halloween cruise/ Magic: October 28th-nov..4th 2006

[awoltoday]

I'm bringing the kid's costumes for both celebrations as well. Dh and I are getting pirate t-shirts for pirate night, and not sure if we'll dress up for halloween yet.

My guess is Disney will do their T or T on Monday also. But who knows.....

Since this is our first cruise, and we haven't been through the online reservation thing yet, can someone tell me just how this works? I will go ahead and register the kids in the club/lab, but not sure how much they will actually be there. We aren't planning on doing the spa or Palo since this is all new to us, and we aren't sure if the kids will even like the club/lab. So.....maybe save that for next time. But we are planning on excursions through Disney in St. Maarten and St. Thomas. We are already paid up, but can't make reservations until August 14 (I think).

TIA!

The online Ressie thing is pretty easy. The hardest part is being awake at midnight PACIFIC time to make sure you get what you want. But, since you aren't doing the spa or Palo you could probably fore-go the late night/early morning thing. I'm not sure how quickly the excursions fill up, though. But, because I'm a sadist, I think you should do the late night thing and get Palo ressies for both a dinner AND brunch. You can always cancel later and it is a pretty nice experience. And if you do want to make PALO ressies, do those first! Spa would be next, IIRC, then excursions. Leave the kids club sign-up for last as you'll have no problem getting into those.

What excursions are you planning on? We're going to do something on our own, but we haven't got it pinned down yet!

BTW, you CAN make your ressies 75 days out on 08/14/2006. Here's a link to a handy calculator: http://pscalculator.net/allearsnet/pscalcae.php

Hi everyone. I was hoping to be a better contributor than I have been but it has been a couple crazy weeks with traveling and etc. Rebekah was in the hospital for a couple days due to a nasty bug that lead her to become significantly dehydrated. At one point they were concerned she may have developed diabetes. Of course, to make life interesting, I was traveling during this time and my wife was handling the homefront. Luckily, they did some blood work last Monday and she is apparently okay and they are going to keep an eye on things for now. She is back home and after a week of extra rest is back up and running around.

We are well on our way to making plans. As my in-laws have the suite they already have many reservations set up. It should be lots of fun once we can do the rest of the reservations.

Judy (my Mother-in-Law and chief architect of this cruise experience) had inquired about the pirates night and Halloween. She had been told a couple months ago that they would have Trick or Treat starting early in the evening and then the Pirates event would carry some Halloween themes. Who knows if things have changed since then?

One quick question. I have snorkel gear for myself and the two older kids. I had seen somewhere that Castaway Cay had a requirement that snorkelers had vests. Is this a requirement and where do we get them? Is there a cost? I am sure that someone has had this experience.

Chris

Chris,
Glad to hear Rebekah is okay! That's scary stuff.

I think the story your MIL got is the most likely scenario - even though we aren't required to be back on the ship until 7:00.

Snorkel vests are not a problem. You MUST wear one on CC. But, you just pick one up on the beach - they are hanging on the lifeguard stands. It is free and easy. And they weren't nearly as annoying as I thought they would be.

 

[buckifan]

AWOL,
Thanks for the quick response. If we do make reservations for Palo, and decide we want to cancel, when would be too late? I don't want to miss dinner with the kids each night, so if anything we'd do a brunch. So, I'd probably make a reservation for one of the sea days. I bet they go quickly on those days!

 

[princessh]

Hi everyone. Had to run home and take care of a few things. Jacob is still in the hospital. He is doing a little better, but still pretty sick. Hopefully he will be able to come home soon. Then the real battle begins with making sure he takes his medicine. At three he is such a strong willed and stubborn child. Thanks for all the get well wishes and prayers. I will try and post more soon.

Spoke with Kristin and they are having a great time in DC. Hopefully we can still get together with them before they leave.

 

[awoltoday]

AWOL,
Thanks for the quick response. If we do make reservations for Palo, and decide we want to cancel, when would be too late? I don't want to miss dinner with the kids each night, so if anything we'd do a brunch. So, I'd probably make a reservation for one of the sea days. I bet they go quickly on those days!

Where is everybody? I KNOW there are people around that know this better than me!

I'm sure you can cancel on-board without a penalty. I don't think I've ever heard a specific time where a penalty would apply. There is a penalty if you just don't show up. But, it's only $20 for 2 people, so I'm not sure how big the penalty could be! I would use 24 hour cancellation as a guide just to be fair to other passengers that might want to eat there.

