Luggage Panic on the Disney Wish + A Stateroom Surprise! [Ep. 903]
The Disney Wish adventure has begun!
Join us as we recap our first day aboard the Disney Wish, from Pop Century all the way to sail away. Along the way, we share a few surprises, plenty of cruise tips, and one important lesson about choosing the right stateroom.
🎙️ In This Episode
🚍 Disney transportation from Pop Century to Port Canaveral
🧳 Tracking our luggage with an Apple AirTag
🚢 Boarding the Disney Wish and navigating embarkation day
🎟️ Boarding groups and terminal check-in
⌚ Pairing MagicBand+ before boarding
🍽️ Why we always choose the sit-down embarkation lunch
🎭 Watching Seas the Adventure
🦸 Dinner at Worlds of Marvel
🚪 The stateroom location we'd definitely avoid next time
💡 Guaranteed staterooms vs selecting your own room
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Thanks for downloading Episode 903 of ResortLoop.com!
Announcer
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor. Man. Tengan se allijado de las cuertas.And now, as we approach the station, please check for all your personal belongings and remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop.
Tim
Hey, everybody, thanks for joining us. I'm Tim Scott, joined by his lovely wife Dawn. And we are aboard, should we say, the Fabulous Disney Wish.
Dawn
I think she's called the Beautiful Disney.
Tim
The Beautiful Disney Wish. The enchanting Disney Wish.
Dawn
Yes.
Tim
But we're aboard the Disney Wish in our room at Castaway Cay, looking out over the ocean from our soaked bathing suits on the veranda. Because while we went swimming in the pools, hung them out there to dry and then they sprayed the decks or something from beneath.
Dawn
Yeah, they were washing the, I think the Plexiglas on the verandas and they're now soaked again.
Tim
Yeah. So they're re drying.
Dawn
We hope.
Tim
Anyway, we thought we'd catch everyone up to date on day about day one. I mean, day one plus a little bit.
Dawn
Yeah.
Tim
Of our. Our trip. Our trip. Our Disney wish. Enchanting vacation. All right, all right.
Dawn
So we started yesterday at Pop Century in the morning.
Tim
Yeah.
Dawn
And you get an email when you are taking Disney transportation from a resort to the port.
Tim
Yes.
Dawn
And in that email it says, like, what time you're supposed to meet and where you're supposed to meet and what to do with your luggage. Now that was a part for me that I was just very, very concerned about.I do not like being parted from my luggage because I have things packed in there.
Tim
I have everything in there.
Dawn
Everything in there.
Tim
Everything.
Dawn
And. And I'm telling you, I have horrible hair.It's just, it's naturally curly and if I don't have my products, the right hair dryer, the right everything. I. I just was not going to be happy. So we bought an Apple airtag.
Tim
We did.
Dawn
Because I wanted to be able to track the luggage just in case, which.
Tim
The airtag works fantastic.
Dawn
It does, however. So you leave your luggage in the room.
Tim
Yes.
Dawn
And they say someone will come and pick it up between 7am and 9am yes. And they were there a little bit after 8, I think. He came.
Tim
They're in the middle of the windows.
Dawn
Yeah, they were great. Picked it up, removed the luggage. No problem. So we had breakfast, which was pretty tasty.It was good, hung out, got ready and we were supposed to meet at 9:45 in transportation hallway. Because we were at Pop Century.
Tim
Yes. Leaving at 10:15.
Dawn
Yes.A very, very sweet lady from the cruise line met us and the other families that were traveling on Disney transportation checked us in, checked passports to make sure we had all the documents that we needed. Very, very efficient. Gave us great information. She did a fantastic job. And then she had her little Disney little sign up there.
Tim
And we followed her, followed her through the Pop Century lobby.
Dawn
Yes. Like a bunch of little ducklings. It was cute.
Tim
It was adorable.
Dawn
And so we had almost got lost into a beautiful Disney Cruise Line motor coach.
Tim
It was delightful.
Dawn
It was very delightful.
Tim
It was very large. The seats were very comfortable.
Dawn
They were so well cushioned and padded because it's a little over. It's like an hour, hour and a half. Hour and a half that they said.
Tim
They said hour and a half. I'm not sure. Well, maybe they allow for the time you're sitting on the bus before they'll take you into the terminal.That could be exactly where they were maybe 10 minutes after we got there.
Dawn
Not bad. Driver was excellent. Felt very, very safe with the driver.
Tim
Yes.
