Video Killed the Trip Report Star: A Little Halloween Magic (Western) Complete!!

[jediobiwan]

Thanks for the report! Yours is the first I have read all of and helped me get a good idea of how I wanted to write my own!

[2littlegirls]

Nice work, can't wait for the next chapter. I am taking a 3 year old in two months....I am now starting to rethink the stroller.

[knewton64]

love to hear how Halloween was on the ship

Cant wait to hear more!

T.T.F.N.

[anewmac]

glad you had an easy time with the shuttle. I am so envious of the photo boarder on the 1st photo. They didnt have that on our 08 cruise.. at least not on ours? (i know such a dumb thing to be envious of LOL)

Cant wait to hear more.. meltdowns and all (it wouldnt be a vacation in my book without a few of those! LOL)

[myelton01]

I'm so excited you updated!!! You just made my day today. I LOVE the pic of you and the girls with Minnie, I think Sarah is so stinkin cute looking at Minnie like that. You also made me feel better about waiting until our son is 5 before we go! I can't imagine going with a toddler. I can't wait to hear how it turns out!

[JKSWonder]

Originally Posted by nenner1

I wish we had done early dining. We had meltdowns every.single.night!

Honestly, we didn't fare much better, even with early dining. Michael was not well behaved for many of the dinners. A few times Mike or I had to walk him out of the restaurant to calm him down. He spent two minutes in time out in a corner at Parrot Cay on one of the nights.

Michael is a VERY structured kid and changes in his regular daily routine do not go over very well. Thank goodness I had requested a Table for 4 for just this reason and that my request was granted. I would have been mortified if we had ruined someone else's meals by having to observe one of our children at their worst.

I think if we had late dining though, it probably would have been worse, since he was already so tired from all the daily activity by dinner time. (Did you see the pic of him I posted on our cruise meet thread passed out on the bed after dinner on Halloween?...That pretty much says it all!)

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by livingis2me

Finally an update! Keep it coming... it's great!

Thanks for the proofreading!!!

Originally Posted by DMMarla07860

loving your report, can't wait to read more

Thanks!!! Glad you are enjoying it!

Originally Posted by jediobiwan

Thanks for the report! Yours is the first I have read all of and helped me get a good idea of how I wanted to write my own!

That's so awesome! I'm looking forward to reading it. Wish I could make one of the Podcast cruises, would have loved to go this time but I cannot take off work in December. Have a fantastic cruise!!!

Originally Posted by 2littlegirls

Nice work, can't wait for the next chapter. I am taking a 3 year old in two months....I am now starting to rethink the stroller.

LOL, now some 3 y/o (in fact probably most) would be fine. Sarah is 2 1/2 and totally full on in the terrible twos. She wants to do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it and doesn't understand when she can't. Although she is beginning to talk up a storm, her comprehension is still marginal..throw in the excitement and variations in schedule and it's a recipe for disaster. OK, I guess that's a little melodramatic, but she had her moments for sure and just having a stroller to contain her on deck or even in the ports we didn't think we would need them for would have helped in our case tremendously.

Originally Posted by knewton64

love to hear how Halloween was on the ship

Cant wait to hear more!

T.T.F.N.

Halloween was a lot of fun. We did not get to experience as many of the onboard Halloween activities as we would have liked since we really oversheduled ourselves that day. I have a little sampling of what we did catch though, and it was a great time!!!

Originally Posted by anewmac

glad you had an easy time with the shuttle. I am so envious of the photo boarder on the 1st photo. They didnt have that on our 08 cruise.. at least not on ours? (i know such a dumb thing to be envious of LOL)

Yeah that really stunk, that is the one reason we did not buy the embarkation pic last time. I don't know why that happened back then- I guess just another thing to chalk up to being post dry-dock.

Oh and they are ready for you to come back onboard- all the Kiosks and around shutters says photography and videography strictly prohibited! (LOL!!!) I still blame you for them throwing out all my pics on Independence when they caught me taking a pic of a pic!

Cant wait to hear more.. meltdowns and all (it wouldnt be a vacation in my book without a few of those! LOL)

Oh heck , those are probably the most amusing parts...NOW.

Originally Posted by myelton01

I'm so excited you updated!!! You just made my day today. I LOVE the pic of you and the girls with Minnie, I think Sarah is so stinkin cute looking at Minnie like that.

