Pumpkins, Pirates & Poppins-A Magical Halloween Cruise W/PICS-COMPLETE!!!!!

[dizzi]

Melanie.thanks for the Moonpies..............
For years i have gotten up in the middle of the night for a snack and your moon pies came in VERY HANDY!!!!!!!!!

 

[ALawley]

okay well the coincidences and fun connections just keep on happening....tim & i won a donald 'ducky' williams drawing of DONALD DUCK, toooooo! How cool & weird is that. The cast apparently talked him into a second session, he didn't do his animation class, he just shared his inspiring and amazing journey with the guests and all the while he was drawing and drawing away, he did 27 characters and we won his donald duck character! We took it today to be framed and mounted! Our friends and your other next door neighbors, marvin and sylvia won a cinderella, as well, it is certainly our fav. souvenir from our cruise......we met for dinner this week to share photos and whine that we are not cruisin' still and i shared your trip report with everyone!

keep it comin!
audie

 

[Disneygrl36]

Loving your report Great photos ,
It was wonderful meeting you and thanks for the braclets and the goodie bag

was up on the upperdeck shouting for you at the halloween dress party
think I've some photos have'nt looked at them yet will post when you get to that part of your report

can't rember seeing your door when myself and DS we giving out our stuff hope we didn't miss you lost the list of everyones room numbers and just went round all the decks looking for them
theres alot of rooms


looking forward to hearing more soon

Jackie.....I remember seeing you guys watching from an upper deck. I would love to see your photos if you have any. That was such a fun night.
We did get a little ball that says Ireland on it & I don't think that could have been from anyone else, so I think you probably found us. Those are some long hallways aren't they?????????

I'm finally all caught up! I love your door decorations! And how cool about winning the drawing!!!

Glad to have you here Cyrstal. I was so psyched to have a Ducky. We will go exchange our frame tomorrow & I will post a picture of my Ducky hanging in my home.

I've got to tell you... I was watching Ducky drawing in the video and said to myself "Boy, I would LOVE that one behind him of Lady and The Tramp!!!" Then it hit me that that was the wall........ Silly me!!!

LOL That is sooooo funny. I would love to have some of those as well, but I think they are attached to the wall of Animator's Palate---which I wouldn't mind having a room in my home that looked exactly like that. Wouldn't that be cool?

I dropped a feeler last night, i said to DW, would that be awesome if we could get your parents to go on a cruise with us, after i saw a commercial for one.

she said "yeah" but not much else, she does not think i am serious, or that her parents would go for it right now. I think it is perfect all there kids are now out of the house, good excuse for them to spend a week with the baby, they live 2 hours away, and there other daughter goes to school in florida, so she could come too...i think it is a win win for everyone.

I knew you thought of me, do they offer those classes on all the cruises, or just a special one that you went on?

So you thought of me, does that mean that you are going to mail me the picture.

You are good Dan.......but not that good. I am keeping my Ducky. They don't have the animation classes all the time, just when he cruises I think. I know they probably do animation classes with the kids in the clubs no matter what, but I don't think the adults always get to get in on the fun.

Melanie.thanks for the Moonpies..............
For years i have gotten up in the middle of the night for a snack and your moon pies came in VERY HANDY!!!!!!!!!

Lynn, I am soooooo glad my moon pies could come help you in your late night snacking needs.

okay well the coincidences and fun connections just keep on happening....tim & i won a donald 'ducky' williams drawing of DONALD DUCK, toooooo! How cool & weird is that. The cast apparently talked him into a second session, he didn't do his animation class, he just shared his inspiring and amazing journey with the guests and all the while he was drawing and drawing away, he did 27 characters and we won his donald duck character! We took it today to be framed and mounted! Our friends and your other next door neighbors, marvin and sylvia won a cinderella, as well, it is certainly our fav. souvenir from our cruise......we met for dinner this week to share photos and whine that we are not cruisin' still and i shared your trip report with everyone!

keep it comin!
audie

Audie.......that is amazing. I know you were probably as excited as I was. I still can't get over you finding my trippie & reading along. That is just really cool. I miss the MAGIC & all my new friends.

