There are a lot of different options when it comes to setting sail with Disney Cruise Line — there are five different ships to choose from, with a new one debuting by the end of the year, and another one in the works. They all have exclusive features and sail to a variety of destinations, so how do you choose which ship is right for you?
Photo: Disney
Well, obviously, the places you want to sail to should be the first thing you consider! But, beyond that, some ships offer special themed days during their voyage that might sway your decision.
Disney Fantasy Atrium
We recently sailed on the Disney Fantasy and experienced their Pixar Day at Sea. And now, we’ve got a full breakdown of the event so you can see if it’s right for you, or know what to expect if you’re taking the same journey soon!
Pixar Day at Sea
Pixar Day at Sea is an official day during your cruise. We were on the seven night Western Caribbean cruise and our Pixar Day was on our second day at sea.
There are a ton of different things to do, from seeing exclusive characters to participating in some exciting events, so let’s break it down!
Theming
The theming of this cruise is obviously all about Pixar! Disney adds a themed window cling to your veranda door the night before Pixar Day at Sea.
The screen on the top deck — Funnel Vision — has the Pixar Day at Sea logo screen on it until the first movie of the day begins.
There is also a giant Pixar Day at Sea Luxo Ball backdrop in the atrium throughout the entire cruise for you to take pictures in front of!
We spotted banners in the cabanas on Pixar Day at Sea, like this one of Flik…
…and this one of Russell and Carl.
They were also seen by Flo’s V-8 Cafe!
So much fun!
Something very cute is that at the end of your Pixar Day at Sea, there is a Wall-E blanket animal waiting for you in your room! There could be other characters that are made, but we got Wall-E and we were so happy to see him!
Characters
You can meet a bunch of fun Pixar characters throughout your cruise! Some of them will require reservations, but others will not.
We met Bo Peep from Toy Story, who doesn’t require a reservation and meets multiple times during the cruise. She’s exclusive to the Pixar Day at Sea cruise!
You can also meet Buzz Lightyear…
…and Jessie!
All of these characters will give you a card with their autographs on it instead of signing individual autographs.
You can meet more Toy Story characters (Woody, Jessie, & Bullseye) during the Hey Howdy Breakfast on the cruise, which is offered on two days during the cruise and is reservation only.
Rex is also available on the cruise, but he’s reservation only and you have to book a time to meet him before your cruise begins.
We definitely suggest scheduling this meet and greet because he’s super cool and very popular!
After we met with Rex, Cast Members said they had a surprise for us if we walked down a little further, and we saw Buzz again! On a different day of the cruise the surprise character down here was Bo Peep.
Merida from Brave also meets throughout the entire cruise!
Joy and Sadness from Inside Out began meeting guests the night before Pixar Day at Sea.
They had a fun Inside Out backdrop behind them and we’re very popular!
Mike and Sulley were meeting in from of stateroom door 2319!
The door even had Boo magnets on it — so cute.
Here’s a closer look:
These two characters will also give you an autograph card when you meet them.
The Incredibles meet during the cruise as well, but they are reservation only! It rotated between Frozone and Mr. Incredible and Edna Mode and Mrs. Incredible. We got to meet the latter!
These characters were super popular but they did have some availability pop up while we were on the cruise.
A character exclusive to Pixar Day at Sea is Miguel from Coco. He was very popular, with his line being about an hour long wait for all three of his meeting times throughout the day.
Remy from Ratatouille meets during a few days on the cruise but he has very high demand! The rat had the longest lines we saw to meet a character during the cruise.
Finally, you can meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse in their Pixar Outfits at the end of Pixar Day at Sea!
Food
Animators Palette — Undersea Magic with Crush
During one night of our cruise, we went to this themed dinner at Animator’s Palate!
The food itself isn’t themed, but the restaurant is. All of the shelves have Pixar props and the screens around the room will display some of your favorite characters from Finding Nemo!
The restaurant has a lot of blue lighting, making you feel like you’re actually under the sea.
Animator’s Palate
Similar to Turtle Talk with Crush in EPCOT, Crush actually talks to you during this dinner! He will come around to your table and visit. He might even ask if he can take a “shelfie” with you!
Some of the things Crush talked to us about were what we did on the ship that day and where we’re all from.
Then, the fish that form pictures with their school come around and you can play charades with them! You have to try and guess what object they’re forming into.
