How do they get the decorations up so quickly?

[TiggerBouncy]

I'm full of questions today.

Just curious on this one since we were discussing it yesterday.

Cruise A is "before the Merrytime cruises" and doesn't have decorations. People get off the ship by... 8:30?
Cruise B (same ship) starts boarding at - what - 11:30 for the B2B cruisers? and IS a Merrytime Cruise.

Do the Disney fairies get all those decorations up in the 3 something hours? What do they have - an army of CM's leaping onto the ship as it nears dock like an attacking horde of monkies after a last meal to prep the ship?

or do you actually see the decorations going up over time on one of the cruises - top deck here, main lobby there - every day a little more touch of the festive?

Just curious!

 

[KMovies]

We were on the Magic in Miami when they did the switch over. Yes, they had several crew members setting up the decorations as people were boarding. Likely they started right after the last passengers were off the ship. In fact, I have a picture of the tree. It only had the top half and was missing the bottom half as they were still working on it as we were boarding. By the time we sailed, they were done.

 

[princessmommyx3]

I got on the wonder for the first Christmas sailing last month & experienced the same thing as the previous poster. The tree was half up when we boarded but all of the other garlands & such were done. They were finished with the tree by that evening for the tree lighting ceremony. The gingerbread house was already complete when we boarded. I spoke with a woman at the port who got off the ship that day and she said they had been building it for 8 days & had just finished the day before. They kept the construction hidden until it was complete.

 

[Quellman]

I got on the wonder for the first Christmas sailing last month & experienced the same thing as the previous poster. The tree was half up when we boarded but all of the other garlands & such were done. They were finished with the tree by that evening for the tree lighting ceremony. The gingerbread house was already complete when we boarded. I spoke with a woman at the port who got off the ship that day and she said they had been building it for 8 days & had just finished the day before. They kept the construction hidden until it was complete.

The ship smelled like gingerbread as they were making it I'm sure!

 

[AquaDame]

Magic, of course!

In all seriousness though I wonder if thats why they designed the Halloween tree the way they did to slowly morph and grow over the course of the cruise? I know they have to 'reset' it for each one but it must have been fun for them to make it part of the 'show'.

 

[E ticket rider]

I'm full of questions today.

Just curious on this one since we were discussing it yesterday.

Cruise A is "before the Merrytime cruises" and doesn't have decorations. People get off the ship by... 8:30?
Cruise B (same ship) starts boarding at - what - 11:30 for the B2B cruisers? and IS a Merrytime Cruise.

Do the Disney fairies get all those decorations up in the 3 something hours? What do they have - an army of CM's leaping onto the ship as it nears dock like an attacking horde of monkies after a last meal to prep the ship?

or do you actually see the decorations going up over time on one of the cruises - top deck here, main lobby there - every day a little more touch of the festive?

Just curious!

Mickey owns a dojo that trains ninja elves...

 

[codex57]

In all seriousness though I wonder if thats why they designed the Halloween tree the way they did to slowly morph and grow over the course of the cruise? I know they have to 'reset' it for each one but it must have been fun for them to make it part of the 'show'.

Wow, I'd love to have seen that morphing tree.

 

[dclpluto]

Lots of teamwork

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Fantasy Hollween tree on embarkation:


on debarkation morning:


Doesn't really morph and grow. They just add the jack-o-lanterns during the cruise.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Mickey owns a dojo that trains ninja elves...

See, now that's what I'm sayin'! They're tricky, they are!

seriously though - thanks for the replies. I figure in general Disney hates for people to see things being set up / done. It ruins "the magic". However, I didn't see any other way they could get all that stuff up in just a few hours no matter how many people they have!

 

[Mark D.]

Doesn't really morph and grow. They just add the jack-o-lanterns during the cruise.

Three cruises on the Fantasy during Halloween on the High Seas, and I've never noticed that!

 

[E ticket rider]

See, now that's what I'm sayin'! They're tricky, they are!

seriously though - thanks for the replies. I figure in general Disney hates for people to see things being set up / done. It ruins "the magic". However, I didn't see any other way they could get all that stuff up in just a few hours no matter how many people they have!

There is no veil of "magic" for B2B cruisers... They are out and open with all the work that gets done on the ship before the "new" guests board the ship. On our last B2B on the Dream, we entered the atrium to a rehearsal, saw them sanding and varnishing the railings, doing maintenance on the sliding pool decks, carts everywhere restocking the bars & shops and huge piles of laundry in the hallways as they turned the cabins over. I will say one thing is certain, the crew works their butts off in that 3-hour window with no guests. Every CM we saw asked us if we needed anything and when we said we were fine, they sped off to complete their next task.

 

[1girln3boys]

I was on the Dream before the 1st Merrytime cruise. They were working on the gingerbread house during my cruise. I took pictures a couple of times of them working on it. It was cool watching them put it together. We weren't allowed in the atrium the day we departed bc they were decorating and had it blocked off.

 

[stickeymouse]

A worker on our recent Magic cruise noted that many of the decorations are put up by outside, third-party workers. That would help explain how they are put up so quickly!

 

[princessmommyx3]

I forgot to mention earlier than when we boarded the first Christmas cruise last month on the Wonder, they did have the atrium blocked off because of the tree still being put up. We weren't able to walk into the atrium like normal, but were led to the right, past port adventures, and straight to the elevator/stairs. It made boarding a little bit less magical but I can see why they do it. You can see what I am talking about in our boarding video here:

 

[gomagic]

On the the first Fantasy Merrytime Cruise in November and they held up embarkation for a little bit because they were still decorating in the Atrium. When they started the boarding process and allowed concierge guests to board, a CM held us at the gangway until she was given the ok to allow guests to proceed because they were at that point trying to clean everything up from the decorations.

 

[tinkerone]

we did a fantasy b2b a few years ago and when we disembarked for the first cruise it was halloween everywhere. when we re-boarded it was christmas everywhere. there was no lag, it was all complete. dh and i were amazed that it was done so quickly.

 

[tinkerone]

Three cruises on the Fantasy during Halloween on the High Seas, and I've never noticed that!

they have a little performance in the atrium for the kids on one of the evenings and the children are all given 'seeds' which they put into a pot at the end of the performance. in the morning the bare tree has grown the pumpkins. at least thats the way it is done on the fantasy. times are shown in the navigators.

 

[AquaDame]

Fantasy Hollween tree on embarkation:

Doesn't really morph and grow. They just add the jack-o-lanterns during the cruise.

Well, they sold it as "an evolving Halloween Tree that eerily transforms throughout your cruise." ( https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/overview/seasonal-specialty-cruises/ ) but you're right. I didn't notice much until they added all the lanterns at the end either. I had my husband take a pic of me in front of the tree each day - I should go back and look at them all in order and see if they really did do anything more, lol!

 

[bumbershoot]

at least thats the way it is done on the fantasy. times are shown in the navigators.

Same on Dream, same info in the Navigators.

We aren't interested, so we barely notice it, but since I do read the Navigators cover to cover I know it's happening.