Disney Cruise Iceland and Norway - Reykjavik Day 1

Our cruise itinerary offered a full day and a half in Reykjavik, which was amazing. The more research I did, the more I realized I could not choose between the Golden Circle and the South Coast so I found a company for a private 12-hour tour just for the four of us that would let us see as much of both as possible. There was little risk in missing the ship since we still had a full day the next day so this one was an easy decision to stray from Disney excursions!

Before our tour, I grabbed breakfast from the buffet and brought it to the room while J got his running workout done in the gym. We docked and met our guide - Gunner- for the day. We booked through Iceland Go Tours, a small perfectly rated company, and all of their guides were booked with Disney this day!

The first part of our day was focused on the Golden Circle - we went straight to the tectonic plates area where North America and Europe meet for a nice walk through the rocks and then headed to Gulfoss waterfall where we had a great view from the top, stop for lunch/snack, and then walked down to the waterfall for even better views.  Gunner met us at the bottom and we headed to the geyser. The geyser was amazing- you could get super close and watch the water change and move differently as it prepared to erupt. The girls enjoyed this too!



There were so many horses in the countryside - S loved seeing all of the farms along the drive - we even saw one that had gotten out of its field trotting back home.

Next up was our drive to the South Coast- this was a long beautiful drive with some waterfall stops along the way. The weather also started to go from cloudy to perfectly sunny and gorgeous which made for an even better afternoon! We also stopped at a gas station for Twix, Kit Kats, and drinks.


Gunner noted that C wanted to play in the black sand beaches and S wanted to see horses up close so he adjusted our plans a bit.  We made our way to the town of Vik which is a cute little town with a church on a beautiful overlook. We also went to a black sand beach on the opposite side of the main black sand beach so C could play in the sand - we all loved this - the weather was just perfect and the fresh air was so nice. C loved playing in the sand. Gunner next made sure S was happy with a stop at a field with 5 horses in it - we fed them some grass/flowers and pet them a bit before moving on.


Next we headed to the more touristic black sand beach - there are amazing rock structures here but also warnings about rogue waves so less sand play for C on this side. We grabbed some famous Icelandic hot dogs as a snack to keep us going for the rest of the afternoon too.

Even though it was getting later in the day, Gunner insisted he still take us to the lighthouse on the top of the hill which we gladly obliged and I am so glad he did this. The views were simply breath-taking! You can see in all directions land and sea. It was such a perfect day - Gunner hadn't been there since October due to weather so this tells you how lucky we were. It was so bright and sunny we could not even get a good family photo

On the journey back to the ship, we stopped at an area we had stopped at before so J could go into the secret waterfall cave with Gunner. The girls and I didnt go in because it was a little narrow and seemed slippery for the girls but the pictures are amazing.

We arrived back at the ship a little after 9pm and were all starving so got some pizza and other quick food items before ice cream and bed time!