Ditching reality for the Disney Fantasy! January 2025 Live

[TigerLily8]

Hello all. As I post this we are on our way to the airport as we head off on our unexpected trip to Orlando! I had been reluctant to post this trip report too early in case I tempted fate. We were due to travel in August last year but had to postpone last minute due to a health issue. Without boring you with the details, I am now in recovery and ready to completely lean in to all the positives that 2025 has to offer. The first of those being our first trip as DVC owners, and our first Disney Cruise! We will return in August with the wider family as planned, but for now we decided a little treat for just the three of us was in order.

Here we are on our last trip which was for DD’s first birthday. She loved the characters and wanted to touch them all 😂 She’s now 2.5 so we’ll see if she still feels the same!

Resort Plans
We are heading to Copper Creek for three nights and then moving to Kidani for two nights before embarking on a Bahamian adventure aboard the Disney Fantasy for 5 nights. We then return to Disney for two nights at the Polynesian. As we only booked this trip at the end of November I had to stalk the DVC system to put our stay together. There was limited availability but I’m really happy with our schedule. I could have got 5 nights at Kidani but Copper Creek is near the top of my list of DVC resorts I’d like to try, so we have decided to experience three new resorts. With the introduction of the free water park pass on check in day we were hoping to spend a day at Blizzard Beach for free on the day that we move to Kidani, but unfortunately the weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating. This would have been a welcome freebie considering we don’t have our usual 14-day park tickets. We are debating whether to spend a day in our favourite park, Animal Kingdom, but will play it by ear. We are really looking forward to exploring the resorts in more detail and everything they have to offer.

Cruise Plans
As this is our first ever cruise, we don’t have too many expectations. We are on a 5-night itinerary which docks at Nassau, Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay. We are particularly excited for Castaway Cay as it seems to get brilliant reviews. We don’t have any excursions planned as most of them seem to be aimed at adults and older children. However, I have read there is plenty to explore at the ports so I’m not worried about the lack of solid plans. Mostly, we are excited to explore the ship and take it all in. We are using Disney transport to the port so we should board the ship relatively early, giving us extra time to explore on the first day. We have a deluxe family verandah room which should be lovely. We booked a guaranteed verndah rate for a great discount and got a little upgrade to a family room with extra space! We joined the Facebook group for our page and have our fish extender gifts all ready to go. I have booked my husband on the Golf Simulator at Goofy’s Sports Deck on our penultimate day as a surprise as he loves golf. For me, I really can’t wait to have a nosey at the shops on board!

Dining Plans
Because of the lack of park tickets, our dining plans are largely centred around resort dining and quick service (and eating everything we possibly can on the Fantasy). Since having DD we have found that we eat at fewer TS restaurants so I tried not to get too carried away with TS. I have booked Sanaa for dinner on the evening me move to Kidani, and O’hana and Topolino’s for breakfast post-cruise. We have eaten at Sanaa before but O’hana and Topolino’s are new to us. I’m particularly looking forward to trying Topolino’s. There are also some QS and casual locations we’d like to try now that we have the opportunity. I always start our trips with a list of dining locations and snacks we’d like to try but find it hard to get to the resort dining because of the emphasis on the parks. So this time we are attempting to try Primo Piatto, Gasparilla Island Grill, Wailulu Bar and Grill and Geyser Point. We will also (hopefully) make the journey over to Port Orleans FQ for some beignets, and I hope to finally try a Gideon’s cookie! I have added the QS dining plan to our stay at Copper Creek to take advantage of the refillable cups because we should be able to use them post-cruise.

So there you have it!
Rather than writing a full trip report I am going to try and post some small updates as we go along (minus cruise days as we will not have wifi). I will try and post photos of food, the ship, and the different resort activities, so I’m not really sure which category of trip report this falls into. Thanks for reading if you made it this far 😊

[act1980]

Have a wonderful time! 🤗

[TigerLily8]

Originally Posted by act1980

Have a wonderful time! 🤗

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Thank you!

We are through security, waiting to board and enjoying breakfast!

Security was a stressful as the scanner didn’t like the pram 😂 and Manchester T2 is extremely busy!

[act1980]

Originally Posted by TigerLily8

Thank you!

We are through security, waiting to board and enjoying breakfast!

Security was a stressful as the scanner didn’t like the pram 😂 and Manchester T2 is extremely busy!

See more...

Hopefully you can have a few glasses of fizz on the plane and relax 🤞🏼

[Disneyloverz]

Have an amazing time

[PoohBears#1fan]

Have an amazing time, we’re doing the same Fantasy cruise albeit the week after you.

1st time on the Fantasy for us but we’ve cruised on the Dream (sister ship) several times, you’ll have a great time 😊

[TigerLily8]

Boarding complete, off we go (hopefully)!

[ClaireNJ]

All sounds fantastic have a safe journey & a wonderful holiday 😎

[Buggles94]

Following along! Have a fantastic time 😀

[almostthere]

Safe travels! Looking forward to reading along.