Things to do on Castaway Cay – fun family activities to do when visiting Castaway Cay on a Disney Cruise.
If you follow us on Instagram you may have noticed that we recently went on a Disney cruise as part of Disney Social Media Moms Celebration #DisneySMMC .We had the opportunity to visit Disney World and the Disney Dream cruise ship for the first time and it was the most magical experience! I’ll share more on visiting the parks and some tips we learned along the way soon. Today I’d like to talk about Disney’s private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay. We visited the island on the last day of our trip and it was the perfect ending to a magical family vacation. The turquoise blue waters surrounded by white sand beaches provided the dreamiest vacation experience.
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The island provides plenty of activities for kids of all ages. Here’s a list of things to do and amenities on Castaway Cay:
- Character Greetings
- Pelican Plunge water slides
- Snorkeling
- Parasailing
- Fishing
- Inner tubing
- Castaway Cay 5k run
- In Da Shade Game Pavilion
- Scuttle’s Cove kid’s club (ages 3-12)
- Teen Hideout – teen club for ages 13-17
- Bike riding
- Kayaking, paddleboat, aqua trike and stand up paddleboard rentals
- Serenity Bay – adult only beach area and bar
- Complimentary BBQ buffet at Cookies BBQ
Character Greetings
We were surprised to walk off the boat and have the opportunity to meet Mickey and Goofy right away. The characters rotate throughout the day. It’s a great opportunity to snap photos with your favorite characters in this beautiful Bahamian island. The crew was great about giving you time to snap your own photos and some with their photographers (that you can later purchase on the ship – which we did because they add cute Castaway Cay borders on the pictures).
Snorkeling
We spent most of our morning snorkeling in the clear turquoise waters and found an array of beautiful fish. Every time we encountered a new fish the kids would pop out of the water excitedly. We used our GoPro to capture our experience and I’m so grateful for the technology that allows us to capture moments like this that I want to remember forever. I knew I wanted a camera for snorkeling and this was the best investment for the entire Walt Disney World and Cruise trip! This is the model we purchased – > GoPro Camera
I’m working on editing a video of the cruise & Castaway Cay. I’ll hopefully have it ready in our next post.
Pelican Plunge
This water-play area offers two water slides plunging you into the lagoon. My kids had a blast in this play area!
Serenity Bay
We didn’t experience Serenity Bay this time around but we did run into it on our bike route. This adult-only beach offers open-air cabana massages, specialty drinks and Air Bar BBQ.
Bike Riding
In Da Shade Game Pavilion
Take a break from the sun in this game area filled with giant games, table tennis, basketball and more. My kids spent a lot of time here after snorkeling. I think we all needed a shade break after snorkeling all morning.
There’s also an area to play volleyball, tetherball and more!
Shopping on Castaway Cay
We love bringing home souvenirs from our trips – our go-to items are magnets, mugs and ornaments. I was able to buy a scrapbook pack filled with paper, stickers and embellishments of Castaway Cay to use with our photos. I can’t wait to work on the scrapbook pages and hang up our ornaments on the tree! The stores on the island are filled with collectable trading pins, beachwear, toys and so much more.
The Disney cruise and Castaway Cay was an experience my kids will be talking about for years to come. We made so many memories on this beautiful island. I’ve been keeping my eye on another Disney Cruise, possibly the upcoming European Cruise with Adventures by Disney. But I do hope to make our way back to Castaway Cay soon. Have you been to Castaway Cay? What was your favorite activity?
I plan to write a separate post sharing our experience on the Disney cruise. I’ve had a lot of questions on Instagram about Disney Cruise fish extenders, door magnets, etc. I’ll be sure to cover all of that in my upcoming post.
Our family was invited to Disney Social Media Moms #DisneySMMC a conference hosted by Disney. All opinions and photos are my own.