Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Cruise, Oct 30th,2010 Magical Western NewTR link 4/10

[Mysteria]

Had a lot to catch up on again.

Very happy to hear you got the laptop back.

Poor Timmy and his middle finger. I know it must have hurt like heck but could an xray be any funnier?! You should have asked to keep it.

That group pic is incredible. That's a lot if Dis'ers!!

Men in bras night looked like a blast.

Nenner (Jen) - You totally are worthy. What an amazing idea and a big undertaking. Kudos to you!

 

[podsnel]

So we were off the ship, without our kids, on Halloween, to explore Key West.

Pods saw some ladies and decided to take a nap while they danced around him- so odd!

We like Key West- we like Key West a LOT. We came here with 3 other couples for my 40th birthday...no kids THAT time, either...

We stayed at the Pier House at the end of Duval St. for 4 nights- it rained almost the entire time, and we had a blast. It was a side splitting, wet-your-pants-funny kind of vacation.

As I recall, there was alcohol involved.

So, we definitely know our way around the place, and we know where we want to go. Especially Pods. Because on the Magic, you dock in Key West on a Sunday. And in the month October, that can mean only one thing- FOOTBALL! So while I was happy to wiggle in and out of the side streets for a while, Pods had only one thing on his mind- a bar stool in front of a TV at Sloppy Joes. After walking by the "original", we parted ways-

I wanted to do a little shoppping/sightseeing before I committed myself to one of Sloppy's stools....

Actually, I was in search of some sandals Jen had recommended- handmade leather sandals, simple enough and cheap enough, and very durable. (What are they called again, Jen?) On the way there, I passed by the nenner1 family- and they sent me in the right direction. Unfortunately, the sandals didn't fit my ridiculous feet- I have a high...in step, I think it's called- and I was sadly not getting any new leather shoes today. But I kept walking, I was sure there was plenty to see-

Halloween costume? Fantasy Fest leftover? You decide-

Halloween decorations at the Hard Rock-

I stopped to check out these bottle/cheese/cracker holders, which I loved, so I later went back and bought one. They are wine bottles, the wine having been consumed by someone else in KW, flattened to put cheese on- with a little spreader. A parrot spreader. And the second bottle is scooped, to perfectly hold a sleeve of round crackers. Awesome recycling!!

I'm looking forward to unwrapping it and using it tomorrow. A great, but heavy souvie- I told the guy I'd come back later in the day to make my purchase. Then I went over to Irish Kevin's- a bar that reminds me of my BFF Janie's hubby, Kevin (there is NO ONE more Irish than Kevvie!) and purused their shirts. I decided to make Pods come back with me in a bit to shop. Sooo...time for that bar stool!

Sloppy Joes is our favorite bar in Key West- they ALWAYS have live music, it ALWAYS has a diverse crowd, everyone from 21 to 91 is in there smiling and having a blast, and at night? At the age of 40 I could dance all night and not feel out of place- it's a very "don't worry, be happy" kind of a bar. Well, there was no dancing today, but we like it just the same. I decided to try their Award winning Sloppy Rita-

Hell-ooooooo Rita!

Which was yummy- but the Ditch still hold the title of BEST Ritas, IMHO. Pods was having a Blue Moon-

The entertainment, which changes every hour or so all day long-

I convinced Pods to take a little break and do a little tshirt shopping- I get SOOOOOO TIRED of seeing him in the same 3 shirts all the time, but for some reason it takes a MOUNTAIN of persuasion to get him to agree to buy something new. We picked one up for him at Sloppy's...then we went over to Irish Kevin's and bought our Irish Kevvie a shirt (that we'll give him next month in ST John), and then went to do a little more shopping.

Just in case you wondering where to get your next Fantasy Fest costume....

Or you need just the right thing for that special guy in your life after his spray hair runs out-

Up next- wastin' away again in Margaritaville-

 

[englishrose47]

I sure hope I get to see KW myself !!! Have to check out the Cruise itinaries !!!