The brunches probably do go quickly as they are ONLY available on sea days. I liked both brunch and dinner - but if I had to choose, I would choose the brunch. And if you can't get in online, remember that they only release about 50% of the reservations online. You can go straight to guest services when you get on-board and make reservations then.

 

[Choc_marg]

Palo ressies are done at Rockin' Bar D not Guest Services

Go to Guest Services to get tickets for the galley tour and beer/wine/martini/margarita tastings, take kids charging privileges away, put Disney Visa reward $$ on your stateroom acct, drop off pillowcases for characters to sign.

This can be done right away since Guest Services is right around the corner from where you board

 

[XLT800]

Cannot believe it is time to make the ressies already. We have not even discussed excursions but we will be up at 3am to get Palo dinner and brunch. The brunch is definitly not to be missed. If you like Chocolate soufle then you will have to do the dinner. I am almost positive you can cancel ressie at PALO the day of with no problem, they have plenty of people waiting for a ressie.

Buck....I would make the ressie and decide later if you want to keep it. Another thing to remember is that you can plan up to 2 hours for the brunch. I thought they were crazy when they said that but it almost always takes that long.

Sending some PD to Jacob

Dave

 

[awoltoday]

Palo ressies are done at Rockin' Bar D not Guest Services

Go to Guest Services to get tickets for the galley tour and beer/wine/martini/margarita tastings, take kids charging privileges away, put Disney Visa reward $$ on your stateroom acct, drop off pillowcases for characters to sign.

This can be done right away since Guest Services is right around the corner from where you board

SEE! I KNEW there were people around that knew more than me!

Hi everyone. Had to run home and take care of a few things. Jacob is still in the hospital. He is doing a little better, but still pretty sick. Hopefully he will be able to come home soon. Then the real battle begins with making sure he takes his medicine. At three he is such a strong willed and stubborn child. Thanks for all the get well wishes and prayers. I will try and post more soon.

Spoke with Kristin and they are having a great time in DC. Hopefully we can still get together with them before they leave.

STILL!? After recently spending 7 or 8 days in the hospital w/Cody I can honestly say I'm sorry to hear that! Take care of the poor little guy and post when you can!

Hang in there with the medicine. We had a few tough days with Cody. Now, he wants to go get it and occasionally gets ticked at me when I don't let him measure it himself!

 

[Tluvs2talk]

Hi All,
When we did the Halloween cruise in 2004 they had candy stations set up in different locations and the kids went Trick Or Treating before Dinner. WE had early dining so They were still passing out candy when Rick and I went to Dinner. Most people were in their costumes at Dinner, it was very cool to see Families dressed up. One table was dressed as Wizard Of Oz. Their costumes were so GREAT. They had Glinda, The Wicked Witch, The Scarecrow, Tin man, Cowardly Lion, The Wizard, and some of the Munchkins from the Lolipop Gild. I am so excited about the Halloween cruise since I have alway's enjoyed Halloween and since my Birthday is the day before Halloween. They had a big Halloween party after Dinner and We went to see The Village in the Theater. I hope thet have another creepy movie playing on Halloween this year.

Buckifan- You have to at least book Brunch at Palo's. It is so GREAT!!! I also enjoyed the Afternoon Tea. This will be our 8th Disney Cruise and I have not had Dinner at Palo's Yet. I hate to miss out on our regular Dinner. Some people on our past cruises have eaten at Palo's went to their normal Dinner and ordered a few appetizer's. This would work well if you had early dining and went to Palo as late as you could get a reservation for.

Teri

 

[missyoh8]

I agree about going to Palo for brunch! We really love it! We have had dinner, and, to be honest the we felt like the food was not all that great. Bucki, you can get a better meal at several of the upscale places here in Columbus so don't sweat it. The brunch however, IMHO, is not duplicated anywhere in our area.

I am the opposite of all the Halloween folks, in that Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays. I do actually enjoy seeing all the kids dressed up but don't get geeked up about trying to get costumes together for my kids. I should probably give some thought to that now, before I am cutting eyeholes in the DCL sheets and telling the "3 little ghosts" to go out for TOT on the ship.

Off to take an exam. Have a great day all.

