10/31/10 Halloween Wonder

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Wow, this is a very quiet thread. Anyone out there?

 

[bats]

I'm here but I'll need to unsubscribe as I'm no longer on this cruise.

Mick and I booked for the Maiden Voyage of the Disney Dream so all our money is heading that way now!

Leanne is still going though with her family.

 

[hereyago]

I am checking in again. Just getting ready for the holidays! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I am checking in again. Just getting ready for the holidays! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi! Glad to see someone checking in. My last cruise meet thread was so active that I'm kind of lonely over here. Hopefully it will pick up closer to the cruise date.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Just giving this a bump back up to the top!

I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year!!

 

[hereyago]

Cannot wait until October comes. I so need to get away

 

[frangi]

my brother and his wife, two kids and ME!!!! are going on this cruise our first!!! I am so excited!!!!

I am interested in FE and any tips anyone can give me!!!

It's so far away, but I'm excited!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

my brother and his wife, two kids and ME!!!! are going on this cruise our first!!! I am so excited!!!!

I am interested in FE and any tips anyone can give me!!!

It's so far away, but I'm excited!

Welcome!
Once this thread gets more active we may be able to get a FE group going. I know we would participate.

How old are the kids? We'll have a 10 yo girl and 7 yo girl with us (my DD and my DSGD). This is the third cruise for my family but the first for DSD and her DD. There are currently 6 of us total - myself, DH, DD (10), DSD (30), her DD (7) and other DSD (19).

This is our first 4 night cruise. We've only done the 7 nights so far and love them. We wanted to be on the Wonder before it headed west and this seemed like a perfect cruise.

Bring the cameras, get there early to get on the boat first thing, order Mickey ice bars from room service even though they are not on the menu. And bottom line, relax, have fun and enjoy yourself.

Let me know if there is anything specific. We do bring pirate costumes or shirts for pirate night. Not everyone does but we like to have fun. We are also bringing costumes for Halloween. We are doing a theme as there are enough of us. DD had picked a costume last Halloween on clearance so since it was Disney related and she really wanted to still wear it, we are forcing the rest to go with it. The 7 yo certainly won't have issues because she will be adorable in her costume but the rest, oh well, too bad. Wicked step-mommy is paying for your cruise and the only payment is that they dress up for Halloween.

 

[frangi]

my niece and Nephew will be 6 and 11 at the time of the cruise. I am the Disney planner in the family. I live about 1.5 hours away from my family so family vacations are important to me. SO I am SO excited for the cruise. I am concerned with what to pack and wear for dinner, neither my brother or I like to dress up very much. (I work with kids--I teach drama full time) so I am never in jacket and tie. I actually don't own any. I know 45 year old man and no jacket and tie. LOL! I threw them all away when I started my dream job!!!

That being said will it be weird to do Palo with my brother and his wife? we don't care but if it's too romantic I'll bow out!

I can't wait!!! Hopefully this board will get more active!!!

Any packing tips would be great!!!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

my niece and Nephew will be 6 and 11 at the time of the cruise. I am the Disney planner in the family. I live about 1.5 hours away from my family so family vacations are important to me. SO I am SO excited for the cruise. I am concerned with what to pack and wear for dinner, neither my brother or I like to dress up very much. (I work with kids--I teach drama full time) so I am never in jacket and tie. I actually don't own any. I know 45 year old man and no jacket and tie. LOL! I threw them all away when I started my dream job!!!

That being said will it be weird to do Palo with my brother and his wife? we don't care but if it's too romantic I'll bow out!

I can't wait!!! Hopefully this board will get more active!!!

Any packing tips would be great!!!

Don't worry about what to pack. Seriously, unless you are planning on Palo you can get away without a jacket and tie. And as you don't own one, why don't you be the great uncle and let your brother and SIL have a night out. You get the kiddos, take them to dinner, a movie, the show, see the characters. And then let them splurge at the ice cream machine. With my DD when she's being extra good, I let her grab a big cup from the soda machine and fill it with ice cream. The ice cream cups are like 2 oz. The soda cups are around 8 oz. So she fills up a cup and covers it with the chocolate sauce. She's in heaven thinking she's won the ice cream lottery! And don't tell the kiddos but it's actually frozen yogurt. It tastes the same to them and they have fewer calories!!

