I have already been on three different Disney cruise ship: the Wonder, Magic, and Dream.  I wanted to do a Very Merrytime cruise on a ship that I had never been on before.  I saw that the Disney Wish had a 4 night Very Merrytime cruise with dates that would work for me and booked the December 10 to 14 sailing.

This post will focus on the accessibility and what I thought about the Disney Wish ship.  I wrote about the exclusive Very Merrytime offerings on a separate post here.

The Ship

Disney Wish had its maiden voyage in July 2022 and is the fifth ship from Disney cruise lines.  It is the first of the Wish class and was followed by sister ships, Disney Treasure and Disney Destiny.  The Dream has 1250 staterooms and carries a maximum of 4000 passengers and a crew of 1550 on 15 total decks.

Getting There

We were staying at Disney’s All Star Music Resort so we got a designated time of 9:45 AM to meet at the front lobby for a 10:15 AM departure on our pre-purchased Disney Cruise Line Shuttles.  It costs $45 USD per person.  We even got to take pictures with some Disney characters like Chip,Dale, and Daisy Duck.

The bus was wheelchair accessible with the powered lift at the back.  The ride had one slight bump as I hit my head in the seat in front of me.  Once we got to the cruise terminal at Port Canaveral, all guests were taken in from the back side.  We did not have to wait for our Port of Arrival Time and got to check in right away.

Once boarded, our cabin was not ready so we went for a sit down lunch at Arendelle restaurant.  I got the sliced roasted beef sirloin and a Mickey’s premium ice cream bar.  Lunch was excellent as we were really full after and ready to start our cruise.

Cabin Rooms

We got interior room 9175 on deck 9.  There was a wheelchair button to open the room door once our Key to the World card is scanned.  The room was pretty spacious as I got a nice Queen size bed on one side and my friend had the sofa bed with privacy curtain on the other.  Seems bigger than other Disney interior rooms as I could easily move around the room in my wheelchair.

The bathroom was nice and similar to what I had in the past.  The roll in shower had a partial wall with the flip up shower bench in the corner.  I didn’t use that as I bring my own tilting shower commode. There was a hand held shower head, grab bar, and an emergency pull cord.

The roll under sink was good too and had a lighted mirror.  I like this feature as it made it easier to see myself in the mirror and to brush my teeth.  Our cabin room seems to be quite far from the closest elevators though.  We would have to roll down several long hallways to get to one.

Accessibility

Like any other cruise ship, the accessibility on the Disney Wish was great.  It was easy to get around the ship as the hallways, deck and pool areas are either flat and carpeted or tiled.  Some high traffic times can be chaotic at elevators or theater showtimes though.

Accessibility at Walt Disney Theatre for the Broadway shows were either at the very front row or at the back.  Deck shows accessible seating is at the front right too.  We always arrived about 30 minutes before shows to get the best spots.  I don’t mind sitting at the front because I like seeing everything up close as possible.

All the main restaurants had tables that I could fit under without any issues.  Sometimes my one wheelchair arm rest had to be flipped up so I could get closer to the table.  There were several accessible bathrooms located throughout the ship so we didn’t have to go back to the room just for that.

Port Stops

Our 4 night cruise had 2 port stops and 1 sea day.  I wrote about each port stop separately which is at Lookout Cay and Castaway Cay.  Having a stop at both private islands on the same trip is a bonus.  Our first full day on the ship was a sea day, so we got a chance to explore the ship, go shopping, check out some shows and take pics with some of the characters.

Very Merrytime Exclusives

The Very Merrytime exclusives was the whole reason I booked this trip.  It was light and was sprinkled around the whole 4 nights of the cruise and was worth the premium price tag for me.  I wrote about it in a separate post here.

Food and Drink

As with other Disney ships, the Wish has 3 main dining rooms that is included with your cruise fare: Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure, Worlds of Marvel, and 1923.  Disney uses rotational dining which means we get to eat at a different restaurant each night with the same wait staff following you each night to better serve us.

There are no drink or alcohol packages to buy as all sodas, juices, and basic coffees and teas are included in our cruise fare.  Alcoholic drinks are purchased each on its own.  There are 2 dining times: 5:45pm and 8:15pm.  We got the earlier and more popular time by picking online in advance.

Our first night’s dinner was at Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure.  This restaurant is exclusive to the Wish, and the storyline takes place after Frozen 2 where guests are invited to celebrate the engagement of Anna and Kristoff.  Elsa and Olaf are the hosts and have hired Oaken to plan the party.

The restaurant is themed to Frozen and features a Scandinavian menu with character interactions and singing songs in between our meal.  I had the baked scallops with puff pastry, roasted beef rib-eye, and the rock chocolate bar for dessert.  Everything tasted fantastic as expected.

Our second night’s dinner was at 1923.  This restaurant is also found on the Treasure and the Destiny.  Named after the year the Walt Disney company was founded, its theme takes guests back to the golden age of Hollywood.

There is lots of Disney artifacts and displays that brings back the history and evolution of classic Disney animation.  I had the spiced ahi tuna, rosemary crusted rack of lamb, and the churros with dulce de leche dip.  The rack of lamb was a bit small but it’s one of my favorite dishes overall.

