“The character meet-and-greets are great because the lines are generally shorter than in the parks,” said Heidi Leppert, 35, who lives near San Diego, frequents Disneyland, and recently took her first Disney cruise. “So if you want to get your picture taken with Mickey or Minnie, you may only have to wait in line for 10 minutes.” Her husband, Jason Leppert, 33, founding editor of the website PopularCruising.com, has now sailed with Disney 10 times and is a fan of the AquaDuck water coaster on the Disney Dream and its sister ship Disney Fantasy.
Model Behavior
But wait. How are Disney cruises relaxing when you’re surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of screaming kids?
“We get asked that question,” said Joanne Gerrity. “Neither of us is bothered by them. It’s not the kid anyway—it’s the parent who’s the problem.” John, her husband, added, “On Disney Cruise Line, the children are generally better behaved than they are on some of the other lines. I think they are more content with the kids’ program.”
There are also kids-only and adults-only areas. “They keep them separate,” said John. “We don’t find we have any trouble with that; probably not as much as anywhere else you’d go, like in a public restaurant.” Plus, the Gerritys don’t drink alcohol and don’t care that there’s no casino onboard Disney ships. Typically they’re in bed by 10 p.m.
Joanne added that she and John enjoy watching interactions between the crew and the kids onboard, especially in the dining rooms. “They come along and cut their food. They hug them. It’s really warm to watch that,” she said.
Channeling Your Inner Child
“What I usually tell people is if you’re an adult and the idea of going to the parks is horrible to you, then you might not like the Disney cruise,” said Heidi Leppert, the lover of character meet-and-greets. “It’s going to be in the same genre.” But if you want to get that feeling of stepping on the ship and feeling like a kid again, the same way you do when you’re going to the parks, then a Disney cruise is great.
“There’s a subculture of adults who, like us, have these great feelings about going to Disney,” she said.
That includes David and Laura Valovcin. After petting snow dog puppies in Skagway, Alaska, the pair were about to try their hand at gold panning on a shore excursion off the 2,700-passenger Disney Wonder.
“We’re big kids when it comes to this,” said David, 40, who works in information technology for Nasdaq. On his third Disney cruise, he was sporting a Donald Duck T-shirt and cap.
“We’re Disney fans,” said Laura, 37, a schoolteacher on her fifth sailing with Disney Cruise Line. “We also visit the parks at least once a year, and I think we just love the experiences they offer.”