As for dressing, bring shorts and t-shirts for the day. The Wonder is less dressy than the Magic. No need to bring a jacket unless you are going to Palo. For dinner, you need a pair of khakis or black pants (bought DH's at Target). Don't need to be crazy dressy. Get a polo shirt or some other collar shirt. We usually buy Hawaiian type shirts at Kohl's at the end of the season. DH loves them and they are inexpensive. They really only request that you don't wear bathing suits or cover ups into the dining room. I would bring a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans on the off chance it gets cold. We usually bring 2 pair of dress pants for a 7 night cruise.

Last year we went the day after Thanksgiving and it was freezing in Florida. We wore jeans the first day. After that it warmed up substantially and we didn't put them back on until we arrived back in PC.
There is also a washing machine so if you really spill something that you wash it quickly and re-wear the next day.

Make sure you bring bathing suits, sunscreen, and a pirate t-shirt for pirate night. Also, have the kids bring Halloween costumes. There should be trick-or-treating on the boat the first night. We're doing a theme of Alice in Wonderland. DD is the Queen of Hearts, DGD is Alice and my DSD will be the Mad Hatter. We might have one DSD drop out otherwise she is going to be the White Rabbit if she comes.

Bring the cameras! Lots of photo taking opportunities. Oh, and because I love to have my photos look good I have the family dress in similar colors for the day we board. First cruise we all did navy and white. This past cruise we did red and black pirate shirts. Yes, I know we look queer but I guarantee you that your boarding photo looks fabulous when you go to find it in Shutters!

My next tip is to get to the port early if you can. You can start boarding the boat anywhere from 11:45 to 12:30 (depending on how fast they clean it). The earlier you are on the boat the earlier you can start having fun. We usually go to lunch as soon as we board and then head up to Deck 9 to swim in the pool (have the kids pack their suits in the carry on bags). Then I head off to the stateroom to unpack while DH and DD are at the pool. The rooms open at 1:30. Luggage will come any time from then until 6 p.m. We usually get ours early but sometimes people get their's late.

I'm sure we'll get busy at some point the closer we get to the cruise. I know the 7 night cruise is sold out for this week so I would imagine that the closer we get the more people will find us.

 

[frangi]

Thanks for the advice!!!

I love spending alone time with kids!! Took my nephew to Disney World for a week of cool uncle time last year. Maybe Disneyland this June!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Thanks for the advice!!!

I love spending alone time with kids!! Took my nephew to Disney World for a week of cool uncle time last year. Maybe Disneyland this June!

And you don't need a jacket and tie for cool uncle time!!!

 

[Jfstorm]

Ok so myself and DS (13) ARE JOINING UP! Our first cruise after many years of talking about it. He has decided the cruise is even higher on the list than a pilgrimage to Cali to visit DL! Hoping this is the right decision! So, PLEASE pros let me know secrets and such. So used to being a WDW expert that is daunting to realize that I know little to nothing about the DCL. (Other than book stuff of course) So far, I see that they DO do something special for Halloween; so that's great. Is the weather pretty much the same as Central FLA? If chilly do they heat the pools? I also heard they have a "Singles" meet and greet. That would be great as my "teenager" is so gung ho to be able to go to the teen club on the Wonder! (Curious to see how long that lasts!) We usually do everything together on vacation, so this will be different for me. Haven't decided whether that is a good or bad thing yet!
So most important Q's I can think of: I booked an inside stateroom figuring we will not be in it except to sleep anyway; picked one that only has one adjacent room figuring less noise (deck 6). Good Choice? Picked 2nd seating for dinner as we are late eaters usually. No Palo; so clothes are EZ. Took insurance just in case (it is hurricane season and we are from the East Coast). the Atlantis stuff sounds the best for us in the Bahamas, but with the limited time in a day is it worth it? When and how does the Pirate Party work? I'm sure this will be our fave on board event; but I'm a little concerned it could short change one of our dinning visits( ie, I'd like to enjoy Animator's Palette without any Pirate takeovers) Ok, that's more than enough for now!

 

[frangi]

Welcome I'm new to cruising also. But!!! Reading the boards helps a lot.

 

[Jfstorm]

can anybody tell me what an "FE" is????

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

can anybody tell me what an "FE" is????

