It’s regularly billed as one of the best in the business - did it live up to the hype? Find out all about our cruise on the Disney Magic.

The Ship

Disney’s first cruise ship launched in 1997 and they named her the “Magic”. It’s an elegant ship, not too big and not too small but for her age, in excellent condition. As you’d expect with Disney, they obtained special permission for the colour of their lifeboats - to keep in line with brand and theme, which they’ve carried across the rest of the fleet.

Recently Disney had plans to scrap the Magic but thankfully they’ve not done that yet. Easy to navigate, charming but modern, it’s like a classic Disney film that never really gets old. If it’s your first cruise or Disney Cruise Line is new to you, we guarantee you’ll find magic aboard.

You’ll find a lot of decorated cabin doors as you walk around the ship - we stayed in cabin 7608 - a family balcony cabin.

Cove Cafe - An adult only space where you can grab a fancy coffee with characters imprinted into the foam and a light bite - cakes and sandwiches. The coffee is an extra but the cakes / sandwiches are included. Disney rarely do drinks packages - I think they only offer them on 7 night + sailings so it’s not like Royal Caribbean where certain fancy coffees are included (depending on whether the Starbucks on Royal is franchised or not). If you’re thinking of a Royal Caribbean cruise or want to know more about the cost of drinks then see our run through of Royal Caribbean Drinks Packages.

During the evening you can also get cocktails, wine and light bites at the Cove Cafe. Although this is an adult space, you can get take away so if you or the kids do want a character themed coffee, they can still have them.

Pool - Funnel Vision - Aqua Dunk!

Disney movies on a big screen at sea anyone? Of course you want them - you can watch some of your favs (depending on what Disney show of course) on the big screen later in the afternoon - it can be quite nice to call by the pool and relax with a drink and movie.

If you want something more of a thrill seek you can always go on the Donald Duck themed aqua dunk - a chamber where the floor drops and you fall 3 floors - go on, dare ya! There is a tamer slide if this is not for you.

Character Meet & Greet

Meet your favs from Mickey & Minnie to Marvel characters - all over the ship, at all times of the day and early evening. If you want to get them all in, you could probably spend the day running from one end of the ship to the other - you can check the app to find out where the characters will be so fitting them in is easy.

Kids Clubs

Onboard the Disney Magic you’ll find kids clubs for all ages.

Starting with ages 3 - 10 years old, is the Oceaneer Club where you can meet Jessy, explore Andy’s room and explore the Marvel Superhero Academy.

Kids will love Andy’s Room - who wouldn’t want to meet Jessy and slide down the oversized Slinky Dog? Or, get creative with arts and crafts, see Captain America’s shield or Thor’s hammer and maybe a surprise visit from a superhero or two.

There’s also lots of other activities to keep the rug rats busy like making slime with stitch or stories from their favourite princess.

Activities, characters and superheroes are always subject to chance to best check the Navigator app for your particular cruise.

Restaurants

Palo - Adults Only

It’s not often our kids will entertain a kids club - don’t know why but that’s just the way it is. However, if any kids club is going to buy you time out, it’s a Disney one. Luckily enough, that allowed the adults (well, one adult and one over 18 yr old still big kid) to book Palo and enjoy a date day (2 hours).

Palo is an Italian themed, fine dining experience that is Adults only. It features on the Disney Magic, Wonder, Dream and Fantasy, serving brunch and dinner. It is an extra pay restaurant / dining experience, not included in your cruise fare. We went for brunch - Top Tip - make sure you’re not stuffed from the night before - go hungry!

As you would expect for a fine dining experience, it starts upon being greeted and taken to your table. Once seated your server will be over straight away to take you through the menu and get some drinks. There are a choice of starters (pics above, we opted for one fish and one meat) - the bread service that came before this was fantastic - Top Tip! do not get carried away with the bread - you’ll pay for it later.