Bruce also swims in and out of the frames along with the other fish and friends from Nemo’s tank.
Now, let’s talk about the food. First of all, know that you can get a Crush souvenir sipper cup during this dinner — he’s so fun!
Here’s a look at the menu!
For our appetizer, we got the Sliced Serrano Ham with Manchego cheese and olive tapenade.
We also tried the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes. These are pasta purses filled with truffle-scented cheese and coated with a delicate champagne sauce.
For our soup and salad course, we got the Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup with bacon bits and chives.
Then, for our main course, we got the Ginger-Teriyaki dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin. This is served on top of wasabi mashed potatoes with bok choy and a tamarind barbecue reduction.
For dessert, we got the signature dessert, which is the Lemon Icebox Pie. This is served with lemon curd and berry creme.
Here’s a look at the other dessert options:
Pixar Dinner
On Pixar Day at Sea, you can enjoy the Pixar Dinner at all of the rotational dining locations. This dinner has California-inspired fare themed to Pixar Animation Studios.
We started with some specialty co*cktails! This is The Vespa, which is Duke Kentucky Straight Bourbon, fresh lemon, and Pinot noir.
We thought this was like a playful take on a sidecar — it was delicious and not too sweet! You can definitely taste the bourbon but the Pinot noir mellows it out.
We also tried the Chef’s Hat, which is a non-alcoholic co*cktail with coconut, pineapple, banana, and cotton candy.
This is good — it’s like coconut Dole whip but you also get some of that cotton candy flavor.
For our appetizer, we got Russell’s Baked Shrimp “Mac and Cheese.” This had chili fried shrimp, cavatappi, white cheddar, and gruyere cheese. It was really good but we still think it could’ve been a bit cheesier!
For soup, we got the Yeast of Eden’s Cream of Broccoli Soup which came with Pizza Dough Croutons. This was seasoned well and delicious!
For our main, we got a vegetarian dish — the Lava “Poke” Bowl. This came with tofu, tamari, cucumber, red cabbage, radish, brown rice, sesame, avocado, cilantro, and wasabi lemon drizzle. This is also gluten free!
This dish was just okay. The flavors didn’t really mesh together to become one cohesive dish, and there wasn’t much flavor to begin with.
For dessert, we got Coco’s Strawberry Churros Calientes. These had strawberry sugar crystals on the outside and came with a double chocolate sauce.
These were very crunchy thanks to that sugar on the outside and a delightful way to finish dinner!
We also got the signature dessert, which was the Playful Pixar ball! This was a baked vanilla cheesecake with blueberry filling and lemon almond cake.
It’s so cute! The lemon and blueberry are very subtle and compliment the cheesecake well.
Here’s a look at the other desserts on the menu!
Other Pixar Food on Board
If you’re looking for some Pixar-themed snacks, you can find a bunch over at Sweet on You for an extra cost! They’re available throughout the entire length of your cruise.
You can get things like a pack of macarons or Toy Story letter blocks…
…Rice Krispy Treats, marshmallow sticks, dipped Oreos…
…chocolate-dipped strawberries…
…and character cupcakes…
…like this Lightning McQueen one!
At the cafes aboard the ship, you can get Pixar characters put on the top of your coffee!
There are also Pixar novelty cups and popcorn buckets available on the ship all week for an additional fee.
These popcorn buckets are $20 each and will get you $1 refills on popcorn.
During Pixar Day at Sea, the drinks are themed to Pixar. We got this non-alcoholic drink called Balloons that was themed to Up.
This had pineapple Dole whip and strawberry puree with bubble gum flavor that added some nice sweetness. We really liked it!
Activities
There are a ton of themed activities on board during this cruise! First up, we checked out Sarge Says, which is essentially Simon Says with the Green Army Men from Toy Story.
This is mostly geared toward kids but can be enjoyed by people of all ages. The room lights up when Sarge tells you to do things like dance, salute, and march.
But, the best part is that you get to take a picture with the Green Army Men at the end!
Open Mike Nite happened two times on our trip, once before Pixar Day at Sea and once during. There are three unknown judges and guests are brought on stage to help tell jokes and get the audience to laugh in order to fill the scream canister!
At the end, Mike Wazowski himself comes out and everyone takes a bow. It’s basically like an open mic at a comedy club.
If you want to go on a scavenger hunt, check out the Wilderness Explorer Shipshape Adventure Scavenger Hunt, which only happens during Pixar Day at Sea. Window clings are added around the ship and you have to find them all and figure out what word they’re spelling.
