For those soon-to-be-cruisers asking about the Halloween on the High Seas festivities on the Disney Dream, here's my review of what we experienced on the Sept 22/13 voyage. I've tried to post to Cruise Critic, but it's being tempremental right now - this is a piece of my overall review.
Halloween on the High Seas:
Knowing that this sailing was the first of the Halloween on the High Seas cruises, we wanted to include a couple of notes on the special events included on the Disney Dream for this sailing (and all those occurring until October 31).
First, the Pumpkin Tree series of stories: With spooky lighting &lots of amazing audio effects (hearing the headless horseman gallop around the deck above you!) "The Caretaker" introduced the passengers to The Pumpkin Tree, displayed in the atrium. We were told much of the history of modern Halloween traditions, and guests were invited to give the Caretaker a paper pumpkin seed with their name on it, which would be "planted" overnight. Guests were invited to return to the Atrium the next day to see the result. Anyone visiting the lobby from the next day on would see that the tree hadgrown jack-o-lanterns on its branches. During the final event in the Pumpkin Tree story in the Atrium, hosted again by The Caretaker, we enjoyed an interactive reciting of a Halloween poem, special effects and the pumpkins on the tree lighting up in time to the music from the Nightmare Before Christmas. The storytelling and mood created by the Pumpkin Tree series of events were a great representation of Halloween on the High Seas, and would be great additions to other ships in the fleet.
We had packed our Halloween costumes in anticipation of one of the other Halloween on the High Seas events, Mikey's Mouse-querade Party. With Disney characters dressed in their Halloween finery, passengers out in their costumes & the opportunity to trick-or-treat at staffed stations around the Atrium, our daughter had a blast. Our only criticism would be that there wasn't enough communication re: what to do at the event other than "come to the Atrium", so there was some confusion about where to trick or treat. Clearer instructions would be a good addition for the future.
We were disappointed that by the third full day of our cruise we hadn't been able to fit the Sing & Scream Along with the Nightmare Before Christmas in to our schedule yet- the earlier occurrences were either far too late for our daughter, or were when we were off the ship on an excursion. We were looking forward to being able to see it on our "free day" at sea, and it wasn't scheduled that day at all. As a big Nightmare Before Christmas fan, I was soooooo disappointed. Now we're just hoping that someone from Disney reads our review & decides to bring something similar to theatres around Halloween, or at least schedules it during the sea day for other passengers!
Hope that helps - feel free to throw questions my way and I'll answer if I can!