 

[Disneygrl36]

We last left off with us back in the room after our fun with Ducky & a quick lunch. We rested in the room for awhile but it wasn't long before it was time for me to get ready for my 3pm Scrapbook swap with the other DIS ladies.
We had found out that quite a few of us were scrapbookers. We thought it would be fun for us to each bring along 20$ worth of supplies & do a swap for goodies that we might not normally be able to find in our own areas. I had alot of fun coming up with my goody bag & checking out websites to find unique things. The plan was for us to meet in Diversions at 3pm & to have a martini & talk & swap. Well, I got there & didn't see anyone I recognized. I went in & it was mostly guys watching football.....it was Sunday after all. So I waited around outside & Dizzi aka Lynn showed up & we chatted whilst waiting for the others. Dreamcruiser 100's aka Pam's husband Bert showed up with her bag as she was sick from our rocky seas & in her room. I promised to bring some ginger chews to her room later & we told him to tell her she would be missed. A few more people showed up & we decided to go to the Promenade Lounge instead & Lynn waited for a few minutes to catch any stragglers. We were supposed to have a few that were coming just to martini's & join in the chat, but they were MIA. We had a nice group of us though & we enjoyed a drink I( I had a yummy cosmo & a gingerale) & had a nice chat before swapping our supplies & each heading off in our own directions. It was a nice time & I enjoyed meeting more of my DIS cruise buddies.
Here's our picture.........

I got some really cool stuff & can't wait for things to slow down abit & I can spend a weekend scrapbooking my little heart out. This trip was so great that I wonder how many pages I will make????????
I think I was gone for over an hour & DH went to the gym---boy he is dedicated & I wish I had his dedication.
We rested in the room for awhile & hung out on our verandah.

We had 6:30 reservations for Palo for dinner tonight, so we had to get cleaned up & presentable. We decided along time ago to do Palo on formal night because DH didn't really want to do the whole tux thing. So we figured this would be the perfect night to have dinner at the all adult reservation restaurant. So we got gussied up & headed on up to deck 10 for our lovely dinner. It was pretty rocky out there & the floors are beautiful tile so it was a challenge to walk in heels. We were seated at a window view table with a beautiful view. We saw fellow DISer PJPoohbear & her Mom having dinner just a few tables away & said hello again.

Now at Palo, it's all about the food & the service. So there will be lots of food pictures to follow. It really is a wonderful dining experience & they bring you soooooooooo much food & spoil you rotten. Our server was Toni from Spain & he was wonderful....he brought us his favorites in addition to what we ordered & because of that we tried lots of things. He got a special mention on our comment card at the end of our cruise because he was so great.
Here's the appetizer plate they bring with wonderful cheese, italian ham & olives with several dips for the bread as well. It is heavenly.

This ended up being our favorite appetizer & we didn't even order it....Toni just brought it.
Calmari.........yummo

We also had mozerella & tomato (not that flavorful) & the shrimp appetizer which was wonderful.
In between courses they bring you a wonderful sorbet to cleanse your palate.

For our main course......I had the filet which was to die for & DH had the scallops.

This was a side dish extra that Toni brought us.....mushroom risotto which was sooooooooo good. He brought us lobster ravioli too. Wow!!!!!

Can you find the hidden Mickey on my plate?????????

Dessert..........the finale. We were stuffed, but we always have extra room for sweet stuff.
Raspberry gelato........yummo

And the very famous Palo chocolate souffle which if you go you must order.......they poke a hole in it & pour a chocolate & vanilla sauce in it. It is heaven in a ramikin.

Dinner was heavenly. We were stuffed, but oh so happy. We happily gave Toni a nice extra tip & made our way out of this lovely place, but not before a photo.

As we left, I about fell on my face because of the ocean swells. I hadn't even had a glass of wine or a cocktail since the scrapbook swap, it was just that wavy out there. DH kept a firm hold on me. We went down to have our photo made with Helsman Mickey since we were all dressed up. We stopped by Shutters & purchased a photo package & got our embarkation photo & then went up to the room to change back into comfortable clothes.
We watched the Golden Mickey's on our in room TV. This wasn't our favorite show on the Wonder, so we decided not to go see it in person. It was cool to be able to watch it in the comfort of the room.

