/Cruising on a Dream Full of Frights and Friends: 10/12/13-10/19/13 TR completed 4/21/2014 About This Page:

[Linnynad]

HAHAHAHAHA............LOSER, blame it on the wave phones
I do have to totally agree with you though as we could NEVER figure those suckers out........and I mean never..........and with just us it was never anything too important.
The pics of the kids are priceless!!! Way too cute they are.
Now that you talk about the TV stations.........I remember saying all I kept seeing was news channels.....or sports.........great fun right there

[pamcarey]

Hope makes an adorable Tinkerbell!!


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[lfredsbo]

Hope makes an adorable Tink!!!
Bummer about the phones!
I really like how the CM's seem to handle situations with the kids when it's time for the parents to pick them up and children don't want to leave - sounds like they have the patience of a saint and really know how to make it easier for the kiddos!

[OhToodles!]

I felt so bad when we decided to put our costumes on anyway. And we did try to tell you, but those wave phones are so stupid!
We'll know for next time. And I plan to go all out for pirate night next time too - I'm getting us all pirate costumes after Halloween this year.
Those kids love to dance!

[KMB733]

Hope is so cute as Tinkerbell!! Kelly's family looks great in their costumes. Sorry that the party was so unorganized.

[Principessa_di_Fata]

Man I'm FINALLY getting caught up on TR's! I'm so glad I'm caught up on this one! It sounds like great fun so far, and I'm amazed at the Oceaneers Club! Just WOW! I also love your huge porthole in your room!

[shazza]

Great photos from the party. Hope (and the boys) looked really cute. She makes a perfect Tinkerbell.

[stardust190]

I still think I would enjoy Halloween on the ship even if Disney could have done more with it. Actually I love Halloween so even a little celebration makes me happy. I love the pictures of the kids dancing. Keep them around so you can put them in the wedding slideshow.

[mommapants]

that is the cutest Tink I think I've ever seen.

Another great update - stupid wave phones!

[honeybee723]

Originally Posted by chezp

Kelly and her family looked amazing in their costumes, as did Hope. So sorry you didn't get the message about the costumes.

I was upset too. It would have been great to have all of us in the picture.

Originally Posted by MayraLR

Love, love, love the costumes of Kelly & family and Hope's! The kids look like they enjoyed the party.

They did a great job on their costumes, didn't they? Too bad we didn't.

Originally Posted by xwewhisper

Glad the party was fun for the kids! Tinkerbell looked great Were there adult-focused Halloween activities as well? Seems like that was really just for little ones!

There were adult activities, but they were held after 10:30pm. We never ended up checking it out.

Originally Posted by disneydreamer33

Sorry you guys had a miss communication and didn't dress up! You all would have looked so great!

I was so disappointed, but there's always next time.

Originally Posted by lauriep

What adorable photos! Love the ones of the kids dancing as well as the one of Kelly's family plus one! Too bad the party wasn't more..... just MORE. A missed opportunity there, for sure. I'm surprised that the stateroom TVs on the Dream don't have the same movie and tv choices as the older ships.

I like their plus one too. And I wish the tv selection was a bit better as well. Not that we were in our stateroom a lot, but when we were, it would have been nice to watch something other than cartoons.

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Hope makes an adorable Tink! She fit in well with that pirate family!

The Dream & Fantasy DO have on demand movies, but they aren't necessarily easy to find. You have to go to some other setting, and then there are hundreds to choose from. If it makes you feel better, our 17 yr old didn't figure that out until day 4 or 5 of our cruise last month (and don't teenagers usually know all there is to know about anything electronic?!)!

Darnit! I wish I would have known that before we went. That would have been so much nicer than watching the same cartoons over and over and over again. :forheadslap:

Originally Posted by Linnynad

HAHAHAHAHA............LOSER, blame it on the wave phones
I do have to totally agree with you though as we could NEVER figure those suckers out........and I mean never..........and with just us it was never anything too important.
The pics of the kids are priceless!!! Way too cute they are.
Now that you talk about the TV stations.........I remember saying all I kept seeing was news channels.....or sports.........great fun right there

Yes, that's me...LOSER. Do they even have instructions anywhere in the stateroom on how to use those phones? I'm sure they do, and we just thought we were too tech-saavy to read them.

Originally Posted by pamcarey

Hope makes an adorable Tinkerbell!!

Thank you. She does doesn't she?

Originally Posted by lfredsbo

Hope makes an adorable Tink!!!
Bummer about the phones!
I really like how the CM's seem to handle situations with the kids when it's time for the parents to pick them up and children don't want to leave - sounds like they have the patience of a saint and really know how to make it easier for the kiddos!

