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Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point The Rhubarb Traveler's Opinion
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The Rhubarb Traveler discusses a fresh perspective from our first-hand experience at Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, where his family makes the third stop to the island aboard the Disney Magic. Hear about the challenges of navigating the island, pinkish sand, clear water, and surprise crab encounters.
You can also read our article about the island and see pictures at BSCKids
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
The rhubarb traveler goes to Disney Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point. Hey everyone, welcome to Golden Button Detours, Episode 10. I said this episode was going to be special, but I kind of had something different planned. This episode, though, you're going to hear all about Disney Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point, the island. We actually had a cruise in June of 2024, just in case you're listening to this at a later date. We got off the Disney magic and it was an enjoyable cruise, but we're going to talk pretty much just about the island. And you can listen to the full trip report over at welcome home podcast later this week. So, all right. I didn't realize how tough this was going to be. Actually just me being the only one talking. I'm actually was running out of breath actually to do a second take for this. So let's talk about the cruise. Here's the thing.
00:00:50
Speaker
everyone you know we went into this not reading up about the island not really trying to get any information about it we wanted to go on kind of fresh kind of new and kind of just do whatever kind of came in front of us so while there was the opportunity to actually book Snorkels at one point we well the first time we actually missed out on them and then they were booked out and there was no more snorkels and then They came back available and we decided like hey, you know We're just gonna skip them this time figure that when we get to the island if we really wanted to rent them we could But that didn't turn out to be the case. And so what let's just let's just start into this so the walk from the boat and
00:01:32
Speaker
I know people have been complaining about this, but here's the thing. If you really can't make the walk, you know Disney you know cast members, somebody will drive you over there. So if it's not you know if you're not able to make the walk, which is long enough, um they they will help you out there. but But here's the thing. Make for some great picture opportunities with the cruise ship in the background. It also allows you to kind of talk about you know what your plans are for that day. And then when you're walking back, yeah, you're going to be a little bit tired. But again, it allows you to kind of reminisce about what you did during the day, maybe ask the kids what their favorite things were and kind of decompress before you get back on the ship. So I don't necessarily think the walk was that bad. But the thing to note is, is that even once you walk to the island, you're not at the beach area. There is a tram that you have to jump on and take to the beach area. But here's the thing.
00:02:27
Speaker
The trams were running so quickly, and they have two of them, that even when I saw somebody miss one of them, I mean, there's literally another one right around the corner. I mean, so much so that like you can actually see the next set of trams coming, even if you miss the one that you you know we're supposed to get on. So that was not a big deal at all. So we hopped on the trams. The trams actually have some characters, some new characters that kind of talk about the island, talk about you know, things you might want to do when you're at the island. And I thought that was fine. I don't know if these characters were like anywhere else. I didn't see them. I didn't really go into the shopping area. I don't know if they were available, if they're on any of the merchandise. This was actually the first Disney trip in general that we didn't pick up any merchandise. My wife has a cruise ship mug that she really likes and we're like, all right, well, when we go on this cruise ship, we'll get you a mug.
00:03:20
Speaker
We ended up getting nothing. And I don't know if it's because it was such a short trip. If the kids are older now, i'm I'm not sure about that, but okay. So you get off the tram. It was really actually nice that they hot, but it wasn't too breezy. Cause I had heard that on one of the previous trips, this was actually the third trip to the Island. There was I think a travel agent cruise, a DVC member cruise, and then this one was the third. I did meet somebody there that had gone to all three of them and they said the one time it was really hot and it was super windy so that they couldn't have up any of the umbrellas and they said that was terrible. And they said that this was actually the nicest day out of all of them. So that was good.
00:04:03
Speaker
So you get off this tram ride and there's some shops there. Like I said, we didn't really do any shopping. There's you know some art shops. There's you know things for the island. And they blend it in really well. You didn't feel out of place. And this is kind of like right when you get off the tram, it's that you know first stop. So it's a good way to kind of get people out to the beach area and kind of you know cease a little something. And then you know I'm sure that's where you could stop for some of your excursions. Like I said, We didn't end up doing any excursions at all. Our first time there, we just kind of wanted to see what was going on. Here's where we run it into kind of the first problem. um Obviously, it's an island. You know where the beach is. So that that's easy enough. But there's really no signage on the island at all. It's pretty sparse. And, you know, maybe it's an aesthetic sort of thing where, you know, they want that natural look and feel. But it didn't make navigating the island pretty bad.
00:04:59
Speaker
So we we still don't know if there's actually a specific snorkel area, because we saw people that were snorkeling off of the beach in the area that we were just swimming in. But did they have a dedicated area like they do on Castaway? Not really sure. um There was no signs to tell us. We actually asked a few you know cast members, and they weren't really able to tell us either. My guess is that maybe one of the shops that we started in, you know started the area in, that maybe there was something there. But again, we wanted to go in. with not really knowing too much. So this is what you're getting. You're getting the review of us not knowing too much. I mean, someone could come back and say, oh, it's right it was right there in front of you. If you did this, you did that. I get it. But just walking into the island, this is kind of what we saw. So it kind of leaves me into the next thing, the cast members.