 

[podsnel]

So up (down?) Duval we crawled to Margaritaville....people were definitely celebrating Halloween-

Pods had a-

One guess what I had-

The people sitting next to us were very friendly, and we started chattin' it up. They were from NJ, actually from Bon Jovi's town, Sayreville. They had just arrived the day before, and told us all about the CRAZINESS of Fantasy Fest the night before. Think Girls/Boys gone wild/ Mardi Gras x 500000000. But we saw none of this while we were in Key West that day- things had become more family friendly the morning after, today there were actually alot of family kinds of things going on in town (well, not on Duval St, but elsewhere). We decided we would like to order some food, and one of my favorite things to have at Ritaville is their calamari- it's positively yummy!

We decided to take a walk back to Sloppy's, more towards the ship. These kids were very talented- and so cute! They were playing not too far from Margaritaville-

Past Irish Kevin's-

Pods stops in front for a pic-

All the news that's fit to post on the DIS-

Back at Sloppy's, this guy was havin' a REALLY busy day!

Gotta love the shirts-

It was Blue Moon time (I just LOVE that beer!!)-

KENNY!!!!!

Always have to take a pic of any Kenny Chesney stuff- not really for me, but for my crazy St John buddies (KC lives in STJ). We said good-bye to the friendly people at the bar from NJ and wished them a happy vacay, and we were off and back to the Magic-

On the way....

Yep- something for everyone in Key West! We stopped to buy my cool cheese bottles, and then headed back-

Here is where we went to get our drinks when we were here on that vacation I told you about-

They have two shelves- Top and bottom. They hand you a cup, ask you which shelf, and hand you the bottle & the mixer you want, then charge you based on which shelf you picked. At least that's how they did it years ago. Anyway, it was a great place to go, right across from Sloppy Joe's, when SJ's bar was backed up, we would just run over to here to get a drink. No problem.

I guess the kids would have enjoyed this, but they were REALLY happy we left them on board!

Cont'd next post-

 

[englishrose47]

Keep 'em coming Ellen !!!

 

[CRdisMom]

i have always been perplexed where to get my next set of pastys from...LOL!!! I do need to see KW someday sans kids.

 

[podsnel]

Carol and I must be cut from the same cloth...LOL.. my trouble is as a 9 yr old I watched the original Possidion adventure (lord only knows why I would have watched that it was sooo bad) and have an unnatural fear of ships tipping upside down and me dying. The fire on the one off of Cali hasn't helped either. Guess I am just nuts.

Just don't cruise on New Year's Eve- that's when the ship takes a bit of a tumble in the movie. Seriously? Ok...I saw the movie when I was a kid, too- and I LOVED that movie- but I want you to try to name, other than in the very realistic Poseidon Adventure Reality Movie, how many times since you were 9 you can recall great big cruise ships completely flipping over?? Hmmm??? Was there one a year?? Was there one ever since you were 9? How many capsized ships can you name???? I thought so-just suck it up and get on the boat!

All caught up again, loving the latest installments

Ouch to Timmy's finger, hopefully its all healed up now and long forgotten. What a rotten start to your cruise.

I have decided I WILL do the Dream MV TR. Not sure about a pre-trip one though, I don't have many things to report on as I don't do the organising , only the enjoying

All I will say is that its a month today til we fly out to the states(from the UK)to enjoy a few days Disney parking(and a sneaky trip to Hogwarts for the DD) before embarking on the Dream!! Cannot wait!(this will also be our first cruise as Gold castaways!

JoJo
x

Hey JoJo-

Glad you'll do the TR- I can not WAIT to read about the Dream!! So wonderful you will be Gold Castaways- lucky you!! I hope to get there someday- especially if they dock one of those ships in NYC someday- that would make it a whole lot more convenient.

Also can't wait to hear what you think of Hogwarts- we may go in November...

 

[nenner1]

Just taking a super quick break from cooking and saw this.....that's totally me in the store there (that tie dye'll getcha every time). Wish I had known you guys were in the bar, we would have come in and tossed a few back with you...we needed to badly eek. We were probably in that store an hour then waited outside for the Trolley for close to another half hour.

I'll be back with more comments later, I have so much to do I hardly have time to breathe!!!

 

[podsnel]

OK right off the bat...OMG I am a segment title!!!!!

You are totally deserving- you worked EVERY DAY and then some...

We were doing the thing where we order a carafe at night, a few nights it was good but one morning for some reason it was cold. Room service response times were pretty horrendous on this cruise. Coffee, warm milk and cookies at night was routinely 45 mins-1 hr. One night we ordered just warm milk for Sarah and it took an hour and a half.