The CMs in the clubs are fantastic. I don't think I'd feel comfortable leaving her with any other cruise line clubs, unless she was a bit older, but on the Disney ships they have this stuff down to a fine art.

Originally Posted by OhToodles!

I felt so bad when we decided to put our costumes on anyway. And we did try to tell you, but those wave phones are so stupid!
We'll know for next time. And I plan to go all out for pirate night next time too - I'm getting us all pirate costumes after Halloween this year.
Those kids love to dance!

You shouldn't have felt bad. You tried to get a hold of us, and I tried to talk Chad into going back and changing, but he wasn't having any of that. Next time we're definitely dressing up with you guys, no matter how lame the party is. And I'm in for Pirate night as well. I think that would be a lot of fun. I like Pirate night better than the Halloween night anyway.

Originally Posted by KMB733

Hope is so cute as Tinkerbell!! Kelly's family looks great in their costumes. Sorry that the party was so unorganized.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata

Man I'm FINALLY getting caught up on TR's! I'm so glad I'm caught up on this one! It sounds like great fun so far, and I'm amazed at the Oceaneers Club! Just WOW! I also love your huge porthole in your room!

Hi Marni! So happy to see you here! I have a ton of TRs to get caught up on too, but I'm falling so behind on everything. I feel like a horrible PPer right now. Anyway, the clubs were AMAZING, and I absolutely loved our room. As much as I would have enjoyed a balcony, I was so pleased we stayed in this category.

Originally Posted by shazza

Great photos from the party. Hope (and the boys) looked really cute. She makes a perfect Tinkerbell.

Thanks so much.

Originally Posted by stardust190

I still think I would enjoy Halloween on the ship even if Disney could have done more with it. Actually I love Halloween so even a little celebration makes me happy. I love the pictures of the kids dancing. Keep them around so you can put them in the wedding slideshow.

So what are you trying to imply with that wedding word? I will say that Dylan and Hope were so cute together. By the end of the trip they were even walking around holding hands.

Originally Posted by mommapants

that is the cutest Tink I think I've ever seen.

Another great update - stupid wave phones!

Awww...thanks!

[PrincessSharon]

Sorry the party was kind of lame. But Hope looked adorable (and so did Kelly and family). If it were me, I would've been like "I lugged a costume here, I'm definitely wearing it!"

[OhToodles!]

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

Sorry the party was kind of lame. But Hope looked adorable (and so did Kelly and family). If it were me, I would've been like "I lugged a costume here, I'm definitely wearing it!"

That's pretty much why I decided Mike & I needed to wear them too.

[honeybee723]

Day Three: Monday, October 14th
Part Three: Hope’s First Royal Encounter on the High Seas

The Halloween party in the Oceanneer Club was only 45 minutes long, but we ended up getting her about an hour after we had dropped her off. I’m not really sure what the Halloween party consisted of because sometimes asking Hope what she did is like dealing with someone who has amnesia. “What did you learn in school today sweetie”? “I don’t remember”. According to her, she hasn’t learned anything in school yet.

We had a little over an hour before dinner, and I knew there would be some characters out in the atrium that she would want to see, so we made our way there next. We got in line to meet Princess Tiana because it was getting pretty long by the time we got there. We only ended up waiting about 10 minutes before it was Hope’s turn to meet her. This was her first character meet-n-greet on the cruise, her first time ever using an autograph book and the first princess sighting of the trip, so to say she was excited was an understatement.

Tiana was beautiful, and she was also great with all of the children, spending lots of time with each one of them. When Hope walked up to her they immediately began having a pretty good conversation. I have no clue what it was about, but I’m almost positive Hope did most of the talking because that girl likes to talk…A LOT.





Next up, I wanted to get a nice picture of Chad and I to take the place of an old cruise picture we already had at home. We stood in line for those lifestyle pictures, and even though the photographer ended up taking a few of Hope all by herself, she gave her props to pose with, and I’m just not into the use of props in pictures, so I ended up not buying any of those. She also took a few of all of us together, but again, I wasn’t impressed with them. I did end up buying the picture that I originally had in mind though…one of Chad and I.



We were getting short on time, but we knew Mickey was upstairs all dressed up for Halloween, so that’s where we went next. As soon as I saw the line I knew we weren’t going to make it in time for dinner, but then I heard someone call my name, and guess who it was? One of the only people who actually knew my name on the ship…Kelly! She was standing in line about halfway up in front of us, and she asked if we wanted to wait with her. I didn’t want people to get upset for thinking we were jumping the line, but Kelly and I agreed that it was no biggie because it was just Hope getting her picture taken, not all of us, so please no flaming.

