Boo to the Halloween on the Highs Seas Crew Oct. 2016, Fantasy Trip Report

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Main Street still had a ton of people on it.

 

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We made the rounds trying to get pictures of each of the pumpkin people.

 

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People were still in line to take pictures here. I couldn’t believe how many people were still here.

 

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Bye Bye Magic Kingdom!

 

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We stopped back in the locker area to retrieve our bag.This is one thing I hate about the lockers….they are up front. So as the evening cooled off a bit our jackets were up front in the locker and we were too lazy to go back up and get them.

We turned our key in and exchange for the deposit back we bought a couple of pops as we were dying of thirst.

 

 

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A few last pictures.

 

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We headed back to the bus stop and I don’t think we waited too long for a bus if memory serves me right. Claire fell asleep on the way back but got up and walked back to the room with no issues…..Thank God, because she is too big to be carried now!

 

We got ready for bed and went to sleep for the last time at Coronado Springs.

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Oct. 22, 2017, Saturday, Day 4

 

As usual, my internal vacation alarm clock went off early. I got up and showered and went for a walk.

I hadn’t gotten any really good front pictures, so I went out that way to take a few.

 

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And then I just roamed around.

 

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There were a lot of joggers out and I was trying to stay clear of them. I kind of went off to the side where I was going to take a few minutes to call Skip and I noticed this jogger coming right at me. Seriously?Even when I got off to the side, they still want to come at me? Then I realize it’s cousin Katie! LOL

She stopped and said hi. We had not seen each other yet since they had arrived. Her family and Aunt Mary and Geoff had gone to the Mayan Grill last night and she told me it was really good. We chatted a bit and then she went on her way and I went on mine.

 

We had gotten a letter last night telling us when to have our bags ready for the cruise line to take, so I went back and got those ready to go. We let Claire sleep as long as possible, but cousin Abby was up and hanging with mom, so Claire eventually got up too.

 

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I went off again for a bit and took some pictures of the parking lot area which I hadn’t really done before.

 

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This is the road the bus takes around the resort.

 

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A little more roaming and picture taking.

 

 

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I had a box of maps and some other small things I needed to send home to myself so I got that ready and took it up to be sent off. I had brought my box and prepaid the shipping label at home and it really is nice to get those sent off and not to have to worry about lugging them home in my suitcase.

 

I then headed back to the room and got Claire and we went and got some breakfast. I think today I got the chocolate muffin but I didn’t take a picture, so maybe not? LOL. The family was all trickling in and getting food as well. We had a couple of tables near each other,kind of by accident and as some of us finished others would take our places.

 

After we ate, we headed back to the room to finish up whatever it was we needed to do and gathered our carry-on bags.

We decided to move up towards the lobby area now to get ready for our next adventure. We stopped outside and grabbed a table. Soon Gail’s family arrived and planted themselves down too. Then Aunt Mary and Geoff and Katie and her family too.

Everyone was excited and ready to cruise.

 

Alexis took a liking to Violet and vice versa!

 

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We texted Amanda, Laura and Jan to let them know the approximate time we were supposed to leave so that they could coordinate their bus ride from MCO and hopefully arrive close to the same time.

 

After some chatting, we moved inside and it was time to check in with a few CM’s to give our names. We let them know we had a party of 15.

 

We waited around near the fountain and I guess in all the excitement of being ready to get this vacation started, none of us took any pictures.

 

I had been on a cruise group on social media and I knew several people were staying at CSR, but I really didn’t recognize anyone for the most part. I did see a guy who I think was in the group, but there was so much going on that I didn’t go up to him and ask.

 

After everyone was checked in they finally had us line up outside. We had so many people that they had 2 buses for us.

As we got closer and closer, they said they had 2 big parties and asked for us. At first they were going to put us on bus 1, but it was filling up too fast so they directed us to bus 2. It was a little chaotic,mainly because people were trying to cut and putting their bags to be loaded before they were confirmed on a bus.

 

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We were the first to load onto bus 2, which was fine. I think some people felt like bus 2 was a punishment. LOL.

 

We all were seated pretty close to the front.

 

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Woohooo!!!! We are going on a cruise!