Our third night’s dinner was back at 1923 for Pirate Night.  Happening on all Caribbean and Bahamian sailings, there is Pirate themed activities, character meets, shows and a special menu.  We also get a Pirate bandana to dress up for the night.  I had the crab cake, lamb shank, bananas in paradise, and my favorite Mickey’s premium ice cream bar.

Our fourth night’s dinner was at Worlds of Marvel.  I was most looking forward to this restaurant as I am a huge Marvel fan.  The restaurant looks very high tech with screens everywhere.  There is a quantum generator on every table with our table number and is used interactively that ties in with Avengers: Quantum Encounter starring Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Throughout we get to see a high energy show and even get a surprise guest by the end of it.  For dinner, I ordered the dill and lemon marinated shrimp, grilled tuna steak, and the Quantum key lime pie.  The whole experience was fun and reminded me of my Marvel Day at Sea cruise.

We ate at Marceline Market buffet a few times either for breakfast or lunch.  Some items change daily and there is a huge selection of food and desserts.  I love the crab claws and the shrimp for sure.  Mickey churro waffles were only available once during the cruise at breakfast time so we made sure to be up in time to get them as they were so good.

The Disney Wish has 5 themed quick serve restaurants on deck 11 called Mickey and Friends Festival of Foods: Mickey’s Smokestack BBQ, Donald’s Cantina, Daisy’s Pizza Pies, Goofy’s Grill, and Sweet Minnie’s Ice Cream.  The soft serve ice cream at Sweet Minnie’s is always busy and we had that a few times throughout the cruise.  The ribs and brisket at Mickey’s was excellent too.

Joyful Sweets is the specialty candy and gelato shop that is and extra charge.  There is also the premium charge adult restaurants: Palo and Enchante that we did not dine at.  We did however used the free room service before going to bed one and got some delicious buffalo wings.

We did visit a few lounges throughout the cruise.  The Bayou Lounge is a casual New Orleans inspired place that had live music, drinks and food.  My favorite was the Star Wars Hyperspace Lounge.  This place actually makes it like you are in a spaceship with window scenes making it feel like it’s flying.  The decor and theming was top notch and I ordered a mocktail.  The Temple Twist was $8 and is a refreshing blend of apple, mint, ginger beer and kiwi.

Entertainment

The Entertainment on a Disney cruise is always excellent and should not be missed.  There is a daily list of what’s happening each day on the Disney Cruise Line app.  This works without a wifi package.  The first main event was the Set Sail Party on the top deck to celebrate the start of our vacation.  Mickey and friends dance and sing with cast performers.

We sat in the very front row of the Walt Disney Theater for the first 2 shows and the last row of the front section for the last show.  The first night was Disney Seas: The Adventure is an original story where Captain Minnie sets Goofy on a magical journey filled with musical numbers and Disney classics.  This Broadway show is 30 minutes and is the shortest of them all.

On the second night was The Little Mermaid which was exclusive to the Wish.  This 1 hour show tells the classic story of a young mermaid named Ariel and her quest for independence, love, and finding her place  in the world up above.  It features all the hit songs from the movie.

The third night was guest favorite Pirate Night which happens on most Disney cruises.  Some people really go all out and dress up as pirates but we just wore our provided bandanas.  We got to see both Mickey & Minnie’s Pirates in the Caribbean show and Pirate’s Rockin’ Parlay party which ends with an explosive fireworks show at sea.

Our last night was Aladdin: A Music Spectacular.  This show features a lot of smoke so we didn’t sit at the very front row of the theater.  This hilarious show features the comedic Genie and has a lot of cool special effects.  This 1 hour show also features all the hit songs too.

There were other activities like the sports deck, water slides, trivia and karaoke that we did not do.  We didn’t go to bingo, play board games, attend liquor tastings or go to the night club either.  All Disney cruises show first run movies at the theater and we got to see the premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash.

Characters

Taking pictures with your favorite Disney characters is one of the main reasons on booking a Disney cruise.  A list of which character appearing at what location and time could be found daily on the app.  Lines are never too long like the theme parks and can range from a few minutes to 20 minutes.

The Royal Gathering is a meet up and photo op with several princesses and this is the only meet up that requires a reservation to attend.  Spots for this is very limited and is full pretty fast.  The Royal Gathering is open to everyone 30 days prior to sailing.  I was not able to get a reservation for this cruise.

Disembarkation

Since we watched the premiere of the new Avatar movie the previous night and it ended late, we skipped our 7 AM scheduled breakfast at Worlds of Marvel and just had the breakfast buffet at Marceline Market around 8:15.  My friend just grabbed scrambled eggs, sausages and hash browns for me on a plate.

We already had our checked luggage tagged and left in front of our cabin door before bed time the previous night.  By the time we were done breakfast, the line to disembark on the ship was short and went fast.  We then picked up our checked luggage in the terminal and went to the pre booked bus line.  I had to pre purchase our tickets which were $45 USD each.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed my fourth ever Disney cruise that I bought a placeholder again.  It cost $250 and is a deposit towards my next Disney cruise.  It also gives me 10% off the cost of the cruise.  It must be used within 2 years or the placeholder is refunded.  Having the Very Merrytime addition was excellent and I would love to do another themed cruise and try a Halloween or Pixar cruise.