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Practical tips for first time Disney cruisers on the Disney Adventure
- adrylsdisneyblog
- 19 hours ago
- 8 min read
We sailed on the Disney Adventure’s Maiden Voyage, and before that we sailed on five other Disney cruises around the world. The Disney Adventure is quite different from Disney’s other ships.
If it’s your first time on the Disney Adventure or a Disney cruise, here are some practical tips to help better prepare you for a magical experience!
Before we start, here are two other earlier relevant articles we wrote that are more on Disney cruises from the USA:
#1: Catch All the Live Shows
Location: Walt Disney Theatre
If this is your first time ever taking a Disney cruise, please catch all the theatre shows playing at the Walt Disney Theatre! The two shows onboard the Disney Adventure are Seas the Adventure and Remember. These are Broadway-style live theatre shows that have amazing performances, sets, costumes, and immersiveness.
Disney Cruise Line’s (DCL) onboard theatre shows are always top notch and so impressive. If you’ve watched the shows on other cruise lines, the DCL shows are massively higher in quality all around (yes, we’re biased). And if you’re Disney fans, you’ll love seeing so many favourite characters and hearing those timeless Disney songs live.
Queues do start to form pretty early, about 30 minutes before the shows start. So if you want seats that are front and centre, it’s advisable to go earlier to start queuing. But if you don’t mind sitting at the sides or further back, it would be ok to go about 10-15 minutes before the shows start.
For the two shows on the Disney Adventure, Seas the Adventure is actually also playing on the Disney Wish (where we caught it before!), Disney Treasure, and Disney Destiny.
Remember is an all-new show making its debut on the Disney Adventure, so you can’t watch it anywhere else!
Do note that DCL has very strict rules prohibiting photography and videography during these shows, so just put those phones and cameras away and enjoy the shows with your own eyes!
PSA: please keep your volume down during the shows so that everyone can enjoy them!
Location: Disney Imagination Garden
At the Imagination Garden Stage, there are a few other shows to catch:
Avengers Assemble! - where you can catch your favourite Marvel characters, stunts and special effects. We caught a variation of this show on the Disney Wonder, and I must say, this version on the Disney Adventure is better! A few of the characters do hang around after the show ends for photo ops.
Duffy and the Friend Ship - an all new live show featuring Duffy and Friends, and it’s the first time we get to hear them speak in English because in their other appearances in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, they’re speaking in Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese respectively! This show also isn’t on any other Disney cruise ships! We did find the show more catered to younger children, but Duffy and Friend fans will love it nonetheless.
Baymax Super Exercise Expo - this is like an interactive exercise where you get to join in and do a simple work out together with Baymax and Hiro. This show is also exclusive to the Disney Adventure!
Location: Wayfinder Bay
Moana: Call of the Sea - this is also a new show, only on the Disney Adventure. It makes use of a smaller outdoor stage at the aft (back) of the ship and incorporates the use of water from the pool in front of the stage, something unique!
#2: Specific to the Disney Adventure: Bookings for Character Meets, Quick Service Dining, Rides
Character Meets
This is something new to the Disney Adventure that is not practised on any other Disney ship. For character meets, you have to book an appointment slot. What’s a character meet? It’s where you have a chance to interact with Disney characters and take photos with them. A ship photographer will be present to take the “official photos”, while another cast member will be available to help take more photos on your phone/camera.
For some reason, the need to book slots was not communicated to passengers on the maiden voyage, so many passengers were disappointed that they couldn’t get to do any character meets at all. On all the other Disney ships, all character meets are done through queues which anyone can join.
For the Disney Adventure, characters such as Captain Mickey, Captain Minnie, Goofy, Stitch, Duffy, ShellieMay, and Baymax require slot bookings.
By the way, Captain Mickey, Captain Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto are also on all the other Disney ships for character meets. But, Duffy and Friends and Baymax are currently only on the Disney Adventure. We’ve seen Stitch on the Disney Wonder as well.
You’ll have to book an appointment time slot on the DCL Navigator app. The slots open up on the first day, but don’t seem to have a fixed time of release, so we had to keep refreshing the app to check for open slots. People around us were saying the slots started to be available from 3 or 4pm onwards. On the subsequent days, more slots will become available as well, so keep a look out if you aren’t able to snag them on the first day.
Our advice is, once you see slot availability, just quickly book it as they go very quickly.
The cast members did check that we indeed had appointment slots - they’re quite strict about that.
Quick Service Dining
There are four quick service dining places on the Disney Adventure that require bookings as well. These are:
Stitch’s Ohana Grill
Gramma Tala’s Kitchen
Mowgli’s Eatery
Cosmic Kebabs
We were able to get slots pretty easily, but still, it’s advisable to book the timing you want asap. You’re only able to book slots for the day itself. For example, you can only book a Day 2’s 1pm slot only from 12am on Day 2.