Drinks - we opted for champagne but you could choose a bellini (included). Above this you pay for what you drink - but you could pretty much have anything from Champagne to cocktails, wines, whisky and more. It’s fine dining and fine drinks.

If you happen to be going on a Disney Cruise anytime soon and you can go to one of the fine dining restaurants - based on our experience we’d recommend it. On other ships there is also Remi on the Dream & Fantasy or Enchante on the Wish.

Animator’s Palate

Animator’s Palate is an experience - the restaurant itself can be found on the Magic, Wonder, Dream and Fantasy. Word is, the Magic is the best version - you’ll just have to try them all to find out.

Onboard the Magic you get the placemat pictured below and get to draw within the shape a character, person or whatever you choose - just keep it inside the lines.

My favourite character being Donald - that’s what I drew and like magic he came to life throughout dinner, even getting a little solo dancing with Mickey - where else would you get this?

The interracitve show is based on the art of story telling and cuts in and out between courses to allow for service. We won’t go into too much detail as we don’t want to spoil it but it’s great on the interaction.

As with all Disney restaurants your servers move with you on your dining rotation (for dinner) so service should run smoothly. We think this is great as if you have any allergies or dietary requirements, you don’t have to tell a new server each night.

Apart from the show, the art work around the restaurant is impressive - think Art of Animation lobby meets a cruise restaurant.

Pictured above, kids meals come on a Mickey inspired plate which the kids love. Kids portions are still on the large side but if you have older kids that want or eat an adults meal, that’s not an issue. And, if you ask nicely they can even bring you a dessert from the breakfast menu - our littlest didn’t fancy any dessert from the menu so just like magic, our server (Sonia) asked what she liked - anything from any menu and out came that dessert. Totally unexpected and not something we’d trouble the servers for but it’s things like this that makes Disney, Disney.

I enjoyed the Tuna - ate it in seconds but Anna thought her meal was only ok. Not awful by any means but probably her least favourite meal on board. Our eldest had steak which was very nice - our assistant server this time (Adam) insistent on cutting it for her so we could enjoy our meal uninterrupted. A lovely touch and not at all expected.

Rapunzel’s Royal Table

Pan bread pudding - if that’s all I write here - I’m done.

Rapunzel’s Royal Table tells the sort of letting down your hair and seeing the light. I think you can guess the rest. It’s a good theme and the lanterns at the end make a great impression. There are some great tables and some not so great tables if you want to see the show. Ours was in between for the view - win some, lose some but just expect you may not get the best table in the house.

The food was nice but I’d go back just for the pan bread pudding.

Lumiere’s

Be their guest - enjoy American cuisine for Breakfast and Lunch and a French themed Dinner.

French Toast, omelettes, crepes, fruit and pancakes are all on offer for breakfast - you can get speciality coffees if you ask. Lunch is a 3 course setting offering dishes like herb-crusted fish, honey glazed bbq pork and rosemary potatoes. Breakfast and lunch are open seating whereas your evening table is set.

Dinner is a Beauty & The Beast French feast with duck confit, wild mushroom tart and “Mrs Potts” French Onion Soup on offer. For the more adventurous how about “Gaston’s” escargots gratinés?

Shows

Tangled - the Musical - a take on the film brings the story of Rapunzel, Flynn and Mother Gothel to life in a stage production - it has great reviews but unfortunately we missed this one - if the quality of the other show was anything to go by, it will be great.

Disney Dreams - Anne Maire is a little girl who doesn’t believe in fairytales - but she goes on a journey with Minnie, Mickey, Pan and more to learn how the magic works. It’s a journey through Disney’s classics and worth a watch.

Final Thoughts

Disney Cruise Line is expensive but you get what you pay for. There’s nothing quite like cursing the ocean with Mickey & friends. It’s a little bit frantic at times, as you’d expect but there are adult only areas of the ship you can escape to. If you’ve not cruised before then Disney’s 3 night options might be the best option for you.

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