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MARVEL DAY at SEA!!!!
Disney Magic, January 21, 2018


I just wanted to share our recent experience with Marvel day, for anyone who is thinking of booking one.

A Very short background:

We are a family of five (Me, DH, DS-10, and twin 4 year olds), plus we traveled with my mom. We always book very last minute (in this case just two weeks before our sail date), and we have cruised with Disney many many times.
Truth be told, we didn't even know about the Marvel Day when we first booked, we just picked a week that worked for us. I confess that I did not even know a lot about the Marvel universe, although I do love Agents of Shield and I had seen the first Avengers movie, and Spiderman.

When we learned about Marvel Day, I decided to make a few shirts just for fun, but we did not put much more thought into it.


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Marvel Day at Sea on our cruise was a wednesday, our second sea day. There was nothing Marvel about the cruise on any day but this one, which made it all the more exciting.

Early that morning, and armed with my Navigator, we headed up to Cabanas for breakfast. Right away we could see Marvel things everywhere!

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It's not just a drink station now.....it's a Captain America drink station!!

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These hero banners were all over deck 9, and immediately got us in the Marvel mood. I may not know a lot about the movies, but I was pretty sure that I needed to meet every single one of them. My 10 year old son was getting super excited also.

At breakfast they had Marvel labels on on all the food.

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Immediately after breakfast we went back to our room to change into our Marvel shirts. Since Agents of Shield is my favorite TV show, I made us all Shield shirts. They were very last minute and not the best, but they were so fun to wear, and my DD4 was So into it. I told her she was Quake (from the tv show) and she stuck to that all day long, telling everyone her name was Quake. Even my DS4, who usually hates everything was pretty proud of his Shield shirt :earboy2:.

Here they are, dressed and ready to go:

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Now, we quickly learned that the reality of Marvel Day is that if you want to see ALL of the characters, you are going to spend most of your day in a line. It also helps a LOT if you have a big party and can split up. We often sent someone to wait in one line while we tackled another line somewhere else. In 13 cruises, I have never seen character lines as long as the ones for Marvel Day, but I will add that is was completely worth it. Just bring your patience, or you can just pick a few of your favorites and wait for them.
We were determined to see them all, so.....in lines we stood!

Here is what you need to know about the meet and greets: :charac4:

1. There are 2 ticketed events for Marvel Day. Groot is one, and the other is called Heroic Encounters, and includes Spider Man, Iron Man and Black Panther. Both of these meet and greets required a ticket to attend, and they will not let you in if you don't have one. Tickets are available to book online before your cruise, but the Groot one fills up very quickly. If you can not get tickets online, be sure to check with Guest Services when you get on board to see if there are any still available. There were still tickets available for Heroic Encounters when we boarded, but I confess that we were only able to get Groot tickets because we had a friend who works on the ship. If you are planning a Marvel cruise, be sure to get your Groot tickets as soon as you possibly can.

2. There are several characters listed in the navigator with set times and locations. On our cruise this included Black Widow, Captain America, Thor, and Loki. All of these heroes had very long lines, all day long, and you had to be aware that they would sometimes switch out, so you may get in line for Thor, but then a CM would come by and say you are actually in line for Loki. Now, I don't know if this is always the case or not, but on our cruise the shortest lines were the last set times of the day. Also, if you really want to "win" at meet and greets, try to catch them when they switch out. We saw some GREAT interactions between Thor and Loki when they switched out for their last set.

3. Many characters have no set times or locations. Instead they just "roam" the ship, usually on decks 3,4 and 5, but we also saw them on deck 9. This means you just have to keep an eye out for them if you want to meet them. Roaming characters were Doctor Strange, Star Lord, Gamora and Hawkeye. Later in the day we also saw Black Widow roaming as well. The roaming characters had far shorter lines and were much easier to meet in our experience. In fact, we saw Star Lord and Gamora SO many times on accident- we just kept running into them everywhere.

SO.....
with my navigator clutched in my hand, we headed off to the first meet and greet which was Loki, scheduled for 9:15AM. When we got to deck 3, he was already out, up on deck 5 yelling down to his "fans" below. The crowd was going crazy. We went to find his actual line, and no surprise...it was wrapped so far around deck 4 that I couldn't even see where (or if) the line ended! Yikes.
Plan B. I sent DH to Preludes to check the line for Black Widow. He came back with a thumbs up, so we moved over to Preludes to wait for her. It was still about 9:15 and her set time wasn't until 9:45, so I knew we had a least a half hour wait, and then there were about 20 people in front of us in line.