00:05:48
Speaker
weren't really that much help navigating the island. They were super nice. So let me just make sure I'm getting that out of the way. it's just They couldn't really point us in the right directions. We asked about the snorkeling area. No one really knew. We asked about the pavilion where the parade was. No one really could direct us to that area either. people really weren't able to point us in the right direction. And even though they were super nice about everything, it wasn't very helpful you know kind of trying to figure out the island itself. What's also interesting is is that I'm sure there were maps somewhere, but we didn't have one. And even the cast members had maps and still weren't able to point things out to us. So yeah, that was that was kind of interesting. The beach area though itself,
00:06:31
Speaker
really well done. I mean, in terms of the food in the beach areas from Castaway, it it's night and day. What they've done is they've created multiple areas on the beach. So you can go down to the beach itself, but then you know kind of a few steps up, you'll have a small-ish sort of area that will have a bunch of beach chairs and you can kind of set up camp there. There are umbrellas and things like that. And then you can just kind of walk down to the beach area. So there's kind of two areas and there's multiple of those. So like the area that we were in that was up from the beach, it was, you know, again, like just a circle of beach chairs and things like that i was, you know, large enough though, there was multiple of those throughout the island. So I think they did a really good job.
00:07:16
Speaker
that same thing with the food there was two places to eat which is way better than castaway and they were set up where there was you know covered pavilions outside of the food areas but we we'll kind of get to that so let's go back to the beach the sand is pinkish right it's kind of cool to see that and there's not any really shells on it though um You know, there's just like this pinker sand, which is nice water, super clear. There are these super cool crabs though, not like the crabs you'd see at the Jersey Shore or anything. There's there's a picture of it if you kind of go and and look at the picture. There's actually, we have an article about it on BSC Kids. There's a picture of one of the crabs. There was one just under our beach chair and he came out and they're super cute. Like, I'm sure you wouldn't want to get pinched by them, but they're small enough.
00:08:05
Speaker
And it was neat just to take pictures of that. The water, like I said, was super clear. It was June. Still pretty refreshing, right? Like so. Took a few minutes to kind of get adjusted to the temperature of the water before, you know, we decided to stick our hands head under the water and kind of do some swimming. It feels like the beach area is a little bit shorter. Then castaway, I'm not sure about that, though. That's just kind of how it felt. They do have buoys up to kind of let you know where the swimming area is. But again, no problems finding beach chairs, which was not necessarily the case. A castaway for us. I don't know how much that's changed. And it didn't really matter where you sat, to be honest with you, because there's not a ton to do on the island. That's more of a relaxing sort of thing, cultural experience.
00:08:50
Speaker
I heard there was volleyball courts and this was after the fact while we were there. I don't remember seeing any of them. And that probably would have been an area that we would have gone to to check out. There is a kids water park, but with, you know, again, for us, we, you know, 51, 50, 18, 20, and 14, you know, that's where I think we kind of came into the, well, there's not a lot to do. the The water area was not for older kids. It was more for younger kids. So our kids didn't partake in that. The other thing with the food was is there were drink machines. Unfortunately, the day that we were there, there were a few of them that were down, which made getting a drink, you know, a little bit of work. And there ended up being some lines just for that. The food lines though, they were well done. Like I said, they have different areas at each one of the food places. So I said, there's two of them. And then when you're at the food place, there's different sides to like, depending on what you want to eat. So there wasn't really a problem.
00:09:48
Speaker
From what I was told from people on the ship that it was the most crowded that the island had been, again, this was only the third trip though, but for us even being crowded wasn't really crowded. Like I said, it was just, you know, a little bit of a line at the drinks and and that was probably just a quirk for that day. Our 18-year-old said, and I guess maybe this has to do with the music a little bit, he felt like the island was kind of like Typhoon Lagoon without the rides. The music was pretty similar vibe. And again, there wasn't a ton to do, which kind of made it feel like, hey, we know what are we supposed to do here? The other thing to note was the bike rentals were closed for some reason for that day. I think that probably would have been something for us to do, you know to kind of bike around the island, which would have been great.
