We've done about 6 other cruises before and Disney does things a little differently than other cruise lines. We had fun mostly because our Down syndrome daughter loved every minute of it. It was the first cruise where we didn't do any excursions. We figured we were paying more for the Disney experience so the ports and excursions didn't really matter. We did spend a short time getting off the ship and wandering around the port but that was about it.

Get on Facebook and search for the cruise you are booked for and there a group for it. There will be a lot of people who will be on the ship with you and a lot of people who cruise Disney all the time and have a ton of advice.

I suggest getting the picture package. They will take your phone and take pictures for you but it's so much easier to just pay for the package and let them take all of the pictures.

The characters show up at set times so you can get pictures with them a lot are at the same time or right after another. My wife would get in line with our daughter for one character and I'd get in line for the other. When she was done with the one she would bring our daughter over to where I was in the other line. Worked great.

That's all I think of right now.