October 25, 2008 Halloween on the High Seas (2)

[disney4dana]

Valerie
You raise good points, but what about the people who might have the 8:00pm meal time?

Just needed to throw a monkey wrench in there didn't I?

Jackie you also raise some good points could be really busy in the atrium.

Dana

 

[CruiseBoundnKY]

Hi All!

I just wanted to send out a big to those that were on the boards Thursday night.

My dh woke up the next morning and said that he had dreamed about me and Disney Could it be because he saw the ship in the back ground on the computer?

We got to go home before noon the next day. He's sore but doing better each day. He's very worried that it may not have worked since he still has alot of pain down his leg, but with the swelling and nerve damage the doc reassured us that it could take awhile for him to see drastic relief.

The moral of the story is, "take care of your back!"

See you guys real soon!!!

Karen

 

[disney4dana]

Karen

So glad to hear he is out of the hospital and doing better. Glad we were still on Thursday and could be there for you. What are DIS friends for?

Dana

 

[suziemva]

I like the idea of formal night for the photo op but I'm thinking it might be too stressful with dressing, Captain's night photos, photos in the atrium by Shutters, etc, etc, etc. I actually think it would a nicer, more relaxed photo if we were just in casual clothes. I love the one that Dizzi posted of the last cruise and they all looked so happy and comfortable. But we will go with the flow.

I also have to chime in about ToTing. I never did get anything from Pam and really worry about bothering her with everything that she's going through. I really think that we should keep the clue areas down to a maximum of 5 since anything more might lose the kids for attention, etc. I do believe that we decided to have the bags "packed" for giving at the final clue. Parents to volunteer to help pack beforehand. I thought this was the reason for bringing the treasure chests. If not, DH will be very happy that we won't need to finangle packing them!!! I think it would also cause a bit of "unhappiness" to all the other children on the cruise to see candy/items being handed out that they can't receive. I would hate to offend any kids.

I do need to get a list of the kids in groups soon so that I can start on the name tags. Want to put characters on them for each group and would need to know how many groups and who is in each group.

Still working on the clues and maps. Think I'm going to have to bounce around some ideas to other parents. We're trying to think of good places that wouldn't be overcrowded or too hard to find for the clue areas. Will let y'all know what I've come up with.

 

[Midwest Cruisers]

Just a thought, but if the groups arent too large, we could have the stations be in volunteer's cabins if other areas on the ship are too crowded!

 

[taraandmike]

Good evening everyone,

Karen- I am so glad that your DH is doing better each day, I have been thinking of you both since Thursday night. I am so glad that we were there for you when you needed to talk!

Well it has been a busy weekend, sorry I did not get to chat until late last night, but was able to have a nice conversation with Jenn. We had our annual fish fry that we have at the end of fishing season and was nice to get together with friends and eat tons of food!

I also ordered a new camera this weekend for the cruise I hope I picked a good one, it is a Lumix and can not wait until it comes in. So one more thing off the list.

Suzie let me know what you need for the TOT. I know Pam had posted the clues on her trip report for last halloween. I will volunteer to help put the bags together, I can also volunteer to be a cabin for drop off of the treats if needed.. I have two teens who can help assemble! Just let me know what you need. I do like the idea of packing them in the bag and handing out at the end so as not to upset other children not involved.

 

[NewfieMom]

Okay - first, meant to say 7:30 for the second photo op time - oops! - but it seems feedback so far is that any photo with us all dressed up/involving evening shots would be too complicated anyway. Hadn't thought of needing to get our own formal night pics "took" - thanks for reminding me Suzie!! DH HATES getting his picture taken, so I tend to take full advantage of the cruise and all the photo opportunities!

How about an after breakfast shot? Hard to do with only 2 sea days and the character breakfasts. Any ideas ? Like Jackie said when she posted the question on the main forum - during the initial dis-meet on board, they didn't tend to get everyone.

Open to suggestions!!! How about while waiting to disembark on the 2nd Castaway Cay day? After breakfast on Grand Cayman day? HELP!!!!!!!

Valerie

 

[jenn&nelsonrego]

Things to decide for Trick and treating
Ok we have 21 boys and 29 girls and 10 , 3 and under total 60 plus 35 adults to help out
This is a lot of children to be running around together

What day and time ? Monday, October 27, 2008 at 2 pm
a cut off date for signing up ? 5th September

Can I have your ideas on
Where to start and finish ?
Where to meet and leave all the treats ?
How many in each group ?
do we go by age group / boys and girls ?
How many clue stations to have ?

We can sort out who will be going with each group of kids and who will give out the clues and out the treat after the closing date
There is no dressing up for this but if you want to wear you Dis T Shirt That s OK

I found something while bopping around the old halloween on the high sea site:

http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/cruise/photos/personal-navigator/pages/scan0016.htm

looks like a great route. It stays mainly in the ships forward, but the ends at the goofy pool... maybe we can use this as a guide... (channeling jiminy cricket)

Maybe leave the treats at the end... that way no "other" kids catch on and get upset...

As far as how many kids in a group... should we keep it to about 5 per group and all in the same age range.... should we have clues that are diff levels?