We went up to deck 9 & 10 after that to walk around abit, but wow it was rough & WINDY. It literally felt like the wind was pushing you so we didn't stay out there long.

We got a soft drink at the beverage station....some sprite because DH was starting to feel a bit green. The plan had been to go to Rockin' Bar D, but we called it an early night after running in to Paula & Kim & chatting for awhile. We did take a run down by Beat Street which was one of our favorite spots during the week before heading on back to the room because Eric just wasn't feeling too great.He took some Bonine that night & the next day & was good to go for the rest of the trip.

I know it is weird to take a picture of a bathroom, but this bathroom on Beat Street is really cool.

This was our goodnight friend.

Up next........more Palo food & a run in with Goofy.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Great installment, Melanie! Your Palo dinner looked wonderful. I heard that they had gotten rid of the filet, but you had it I have got to have that souffle sometime!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

You two looked great all dressed up for Palo. I can't wait to try it. I think I am going to go for the brunch though instead of dinner.

 

[anty30]

Love your report so far. Keep it coming.

 

[jns]

another great report
I really had fun at the scrapbook scrap

 

[Disneygrl36]

Great installment, Melanie! Your Palo dinner looked wonderful. I heard that they had gotten rid of the filet, but you had it I have got to have that souffle sometime!

It was sooooooo delicious & yes you must have the souffle. Toni our server said it's a must do!!!!

You two looked great all dressed up for Palo. I can't wait to try it. I think I am going to go for the brunch though instead of dinner.

Thanks Lessa. It was fun getting dressed up but not too dressed up...this was why we picked formal night for Palo. Go to both...dinner is fabulous.

Love your report so far. Keep it coming.

anty30. Hope you will stick around.

another great report
I really had fun at the scrapbook scrap

I had fun too Jackie. It was great to chat a little & relax. I ended up being glad we had to move to the Promenade lounge as it was a lot more open in there. I think I got your bag---it had Pooh bear on the outside & it had some really cool stuff---thanks!! I think you might have gotten mine too---mine was the yellow large envelope. If so, did you like your goodies?

 

[Disneygrl36]

We slept pretty good since the boat was trying to rock us to sleep.... & we woke up well rested & Eric was feeling better. I had the DIS ladies brunch at 10:30 so he went up to Topsiders & got some cereal for us as I needed just a bite of something to hold me over until brunch. We relaxed in the room & just enjoyed being a bit lazy.

I got ready & Eric rode the elevator up to Palo with me & we saw the DIS ladies waiting to go in. I was quickly informed "NO BOYS allowed" so I gave DH a kiss & sent him on his way. He went to the Cove Cafe for a nice coffee & took it to deck 4 & read while I dined in style with the ladies.
We were escorted to our table back in the private room. PJ had arranged this for us & it was lovely.......thanks PJ We were given the choice of a glass of champagne or a mimosa as we walked by the bar. Mimosa please. Yummmmm!!!!

Here we all are.......toasting our ladies brunch.

We were given the grand tour by Sasha our waiter......who was delightful & then we proceeded to help ourselves to the yummy food. It seems a bit early to me for some of the heavy stuff so I tried to keep my choices light.

Too die for cinnamon roll, Bloody Mary shot with baby shrimp (yum), fresh fruit, stollen bread with cream & berries & some cheese & crackers.
We chatted & tasted & drank our mimosas. It was so nice having brunch with this delightful group of ladies. We had a lovely time together.
Sasha came around & took our orders for something from the kitchen. I chose eggs benedict & it was heavenly--just like I remembered from last year.

Next was dessert.......not sure how we did it, but all managed to try a few things & it was delicious.
The ice carving--we saw a demonstration of this later in the week at the Goofy pool & it was incredible to watch the artist creating these things.

The dessert selections

Kim & Paula enjoying the sweets....

My plate of desserts

And finally Sasha & the lovely Babs

We had a lovely time & it worked out perfectly for me to then be able to do a quick change & make it to Don "Ducky" Williams presentation in the Buena Vista theatre at 1:00pm. I had been really worried that this would be during brunch so I was so relieved when I got the navigator & saw the time. I really wanted to hear him speak. We made our way down to the theatre & grabbed a seat. There were several Disers in attendance that we could see scattered around the theatre. We ended up sitting next to 101DalmFan aka Lennie & her husband. Ducky was drawing as we came in & they were going to raffle off his drawings again.
Here he is with a display of his art work around him.