We had one day where the delivery was waaaaaay backed up- and I was starving...you do make me feel better about forgetting to put that thingee on the door every night, though. Actually, I couldn't find them the first night- and we didn't see our cabin steward until the next day when he showed us they were in the drawer. He was not very talkative, that guy we had....



Like I said I am so not deserving of all of this praise!! You are too much!!! i am just so glad that the ToT went off well with no major problems and that everyone seemed to enjoy it. And don't forget missy, YOU were my partner in crime and without you (when it was just me and you left at the helm) I would have probably washed my hands of the whole thing. But your support in my ideas and help planning kept me excited and focused!!! And the volunteers- man what a kick butt job they did!!! They were all so great! Even if they did run off and abandon ship....{{PODS}} LOL!

Yes, clearly I deserve much more of the credit than I've gotten for the ToT because I wrote back, "Looks awesome!!! You are incredible!!! They'll love it!!"

Ok there is still some candy left in this picture

Yes- we left it for the mute cabin steward when we left....


See? Fun for the kids, good for the parents. I don't remember but one of the colors had more up and downs than the other two. It just worked out that way.

I was happy for the exercise. Seriously. I need to go ToTing right now- my thighs look like crap!


OK hold up- you got a stripper pole room!!!!!! Woo hoo, way to go Pods!!! Are the boys staying home this cruise, or do they have their own room?!?! Bwaahahaha!

How interesting you pointed that out....the boys will be in the cabin with us, but I am sure they will be in the club the whole time so the pole will be put to fine use!!


He was looking for it, or looking to get rid of it? When I came around to close out the ToT and collect the candy we couldn't find him, I had the kids by then and I asked them to show me where he had sat they couldn't remember! I felt terrible about not getting there to get the candy and "close him out" , I wasn't too late maybe between 5-10 minutes after it ended...but I'm sure he was anxious to get on with the day. It was just hilarious, he took the candy and ran!!!! HA!

Of COURSE they couldn't remember- they were focused on CANDY not VOLUNT-EARS!! I guess he sat up there for a while with no ToTers, and then just figured it was over and left!


Now you are ahead of me but I have been up since sometime Monday morning and I have been a shopping, baking, wrapping, cooking fool! I do have to work the next two nights too so I'm hoping for an opportunity to catch up to ya, but realisitically it will be this weekend. But don't stop, keep right on going!!!

Well, my stove had the gas turned off last week- and we found out yesterday that the repair guage will not be in until AFTER New Year's....so there's no cooking or baking going on in my house this year. I suppose I could grill burgers, but that just doesn't sound too Christmas, does it? Actually, it is CRAZEEEEEEE COLD outside- the wind is INSANE....I am dreading going outside to give Sean's busdriver her gift in a few minutes. I could NEVER stay out there and grill!! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

 

[podsnel]

Just taking a super quick break from cooking and saw this.....that's totally me in the store there (that tie dye'll getcha every time). Wish I had known you guys were in the bar, we would have come in and tossed a few back with you...we needed to badly eek. We were probably in that store an hour then waited outside for the Trolley for close to another half hour.

I'll be back with more comments later, I have so much to do I hardly have time to breathe!!!

OMG!!!! LOOK AT RON!!!! He's SMILING at the camera!!!!
Ok, maybe he's smiling at you, but that is too weird!! I feel like Fate keeps throwing us at each other!!

 

[podsnel]

Had a lot to catch up on again.

Very happy to hear you got the laptop back.

Poor Timmy and his middle finger. I know it must have hurt like heck but could an xray be any funnier?! You should have asked to keep it.

No, it probably couldn't. I did see the humor in it when I was taking it- unfortunately, young Tim did not. There I go again, winning Mom of the Year!

That group pic is incredible. That's a lot if Dis'ers!!

Men in bras night looked like a blast.

But, isn't it always??

Nenner (Jen) - You totally are worthy. What an amazing idea and a big undertaking. Kudos to you!

She is a rockstar- but don't forget, it never would have happened if I hadn't said good job Jen.

I sure hope I get to see KW myself !!! Have to check out the Cruise itinaries !!!

I think they might be switching Key west to Costa Maya in 2012.

Keep 'em coming Ellen !!!

