Cruising

Meeting Characters on the Disney Cruise Line – Princess Anna, Mickey, Jack Sparrow, Daisy and More on Disney Dream

Denise

Hi everyone!

Jeff and I just spent 4 nights on the Disney Dream cruise, this was the first time we’d been on the ship since the 2-night media cruise in 2011. It was great actually experiencing it as guests, combining work and play. We both have cruised a total of 4 times now with the Disney Cruise Line, my first time was in 1998 on the new Disney Magic. The experience has even gotten better through the years! One of our favorite aspects of cruising on the Disney Cruise Line is the character interaction. We didn’t spend all of our time meeting characters, but we found quite a few through the 4 nights!

The Disney Dream lobby hosted many of the character meet-and-greets throughout our cruise. There are several levels to the lobby – Mickey always was on the second floor, and we found Ariel above that. She often was by herself or with just a few guests, since she was a bit off the beaten path. We have videos of many of our character meet-and-greets within the article, including with Ariel!

This is a great location for Mickey, here in his Captain’s outfit! The gorgeous chandelier offers a perfect backdrop for photos.

Princess Anna made her debut on the Disney Cruise Line at the time “Frozen” was released. She had possibly the longest line we encountered on the cruise, but also one of the quickest. She told us that she hoped that Elsa would make the AquaDuck an ice slide!

We missed the morning Princess gatherings, but stopped by to meet Belle and Cinderella on the final night of the cruise.

On Pirate night, Chip and Dale looked their Pirate best! We entered the line to meet them, but they had to leave and we met Mickey instead. It wasn’t a bad change!

Goofy was meeting in his Pirate outfit in front of Walt.

Captain Hook and Mr. Smee were also greeting here during Pirate night!

We weren’t expecting to meet as many characters on Castaway Cay, but we kept running into meet-and-greets. Stitch had been out earlier and we missed him, but there were so many great opportunities when we did make it off the ship. Pluto, Goofy, Minnie, Mickey and Captain Jack Sparrow were all in good form and without long lines. The characters closer to the ship like Chip and Dale, Daisy and Donald had longer waits.

We had first seen Captain Jack Sparrow at the tram stop, but he eventually came ambling down the adult beach at Serenity Bay.

Daisy, Donald and Chip & Dale were in front of the Castaway Cay post office.

Olaf in a grass skirt is stationed in front of the Castaway Cay post office.

It’s fun to see what attire the characters will wear during the cruise!

Donald, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Daisy were dancing to music in their island attire!

Goofy and Max also had a long line, but we don’t often see them together.

We loved Goofy’s formal outfit! Unfortunately we missed meeting Minnie by just a few minutes in her formal dress.

Princess Tiana greets guests on the Disney Dream.

This is a “don’t miss” on the Disney Dream! It is the “See Ya Real Soon” finale, with a variety of characters meeting guests for about 15-20 minutes, and then a short show on the staircase. It started after 10:00 p.m., and this was the last time that characters were out. The show is so much fun, and a great way to end the cruise.

Here is the “See Ya Real Soon” show – just a few minutes, on the Disney Dream.

There are so many things to do on a Disney cruise – while we enjoyed adult dining and activiites, it was really fun to meet so many characters! We didn’t meet everyone, we generally chose a couple meet-and-greets per day, and then found others while en route to other activities. Minnie Mouse was meeting in the Disney Cruise Line terminal before the beginning of the cruise, and when she left for a break, her attendant said that there would be 50 more meet and greets with her on the ship. I don’t know if it was that many, but it was a lot! Other characters meet much less often, such as Anna with two scheduled times. The Personal Navigator left in the stateroom each night lists character appearances for the next day.