00:10:33
Speaker
um I don't know why they weren't available that day, but they weren't, unfortunately. So there's that. And then when we came back, people were telling us that you know they had been seeing videos about these flies on the island and eating was terrible because of the fly situation. I don't actually think I saw one fly when we were there. And they did have these special fans that are on the pavilion tables for eating. But maybe it was the weather, maybe there was some Disney magic that day, or maybe Disney was able to do something based on the earlier sailings, but for us, not a single fly was not an issue, no problems whatsoever. It's also worth noting that bringing a refillable water bottle on the island
00:11:17
Speaker
is great, especially because you can bring it down to the area where, you know, you have all your stuff in the beach chairs and having something a little bit bigger than a cup is a total win. I mean, in general, having one of these, these refillable water bottles was great for the cruise, especially if you drink a ton of water, which we do. So that actually worked for us as well on the island. The cultural parade itself was was pretty good. I mean, it was super short, but it was definitely enjoyable. And you got to see some Disney characters as well, like I said. There's a picture of it over on the article if you want to go see that, but it was definitely something to see. Like you definitely want to watch that once. It's super colorful. It's, you know, cultural experience. It's fun to watch and seeing the characters ah is also a good situation. Now there was some seaweed, but interestingly enough, it's not what you would think in terms of seaweed. Like I always think seaweed, it's slimy, gets on you. You don't want it touching you. This seaweed was, was totally different. But first of all, there wasn't a ton of it.
00:12:17
Speaker
But it kind of felt like it was like the plants that you would put in an aquarium, the fake ones. Like that's the kind of the texture it had. And and again, my son took some of it out and was wearing it as a necklace before he tossed it back in because it wasn't gross or slimy or anything. And they had these little spheres on them. You could kind of pop like bubble wrap. I mean, like I said, it was not a big deal at all. The water super clear. And again, the seaweedy food was kind of cool. there were some dark spots in the water and you know you kind of see them as you're swimming because again the water is so clear and we've made my so one son we're talking about oh you should go out see what they are you go out see what they are so he's 6'1 he's a swimmer and we finally got the courage just to swim out there
00:13:02
Speaker
My son could kind of stand next to it. I was not able to. We found out that they were actually mountains of coral. I mean, at least that's what I think they were, like a dark spot. Now, here's the dilemma. My son cut his foot on the coral, which, I mean, they were within the swimming, you know, boundaries, the area, you know, that you can swim in. And, you know, not like terribly, terribly, but, you know, enough that it led to him trying to go to Cabana's the next day without shoes because his foot hurt and then turning him away and it turning into a whole big issue for him. But, you know, I got a little cut on my foot standing on them. Again, you can't stand on these pieces of, again, like I said, I think they're coral rock, whatever they are out there, you can't stand on them as well. I mean, there's, they're solid. It looked like there was enough of them out there, but, you know, we didn't get any,
00:13:50
Speaker
warnings about them. There was no signage. Like I said, there's almost no signage on the island at all. It would have been nice for us to kind of have a warning. I mean, again, an 18-year-old and an adult, no big deal. I just, again, something you should be at least knowledgeable about wouldn't you when you go out there swimming. Again, the story and the characters that we got while riding with Tram or Fun, even when you're kind of leaving for the day, they were great. You know, we felt the island was good. It was definitely, uh, you know, a relaxing day at the beach. That's kind of what I would say. It was a great relaxing day at the beach. But if you're looking for kind of this Disney experience, you probably want to do an excursion. Like I said, the seating, the food, the, you know, the ocean all stunning. Great. Like again, perfect beach day. The weather was top on would have liked to have seen the bikes be available, maybe figure out what was going on with the snorkeling area.
00:14:49
Speaker
And again, being only the third visit to the island, I'm sure that there's going to be more going on. But our thing is, is that we just need a little bit more signage. There's tons of room, tons of room. So if they do want to make expansion and do some other things, they they have the ability to do that. I just think that if you're going at least in anytime soon. You probably want to do one of the excursions. There's enough of them. There was a cave excursion that we really were thinking about, but when I asked my middle son, he said that he likes to have fun his own way, and he didn't want to have someone telling him what to do on an excursion. And I'm sure for all you that have teenagers, you can fully relate to that.
00:15:31
Speaker
but You know, again, I would rather at this point probably go to Castaway. I think there's more for us to do. We are going to book another cruise and we are going to make that a Castaway cruise where it stops at the Castaway Island. So I think that's what we'll do for the future. But, you know, it kind of feels like a little bit like Vero because same thing for Vero. I didn't think there was a lot for us to do at Vero. I mean, we played tennis, which was good. But it was still a very nice experience. It's just not the experience maybe be that we were expecting. And again, this is the same thing. You got to see some of the pictures that we took. You know, the sky is perfect. The water is perfect. Temperature perfect. No flies, no this, no that. But just wasn't a lot to do. So we didn't stay out there all day. I feel like we came back around 2 o'clock to the ship where I feel like if there was more to do, we may have stayed the the whole day. so
00:16:27
Speaker
That's kind of our discussion about Disney Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point. Again, just so everyone's aware, this is our personal opinion for our trip to Disney Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point on board the Disney Magic from June of 2024 with our family group consisting of five people, 50, 51, 20, 18, and 14 years old. And hey, we're known to miss things. so If we miss anything, make sure you're always checking with a cast member or a Disney representative to confirm things about the island. And if you get to the island as well, please let us know what you think. Thank you.