Cruising during Halloween - would you recommend it?

[fabumouse]

I know WDW does a fabulous job of celebrating the holiday at the parks - but the trip reports I read here had minimal to say about their experience. I believe one group of dis'ers even organized their own trick-or-treating and said the ship's activities were not as good.

So is Halloween fun on board, or is it treated as a minor event?

 

[tstobb]

It is really very poorly organized and in no way compares with Mickey's Not so Scary that they do in the park. There are hoardes of kids and we wouldn't do it again - my 8 year old got frustrated after the 1st 10 minutes. The ToT that we did with the DISboard group was much better!

 

[stampinshauna]

We enjoyed celebrating Halloween on the Magic last year. Don't expect a huge celebration, but it was fun anyway. I especially loved seeing everyone in costume at dinner. I would suggest doing MNSSHP before the cruise if you can, that way it will add to your celebration.

 

[SweetSpot]

We were on a Halloween cruise 2 years ago. We didn't participate in the DIS trick or treat but know that those who did loved it. We did do the Disney trick or treat and it really was not a big thing at all. I personally wouldn't cruise on a Halloween cruise again. It meant a costume, one more thing to pack for everyone, the kids missing out on the neighborhood trick or treat and what appeared to be many more kids on the ship. I felt like it was a wasted day because we had to be sure to stop what we were doing and get to a planned activitiy that wasn't worth the time. This is my opinion though, I know others pick that week to cruise each year and love it.

 

[Torontogal]

I am booked on a Halloween sailing this Oct. I hope to spend 1 night at the MNSSHP which I heard is great! I am looking forward to it. Does anyone know if I can buy DCL scrapbooks and autograph books on the ship?

 

[fabumouse]

Thanks for the great responses! Tstobb - do you think it would be a better experience for younger children, or is it really not worth the extra hassle for anyone?

 

[RonnieJo66]

We were on the October 29, 2005 Halloween cruise.

There are halloween activities, but our DIS group organized our T or T'ing in addition to the one onboard. We divided our groups into manageable sizes with 2 adults per group. We printed out all particpating cabin room numbers and had our groups on varying paths. We all made goodie bags etc, and I believe that it turned out well

Here's a link to our cruise pics from the Halloween 2005 cruise:


http://homepage.mac.com/b.creighton/PhotoAlbum12.html



Hope you have a great time

 

[tstobb]

Plan ahead with the DISboards group & have some fun.

 

[captaincrash]

Hello all...

We're booked on the Magic 10-28-06 voyage and we have lots of fun DIS activities planned. We're doing the DIS ToT; a "Scary" Mickey Bar speed eating challenge w/t award certificates signed by the ships captain (and possibly a character or two); and we have custom "Haunted" DIS shirts (I'm contributing artwork) and "spooky" affinity bracelets; and the usual "Enchanted" DIS meet(s) with a "Mysterious" costumed gathering for the grown ups with impromptu private parade with award certificates signed by notables on board. Of course, we're still over 6 months out and we have time to refine our schedule - and we are not really trying to supplant the main events of the cruise itself. But we feel we have added a certain measure of insanity to set our collective DIS exerience apart and a little over the top.

And just to show we have restraint - my proposal for a toga party fell on deaf ears from the DIS enthusiasts gathered. I just didn't get it... no one wanted to volunteer to contribute a keg or two - or any other supporting non-sense. Oh well... that goes to show that our current group is grounded well with some degree of collective sanity.

At any rate, Halloween will add something to the event - and we do not feel we are missing much back home. We host a costume party every year and we will simply be running it a week sooner then we usually do - and it should cause no shift in feelings for us.

If you're considering sailing on the Magic - please visit our cruise meet thread and then BOOK IT! We welcome fun loving souls to our voyage - and if you don't mind having extra semi-private events - then we have em' ... and you can even lead your own concept as a DIS community event too! C'mon on over and visit with us!

 

[Lisa Anne Colling]

We sailed at Halloween a couple years ago. Our kids were 4, 2 and 7 months. Halloween was actually on our Castaway Day so the festivities were the day before on the 30th. My kids were really little, so Halloween wasn't a huge thing for them, which was good because it was very disappointing. The had a Treasure hunt for candy. You followed the map to different locations for candy. It was so crowded and so unorganized. They hardly got any candy. It really wasn't worth the pushing and shoving for what they got. If the kids had been older I'm sure they would have been more dissappointed. We ended up giving up on the treasure hunt and going to the pool which was empty at the time. That was great! In the evening there was a big costume contest. That was really neat. The costumes were pretty amazing! Some families got right into it and were even handing out treats as we were going into dinner. That was very nice of them!
To sum up, I wouldn't do a cruise for Halloween with the kids until they are out of the trick or treating excitement, but I thought it was neat for older kids and adults.
Lisa