Moonlight Magic

Last night we attended a DVC Moonlight Magic event at Epcot. We got to the park about 4 pm and made a lap around the World Showcase and did some shopping in the countries as well as at the Festival of Arts booths. Around 6 PM we were joined by two of Jenn’s friends and picked up our event wristbands and snack coupons and made another trip around the World Showcase to use our snack coupons at the festival food booths.

When the 2026 Moonlight Magic dates were announced, I booked a two bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs so that I could register the four of us plus some friends. When we arrived at Saratoga in the afternoon our room wasn’t yet ready so we spent an hour or so shopping at Disney Springs until it was.

Once the park closed to regular guests, we enjoyed free ice cream snacks and short waits for rides, although Test Track and Frozen both went down for most of the event. The girls met some characters, and we enjoyed a special fireworks show a little after 11. We watched in front of Norway.

The event ended at 12:30 am, and we left the park shortly thereafter and headed back to our villa. Saratoga had been recently renovated to include a Murphy bed over the couch as well as a small one under the TV although we didn't use them. We checked out and came home this morning.

Festival of Arts

 

This week an author friend of Jennifer’s came to WDW with her family. The flew in Wednesday morning, and in the afternoon Susan and I got them into Epcot to check out the Festival of the Arts. 

On Thursday we went to Magic Kingdom. We did a few rides and hung out in the DVC lounge a bit. I also tried to take some photos of the work being done in the old Rivers of America area. 

On Friday we went to the Studios. Over at the old Muppet Courtyard, there were a couple of workmen in man lifts working on the facades to the old buildings. 

We walked through Galaxy’s Edge, where the Mandalorian and Grogu were out meeting guests. We went on Smuggler’s Run and had lunch at Docking Bay 7. 

Yesterday, while I worked, Jennifer and her friend did a book signing at Barnes and Noble, and Susan took the rest of the family into Animal Kingdom. Last night they all went to Boma for dinner. 

Pirate Hockey

After spending Friday at Epcot, Jennifer flew out to Texas, and on Saturday did a book signing with another author at an independent bookstore in Denton, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

She stayed with friends, and on Sunday afternoon they went to a hockey match at the American Airlines Center. The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Dallas Stars 4 to 1. She flew home Tuesday night. 

Susan and I were too busy doing chores and running errands last week to do anything fun, but Thursday morning I got to do a special behind the scenes tour of Festival of the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom. Along with about a dozen other cast members, I got to see the floats up close, then watch a show.

Thursday night all four of us drove to Tampa to watch The Lightning beat the Winnipeg Jets 4 to 1. Because the Gasparilla Festival is this weekend, the match was Pirate themed. We got there early to check out the vendor booths and get drinks and snacks at Cigar City Brewery.

Yesterday Jennifer went out to Tampa again, this time to watch the Lightning play the Boston Bruins in a special outdoor match held in the Raymond James stadium. The Lightning came back from behind to win 6 to 5. 

Castaway Cay

Yesterday was the final stop of the cruise, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay. Unfortunately the weather was a bit cold, so we didn’t stay long.

Since we were last here, Disney had built more cabanas and a new BBQ area, called Hanger 98, in the adult only area, Serenity Bay. The food wasn’t as good as in the past though. We hung out at the beach a bit after lunch then looked through the couple of shops on way back to the boat. 

Once back on board, we cleaned up and went to a matinee showing of the last Broadway style show, Beauty and the Beast, then watched from our veranda as the ship left the island. We packed up, then had a drink at the Periscope Pub, a bar themed to Captain Nemo’s sub, the Nautilus. Finally we had dinner at 1923. This morning we disembarked and drove home. 

While we were at Castaway Cay Bryan and Jenn checked out the first day of the Festival of Arts at Epcot.

Jamaica

Yesterday we docked at Falmouth, Jamaica. We had done an excursion here in 2017, so this time we just went down into the port area to walk around and do a little shopping. After an hour or so we went back aboard the ship and sat up on the top deck for a bit. I also tried out the Aquamouse ride, which is like the one on the Wish. 

Each Disney ship has characters on the back, and the Treasure has Peter Pan and Captain Hook. I took some photos of the back of the ship while we were in port at Falmouth. Our room was just above Pan’s head, next to the flag. The Coco restaurant was directly below us. 

We watched the ship pull away from Jamaica from our veranda, then got ready for dinner. We ate at World of Marvel, but last night the show was a Celebration of Heroes featuring Rocket and Groot. There was no port today, as we cruised east towards the Bahamas. We spent most of the day relaxing in our stateroom, although I did go watch the new Avatar movie in one of the theaters while Susan read. 

This evening we watched the Moana show in the theater, then went to dinner at the Coco restaurant. The show had some pretty cool set and projections to simulate traveling above and below the ocean, and some great puppets to represent some of the more fantastic elements of the story. The food and the show at the Coco restaurant were much better than the first night. 

Cozumel

Monday we stopped at Cozumel, Mexico. We did a trolley tour where the drove us through some of the town, to a planetarium where we watched a movie about Mayan mythology and the calendar, and to a museum on Cozumel. 

Afterwards we walked through the shopping areas and bought a few things, then went back on board for a late lunch and lounged on our veranda while the boat pulled away from the island. 

Where the Wish had a restaurant based on Frozen, on the Treasure it is based on the movie Coco. The layout is the same, but the theming, food, and show are different. We were looking forward to this, but were a little disappointed. The food was just okay, and the show was mostly songs in Spanish we didn’t know. That night the winds were pretty high, and the ship swayed a lot. 

Yesterday we were supposed to dock at Grand Cayman, but just like on the cruise we took in 2017, when we arrived the sea was too rough to tender, so we spent a day at sea instead. We spent most of the day relaxing and reading in our room and on our veranda, just going up top to eat breakfast and lunch.

In the evening we stopped for a drink in the Haunted Parlor, which replaced the Star Wars bar on the Wish. It was pretty cool, with “paintings” that slowly changed and decor like that of parks' Haunted Mansions. Last night was pirate night, so lots of guests wore pirate attire. After we had dinner in 1923, we watched the fireworks of the pirate party from our veranda.

Disney Cruise

Saturday Susan and I drove to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Treasure for a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise. The Treasure is a sister ship to the Wish, which we cruised on in December of 2022. It shares a lot of similarities, but some spaces are themed differently. That night we ate at the 1923 restaurant.

Much of the ship is themed to the movie Aladdin, and he and Jasmine have a statue in the grand hall or atrium. The chandelier in the main hall was inspired by the movie as well. 

We booked the cruise last week with a cast rate, so were pleased to find we were upgraded to a stateroom with an extended verandah. It was on the very back of deck six though, next to the flag, which meant a fairly long walk to get to the elevators. Unlike the three banks of elevators that the first four Disney ships had, the Wish class ships only have two. 

We spent yesterday cruising west across the northern Caribbean. In the morning we went on a tour of the ship, and attended a seminar on shopping at our ports of call. After lunch at the Festival of Foods by the pools, we went to a DVC member celebration, then watched the Lilo & Stitch remake in one of the two cinemas on board. We missed the live show in the Walt Disney Theater, Seas the Adventure, but we had seen that on the Wish.

Last night we attended a reception in the Grand Hall, then ate dinner at the World of Marvel. The show during dinner was the same one we saw on the Wish, except Spider-Man came out at the end instead of Ant-Man and the Wasp.