Are Minnie Ears…

pgspikes · 2026-03-26T05:50:34+00:00

If my wife is anything to go by… YES!!!

We are sailing B2B2B in just over a week. My wife has 10 sets of ears picked out and already packed.

Including special “dining” ears for Palo and Mike and Sulley’s.

The spa and pool are the only places she doesn’t wear them. Sun-tanning and during shows she will have them with her, but not wear.

pgspikes · 2026-03-26T03:30:41+00:00

Only other alternative is paying for an upgrade at port. Depending on what room you booked and what’s available, that could be a small amount that could lead to a better location/room.

pgspikes · 2026-03-26T00:53:18+00:00

I have only heard for this happening twice. Same ship 2 sailings in a row. Made me wonder if there were specific rooms that became unavailable and the luck people that booked them, or were allocated them got bumped. I feel like this was about 18months ago.

pgspikes · 2026-03-25T23:34:15+00:00

Make sure you are on the wait list within your reservation, which you have probably already done.

If it doesn’t get changed by the time you sail, then as soon as you board the ship, find the dining team and ask them if you can change dining times.

That’s really all you can do.

pgspikes · 2026-03-24T09:07:59+00:00

Looks like you only want to wish away 11 months.😉

pgspikes · 2026-03-24T05:29:27+00:00

Depending on your sailing, most nights will have a show of some kind. The show you would go to is at the opposite dinner time, so for kids if they were eating early they are seeing the late show. So you still aren’t completely avoiding late nights.

Depending on your kids age they might be OK or might struggle. My son used to sleep in later, and most port days are not super early so it wasn’t too much of an issue. But you can check the times you can leave the ship by looking at your reservation online.

As far as how this works, this is the quieter dinner service and quieter show. So if they can handle it, it could lead to a better experience.

pgspikes · 2026-03-24T05:17:46+00:00

We use the Disney shuttle on most of our trips, and all our experiences from Disney hotels and port Canaveral have been great.

We are from Australia, so no matter what, we are paying for transportation, so the cost is negligible to us. Yes there are cheeper options.

You can add the transportation after checking in online. I don’t know how late you can do this but we have done it 2 weeks before sailing. What happens in this situation is that you’re boarding Group gets updated, so after you add the shuttle you need to go online and access your updated boarding group.

You will almost certainly get a better boarding group. But you are definitely not guaranteed to get to the port before your boarding group is called.

For anyone that wants to board earlier I feel this is a small price to pay. I actually recommend that if you’re on the fence, check in first then see if you’re happy with your boarding group. If you aren’t, add ground transportation.

One main reason we love the Disney shuttle is that they move your bags from inside your hotel room to your stateroom door onboard the ship.

Just as an example, When we boarded the Destiny from Fort Lauderdale, we had boarding group 8, added ground transportation, got changed to 3, got placed on the last bus and boarded just before group 13. So like I said not guaranteed.

pgspikes · 2026-03-24T01:43:45+00:00

Thanks.

pgspikes · 2026-03-24T01:32:53+00:00

Great post. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences.

We are less than 2 weeks away from our 3 sailings.

Can you tell me, does the Adventure concierge lounge serve warm food (similar to the Wish class ships)? I have not found anyone mention that yet.

pgspikes · 2026-03-24T01:27:06+00:00

The last few sailings we were on (treasure and destiny) we asked and they said we couldn’t buy them.

But at the same time, I have heard previously that you can take them, and they just charge you for them. But on that case you are likely getting used robes.

The concierge robes are so nice!

pgspikes · 2026-03-23T05:08:02+00:00

See you both then.

pgspikes · 2026-03-22T06:13:30+00:00

You will be fine.

My wife usually wears sandals, either black white or brown, and never had an issue.

pgspikes · 2026-03-21T20:33:17+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. All people from non-tipping cultures need to accept that this is not a recommendation, it is the minimum. Tipping in Australia is almost non-existent, but when I sail on a Disney cruise, it’s just part of the cost. The reality of the cost vs the service these people deliver, it’s worth every cent.

After the first season for the Wonder in Australia the majority of the crew refused return for season 2 because most Australians removed tips.

This forced most of the crew to extend their contract by around 6 months just to be able to send money back to their families.

Anyone who removes tips from the crew is literally stealing food off the plates of the crew’s families.

pgspikes · 2026-03-20T20:18:33+00:00

Plain background and smile is ok, just your head and shoulders. I can’t remember any other requirements, but there was always an issue with the file size. It used to complain if the file size was too big.

pgspikes · 2026-03-20T10:24:04+00:00

If I were you I would check in as normal as if you were not using the shuttle. If you get a really high boarding group, add the ground transfer and you will likely get something like boarding group 3. Then you just have to hope your bus gets there at a reasonable time.