So at about 9:30, my extreme FOMO (fear of missing out) kicks in, and I decided to leave DH in line for Black Widow while DD4 and I went looking for other heroes.
We walked out around deck 4 for a ways and then I turned around and saw Starlord and Gamora walking right towards us. YES.
I have actually seen Guardians 1 and 2, so I was excited to meet them. They immediately saw my daughter's "Agent in Training" shirt and Starlord told her he needed to see her training moves. She was acting a bit scared (that Gamora is pretty intimidating), so Starlord changed the request to dance moves.dcl10.jpg

DD started doing some weird dance moves that Gamora said she "didn't get". Then they agreed to a picture.

We went back to Preludes just in time to see Black Widow arriving.

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She looked fantastic.

When it was our turn she noticed our shirts and greeted us as "fellow agents". She then gave DS10 some specific things to work on for his agent training. 1- Intelligence, 2- Stealth, 3- Accuracy He was taking in every word. She was really fantastic.


......tbc
 
.......part 2

Black Widow, continued......

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When we left Black Widow, we spotted Hawkeye up on deck 5, with practically no line what so ever. We ran up there with DD. She was not scared of him at all, and he was SO sweet to her. Seriously, he was so great. He talked to her about her code name, Quake and how she should stay "under cover" and only use her code name, which she took to heart.

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By this time it was nearly 10:30, and we decided to go down and play some Marvel trivia. My DH knows a lot more than me, so sure, why not.

I should point out that there were many other things going on around the ship at this time. There was a comic book drawing class, the new Thor movie was playing in the theater, Marvel cartoons were showing all day on Funnel Vision, and they had a "Comic Vault" in the Promenade Lounge where you could look at tons of old comics on a large tablet.

Also, they kept making announcements that were very fun and clever, all Marvel related of course. I won't spoil them, but if you hear them try to listen because they are funny. For example, they once called for Peter Parker to return to the Media Desk. They had some really good ones, I won't spoil for you. And of course there was Marvel music playing all day in the hallways and elevators.

We walked by the gift shops on the way to trivia. Naturally they had TONS of Marvel stuff.

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Now, we went to the "regular" trivia, but I should say there was also a Super Showdown Game Show for families, and a Marvel Super Fan Challenge that involved some really tricky stuff. We walked through the Super Showdown just to check it out. They had some kids up on stage trying to answer questions that I did not know the answer to....

the outside of Fathoms:

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Our trivia was in the pub. I'd say there were about a dozen teams there.
FYI, they have a lot of board games in there you can play, so we let the kids play games while we answered trivia questions. I mean, while we tried unsuccessfully to answer trivia questions.....

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The trivia was really hard, and it wasn't just us that thought so. There were a LOT of comic book questions, so if you were an expert on the movies, it might not have helped you much. The winning team had only 8 questions correct out of 15. But if you are a comic book pro, this is the trivia for you.


......to be continued
 
.........trivia continued

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So, if you happen to know who Dr. Banner was saving the first time he turned into the Hulk, or the name of Tony Stark's business partner, or the comic issue AND number that Spider Man gets his wrestling costuming from......well, Kudos, you know a LOT more that I do :tongue:

We had fun losing at trivia, but it was time for lunch, so we went up to deck 9 for some food by the pool. That is when we spotted these two again, watching themselves on Funnel Vision:

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Over at Pete's Broiler Bites, they had a Marvel special for lunch. A burger on a red bun with bacon and pimento cheese, and a coney island style hot dog. DH tried both and said they were good.

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The kids took their time eating lunch and ice cream while I went in to watch some of the Little Hero Diaper Dash. Now, the diaper dash is not to be missed on any cruise, but the Marvel theme made it extra cute. Each baby was given a super hero to represent. The race always draws large crowds and even people with no kids get a kick out of watching babies race each other. The winner in this first round had no competition since none of the other babies wanted to move!

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Look who else is watching babies race......

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Well, now that I have spotted Doctor Strange, I have to track him down. We went downstairs but he had disappeared. But as luck would have it, we spotted him again walking through Shutters. He introduced himself and told me that he sensed great potential in me :hyper:

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Around the corner we ran into Captain America himself, on his way to.....do whatever heroes do when they aren't meeting their fans.

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We stood around chatting with a friend for a few minutes and who should walk by again.....(I told you we saw them a lot)
DS10 jumped in for a photo this time:

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At this point is was about 12:40, and we knew that Captain America was supposed to be back out at 12:45, so my mom took the twins to the room for a nap and DS and I went to check out the line for Cap. Well, it was long. Very long. But we didn't really have anything else going on, so we committed to the wait and made friends with the people in line around us. That is really the best way to pass the time. This would turn out to be the longest line of the day....I think around 45 minutes.

As the time ticked on I remembered they were doing a Marvel Costume Celebration in the atrium so I left DH in line and went over to have a peek.
There was a large crowd of people, some in full costume, some in t-shirts and hats or other costume pieces.