He told us what he does & how he is basically a one man department at Disney now. He does illustrations for the theme parks & does a lot of work for Disney cruise lines as well. He story is incredible....he has no formal art training. He had loved drawing Disney characters for years for fun while he worked in a bank & someone that knew him sent some samples to Disney & got the ball rolling for him. The moral of his story is that persistence....years of sending his drawings in...finally paid off & he has been there ever since. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! It was neat to see an actual Disney artist & hear his story. His love of Disney just shines through. Every time we saw him on board, he had on a Disney shirt & he was sporting POTC crocs. What a cool man. It was neat to see the excitement of the people that won the drawings & I knew exactly how they felt since I already had my Donald. Lennie & her husband won the last drawing!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!

It was a fascinating presentation & I was so glad that we just lucked out & got to have this experience on our cruise. It really was the cherry on top of the icing on my birthday cake.
After the presentation, we shopped a bit & went to Shutters to look at our Palo picture.
Next up........finally a drink of the day & our encounter with the Goof!!!!

 

[klj27]

Another great report! What was the desert in the taller glass? It looks yum!

 

[DreamCruiser100]

Still Loving your report Melanie!! You have such a nice way of writing everything!! Love seeing what I missed out on , You were so sweet to think of me and give me ginger chews

Can't wait to read some more!! Wish you were going with us again this year we'll miss your sweet smile!!

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

Oh, I miss Palo's! It's the most amazing place in the world!

DH & I were just talking about the chocolate souffle today! We are craving it and it's the main reason to book our next cuise!

 

[Babs417]

I wish I met Ducky I missed that I guess We will have to go again How Often dose he sail?

 

[tksbaskets]

Great installment! We had the pleasure of meeting Ducky Williams on our 10-day Christmas cruise. What memories. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jns]

.I had fun too Jackie. It was great to chat a little & relax. I ended up being glad we had to move to the Promenade lounge as it was a lot more open in there. I think I got your bag---it had Pooh bear on the outside & it had some really cool stuff---thanks!! I think you might have gotten mine too---mine was the yellow large envelope. If so, did you like your goodies?

Yes I got yours Thanks love everything in it ,
I do not know who's you got it wasn't mind
I forgot to pack the one I was going to take to swap so I just bought the Disney cruise stuff on board
Only for you I would not have gone to the Don "Ducky" Williams presentation , I really enjoyed his talk , but wasn't luckly enough to win ,

 

[Disneygrl36]

Another great report! What was the desert in the taller glass? It looks yum!

That was a trifle of some sort & it was yummy.

Still Loving your report Melanie!! You have such a nice way of writing everything!! Love seeing what I missed out on , You were so sweet to think of me and give me ginger chews

Can't wait to read some more!! Wish you were going with us again this year we'll miss your sweet smile!!

Pam, I hated that you had to miss our swap & felt so bad. I am glad you felt better later in the cruise.
I would love to cruise with you guys again.

Oh, I miss Palo's! It's the most amazing place in the world!

DH & I were just talking about the chocolate souffle today! We are craving it and it's the main reason to book our next cuise!

Yes Palo is incredible. They really spoil you in there & the food is top notch.

I wish I met Ducky I missed that I guess We will have to go again How Often dose he sail?

I am not sure how often he sails Babs. Wish you had met him as well. He is incredible.

Great installment! We had the pleasure of meeting Ducky Williams on our 10-day Christmas cruise. What memories. Thanks for sharing.

tksbaskets. Ducky is such a nice & gracious man. We saw him all over the ship & I finally got my nerve up to speak to him. More coming up on that later.

Yes I got yours Thanks love everything in it ,
I do not know who's you got it wasn't mind
I forgot to pack the one I was going to take to swap so I just bought the Disney cruise stuff on board
Only for you I would not have gone to the Don "Ducky" Williams presentation , I really enjoyed his talk , but wasn't luckly enough to win ,

Glad you liked you stuff Jackie. I am also glad that you went to the Ducky presentation.....it really was not to be missed.

