We woke up the next morning to find we were already docking at Castaway Cay. Although we had never especially seen the appeal of cruises before, I will admit that it is exciting to wake up in a new place every morning. Especially when that place is Disney’s private island in the Bahamas.
We had a 10:00 stingray excursion planned so we weren’t in a huge rush to get off the boat. We got ready, ate breakfast in Cabanas, and then headed off the ship. We passed Donald Duck walking around on the island and then found our way to Castaway Ray’s.
I knew there was a lot to do on the island without adding an excursion and didn’t necessarily feel obligated to book one. But my boys love wildlife encounters and wanted to try snorkeling so I figured the Stingray Adventure excursion would work well for them. I liked that it was a controlled environment for their first snorkeling experience. They could wade in and snorkel in an area shallow enough for them to stand if they needed to. I had read that the Snorkeling Lagoon was much deeper and involved some extensive swimming to really get out to see the good stuff. I wasn’t confident enough in their ocean swimming abilities to let them try that so this was a good starter experience.
The group met together first for some stingray education and to get fitted for our snorkeling gear. The stingray lagoon is actually a netted off area (to keep the stingrays in and the bigger stuff out) and all of the stingrays within the nets are de-barbed.
For the first part of the adventure, we were able to feed the stingrays. The kids took their spots at a feeding station and the staff taught them how to hold the fish in between their fingers with their hands flat. The stingrays swam over their hands and sucked the food right out!
After the feeding, we were free to snorkel among the stingrays and explore the lagoon. There were only a handful of other fish in the lagoon and no coral or plant life to speak of, but it was a unique experience to be able to swim so close to the stingrays.
The boys didn’t actually take to snorkeling very well. The first time they put their face in the water and got a taste of salt water, they were done. But they had a blast just wading around among them. It was amazing to see how many were swimming around – all those black spots dotting the water are stingrays!
At the end of the stingray adventure, everyone was given a Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund pin. It was a neat souvenir for the kids.
After the stingray adventure, it was time for some R&R on the beach. We had no problem finding empty lounge chairs or hammocks.
A BBQ lunch is available at two locations on the island (at Cookie’s and Cookie’s Too). Just as we were headed over to lunch, we ran into the Character Dance Party. Goofy and Mickey were decked out in their island casual outfits and danced all around. JB danced with Goofy and Mickey and then we filled up on lunch and ice cream.
After lunch we headed out to explore the island some more. We spent some time playing games at In-Da-Shade. It is a really fun area with basketball hoops, billiard tables, shuffleboard, ping pong and more. And guess what? It’s in the shade! It was nice to be able to play outside without being in the heat of the sun.
Feeling ready for some more action, we rented bikes next to explore the rest of the island. The bike path started out by going down the island’s old airway landing strip. There were all sorts of aviation themed Disney decorations along this part of the path. Eventually we made it to the lookout tower where we had some great views of the boat and the island itself. We continued all the way to the end of the trail and to a beach area beyond Serenity Bay. You couldn’t go on to the beach there but it was a pretty view. We headed back the way we came and were ready for a dip in the ocean to cool off.
By the time we returned our bikes and made our way back to the beach, it was almost 3:00. All Aboard time was 4:45 but it felt like most people had returned to the ship by then. There were not a ton of people around – but there were abandoned inner tubes everywhere. JB grabbed one off the beach and headed into the ocean, while RB headed to the Pelican Plunge. Both boys had a great time!
After a full day on the island, we were ready to head back to the ship. But we got one more surprise on the way back… we caught Pluto just as he was leaving and Chip and Dale just as they were arriving! The boys got to see all of them with no waiting.
Back on board, we had time to grab some snacks, watch some of Wreck-It-Ralph on Funnel Vision, see Pluto AGAIN, see Minnie in her formal dress, and say good-bye to the beautiful island as we pulled away and headed toward our next adventure.
That night we went to see Tangled the Musical. We had skipped the show the first night, both because we were settling in and because we weren’t sure if the boys would like it. They LOVED Tangled. They were completely spell bound by the production. Disney did an amazing job – it’s hard to believe that they can pull off such a high caliber production on a ship. We were completely blown away.
Our dining rotation was Carioca’s – Lumiere’s – Lumiere’s – Animators Palate. Since we were assigned to Lumiere’s twice, we chose to eat at Palo that night. The food was great and it was nice for us to have some time to ourselves. We were especially appreciative of our waiter when our kids called about 20 minutes into the dinner wanting to be picked up from the kids club. (Remember how I said they were in the minority and didn’t love it?) Our waiter just said “Let me take care of this” and disappeared. He came back a few minutes later and said the boys were fine and the staff there had been told that we were eating at Palo and they should only disturb us if it was an emergency. The boys were fine and had a good time (of course when we actually did come to pick them up they didn’t want to leave) and my husband and I had a nice meal together. At the end of a very full day, we went back to our room to see what antics the boys’ stuffed animals and the towel animal had been up to. We had had an amazing day on Castaway Cay – but we were ready to sleep!