The cast members did check that we had appointment slots before letting us in, although the insides had ample tables and seats.
These four eateries are included in the price of the cruise, so no need to pay for these!
These are actually just a few of the onboard food options. Even if you don’t eat here, there are the breakfast and lunch buffets that don’t require any bookings.
Rides
Similarly for the three rides at Deck 18’s Marvel Landing, there is the option to book slots for a turn on them.
Sharing from our experience on the Maiden Voyage, we only took the Groot Galaxy Spin (twice), and both times it was a walk on. We didn’t have to book any slots to take the ride. Of course, on subsequent sailings when there is a larger passenger load, queues might get very long. There’s a chance passengers will then only be able to ride on it with a booking.
The queue situation was the same for Pym Quantum Racers. When it was operating, there was only a short queue, although it moved very slowly because of the long turnaround time. So there was no need to book any slots for this either for the maiden voyage.
As you might have heard, the Ironcycle Test Run roller coaster wasn’t operational during the maiden voyage, so we can’t really say anything about it. But based on what we observed, this will surely be the most in-demand ride once it’s operational, and very likely passengers will need a booking to get on the ride. With that, booking slots will surely go very quickly, so keep a look out for that!
#3: Buy Disney Adventure exclusive merchandise from the shops
If you’re a fan of Disney merch, especially exclusive merch, you have to buy them onboard the Disney Adventure. This is especially so for the Disney Adventure’s Inaugural Sailings merch, which will only be available for about two months (from the maiden voyage according to cast members onboard), or while stocks last.
We’ll be posting a video on our Instagram page with the various Inaugural Sailings items and their prices, so Follow our Instagram page to stay tuned!
The DCL line of merch can’t be bought anywhere else like the Disney parks, but they can be found across all the Disney cruise ships.
On every Disney ship, there are exclusive items only available on that ship. For example, Disney Wish merch would only be on the Disney Wish, and Disney Adventure merch can only be found on the Disney Adventure.
First Day Shopping
For the maiden voyage and probably the inaugural sailings, if you want to enter the World of Disney, World of Disney Too, and Duffy and Friends shops on the first day, you’ll have to book an appointment time slot on the DCL Navigator app. The slots don’t seem to have a fixed time of release, so we had to keep refreshing the app to check for open slots. People around us were saying the slots started to be available from 3 or 4pm onwards.
But if you’re unable to book a slot on the first day (like us), you can still enter the shops freely from the second day onwards! On the morning of the second day, the queues will tend to still be very long. We waited about 25 minutes in line just to enter the shop. The queue to pay was another 15-20 minutes. It can get pretty chaotic the first two days.
If there is something that you really want, our advice is to get it asap, there have been instances where items are sold out after the first few days. This is especially for limited edition or exclusive items.
All the shops open from quite late on the first day as the ship has to reach international waters first. On the maiden voyage, the shops only opened from 9.30pm and closed at 11.30pm. On other days, they tend to be open from 10am to 10pm. But check the Navigator app during your sailing to be sure.
#4: Things to bring
Toiletries
In your stateroom, what’s provided are: shampoo, soap, conditioner, body lotion, hand soap, towels, hairdryer.
The essential items you’ll need to bring yourself are: toothbrush, toothpaste, and perhaps floss and shaver. You could try asking your stateroom host for these items, we’ve never asked before so we’re not sure if they are able to provide these.
Sun Protection
Bring hats, sunscreen and sunglasses - the sun can get intense and the shows at the Imagination Garden are outdoors. Depending on the time of the day, you can be standing fully in the hot sun, with no wind and shade.
On the upper decks (17 and 18), where the water slides and Marvel Landing (the 3 rides are there) are, it can get very hot and sunny. The 3 rides are not shaded from the sun either. So hats, shades, and sunscreen will be mighty useful.
Utility
Magnetic hook - there are limited hooks around the stateroom to hang your clothes or towels, so if you want more hanging space, just bring your own magnetic hooks. The walls are metal so magnets can be used. There is closet space with hangers as well if you need them.
The additional magnetic hooks would be useful especially if you have more people sharing one stateroom. Please don’t use things like tape or Blu Tack as they leave marks and spoil the beautiful wall surfaces.
#5: Directions
If you’re new to cruises in general, instead of saying front, back, right, left, there are nautical terms used instead. Here’s a handy illustration for reference:
Of course, if you want more information about the ship itself, you can find them on the DCL website here.
We’ve also made some videos with other information on things like the cinemas and arcades at San Fransokyo - check out our Instagram page for those!
We’re also working on a Part 2 of practical tips so stay tuned!
We’ll also be sharing our thoughts on the Disney Adventure. What did we like and not like? How is it different from the other Disney ships and experiences? Keep a look out for that!
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