Dawn
Thought it was fantastic. So just wanted to make sure that my luggage was on the bus with us. So I said to Tim, can you check where the luggage is?
Tim
I checked.
Dawn
We're flying down the highway. And where was our luggage?
Tim
It was comfortably sitting at Pop Century Resort.
Dawn
So this is the point in time where I'm having a little bit of a panic attack.
Tim
Yes.
Dawn
And I'm thinking, this is not going to go well for us because I don't. I didn't pack anything in a carry on. I had no clothes other than what I was wearing.
Tim
Right.
Dawn
Which was not dinner suitable. And I'm thinking, oh, my goodness.
Tim
Yes.
Dawn
So we spent the rest of the time. Check the luggage now.
Tim
Right.
Dawn
It's at Pop Century Dawn y. Check the luggage now.
Tim
And I said, maybe it's coming on something else later.
Dawn
And I said, check the luggage now. And it was still at Pop Century.
Tim
Pop Century.
Dawn
So we're sitting at Port Canaveral. They come on, the security comes on. Kind of gives you the overview of what's going to happen as to what you need to do.And basically, it's very similar to TSA where you have to take your laptops or Kindles or things out of your bags to put them through to be screened. Incredibly efficient.
Tim
Yes. And friendly.
Dawn
Oh, so friendly. Honestly. Incredibly friendly. And so efficient. And we got through security, so. So quickly.
Tim
Yep.
Dawn
The line was huge. But it moved.
Tim
It moved.
Dawn
They had. But they have several part, you know,.
Tim
People that are direct anywhere to go.
Dawn
So. And they tell you which line to get in. So it's Nice. We did that. Security was fine. Went upstairs and we were in the new terminal.We'll talk about the new terminal.
Tim
This is our first time sailing out of the new.I'm assuming it's the new Disney Terminal terminal, which I thought was a little odd because there was not a ship at the other terminal when we were there.
Dawn
Right.
Tim
But we were there. I mean it was fine. It wasn't quite as. Quite as magical, I guess if you want to use a word for it. But it was. It was nice.
Dawn
I wonder if maybe they were still working on decor. I don't know.
Tim
Maybe I'm gonna. Maybe they share with some other ships also. I think MSC uses that sometimes. I think, okay, maybe Norwegian. Have we seen.I think I've seen a Norwegian ship there before. Now that I think.
Dawn
I don't know. I guess they needed a second terminal just in case they have two ships in port in the same day.
Announcer
But.
Tim
Yeah.
Dawn
Well we really do prefer the other one.
Tim
Fridays.
Dawn
I think they do. Okay. I prefer the other one. Just saying.
Tim
Yeah.
Dawn
So it doesn't matter. So we get in line again. They have like numbered Guest Service Assistance for you and they have one that says go to number 16. Go to number 32. Go to.And they check you in. They get your.If you have magicband plus that you're going to use for the ship that is where you will have them paired so that they would open your stateroom door as well and you'd be able to use them for charging things back to your room. You can do it at Guest Services on board. But the line at Guest Services the first day is really, really long.
Tim
Yeah. So I wouldn't be in a hurry to impair them if you're doing it on the. When you're on the ship.
Dawn
Right.
Tim
Just keep them in your pocket when you go by. And it's low.
Dawn
You can do it if. If you need to do it on the ship. But have them in your carry on baggage and they will pair them for you right inside the terminal. Super easy.
Tim
Knock it out.
Dawn
So we waited a little bit. Not terribly long.
Tim
Not long at all.
Dawn
When you come on Disney Transportation they don't really assign you a boarding group ahead of time. They just tell you what your boarding there. We were boarding group 10.
Tim
Yeah. Which is fun.
Dawn
Yeah. When we got there they were one through five. Seemed like a long time between one through five before they got to boarding group six.
Tim
Yeah.
Dawn
And they do.Even though they don't give you a little piece of paper or anything, they do know what Boarding group you are in because there were some people that came, they were boarding group 23 and tried to get on at boarding group 6.And they were asked to politely please sit back down and wait till boarding group because they do scan your port arrival QR code either on your phone or on your paper and it will tell them what boarding group you are in.
Tim
Disney knows.
Dawn
Yes, they know.
Tim
They always know.
Dawn
So but once they started with six, it seemed to go very, very quick.
Tim
Seven, eight, nine to ten was really quick.
Dawn
And where was our luggage at this point?
Tim
Well, was that point, Was it still at the pop?