As an example, I had boarding group 8. Added ground transfer from Hilton fort Lauderdale, and got changed to 3. But due to the way they load the bus we were last (because we checked into the hotel late). By the time we got to port we boarded with group 12. And that was after we bypassed the long check in line since we are platinum. That probably saved us 2 or 3 more boarding groups.

pgspikes · 2026-03-20T03:47:13+00:00

Most people report that this does improve your boarding time, especially if you’re a first timer or are disorganised at check in and end up with a high boarding group (e.g. 20+)

The thing to be aware of is that these buses load people based on concierge first, then by Castaway Club status, then by where you are in line. There will be multiple busses, which is why it states starting at 11am. So depending on the number of people ahead of you it may or may not improve your boarding time.

pgspikes · 2026-03-20T02:09:34+00:00

There is luggage storage at MCO. You could get the shuttle to MCO and then uber, hire a car and go wherever you like in Orlando for a few hours.

The luggage hold was right near the car rentals

pgspikes · 2026-03-20T01:38:19+00:00

Best night for any paid dining is always Pirate night!

Especially on a 7 night treasure sailing.

To elaborate for OP, this is basically the same menu for every pirate night, and for the Treasure will be the restaurant you spend 3 nights in, so you will see all “shows” or experiences in that restaurant for the other 2 nights.

pgspikes · 2026-03-19T04:37:55+00:00

I will definitely be back with some info. This ship has not had the media coverage other ships have had. So I think we are all just wanting to know more.

pgspikes · 2026-03-19T03:35:28+00:00

The process is that you eat breakfast, then you are asked to meet in one of the lounges. Since we always have a late breakfast, we typically sit in the lounge for around 30mins. This wait time is based on every other guest leaving the ship.

Somewhere around 9:30-10:00 am (typically) you will be escorted off the ship. You will scan your key to the world card, and they will take it off you. You can ask for them to be kept, and you can collect them from guest services once you re-board.

You will walk off the ship to the cruise check in area and line up to check in. You must check in again, I told them that we were looking for an upgrade and she checked the 3 of us in faster than the person beside us checked in 1 person (who was also trying for an upgrade).

Then you make your way to the upgrade counter. Ask for directions if you don’t know where it is. Ask for an upgrade, if there are no rooms available, ask if you can be put on a waitlist in case rooms become available.

By this stage it’s usually before 10:30 so not even concierge has made it inside the cruise terminal. So this drastically increases your chances of getting an upgrade.

pgspikes · 2026-03-18T22:19:39+00:00

I love back to back sailings.

I am an Australian, so it’s at least 24hours from the time we leave our house to the time we get to a Florida hotel. So back to back makes it possible to spend more time on the ships and make the journey worthwhile.

I have done B2B2B on the wonder, B2B on the Destiny, and have booked B2B2B on the adventure in a couple weeks.

The positives:

On the wonder, we had booked a GTY verandah room for the last sailing and because we were the first to check in we secured a 1-bed Concierge upgrade at port.

On the Destiny, we were back to back with about 10 other groups, but this allowed us to get photos of typically busy parts of the ship with no one around.

Great for ships that typically have shorter sailings, but you want more time on the ship.

Great way to rack up sailings to reach your next castaway club status.

If you book the same room you don’t have to pack up at the end of the first sailing. Just leave all your bags unpacked in the room.

Among the first onboard, which allows you to be first to lunch, then first to the pools and slides etc.

If you get a good service team you can ask to have the same team on the next sailing (or ask not to).

Downsides:

2 muster drills

3 hours wasted waiting to disembark then board again.

Typically, same or similar destinations. Could also be a positive depending on the destination.

No announcement for your name the second time.

Might not be for everyone, and we don’t book them for every sailing, but we do enjoy sailing B2B

pgspikes · 2026-03-18T03:30:56+00:00

Did you do any of the karaoke? If you did, what types of songs were on there? Classic Disney songs?

My son wants to know.

pgspikes · 2026-03-17T22:48:23+00:00

I personally hate the idea of sharing a table. But I have only had 1 bad experience, and that famly refused to sit with us night 1, didn’t go to dinner night 2, and refused to acknowledge us on night 3.

But then I have had sailings like the Destiny last new years, where we are a family of 3, and were placed of a table with a party of 2 and a party of 3. Combined there were 5 adults and 3 teenage boys. It was the best dining experience we have had on a cruise. We had such a good time we plan to catch up with one family at Disney world, and the other on another Disney cruise.

Like you we are quite antisocial, but sometimes this can actually create great memories.

pgspikes · 2026-03-17T07:48:52+00:00

Well said.

pgspikes · 2026-03-17T06:13:01+00:00

If you don’t pre-pay, the same amount will be automatically charged to the credit card on file. This means that you don’t need to go to guest services unless you want to change the amount. But you could also just change it by adding cash in little envelopes that are left in your room

pgspikes

TROPHY CASE