As we wrap our coverage of the Disney Wish media preview, let's look at some of the other dining and drink options aboard the Disney Cruise Line's newest ship.
I already have written about the three rotational dining dinner assignments on the Wish, so please head over to those posts if you haven't read them already. The posts on the Frozen and Marvel dinners also include videos of their performances, if you would like to watch those from home or wherever you are reading.
The Wish's two upcharge adult dining experiences were not available for meal service during the media preview, but we did get to take a look inside both. On the Wish, the Disney Cruise Line's Palo has been reimagined as Palo Steakhouse. The focus remains on Italian cuisine, but there is a $45 prix fixe menu available as well as a selection of USDA Prime and Wagyu cuts, ranging from $20-62. Here is the menu:
The new premium dining experience on the Wish is Enchanté by Chef Arnaud Lallement, the Michelin-starred chef at L’Assiette Champenoise, near Reims, France. Hosted by "Beauty and the Beast"'s Lumiere, Enchanté promises international dishes with seasonal ingredients prepared with French technique. The "Collection" tasting menu costs $195 with an optional $140 "champagne journey." The six-course "Passion" meal is $120.
And the space looks amazing. Follow along our tour:
Not looking to spend extra on meals while sailing the Wish? My favorite no-upcharge option was Marceline Market, the expansive buffet-style restaurant at the aft of Deck 11, which is the home for drop-in dining on the Disney Wish.
Marceline Market replaces the Cabanas restaurant found on other DCL ships and offers buffet dining on select days at breakfast and lunch, with table service at dinner. I only ate here for a brief mid-afternoon snack on embarkation day and for breakfast on our day at sea.
But after trying some of the other options on the ship, I would choose to head to Marceline Market as my first option after the three rotational dining locations. The rest of the Niles family gave Marceline Market high marks for its nice selection and excellent quality.
At the other end of Deck 11 - literally and figuratively - lies Mickey and Friends Festival of Foods. That this food court at the end of the pool deck shares a name with the parking garage at Disneyland should have been my first red flag. You will find five food stalls here: Mickey’s Smokestack Barbecue, Donald’s Cantina, Daisy’s Pizza Pies, Goofy’s Grill, and Sweet Minnie’s Ice Cream (soft serve). A Disney source said that the first two were new to the Wish, so those were the ones we tried for lunch on our day at sea.
The barbecue seemed redundant after our lunch at Cookie's on Castaway Cay the day before, but we went for it anyway. Brian got an excellent plate here, with flavorful brisket showing a clear smoke ring. Yet the plate I got had almost flavorless brisket, despite being a fattier cut.
But even the lesser BBQ plate beat all we ordered from Donald’s Cantina. To be fair, we're coming from Los Angeles, where the go-to for Mexican food is to look for someone setting shop up under a sidewalk tent next to a 99 Cents Only Store at 10pm - not some corporate-owned fast food window.
The made-to-order bowl and burrito both looked fine. But the flavor we were hoping for never made it on board. We tried to spice things up with the accompanying sauces, but Brian best described the red salsa as "smoky water." If you like mild Mexican, this is the place for you. For us, it’s back to Marceline next time.
Note that the Festival of the Foods closes not long after the young ones' bedtime, and that Marceline Market is open only during designated meal times. For 24-hour dining, your option on the Disney Wish is the free room service. (Tip your server!) That was where we turned to put Disney's vaunted chicken strips to the test later that evening.
They passed. My crew then dutifully reported that they had scarfed the delicious tenders down so fast that no one managed to get a photo. But they did capture the room service cheese plate out on our deck.
For morning lattes and coffee, the family's pick was the Cove Café, back in the adults-only section at the rear and top of the ship. You can find upcharge espresso drinks at most of Disney's lounges, but the Cove Café was the one place on the Wish that felt most like a trusted neighborhood coffee place, where you want to hang out as you enjoy your morning (or afternoon) fuel.
As for the lounges, we already wrote about the much-hyped Star Wars: Hyperspace Lounge: What Is Disney Thinking With Star Wars Hyperspace Lounge?
But our family favorite was the place right outside the Hyperspace Lounge door - The Bayou. Located under a ceiling of Magnolia blossoms, this "The Princess and The Frog"-themed lounge offered Disney's usual excellent service as well as satisfying cocktails and tasty beignets, all without the wait and clamor inside the adjacent Star Wars-themed bar.
Other lounges aboard the ship included the nautical themed Keg & Compass (the easiest place to get a table for a quiet drink aboard) and Nightingale’s, a piano bar that also hosts many of the Wish's upcharge beverage tastings.
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For more coverage from the Disney Wish, please see our round-up post: All Aboard the Disney Cruise Line's New Disney Wish.
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