Mickey was dressed up as Dracula…I guess? I mean, he had bat wings and all, so I’m going to say that he was definitely Dracula. Although in this picture you can’t really tell that he’s dressed up at all.



Finally it was time for dinner, and tonight we were going to be enjoying it in The Royal Palace. Once again, we were off to the side of the restaurant, but it felt much more open than The Enchanted Garden did, and the atmosphere of this restaurant was much better too.

Tonight we opted to forgo the adult beverages, although I think Mike may have had something, but I’m not really sure. We placed our orders, and while we were waiting we talked about whether we were going to send the kids to the club or not. It was a unanimous this time. For some reason I think tonight was the night that Dylan and Lukas fell asleep during the Golden Mickey’s, but once again, I could be wrong. I think they just wanted to turn in right after dinner, and I know that we had plans to see one more character before we went back to the stateroom, so that’s why we thought it would be best to keep them with us.

I also forgot to mention one cute little detail about Hope first meeting Kelly and her family. I’m not really sure when she actually started saying it, but I think it was one of the first times she saw Mike. Anyway, I’m sure most of you have seen the Geico commercial with the Camel on Hump Day, and because Chad put the little bug in her ear, every time she saw Mike she would say, “Hey Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike…what day is it? Hump Day”! Pretty soon she had shortened it to just, “Hey Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike”, which is what she ended up calling him throughout the entire trip, and every time we see that commercial we think of him now. We even send him cute little FB messages every now and then so that he is sure to never forget when Hump Day is.

Now back to dinner…Hope was predictable with her dining choice, and ended up ordering the exact same thing she had the night before…Mickey Mac & Cheese. Chad and I, on the other hand, made much better choices than we had the night before.

My appetizer (Breaded & Deep Fried Brie)


Chad’s appetizer (Iced Lobster & Jumbo Shrimp)


Both of us skipped the soup/salad, and waited for our main entrée next. My entrée (Oven Baked Salmon Royal)


Chad’s Entrée (Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak)


For dessert, Chad and I ordered the exact same thing…Peanut Butter Mousse.


And Hope chose the Royal Cupcake, which I thought she would love, but they weren’t plain old vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing. I think one was lemon, and the other was some sort of berry, and she ended up no eating much of it.




Thankfully we had a surprise treat in store for us from our waiters…a chocolate spider!




The kids loved it, but the adults were too full from eating everything on their plates, so we let them dig in instead.



Once they had had their fill of the chocolate spider, we headed out, stopping to check out some more of the Halloween decorations they had set up outside of the restaurant.





Then we said our good-byes to Kelly and her family, telling them where we’d be tomorrow so that they could find us and hang out.

We saw Pluto starting to greet guests, but before we could go get in line, Hope wanted to have her picture taken in the “princess” chair.



Then we got in line to meet Pluto. While we were standing there, I realized that I had gone back to our stateroom before dinner so that I could get rid of Hope’s autograph book. Hope gave me that look of “Please don’t let me meet Pluto without my autograph book”, so I sprinted back to our room, and yes, I really did sprint back to our room, making it back with about 10 minutes to spare. Why did I think the line was going to move at a super rate of speed? We were already on that side of the ship anyway, so I really didn’t need to speed the way I did, but I look at it like I worked some of my dinner off.

Chad told me that while I was busy getting Hope’s book, a CM had mentioned to him that Stitch would be coming down from outer space tomorrow to talk to the kids in the Oceaneer Lab, and Hope seemed pretty excited about it. So I made a mental note to remember to take her to see Stitch if she still wanted too.

Soon it was Hope’s turn to meet Pluto, and we had just made it too, because the family behind us was where the line stopped. Phew! Pluto was dressed up as a candy corn, and because I wasn’t quick enough to get a good shot, I was happy to use the ship’s photographer.




Then it was back to our stateroom, where we were greeted by this little fellow…



And then it was off to sleep in those heavenly beds again. Aaaahh…what a great vacation this has been so far.

Up Next: Conquering the Aqua Duck…yay or nay?

[honeybee723]

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

Sorry the party was kind of lame. But Hope looked adorable (and so did Kelly and family). If it were me, I would've been like "I lugged a costume here, I'm definitely wearing it!"

Maybe I should have used that line on Chad. Then things may have been different.

[KMB733]

Great pictures of Hope with the characters. Dinner looked delicious, especially that chocolate spider!! That is a really nice picture of you and Chad!