I will be ordering the bags today since the list is closed. Once I order and get the amount, I'll post the amount and PM each donor on how to pay. As a reminder, here are the donors...

Donors:
Michelle (michellebriana)
Jackie (jns)
Dana (Disney4Dana)
Jenn (jenn&nelsonrego)
Karen (CruiseBoundnKY)
Sarah (TotallyAngelic)
Cindy (Disneycruising)
Kim (Anielle)

Thanks,
Michelle

Great. Let me know how much I owe you.

Are we passing out treats at each station or are we passing out clues to the next station and so on until the end where the treat bags are handed out? We have to keep in mind that we will need tables around us to stack up treats if we pass out things at each station. If we pass out treats at the end we only need to worry about one place that has tables.

We can either do by age group or we can do by cabin number so we keep siblings together. If we go by age, we should do the younger kids first due to their attention span. The main decision is break up siblings or not.

I think if we have the bags all made up and just have them at the end that would be less to carry for the kids, and as i mentioned, less chance of getting busted by the "other" kids. I still think that age groups would be good.... unless we have some kids who will not do well separated from their siblings...

hey guys... i just thought of something... if we are going to do our own photo shoot we can decide when and where to do it before we go and I can put the place and time on the cards directly...

thoughts?

Who let this chick in here? She is such a pain!

Photoshoot - I think we should do our own thing and get a cast member to press the button!

This sounds good to me!

Okay - so here's what my rambling leads to...

Photo op would happen Monday, October 27th at 8:00 pm in the Atrium. We would all be in our formal attire - I'm guessing most of us clean up nice

THOUGHTS PLEASE!!!!!

The other choice would be to gather somewhere on Castaway Cay, which I think would be more complicated, either Halloween or Pirate night, or if we didn't want to bother with trying to fit it in between meal times, maybe after breakfast on Grand Cayman day when we're waiting to tender - but again, that could get complicated since the meeting times for some of the tours are way before we even get there!

(Scarey part is.. I often babble on like this face to face too !!)

Okay dis buddies - for those who are still with me what do you think??

Valerie

Val, I babble too... sometimes my fingers type things I haven't even thought of yet...

The 8pm Monday thing sounds good, but I have Palo that night...

CC or GC day are just begging to be complicated...

what about a photo at the Dis meet on the first day too
Photo op would happen Monday, October 27th at 8:00 pm in the Atrium. We would all be in our formal attire - I'm guessing most of us clean up nice
I think it could be quite busy in the Atrium at this time with everyone getting photos with the Charters
Posted a question on the main cruise board to see where other cruiser took there group photo

I agree... the Atrium would be a mess... any other locations... maybe up on deck.

Good evening everyone,

Well it has been a busy weekend, sorry I did not get to chat until late last night, but was able to have a nice conversation with Jenn.

Nice conversation with JENN?!?!?!?

 

[suziemva]

Sat down to think of clues for ToT'ing today. I originally thought 5 max but after doing it, came up with a total of 8 with the 8th place being the candy spot. I tried to get something on most decks and decided the final spot to be very MAGICAL (at least to me it is!!)

I just have to do up the clue cards now. I think the trick is to have the groups doing themnot in the same order (ie following each other around) so will probably label envelopes with the clues in them with each groups "logo" for the clue givers.

60 kids, 10 of them little ones. I would probably keep the family groups together. This alleviates wee ones not wanting to be without big sis/bro or unwilling to go with a bunch of strangers. I think the smart idea would be to keep the parent volunteer with their children also in case of any issues that might come up.

8 groups of eight? I know that's 64 but we can fudge a few per group. I think this is easier than 10 per group and to keep track of. It also only uses 16 volunteers for the groups wrangler's. Are all the volunteers willing to help out on that day, also? Didn't think of that until I was typing this!!!

We're starting at 2 pm right? It shouldn't take more than an hour total, I would think. Probably less. Does 8 total clue stops sound too much? I'm thinking of attention span time and walking for the smaller/tired ones. Don't want any meltdowns of kids or parents! LOL!

We'll have to have drop offs for items on Saturday and Sunday since we will need to start the bags Sunday or Monday morning. It should only take about an hour to do the bags. BUT we have to have the stuff in order to do them!! So, who and when and where would these be? Tara I know you said you would be a drop off point. I would too. We just need to figure times and let everyone know. Another time and place would be good too. Can never have too many!! Then we need to figure out when to do the bags and who would be willing to help out. I think Sunday night would be a better time than Monday morning since we'd only have til 2 to do them. Then letting the volunteers know where they will be needed and when to be there.

 

[jns]

Suzie I Have PM'd you

I think groups of 8 sound good

8 stations would work if the are not too far from each other

sorry can't help Sunday nightas we have Palos booked
any other time will be OK

 

[jns]

you have to go to www.halloweenonthehighseas.net

heres the link for tonights chat
we are chatting now

 

[michellebriana]

I will help stuff bags on Sunday night...especially since I will have the bags!

Michelle

 

[TotallyAngelic]

We are now in the 30s! 39 days to go until our vacation starts!!