Thanks!! She just adored the characters! And we got some fantastic ones later int he week with Mickey- her giving Mickey a kiss on the nose. So precious!!!

You also made me feel better about waiting until our son is 5 before we go! I can't imagine going with a toddler. I can't wait to hear how it turns out!

LOL it's so funny, i never would have imagined it would be so difficult, then I thought back to when the older two were toddlers and pre-schoolers and realized we didn't go on many vacations and now I know why!!!

Originally Posted by JKSWonder

Honestly, we didn't fare much better, even with early dining. Michael was not well behaved for many of the dinners. A few times Mike or I had to walk him out of the restaurant to calm him down. He spent two minutes in time out in a corner at Parrot Cay on one of the nights.

Michael is a VERY structured kid and changes in his regular daily routine do not go over very well. Thank goodness I had requested a Table for 4 for just this reason and that my request was granted. I would have been mortified if we had ruined someone else's meals by having to observe one of our children at their worst.

You know, that is so right, about the schedule variations. Sarah is a stickler for her schedule too, and due to me working nights we have her on a really strange schedule where she stays up late at night and sleeps in plus has a nap in the early evening (so I can get a nap before work). Being up early and up all day on the cruise really threw her for a loop. We thought late dining would have been good, since it is the time we normally eat at home, but we were constantly up and down and in and out. We were so lucky to have such a fantastic serving team, and luckily we were at our own table- which no way could we have shared---yikes!

I think if we had late dining though, it probably would have been worse, since he was already so tired from all the daily activity by dinner time. (Did you see the pic of him I posted on our cruise meet thread passed out on the bed after dinner on Halloween?...That pretty much says it all!)

Yes, that pic was adorable (lol although I know getting to that point wasn't so easy!) You're right, it does say it all. and I have at least one of those too!

[jns]

another great update

[In Luv with Disney]

WHat a great Trip Report so far! We will be taking our 2nd Disney Cruise in 95 days, and we are doing the Western! I'm soooo excited and live reading about your trip. Can't wait to hear more! :-)

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by jns

another great update

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by In Luv with Disney

WHat a great Trip Report so far! We will be taking our 2nd Disney Cruise in 95 days, and we are doing the Western! I'm soooo excited and live reading about your trip. Can't wait to hear more! :-)

Thank you so much, I'm glad you are enjoying it. Hope it helps you plan a fantastic cruise!!!

[Jennifer48]

Do they take your photo anymore after check-in?

Are the Navigators in color now? They look awesome!

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by Jennifer48

Do they take your photo anymore after check-in?

Yes, they actually take it right at the check in desk. They took it as a group photo (gathered all of us together right there at the check in window) then I guess the agent split us up in the computer so that each person's KTTW only showed their head not all of us. I saw mine when embarking and it was just my head isolated out of the group shot taken in the terminal. I thought that seemed like a tedious way to do it, but then I guess it is easier than each individual person posing.

Are the Navigators in color now? They look awesome!

Yes they are, and the paper is very nice quality too- a little glossy. Held up well onboard! And like you said they look great too!!

[JKSWonder]

Originally Posted by nenner1

[/color][/font]Yes they are, and the paper is very nice quality too- a little glossy. Held up well onboard! And like you said they look great too!!

I was kind of shocked that we didn't get one when we checked in....maybe because we didn't arrive until after 2:00 p.m.? I had to go directly to guest services to pick one up after we boarded.

We seemed to get the next days navigator kind of late each day too. On the Wonder, it was always waiting for us on the bed after turndown. This time, nothing at turndown (except the towel animal and the chocolate, of course!). At first we thought our room steward forgot it and Mike went down to guest services to get one. He was told they weren't ready. He got the impression they were having issues with them. It ended up being slid under our door later at night, well after turndown. Sort of frustrating, because it didn't leave us too much to time to review it before turning in for the night.

[farah]

Awsome trip report. Looking forward to reading more!

[harrowgirl]

Great trip report. We are travelling in January with a 7 month old and 2 1/2 year old. Should be interesting LOL! At least my ILs are coming, so we will have an extra set of hands.

I have a stroller that converts from a single to a double. I"ve been debating whether to bring the second seat or not, thinking perhaps the kids could alternate in the stroller. I'm bringing the second seat for SURE after reading your report.