Dawn
I believe it was still a pop. And I was having a little bit of a panic attack about that.
Tim
But we asked the lady when we were checking in.
Dawn
Yes.
Tim
So she eased us a little bit.
Dawn
She. Yeah, I think we asked someone before that, maybe before we went through security, like what about luggage or whatever. And they said, oh, a pick.A bigger truck comes and gets the luggage from the resorts and brings it something new. And that just didn't sound right to me. So then we asked the lady at check in who verified that, yes, that is exactly what happens.
Tim
There's a big. She said, called it almost a semi truck. They drive around getting luggage and brings it all in.
Dawn
Yes. So I felt a little bit better that two people verified that that was what was going to happen. Although my luggage was still at pop,.
Tim
I never really heard of anybody not getting in their luggage when using.
Dawn
We've never heard of that. But you know what? If it's going to happen to somebody,.
Tim
It's going to happen to us every time.
Dawn
Every single time. So we get on board, we're on board and we decide we prefer the sit down lunch.It just seems to us a little more calm and just a really great way to start our vacation.
Tim
And that news is getting out, apparently.
Dawn
Oh, it is. Because it was packed. It never used to be that usually.
Tim
Maybe half full of people right up to the buffet. But now people have learned the magic of the.
Dawn
Yes. The magic of the sit down dining room.
Tim
It was, yeah, embarcation lunch.
Dawn
Right. But servers were great. Had a great lunch. It was fantastic.
Tim
Good lunch. Beef empanada. I loved it.
Dawn
Yeah, that's awesome. But you can go up to the buffet or they do have the quick service open where you can get the brisket, the pizza, the hot dogs, the.
Tim
Hamburgers, festival of foods.
Dawn
Anything that you so desire to eat is up there.
Tim
Yep.
Dawn
And before we left the sit down lunch, I said check and see where our luggage is. And then it had Moved. It moved.
Tim
It was on a highway somewhere between Port Canaveral and Pop Century. And it was en route.
Dawn
Yes. So we were super, super excited. I'm like, okay, it's coming.
Tim
The relaxation was beginning to commence.
Dawn
Yes. And honestly, by the time we were done with lunch, because our lunch was almost an hour long, maybe a little bit long.
Tim
Yeah. I don't think they.I wonder if they don't do it quickly on purpose just to give people a place to kind of hang out, maybe keep the rest of the ship maybe free just for traffic flow.
Dawn
Yeah. Try to. Because if you have never been on a cruise before, it doesn't matter if it's Disney or any other cruise line. The first day is chaotic.Do not judge your vacation cruise by the first day.
Tim
Right.
Dawn
The elevators are packed, the hallways are packed because nobody can get into their room. The pools are packed. And it, it just is. It's a chaotic day until about dinner time. And then it starts to battle.
Tim
At muster station time, people start.
Dawn
Yes.
Tim
Trying to use the elevators to get down to their allotted stations. And then you're sitting there for however long the drill takes.
Dawn
Yeah.
Tim
Then everyone has to go back to where they want to be.
Dawn
Exactly.
Tim
Yeah.
Dawn
So it's, it's. Don't judge because it does get better. Because I usually have some pretty severe anxiety until about dinner time the first day.And I try to tell myself this is not what it is. Is going to be okay.
Tim
Yep.
Dawn
So we did that. Came back to our room after the mustard drill and all that kind of stuff, and got in the shower and went to dinner.
Tim
Yep. Went to dinner. Our dinner was at the Avengers Worlds of Marvel restaurant. Still not our favorite restaurant to be in, although the food is fine.
Dawn
I had the chicken schnitzel and while it's supposed to be a very crispy dish, so you can't have a sauce with it, it's still a little bit dry. Like, I think it needs to have something with a sauce with it. Whether it's like a mashed potato with a gravy or something.That it came with a twice baked potato, which was really good, and green beans. Three very dry foods.
Tim
Yeah.
Dawn
But it was tasty. The chicken schnitzel was yummy. Yep. What'd you have?
Tim
Well, I debated for a while because I, I was like, the tuna steak sounds. Can I go to. With seafood. But the guy really recommended the beef tenderloin.So I decided to just go with that recommendation and go with some beef and.
Dawn
Yeah.
Tim
Because I'll have some more opportunity for Some more seafood on the rest of the cruise.
Dawn
Yes.
Tim
But, yeah, food was good. Show was the show.
Dawn
Yeah, it's not our favorite, but we forgot to say, before we went to the dinner, we did go see the theater show, Seize the Adventure.