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They called people up on stage to show off their costumes and tell why they picked them. Then they invited all of the characters out to join the fun!

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Aren't they the cutest?! I love Chip and Dale as Loki and Thor :love:


.......to be continued.......
 
The characters came down and did some action poses, then they spread out to take pics with fans.
Here is a tip- Mickey and Minnie posed together on deck 4 on the balcony. If you want a good spot in line, try to be up there and ready when they come in. Pluto and Goofy were together on deck 3, Chip and Dale also together on deck 3. The lines got long very quickly. I think Daisy and Donald were also on deck 4.


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I had to get back to Captain America so I didn't wait for any of them, but they do come back out again later in the evening.

DH and DS were just about at the front of the line, finally. Captain America was really great and gave DS even more things to work on for his "agent training". One of them was strength, and then he also said courage.
All of the heroes so far were very good and they don't just rush you out, they really talk to you and get you involved in the whole Marvel experience. It really was extremely fun.

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After we left, we had barely enough time to run to deck 9 for a snack at Cabanas before they closed at 2.
They were doing a Meet the Marvel Masters event in the theater but we just didn't have time for that one. There was also another trivia challenge starting, but we had tickets for the Heroic Encounters meet and greet at 2:30 so we headed down to D-Lounge to get in line.

The line wasn't too bad since it was a ticketed event. They checked our tickets and then let us into D-Lounge which had been completely transformed into three areas, one for Spider Man, Black Panther and Iron Man. Catching a glimpse of them all for the first time was very exciting, kind of like you had stepped onto a movie set. There was a super cute little girl in front of us, dressed head to toe like Elsa, but absolutely bursting to meet Spider Man.

Spider Man was the first one we met. He absolutely cracked me up. He was hyper and fun and just like he is in the new movie. As someone in line with me put it- "he is everyone's best friend." He immediately started talking "cool poses" with DS and had him come up with one, then did a couple of his own. His energy was contagious.

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Black Panther was next, and I have to confess I had no idea who he was, but he looked amazing, strong and intimidating. I don't know what he said to DS, but they had a good long chat about something.

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Last was Iron Man, and WOW he was something right out of the movie. It was all so real, standing there hearing Tony Stark's voice and looking right at Iron Man. I wish I had a video of it. He said things like, "Hey- you make us look good, we make you look good" and "A picture with me? Why didn't I think of that."

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We went straight from this event to the Groot Meet and Greet in Animators Palate. Our time was for 3:15 but we got there at 3 and they let us in right on time. There were a lot less people in this group than there had been for the Heroic Encounters, so the line went pretty fast.

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Our server told us later that if you had dinner in Animator's Palate for Marvel night, they showed black and white Marvel art throughout the dinner.

Here is Groot. He looked incredible.

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After Groot, DH wanted to check out the Comic Vault. He said he needed a LOT more time in there.

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It was now about 3:30, and we still had two heroes to meet, Loki and Thor. Well, there was no way to catch both and I was desperate to meet Loki, so we went to get in his line. It was still very long, but much shorter than it had been earlier in the day! Thor was still there when we got in line, but sure enough, the CM came and said we were actually waiting to see Loki, which was fine by me. We wanted to meet Thor too, but since I had to choose it was Loki all the way!

While we were waiting we spotted Black Widow and Hawkeye hanging out together:
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The line moved pretty quickly and we were very near the front when Loki came out to replace Thor. This is what I meant about catching them at the change over. You get fun pics, like this one (my favorite)

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Bye Thor!

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So I don't know what it was, because I never even saw the Thor movies....but
Loki was my absolute favorite, LOL He was just perfectly mischievous and fun. When I told him my kids were not there because they were napping, he scolding me for lying to a God.

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Too much fun. I guess it was best for last!

After Loki, the regular characters started coming out in their hero outfits. DS10 had disappeared to the Kids Club ages ago, but the twins were up now. DD wanted to meet Chip and Dale.

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The trivia was really hard, and it wasn't just us that thought so. There were a LOT of comic book questions, so if you were an expert on the movies, it might not have helped you much. The winning team had only 8 questions correct out of 15. But if you are a comic book pro, this is the trivia for you.

Oh you just made my week.
 
was on the cruise with you! that was my little racer in the black widow lane who decided to sit and clap instead of crawl to the finish line!
 


The characters lines were short compared to the crazy Marvel lines, so we quickly met Mickey and Daisy also.

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Next we were headed to the Doctor Strange show, Journey Into the Mystic Arts. It was a stage show but they also chose several kids from the audience to help out on stage.

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The kids got to do a couple of simple "training exercises" , such as learning to open up portals using hula hoops. One boy in the audience was chosen to help with a magic trick.