On second thoughts that should be


Suzie - I will hopefully be able to help out with the bag stuffing on the Sunday evening - what time do you anticipate ( we are second sitting for dinner).

The halloween items are just starting to appear in our shops now and I am off to have a look arounds for TOT goodies later this morning! It's getting very exciting!

 

[jns]

We are now in the 30s! 39 days to go until our vacation starts!!

On second thoughts that should be

I know where did the year go
my count down is at 36 days and 14 hours 1 min and 47 seconds , think I set it for when we are leaving the house

so much to do
No treats got yet
No FE gifts got yet
No T shirts got or made yet
No door signs designed yet
sorry I'm stopping writing this list to Think I'll need a holiday before this one even starts

 

[TotallyAngelic]

I know where did the year go
my count down is at 36 days and 14 hours 1 min and 47 seconds , think I set it for when we are leaving the house

so much to do
No treats got yet
No FE gifts got yet
No T shirts got or made yet
No door signs designed yet
sorry I'm stopping writing this list to Think I'll need a holiday before this one even starts

I know exactly how you feel Jackie:

I am in the same situation:

No treats yet
No FE gifts yet - (although I have ordered one item)
No T shirts yet
No door signs yet
Only 2/6 Halloween costumes ready
Only 1/6 Pirate costumes ready
No semi-formal dresses
No tuxedos for DSs (although one ordered)
and a million and one other general holiday clothing and other things to buy!

It's when you see it down in black and white - thats why I keep hiding my "to do" list.

I am now off out to see what I can find in Home Bargains and then after lunch I am hitting the fabric warehouse!

 

[jns]

Up date on T&T

We have decided to group the kids into 8 groups with 8 clue stations and one station to give out the treat bags
so we need at least 2 volunteers for each group and 2 volunteers for each clue station and 4-5 for the final treat station

plus we need some volunteers to help fill the bags and a place drop off treats
day and time to be decided

so please add your name as a volunteer then cut and paste to a new post, Thanks

 

[jns]

Please add your name as a volunteer then cut and paste to a new post, Thanks

Group leaders
Group 1:
1.
2.


Group 2:
1.
2.

Group 3:
1.
2.

Group 4:
1.
2.

Group 5:
1.
2.

Group 6:
1.
2.

Group 7:
1.
2.

Group 8:
1.
2.

Clue Station 1:
1.
2.

Clue Station 2:
1.
2.

Clue Station 3:
1.
2.

Clue Station 4:
1.
2.

Clue Station 5:
1.
2.

Clue Station 6:
1.
2.

Clue Station 7:
1.
2.

Clue Station 8:
1.
2.

Treat Station :
1. Jackie (jns)
2.
3.
4.
5.

Bag Fillers :


Drop off places :

Photography :
1.Laurel (Laurelk)

 

[suziemva]

Group leaders
Group 1:
1. Jackie (jns)
2.
3.
4.

Group 2:
1. Ed (suziemva)
2.

Group 3:
1.
2.

Group 4:
1.
2.

Group 5:
1.
2.

Group 6:
1.
2.

Group 7:
1.
2.

Group 8:
1.
2.

Clue Station 1:
1. Isa (suziemva)
2. Abby (suziemva) (we're adaptable too!!)

Clue Station 2:
1.
2.

Clue Station 3:
1.
2.

Clue Station 4:
1.
2.

Clue Station 5:
1.
2.

Clue Station 6:
1.
2.

Clue Station 7:
1.
2.

Clue Station 8:
1.
2.

Treat Station :
1. Suzie (suziemva)
2.
3.
4.
5.

Bag Fillers :
Suziemva group (4)




Drop off places :
Suzie's cabin 6130 (date and time TBD)



Photography :
1.Laurel (Laurelk)

 

[suziemva]

Looks great, Jackie! Awesome job!

 

[summer gal]

Group leaders
Group 1:
1. Jackie (jns)
2.
3.
4.

Group 2:
1. Ed (suziemva)
2.

Group 3:
1. Andrea (summer gal)
2.

Group 4:
1.
2.

Group 5:
1.
2.

Group 6:
1.
2.

Group 7:
1.
2.

Group 8:
1.
2.

Clue Station 1:
1. Isa (suziemva)
2. Abby (suziemva) (we're adaptable too!!)

Clue Station 2:
1.
2.

Clue Station 3:
1.
2.

Clue Station 4:
1.
2.

Clue Station 5:
1.
2.

Clue Station 6:
1.
2.

Clue Station 7:
1.
2.

Clue Station 8:
1.
2.

Treat Station :
1. Suzie (suziemva)
2.
3.
4.
5.

Bag Fillers :
Suziemva group (4)




Drop off places :
Suzie's cabin 6130 (date and time TBD)



Photography :
1.Laurel (Laurelk)
__________________


If it's not too much of a pain I would like to have both of my kids in the my group for TOT. I hope that's not a problem! Thanks, Andrea. I've been wanting to drop in for a chat, but since I've been back to school I've been going to bed so early. Maybe after I get back into my routine I'll be able to stay up past 9:30!