I will Rosie! I'd much rather do this than clean up wrapping paper mess!

i have always been perplexed where to get my next set of pastys from...LOL!!! I do need to see KW someday sans kids.

Me too!! I totally stocked up!! I'll bring you some on the DISmoms trip!

 

[podsnel]

The reason we were back on the ship at 4:30 was the DCL ToT...we knew that our boys were VERY concerned about TOTing while away from home, and we had promised 3 ToTs while on vacation. The DCL ToT was in full swing as we saw when we got back onboard-

We stopped at the Edge to get the boys, and guess what? They said the words I never thought we'd EVER hear...

"It's ok- we've got ENOUGH candy!"

How bizarre!!! ENOUGH CANDY???? Ok then... we asked if they had eaten...and Tim said he was hungry. So we went back to order a little room service for the three of us.

Tim had the hot dog, while Pods, Tyler & I shared that Mexican Pizza. And it did come in 1/2 an hour, as promised. ANd it was yummy. The room service food was much, much improved over our cruise 2 years ago, absolutely. Everything we tried was really good. Afterwards, the boys went back to you-know-where, and Pods & I enjoyed the balcony-

At 6:00, I went to get the boys- I wanted to see Alfred & Seymour in the WD Theatre with them. I just KNEW they were going to LOVE these guys. Of course, they made a fuss when I picked them up, but I promised them they'd be very glad they saw the show. The Edge decorations-

Well, Thank-goodness, I was right! The boys really enjoyed this show!

When the show was over, the sun was setting in Key West...

And I went up to Deck 9 to find Pods, who went up to read his book or hunt for football games on the Dumbotron (but he found cartoons instead- last cruise he watched the Giants game)...

And then...we were pulling off, heading out to sea. Bye bye, Key West!

Back to our cabin, to get ready for dinner-

And enjoy the gorgeous Key West sunset (something we missed on that crazy rainy vacation we had taken here way back when...)

Soooo relaxing on that balcony.......

Up next- time for Palo on Halloween!!!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

I'm loving your TR and those sunset pics were awesome!!

 

[ortholablady]

That's Pods with the dancing ladies? What did they do to him? He's missing a shoe and then he's wearing different clothes in the rest of the pics.

Key West looks fun.

Nice sunset pictures!

 

[gardengirl628]

Beautiful sunset pictures! My DD was also excited to see the picture of Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. We will have to check it out.

 

[podsnel]

I'm loving your TR and those sunset pics were awesome!!

Thank-you so much for saying so- I was really afraid I would be boring everyone and almost took a couple out! Glad to hear it was ok to leave them in.

That's Pods with the dancing ladies? What did they do to him? He's missing a shoe and then he's wearing different clothes in the rest of the pics.

Well...if you MUST know...those slutty women TOOK his CLOTHES!!! I had to dress him quick before we went out into the UBER conservative town of KW!

Key West looks fun.

Yes...yes it is. A lot. a LOT!

Nice sunset pictures!

Thank-you!

Beautiful sunset pictures! My DD was also excited to see the picture of Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. We will have to check it out.

GREAT!! We went to Ripley's in Niagara Falls a few years ago- the kids loooooved it- it was fascinating! I bet this would be similar, because I'm fairly sure it's franchised and somewhat consistent. Have a great time!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Ellen, once again I am behind with comments... I really loved your Key West posts, it sounds like you had a lot of fun. I was once on the Keys, but did not travel all the way to Key West. It is still one of those things I want to do one day. It looks like a very relaxed place.

But most importantly, I wanted to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas! I hope you will spend some wonderful time together over the holidays!

 

[bfosbenner]

merry christmas to all

 

[podsnel]

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!!!

 

[knewton64]

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!!!

this pic....... M-U-C-H better than the TOT pic (idea I thought up a few postings back) for your family Christmas card.


Say.....Goofy ?:

Was it you who has attended a NY Yankee game??. If so, where wud u suggest I sit?? What section.....on the Yankees side??

Reason why I ask is I just booked a 6nght 7 day stay up at NYC - never been to the Big Apple & lookin' forward to it

But 1st.......I gotta get thru my adventure into the Emerald Aisle (June 11th).



Thanks for any input!


Have a great and safe weekend -




P.s. ok.......say.....what about that TOT pic for.......your family EASTER picture?.





T.T.F.N.