Tim
Oh, right, yes.
Dawn
Which is. Honestly, it is such a darling show, especially if you have kids who just love and adore all characters. They have them all in this show.The music is fantastic. The performers were amazing. It was.
Tim
Love the show.
Dawn
Oh, super shout out to Cammie. She was so darling. She came in at the very end. She was the one kind of directing people where to go or help them find seats and whatnot.So she came at the end and she was kind of standing off to the side, but she was singing along and dancing a little bit. She's just darling. So it was fun, honestly, watching her and the performers as well. So it was good. We.We chatted with her a little bit before we found our seats.
Tim
We did.
Dawn
So that was really fun. But we were there on the Treasure. People started lining up a good half hour before the show. The ship's whistle.
Tim
Oh, let's go outside and listen to the whistle together in the middle of the show. Why not? There'll be a few.
Dawn
There it is. That's my favorite one. Love it. Well, that was a little bit of magic we weren't anticipating.
Tim
This musical interlude has been brought to you by Disney Cruise Line.
Dawn
That's right. So after the show, then we went to dinner.
Tim
Yes.
Dawn
Talked about our dinner. It was yummy.
Tim
It was. We had table mates this time, so.
Dawn
We did have table mates this time. Very, very sweet couple.
Tim
Very, very.
Dawn
We had a nice little conversation. So, yes. Disney does not always teach you by yourself. Our server did come by and ask.He said, you know, you do know there's another couple that will be sharing this table. And we were like, yeah, that's great. We're always about making new friends, so that was very nice. Had lovely conversation with them. They were great.
Tim
So.
Dawn
And then we decided to call it a night.
Tim
We did. There was four of us at the Six Top, so there's plenty of room.
Dawn
Oh, yeah, that was nice.
Announcer
That's kind of nice.
Dawn
So very, very nice. So then we decided to call it a night because we were very tired. Very tired and very ready to go to sleep.
Tim
Yes. And then, however, our room, which we had mentioned before how much we loved.
Dawn
It and we were so excited for it. And be sure to go to YouTube and watch the video of our room tour.
Tim
Yes. If that's not already out. It Will be out. Yeah. And while it was the closest to the ice cream, it's also close to an access door for.We'll just say it's just for the crew. I think only the crew I've seen use it.
Dawn
Yes. And the door shuts very, very slowly until wham.
Tim
Whack.
Dawn
And the crew uses that door all night long.
Tim
All day, all night.
Dawn
And while I would 100% recommend the deluxe family veranda state room. This is an absolutely amazing room.
Tim
Yes, it is.
Dawn
I would recommend it not next to the crew access door you want to.
Tim
Be, which is where our. Our friend is coming a bunch of rooms forward from where we're at.
Dawn
Yes.
Tim
Then you're not going to hear it, you're not going to feel it, but right here. Oh, I'm not sure this was an upgrade for us from where we initially.
Dawn
No, I don't think so either. I think they felt, well, we'll upgrade the room because it is a significantly larger room.
Tim
Yes.
Dawn
It is not a better location.
Tim
No. It is for food and to get to the full deck. So that's fantastic.
Dawn
Yeah.
Tim
If you want to do that. Like I said, just don't be in this room.
Dawn
No, you need to be about these seven or eight rooms down.
Tim
Yeah. I would say come out from your elevator and take a left.
Dawn
For sure.
Tim
When you book your room, don't go right.
Dawn
Right. But you know, it's a good thing because you book vacations for people.And now we've experienced this location and we know this is not a location where we would put our client on.
Tim
Any of the wish class ships.
Dawn
No, not on any of them because it's just not quiet.
Tim
So I have no problem recommending the guarantee or the family veranda room because there's lots of space in here just for the two of us. We really don't need. But it's nice to have.
Dawn
Oh, for sure. I'm enjoying the space. So. But let's talk a minute about picking your own stateroom versus a guaranteed. Okay.
Tim
The pros with the guaranteed stateroom, oftentimes.
Dawn
You get a pretty good discount on the room.
Tim
That's the biggie. Get usually a very decent price on the room that you don't know you're going to get.
Dawn
Right. And oftentimes they will have like guaranteed inside ones available and ocean view and veranda.
Tim
Yes.
Dawn
And so you can book the category that you want.
Tim
Yes. And always book the category you're happy with.
Dawn
Right. Don't book an inside and hope that you're going to get upgraded to A veranda. That seldom happens.You might book a standard inside and get bumped up to a deluxe inside but.