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There wasn't much to the show itself, but all 3 of my kids loved it, and asked to see it again. :confused3

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We left the show and headed upstairs to the Oceaneers Club. They were having an open house and the kids wanted to go in in play for awhile. On the way we looked at some more fun Marvel merch.

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The Oceaneers Club and Lab were hosting a variety of Marvel activities throughout the cruise. They had Marvel Super Hero academy, S.H.I.E.L.D. Secret Agent 101, Doctor Strange Defy the Dark Dimension, Spider Man Web Warriors, just to name a few. My kids really liked the Marvel area of the club.

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Oceaneers Club:

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We left the club around 7:30 to go up and watch the Superhero Celebration on deck 9. We didn't get to watch the whole thing because it was rained out half way through....but as far as I could tell, it was just characters coming out on stage and showing off their Marvel costumes.

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8PM and Marvel day was still going strong! My mom and I took the kids to see the Star Spangled USO Show. We thought it was fun and a nice nod to Captain America. If you like the USO style, you will enjoy it very much.

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They invite people to dance with them in the middle.

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No heroes make an appearance here, just Captain America on video, and lots of fun singing and dancing.
 
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When the show ended at 8:25, it was time to take the twins to the room for a bath. Normally they would go to bed, but we all wanted to see the deck show at 10:15. My mom hates eating late and we had late dinner, so she volunteered to take the twins each night while we were at dinner. DH and DS had already gone down and I was to meet them after getting the twins settled.

In the room we found our Marvel runner and Thor's hammer made of towels :goodvibes

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The runner is absolutely yours to keep, and many people were taking it around the ship and having characters sign it.

I got the twins settled with grandma and hurried off to dinner. We were at Lumiere's. They had a special Marvel menu, of course!

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The had green marble bread :thumbsup2

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The kids menu doubled as Captain America's shield.

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I tried the Meatballs and Pasta which I honestly didn't really care for.

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DH had the ribeye steak and said it was very good.

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DS had the Marvel brownie for dessert.

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After dinner we went straight up to deck 10 to get a spot for the deck show, Heroes Unite. I heard many great things about this particular show, and my friend who works on the ship said it was not to be missed! So we got the family together and found a place on deck 10. As it happened, the weather that night had turned a bit chilly, and very windy. It had been a very nice day and we were quite unprepared for the sudden change. We literally sat there huddled together in the wind, shivering like we were in Alaska or something. It was silly, but the families near us were freezing as well, so it wasn't just us....

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It was a bit of a wait, but worth it to get a good view of everything that was happening.

The show begins as one of Tony Stark's elaborate presentations, and takes a turn when the ship is attacked by Loki and Red Skull.

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I'm sure some people out there could find plenty of fault in it, but honestly I thought this show was SO much fun and really the best I have ever seen on a cruise ship. I mean, a stage full of super heroes, fun stunts, plenty of banter, fireworks, and SPIDER MAN SCALING THE FREAKING FUNNEL!
I was buying it, every bit. I learned later that a couple of hero entrances were cancelled due to the high winds, but since I didn't know that at the time, it didn't change anything.

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Such a good time, I think even people who aren't familiar with Marvel would enjoy it very much.

It had been a very long day and we had had a BLAST, but at this point I was done, and so were the kids. I took them all down to bed, but DH ventured out to one last event: The Ravagers take over at Fathoms.

He said it was very well done, with lots of Ravagers roaming around the club. Starlord and Gamora were there as well, and he said there was a lot of 80s dance music and some fun video of baby Groot. The main stage dancers were there also, and they had a special drink menu. It sounded like a lot of fun.

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Overall I can not say enough about Marvel Day- we enjoyed it SO much. I would even say that it made me a bigger Marvel fan- when we got back home I watched Thor and Thor 2 haha The only down side was the long lines, but for us it didn't ruin the fun of the day in general.

If you love Marvel, go and do it!! Thanks for reading, and happy sailing to everyone :love::charac4::wave2:
 
Love your report! It's odd seeing the same things in someone else's photos -- and I'm in one of your pictures, too! Wild. I don't think we ran into each other on the ship, but glad you also seemed to have a great time.
 
Love your report! It's odd seeing the same things in someone else's photos -- and I'm in one of your pictures, too! Wild. I don't think we ran into each other on the ship, but glad you also seemed to have a great time.

I just looked at your pic and I totally remember seeing you around the ship! I think I kept noticing you because you look like a friend of mine from back home, haha. Can't wait to read about your Marvel Day!
 
Wow, what a production. It looked excellent. I have 3 sons and if they were younger that would be the cruise for us, but they grow up fast and are now 18, 20 and 24.

Now that they are all grown they are excited about next Christmas break from colleges DCL cruise, where they are dreaming of going to O’Gills Pub and hanging out by the adult pool with a cold beer.

It is so great to see that when Disney says Marvel Day at Sea, you really get it!
 

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