FE stands for Fish Extender. This is pocket organizer type thingie. You hang it from the fish that is outside every stateroom. If you sign up to be part of the FE exchange then you play secret santa with the others in the group. On our last cruise we made goody bags based on the kids gender and age. Then one night we snuck around and dropped off our gifts. We also had separate gifts for those that did not have children. It's a lot of fun and my DD got a lot of fun gifts last time. She received lip gloss, candy (lots of that), playing cards, calendars, luggage tags, key chains, coloring stuff, markers, crayons, etc. Our last group was about 30 staterooms for a 7 night cruise.
I'm up for participating if we get a decent enough crowd.
Also, there are usually FE threads on the first couple of pages on the main cruise board.

I'll try to get to your other questions later today. Oh yeah, and Welcome to the thread!!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Ok so myself and DS (13) ARE JOINING UP! Our first cruise after many years of talking about it. He has decided the cruise is even higher on the list than a pilgrimage to Cali to visit DL! Hoping this is the right decision! So, PLEASE pros let me know secrets and such. So used to being a WDW expert that is daunting to realize that I know little to nothing about the DCL. (Other than book stuff of course) So far, I see that they DO do something special for Halloween; so that's great. Is the weather pretty much the same as Central FLA? If chilly do they heat the pools? I also heard they have a "Singles" meet and greet. That would be great as my "teenager" is so gung ho to be able to go to the teen club on the Wonder! (Curious to see how long that lasts!) We usually do everything together on vacation, so this will be different for me. Haven't decided whether that is a good or bad thing yet!
So most important Q's I can think of: I booked an inside stateroom figuring we will not be in it except to sleep anyway; picked one that only has one adjacent room figuring less noise (deck 6). Good Choice? Picked 2nd seating for dinner as we are late eaters usually. No Palo; so clothes are EZ. Took insurance just in case (it is hurricane season and we are from the East Coast). the Atlantis stuff sounds the best for us in the Bahamas, but with the limited time in a day is it worth it? When and how does the Pirate Party work? I'm sure this will be our fave on board event; but I'm a little concerned it could short change one of our dinning visits( ie, I'd like to enjoy Animator's Palette without any Pirate takeovers) Ok, that's more than enough for now!

I'll try to help. I'm sure someone else will eventually chime in though. This will be our third cruise but our first Wonder cruise.

The inside stateroom should be fine. Disney has very few connecting rooms so, to be honest, I would have chosen one without a connecting door. It would be quieter that way.
I think we did 2nd seating dinner. We've had early dinner in the past and while it's nice to be running around the ship all night, it is a rush to get to dinner on time.
I don't know the exact night of the pirate party on the Wonder. It varies by the cruise. The pirate party is on deck 9. It's basically a dance party with a theme. Very cool and we dress up and enjoy ourselves. They then set fireworks off the starboard side of the boat, as long as the wind cooperates.
They have a nice buffet with both dinner and deserts. Just as a warning, they slap bbq sauce all over the turkey legs. It really upset DH last time.

I'm sure there will be some Halloween themed events the first day. At least we are hoping for that!!
You can order free Mickey ice cream bars to your stateroom through room service or ask for them in the dining room as well.
Your son may or may not enjoy the teen club. I think it all depends on the crowd. My DD is only 10 but she was bored the second time around in the kid's club and preferred to spend time with us.
I don't know if there is a singles meet 'n greet as my DH would probably have been upset if I had attended one.

Definitely read through the first few pages of the main thread. Let me know if there is anything specific that you want answered and I'd be more than happy to help if I can.

 

[susan137]

Our family will be on this cruise and we are SO excited.

We are..

Me - Mom (46)
DH - 48
DS - 12
DS - 26
DSGF - 20

This is our first Disney (or any) cruise. I've been having a ball reading the cruise board & planning. I think I am driving my family a little nuts!

Can anyone give us some advice on Atlantis? We would like to enjoy the water park at Atlantis, but we will be doing TL or BB at WDW after the cruise. Is it worth the money to go to Atlantis if we are doing another water park in the same trip? Also, we'd like to do the Comfort Suites to save some money. What are our options with 5 people?

Looking forward to getting to know everyone!

Susan

 

[frangi]

Hi Susan!!

Welcome! It's my first cruise also!!! Can't wait!

Tony

 

[warbiespig]

Weve booked up for a cruise on Disneys Wonder From 31st October 2010 a 4 nighter we have never been on a cruise before and we have two boys aged 3 and almost 8.I am busy trying to find ideas for a FE and of gifts to take to put in other FEs