 

[Disneygrl36]

So we went & did a bit of shopping/browsing.
Look who we saw while walking about...the Goof.

This is what I love about Disney cruises......is unexpectedly coming upon the characters.
I tried on a funny Halloween hat in Mickey's Mates.

Enough shopping, we headed up to deck 9. The mission was to have a drink of the day. The DIS kid trick or treat was going on about this time. We saw Paula sitting at the gazebo at the Goofy pool waiting to hand out the clues. We decided we would sit with her & chat awhile to keep her company. AND we finally got a drink of the day which was a Rusty Anchor.
Cheers to you........

We also saw the big cheese over across the pool & promptly went over to have our picture taken with him.

The kids started showing up & it was fun watching them be all excited about their scavenger hunt. We sat awhile & then went down to Deck 3 to see them get their final reward......they had huge treat bags & I think they were stuffed to the brim. We quickly moved on as there was lots of excited kids around & we decided Deck 4 would be a better place for us to be. We went for a turn around the deck & then sat in those heavenly chairs & finished up our Rusty Anchors. It was a BIG drink & before long I was feeling it a bit & decided we needed to rest up abit before the show...so we headed back to the rooom for a little nap.
This was the night for Twice Charmed which I was super excited to see...our first stage show this time since we had skipped the Welcome Aboard show & watched the Golden Mickey's on TV.
Here is our great cruise director Brent doing his intro.....

Twice Charmed was a beautiful show & a nice twist to the Cinderella story. I knew true love would triumph in the end & Cindy & her prince would still live happily ever after no matter what the evil stepmother & Franco cooked up.
Here are a few pictures.......taken without the flash.

The costumes & music were superb. I meant to buy the CD but somehow forgot. Oh well reason #4 to go back right?
I love how they even had Lucifer.

Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother, Gus & Jaq

A farewell song.

A beautiful show & it lived up to all my expectations.
We had some time before dinner so we went to Sessions & listened to the piano player. It is such a cozy romantic atmosphere in there.

We each had a martini. I had a Moneypenny which was a peach flavored concoction & Eric had an Ivory Key. Both were yummy & our waitress brought us a platter of cheese & grapes. We love cheese & this was nice as we were a bit hungry for dinner.
Dinner tonight was at Parrot Cay. We had a nice time chatting with our fellow table mates & discussed our plans for St Marteen.
Here is the crab dip appetizer

Mary & Ellis.....Ellis showing off his pretty appetizer. He got a kick out of my photographing my food & if he had something that looked pretty he would ask me if I wanted a photo.

My yummy island chicken with sweet potato mash

I liked the menu choices here & the colorful decor makes it very festive.
After dinner, we went for a walk around on Deck 4 & this was where we had our best character interaction of all week............Goofy was walking up the steps & he fell/tripped on his big old shoes & he rolled down the steps & ended up with his feet up in the air. He was ok, but it was hilarious. & he hammed it up good. I wish I had the camera out & had been able to capture it on video. As we were laughing at Goofy, who by this point was walking on up the stairs, I ended up with a hook wrapped around me & there was Captain Hook. He scared me to death. Here we are after I calmed down a bit.

It was great fun!!!!!!!! Reason #5 to go back, more fun with Disney characters. I love that they have as much fun with the adults as they do with the kids.
We wanted to go watch Alfred & Seymour the 2 comedians in Rockin Bar D but the place was packed. We had heard how funny they were & didn't want to miss it. Luckily they were broadcasting the show onto the screen in Diversions, so we went in there & watched it. These 2 guys are hilarious. We had a drink & laughed alot. After they were finished, we went over to Rockin' Bar D for the Spring Break Bash.

We did quite a bit of dancing & really enjoyed ourselves. After the sping break party, we hung out & watched the Elite showband sing a few songs before deciding it was bed time.
Here was our nightime friend.......

Up next..........Under 2 Flags & there be pirates aboard.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Your tablemate sounds hilarious wanting you to take pictures of his food.

The Captain Hook story is great, one of the many reasons I love Disney.

 

[taramarie]

Can't wait to hear the rest! Keep it coming

Tara