At the end of the day, there’s a Wilderness Explorer meeting where you earn a badge (a stamp on your paper) if you’ve figured out the word and you get to meet Dug and Russell from Up!
To channel your inner animator, you can attend Learn to Draw Animation Academy, which was available for the entire day during Pixar Day at Sea. You learn to draw different Pixar characters!
We ended up drawing Lightning McQueen, but we also saw options like Joy, Merida, Mike and Sulley, and Panda Mei.
Similar to this, if you’re interested in what it’s actually like to work for Pixar, you can go to Meet the Storytellers. This is only offered one time during the cruise with a different member of Pixar Animation Studios for each voyage.
On our cruise, we got to hear from Eric Rosales, who has worked on Lightyear and The Incredibles at Pixar. He also showed us the process of how the Pixar short Self was made. And, at the end, the audience got to ask him a few questions!
One really popular activity on the ship was Jack-Jack’s Diaper Dash! It felt like almost the entire ship turned out for it when looking around the atrium.
During this, babies are placed on a mat to see who will crawl to their family member on the other side the quickest! So cute.
If you’re looking to channel your inner fashion diva, you can check out Edna Mode’s Style Show! This only happens on Pixar Day at Sea.
Edna Mode will appear at the top of the stairs and scurry down to judge all of the Pixar costumes that everyone’s wearing for the night. Cast Members went around and asked people to be in the fashion show, which had different categories, like DIY, Incredibles, and Pixar Friends.
You then walked the runway while Edna made some very nice comments on your outfit. When your group is done walking the runway, you line up for a group photo!
If you’re looking for some arts and crafts, you can make things like 3D Pixar character crafts, like building your own Forky in the kids clubs on board.
Photo: Disney
There are also multiple opportunities to partake in Pixar trivia throughout the trip…
…and live entertainment that focuses on songs from Pixar movies!
Photo: Disney
Some other things that only happen on Pixar Day at Sea are fun games like Dory’s Memory Game…
Photo: Disney
…Toy Story Boot Camp (which is only in the Kids Clubs!)…
Photo: Disney
…and Crush’s Pool Party.
Photo: Disney
Entertainment
There is a bunch of fun entertainment that happens throughout your cruise! First of all, you can watch a variety of Disney movies at the Buena Vista Theatre. Some of the ones we had on board were Turning Red, Toy Story, and Frozen.
There are also Pixar movies played in between other Disney movies on Funnel Vision on the top deck! We saw them play Hercules, Monsters, Inc., The Little Mermaid, and Ratatouille.
Youdon’t miss out on those Pixar-themed deck parties! The Celebrate the Supers Deck Party features Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Frozone, and Jack-Jack.
The supers are introduced and Edna Mode also appears to show off her designs and how she has modernized them for the supers.
Then, they realize that Jack-Jack is missing! They try to capture him running around the deck, and then we spot him at one point up in the smoke stack!
The Incredibles are able to capture the baby and everyone celebrates with fireworks above the ship!
There is also the Pixar Pals Celebration on Deck, which features a bunch of Pixar friends coming out to dance with everyone!
Joy and Sadness come out first and take turns dancing and changing the emotions and vibes of the dance party when they pass off the core memory to each other.
Then, Remy comes out and he dances and stirs a big pot!
After that, Wilderness Explorers Dug and Russell come out and dance to “The Bird is the Word.”
Miguel from Coco then comes out and gets you to dance along with him! The steps to the dance are up on the screen and you stomp and clap and snap with Miguel.
Then, Mike and Sulley come out and challenge everyone to scream to fill the canister that’s up on the screen.
Finally, the Toy Story Friends come out and dance…
…before introducing Partysaurus Rex!
Merchandise
There’s also some exclusive merchandise that you can grab on the ship over at Mickey’s Mainsail!
Get this exclusive pin featuring a variety of Pixar characters for $17.99.
Check out the adult T-shirt available in here! It’s a ringer T-shirt with the ship on the front…
…and the same design as the pin on the back. Get it for $34.99!
There is a kids shirt as well — it has the ship and some Pixar characters on the front and the back is plain.
You can get it for $31.99.
That’s our full guide to Pixar Day at Sea on the Disney Fantasy! Stay tuned for more Disney Cruise Line news and updates.