Tim
Possibly.
Dawn
Yeah, possibly. But that's not always the case. So book the category that you are going to be happiest in.
Tim
Right.
Dawn
Because you don't want the room to ruin your vacation and just have it be so.
Tim
Yes. If you're a solid sleeper, nothing wakes.
Dawn
You up, you're gonna be happy anywhere. Yeah.
Tim
You'll be fine if you are.
Dawn
Me, not so much. So we thought definitely we'd be happy with the navigators veranda.
Tim
Oh, we probably still would have been.
Dawn
Yeah, I think we would have been thrilled with the navigators for especially on the Wish class ships because the obstruction is not much at all. It is minimal.
Tim
Like I said, like we said. I didn't assume we were not going to get a veranda's I assume, I assume, I guarantee we were just gonna get one of the navigators for endos.
Dawn
That's what I thought.
Tim
And we looked at, I looked at everything I could find like any of these are going to be totally fine.
Dawn
Absolutely. We did our thought. Well this be great.
Tim
Yeah.
Dawn
And then we were pleasantly surprised with this room until we weren't.
Tim
Until we had to go to bed,.
Dawn
Until we had to go.
Tim
I will say when we first came back to the room, for one thing there was a family about to go out the door.
Dawn
Right.
Tim
And then they saw the sign, it said emergency exit only, exit only.
Dawn
And they did turn around.
Tim
They did turn around. They respected that. Which, you know, great. That was like.
Dawn
Yeah.
Tim
I do remember seeing something before we left about that door but it was on the other side. So I'm sure they're having that. They have the exact same issue on the port 5 as well. Most likely about hey, we just got this door.We're right already at the foods. I'm like, well you're not supposed to go out that door from what I see now. So.But people are seeing that same video also going, you know, it's oh, here's a hack.
Dawn
Yes, I think they changed. I think it most likely was a public door at one point in time for this hallway.
Tim
Especially by the other sign right next to our room. It tells you to go out that way.
Dawn
It does. It says hey, go this way. And this is what you'll find on this deck.
Tim
But it's the crew that seems to be using that door more than me. Yes.
Dawn
I think that guest services may have had complaints about the noise and that's why they changed it. Yeah, that's why they changed it. We did mention it. We said, is there like any, like, adjustment that can be made to that door so it.Because it closes so slowly and then when it gets to where it's just about shut, then it slams, just whacks.
Tim
Really loud and shakes the wall.
Dawn
I don't know.Well, the good news is it's a four night and it's not going to ruin our vacation because we're having an amazing time and we're sharing this information.
Tim
With other people just so they.
Dawn
Right. So they know where to book and where not to book. We Dead end hallway. This is going to be fantastic.
Tim
Y not so much on the dead end.
Dawn
So we'll do day two later.
Tim
We'll do day two later.
Dawn
We got up and we were ready to go. Ready to hit it.
Tim
Yep.
Dawn
And we're still having a great time.
Tim
We are having a great time. We had our ice cream again. Fantastic already. Yes. A lot.
Dawn
Having that ice cream. Yep. All right.
Tim
Do we mention our trivia?
Dawn
No. That's day two.
Tim
Hope that in day two. But that's a little teaser out there. We did trivia. How'd we do? I don't know. I'm looking in the mirror like you're watching me.
Dawn
You'll have to wait.
Tim
Anyway, let's sign off with day two or day one so we can get to day two. Okay, everybody, I'm Tim Scott. If you'd like to go on a Disney trip, perhaps one of these wish class ships, a dream class ship, a magic class ship.You really can't go wrong with any of them.
Dawn
You can't.
Tim
But room placement is a thing. Don't want anybody to play.
Dawn
It is. Yes. Please work with a travel agent, even if it's not us, which we would love for, to have you as client.
Tim
I always recommend if you're going to go and you don't want to book through us for whatever reason, book through another Disney travel agent.
Dawn
Yeah.
Tim
The money circulating in the Disney community.
Dawn
Absolutely. And make sure the travel agent that you're using has been on several Disney cruises and they know what they're talking about. Not just selling Disney.Because there are travel agents out there that just sell Disney and have not really experienced a lot of the Disney ships.
Tim
That's so true.
Dawn
So vet your travel agents before you book.
Tim
Yes. Anyway, I'm Tim Scott, joined by his lovely wife Dawn. You've been listening to the Gateway to the Magic.
Dawn
See you, everybody.