Missy

 

[princessh]

Well we are finally home from the hospital. Thanks so much for all the well wishes! Hopefully in the next day or two I can get everything finalized with the t-shirts. The image we are using with Mickey in the sand will not be blurry like the one that was posted here. For some reason I must have made the image too large. It will be a clean image on the shirt. Thanks for the link to Kate's designs. I think we both must have started with the same clip art. She does a wonderful job on her designs. She is the one who made my dancing Cinderella name.

I spoke with Kristin this morn, and she is having a good time. They have been busy. We are going to try and get together tomorrow night or Sat. morn. She said to tell everyone hi!

Just a reminder to everyone to sign up for the DIS trick or treat and DIS meet if you have not done so yet!

The cruise is getting so close! I can not wait!

 

[buckifan]

Okay, you all have convinced me to make a reservation for Palo brunch. We've got to see for ourselves what all the buzz is about.

Missy, the thought of you cutting holes in the sheets was cracking me up! You had also mentioned the dining in Columbus........have you guys ever tried Abuelo's at Easton? YUMMMMMMM! It's my new favorite place.

Teri, your 8th DCL cruise?!? I hope I can say that one day!

Heather, so glad Jacob is back home. Hope he's back to 100% soon.

 

[LaRue]

Wow all of this talk about Palo is making me me drool right on the computer

I am thinking that on Saturday night I might have to get the cruise started officially by going up to Palo and bellying up to their bar and ordering a fancy drink and a chocolate souffle Anyone with me?

 

[buckifan]

LaRue,
I didn't know you could do that. So you can just go into Palo without a reservation and order something at the bar?

 

[LaRue]

LaRue,
I didn't know you could do that. So you can just go into Palo without a reservation and order something at the bar?

I have read that you can, however I have not tried it YET!

Maybe some of our fellow cruisers have heard about or tried this before.

 

[awoltoday]

Is Palo open on Saturday, at all? Maybe we can break in if it's not?

NOT Tonight, but tomorrow is the night for CC Members to make their ressies! Midnight on the left coast, 3AM on the right!

92 days of anticipation on the wall, 92 days of contemplation, you take one down, pass it around....

 

[XLT800]

Tonight is the night for CC Members to make their ressies! Midnight on the left coast, 3AM on the right!

We need to figure this out, I thought it was Saturday night/Sunday morning that we made ressies.

Any big plans for the weekend? We have Steven's high school orientation on Saturday (Do not know why a Saturday) and then Kelly has me booked for the rest of the day shopping for school clothes.........would anyone like to contribute to the (Kelly will only go to middle school if she is in style fund).

Someone help with the ressie thing......I would hate to wake up at 3am for nothing.

Dave

 

[GoofyDrivesACar]

We need to figure this out, I thought it was Saturday night/Sunday morning that we made ressies.

Any big plans for the weekend? We have Steven's high school orientation on Saturday (Do not know why a Saturday) and then Kelly has me booked for the rest of the day shopping for school clothes.........would anyone like to contribute to the (Kelly will only go to middle school if she is in style fund).

Someone help with the ressie thing......I would hate to wake up at 3am for nothing.

Dave

The 105 day mark was early morning (2am Central) on 7/15, so would that make the 90 day mark for you at 3am on 7/30 (Sunday)???

Is Palo open on Saturday, at all? Maybe we can break in if it's not?

I think I remember seeing a thread on the main board of someone having palo ressies on Saturday and being worried that they couldn't drop their kids off at the club.

 

[Choc_marg]

We need to figure this out, I thought it was Saturday night/Sunday morning that we made ressies.

You are right. AWOL is just getting ahead of himself. He even has it on his Google calendar for tomorrow night.

As far as drinks/dessert at the Palo bar goes, I have read on the main board that you can do it, but I have yet to see someone post that says that they have done it. Some say you can & some say you can't but no actual confirmation either way.

Maybe Crash should try it on his Sept cruise & report back to us

 

[awoltoday]

DOH!!! My bad! I looked at the calendar, but not the time I had set. It is indeed 7/30/06! Sorry!!

And now I've got to put a beer back on the wall!

 

[GoofyDrivesACar]

DOH!!! My bad! I looked at the calendar, but not the time I had set. It is indeed 7/30/06! Sorry!!

And now I've got to put a beer back on the wall!

Don't put that beer back on the wall, I will take it and put it to good use.