Disney’s Very MerryTime Cruise Review: 10 Highlights From Our 4-Night Disney Dream Cruise 2014

Hi everyone!

We spent 4 nights on the Disney Dream to experience a Disney Cruise Line Very MerryTime Cruise. While I’ve sailed 6 times with Disney since 1998 (including 3 times in 2014), I have never gone during the holiday season. With so many activities included this year, it was a great time for us to celebrate Christmas in a whole new way! We paid our own way with a Florida Resident discount.

Mickey and Minnie in their Holiday Attire

Here are 10 reasons to take a Disney Cruise Line MerryTime Cruise (this is from an adult point of view – there are also additional activities exclusive for children and teens).

Disney Cruise Line Ships Are Decorated For Christmas – From the stunning atriums to the restaurants and common areas, decorations can be found all over the ships. Guests stood in line to have a photo taken in front of the large Christmas tree in the Disney Dream atrium. I am partial to the newer ships (as opposed to the classic ships), in part due to the grand atriums. Even the Disney Cruise Line terminal is decked out!

Disney Cruise Line Terminal

Disney Dream Atrium

Disney Dream Atrium

Disney Dream Atrium

Festive Gingerbread House – I was impressed by how great the gingerbread house looked, considering the ship rocks back and forth (and kids sometimes ducked the rope to get inside). This large gingerbread house on the Disney Dream includes 650 pounds of gingerbread, 3750 gingerbread bricks, 1500 more bricks on the roof, and 220 pounds of icing.

Festive Gingerbread House

Mickey’s Tree-Lighting Magic: Don’t miss this experience, which features Mickey and Minnie, Pluto and Goofy leading guests in Christmas carols. A family is chosen to help light the Christmas tree! This happens on the first night only, and the Christmas tree then stays lit the entire cruise.

Minnie, Mickey, Pluto and Goofy in Mickey’s Tree-Lighting Magic

A Family is Chosen to Help Light the Christmas Tree

Santa’s Winter Wonderland Ball – with Snow!: Cast Members sing Christmas carols in a way that is reminiscent to “Celebrate the Season” at the Magic Kingdom. This event was also on our first cruise night, at 10:15 p.m. It is well worth keeping the kids up a little later to see the Disney characters in their holiday outfits, along with Santa Claus and snow! We enjoyed taking photos with the characters after the show.

Santa Arrives to Santa’s Winter Wonderland Ball

Performers Sing Carols

Snow Falls in the Atrium

Deck the Deck Tropical Holiday Party – Mickey and Minnie help bring the fun in this high-energy party. Guests may be invited up to limbo under the candy canes that Chip and Dale hold, or pass a coconut with Stitch. We chose an upper deck for great viewing.

Chip and Dale Get Ready to Limbo with Guests at the Deck the Deck Tropical Holiday Party

Stitch and Minnie

Mischievous Stitch Pulls Pluto’s Tail

Characters and Cast Members Dance

Holiday Storytelling – A Cast Member reads two Christmas stories to children seated around a chair in front of the Christmas tree. For us, that part was a little long – but the payoff was worth it. Disney makes this a truly magical event with characters surprising the kids. Victorian carolers started singing as the stories ended. The carolers were one of my very favorite part of the cruise. This event also was at 10:15 p.m.

A Cast Member Reads a Christmas Story

Mickey Motions “Shhh” As They Quietly Come Down Stairs

Characters Arrive to Greet Guests

Pluto Makes Himself an Honorary Victorian Choir Member

Meet Characters in their Holiday Attire & Santa Claus – Characters can be met at several of the events and on their own while dressed in their winter best. This includes at Santa’s Winter Wonderland Ball, Holiday Storytelling and See Ya’ Real Soon. Of course, you can still meet Captain Mickey, Princess Minnie and many more characters in different costumes over the cruise length! Santa Claus also greets guests during the cruise.

Minnie Mouse in one of her Holiday Outfits

Goofy Strikes a Pose

Castaway Cay is Decked Out for the Holidays – Unfortunately, we were unable to dock due to high winds. We did get a few photos of the Christmas tree at Castaway Cay from the ship. Maybe we’ll try again next year!

Christmas Tree at Castaway Cay

Gingerbread House Building – It is really important to get on the ship as early as possible, to sign up for any special activities that weren’t booked ahead of time. A highlight of our cruise was building a gingerbread house on the Disney Dream. There were a couple of times available, and it costs nothing extra this year (that could change in the future). I would pay a nominal fee for the fun we had. Each family received a gingerbread house kit to build, and a pastry chef had us follow along as she showed us her technique. Our stateroom smelled of gingerbread for the remainder of our cruise, but we did have to leave behind anything we hadn’t eaten.

Gingerbread House Making

I Tried to Make a Mickey

Our Gingerbread House on our Verandah

See Ya’ Real Soon – The holiday version of See Ya Real Soon was different than other times of the year. During our MerryTime Cruise, the characters arrived in their holiday attire and Victorian carolers sang “Let There Be Peace on Earth”. It was really beautiful, and a perfect way to end the cruise. Guests get about 20 minutes to meet the characters, as is usual. That doesn’t allow enough time to meet every one, but usually a few characters. The time for this is also 10:15 p.m.

See Ya’ Real Soon!

Belle in her Winter Costume

Meeting Donald Duck

Goofy Takes a Seat

Special Merchandise and Holiday Food – There is a limited amount of special merchandise on the Disney Cruise Line for the Very MerryTime Cruise. We purchased two shirts and a Tervis mug. There was also some special holiday food items at the counter service restaurants.

Disney Cruise Line Decorative Christmas Pillow

Here is one last video, we asked six Disney princesses what they want for Christmas!

I did find the holiday cruise a little more hectic than any other Disney cruises I’ve taken, so patience is key here – mostly due to all the shows and special character appearances. We would definitely go on a Disney Cruise Line Very MerryTime Cruise again!