped this on the second cruise, and I think this is the first time I didn’t go see a show twice while doing back to back cruises.
Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular
They did not perform this on our first sailing, and we are lucky that it debuted on our second one. As we were standing in line to get into the theater about 20 minutes before show time, the show was delayed by either 30 or 45 minutes but they didn’t tell us why. We had a good spot in line so we stayed and waited it out. I was nervous that with both the delay and this being the first performance that the show would not be performance ready. But…….I was wrong! It was great! I didn’t notice any issues at all, although I do think that the delay may have had something to do with the “A Whole New World” scene. I remember them sitting on a flying carpet, but this time they were sitting on a bench in the castle window with the flying scenery projections behind them. Perhaps the carpet malfunctioned at the last minute and they needed time to rework the scene? Maybe not, it’s just a guess.
Daily Activities
We did a lot of trivia and karaoke on this cruise so I really can’t speak about much else. I will say that unfortunately, the app almost never said what the topic for trivia would be and the only way to know was to show up, or ask one of the entertainment CMs to look at their daily schedule. I asked why the app didn’t say the topic, and was told something about this having to be done by shore side staff and they aren’t doing it for some unknown reason. Seems like this shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out. They did have a special performer one day in Luna (she did an afternoon & evening show), Michelle Wright, who was on Broadway and worked for Disney in the past. We enjoyed it, she was really funny and a great singer. We also heard some live music in the Bayou Lounge here and there while walking past. We didn’t watch any movies, but the Wish has 2 movie theaters that are much smaller than the other ships, but maybe that makes sense – not sure how full they ever got. One night in the Walt Disney Theater was Charles Peachock, who we have seen on other ships. He is a juggler that does some pretty incredible stuff. We don’t meet characters or do any of the evening adult activities, so I can’t comment on those. There seemed to be a lot of drawing classes offered.
Hyperspace Lounge
As of our sailings, you can walk through the lounge during the open house hours, but to sit down and have a drink during non-open house hours, you must have a reservation. We made our reservation in the cruise terminal on the app while waiting to board, and I think that all of the reservations were taken by the time boarding began. I think you can also check periodically while onboard and see if anyone did not show up or did not stay long – I think a few people were able to get in that way too. The lounge is very small, and the theming is just okay. The neatest thing is the door. I think the novelty of this space will wear off pretty quickly. I guess I just expected it to be more elaborate.
The menu is on an iPad. There are only 2 non-alcoholic drinks, which seems lazy to me, and we ordered one of each. Neither was all that great and I don’t think it would be hard to add more options that are better tasting. Our server also brought us a little cup of dried fruit which tasted like the fruit pieces from trail mix. Speaking of our server, she acted like she really didn’t want to be there and this is another area where I think they got lazy. Maybe my expectations are too high, but I think that the servers should be in character.
I think we stayed about 15 minutes (I believe your reservation is for 45 minutes) and left for karaoke.
Up Next: Ship Layout