 

 

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And soon we were rolling!!! This was my first time using Disney transfers and it was pretty easy. The ONLY bad thing was that we got to the port a little later than I like. I liked to get on the ship as early as possible and using the buses from the resorts just won’t get you there early.

Katie said this was the smoothest transition she has ever done. She normally rents a van or uses a transfer company or a combination of both and she says putting car seats in the van is so stressful. She loved that she didn’t have to mess with those nor did she have to keep track of the luggage as well.

 

Somebody had a late night and needed a little catnap on the way.

 

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We watched the movie thing, but honestly I don’t really remember what it was about. I think they had on cartoons too.

 

As we got closer I knew where to look and finally got our first glimpse of the Fantasy! Straight ahead …..and blurry!

 

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As we approached I took several really bad pictures! Hahaha!

 

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How exciting!!!!!!!

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The Carnival Magic was in port too.

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But she can’t compare to this beauty.

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The way into the port really winds around, so you get super excited seeing your ship from many angles…and my pictures may have been out of order. LOL

 

We parked and then had to wait till we would be allowed off. Several buses had just arrived and they like to keep it orderly.

 

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Amanda had been texting us while we were on the way, and my best guess was they were about 10 minutes ahead of us.

 

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As we sat there waiting for our bus to be given the ok we saw Aunt Laura walk by, then Jan, then Amanda! I quickly texted Amanda to let her know she just walked by our bus, but she wasn’t looking at her phone, so she didn’t see it for several minutes.

 

Finally they let us off the bus and we grabbed our carryons and they told us the line was shorter if we walked around the building and entered from over there.

 

 

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They lied. The line was actually longer, but it still moves fairly fast and soon we were through security and on our way up to the terminal.

 

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And it did not have many people in there.

 

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We got right in line for the Castaway Club members and got checked in. This was my first cruise being a Gold member and I got the gold lanyard for the first time! Claire has 1 more after this one yet to be Gold I believe.

Most of us have cruised with Disney before, but Laura and Jan were the only ones who had no one in their room that was a club member so they had to go through the regular line, however that line was nonexistent as well.

 

Gail’s family getting checked in!!!

 

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And while we waited, we took some terminal pictures.

 

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Time to fling our hair!

 

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Jan was so funny because he was really into seeing all this Mickey Mouse stuff. Like I said before, Jan and Laura are not Disney fans and usually sail lines like Silver Seas and Crystal, but Jan was really having fun with all this theming and he took quite a few pictures. Jan grew up in Poland and has a pretty thick accent, so it’s always funny to hear him say the character names with his thick accent. (and Jan’s name is pronounce Yon).

 

 

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Jan went to have a seat while we waited for everyone.

 

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We seemed to have lost Katie and family….but we spotted them way down there…checking the kids into the club.

 

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I just took more pictures while we waited.

 

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The app is really the best thing ever now a days. It has a texting feature which really makes it nice to keep in contact with each other.

 

 

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Jan taking some pictures.

 

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I took Claire and Alexis outside to look at the ship.

 

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And then it was time to walk through those Mickey ears and swipe in!!!!!

 

We stopped off to get a boarding photo as a group and the photographer said she could not take a picture with that many people. I think she said her max was 12. I told her we had no problem squishing together and we have done it before and she relented.

 

She took like 3 or 4 and in every one of them except one there is someone blinking and not just a little blink, a major full on closed eyes dumb look blink.

 

This is the best of the bunch, but of course this is the only picture where Violets not looking at the camera too.

 

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Time to board that ship!!!!!!

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I took some really bad video as we boarded and I pieced 3 segments together. It flickers a lot, but oh well.

 

It was funny because Aunt Mary walked on with Claire andI and when she gave our name she gave my old last name of Seibert. I haven’t had that last name for over 13 years!!! I quickly corrected her and she gave the right one then and then she felt bad because she knew I had my video going.I told her not to worry about it.

 

 

Welcome to the Fantasy!!!!

 

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The tree was bare today but they filled it with pumpkins later on.

 

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It was so exciting! This was my first time on the Fantasy, now my third Disney ship!

 

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Next stop would be our rooms. We had boarded after 1:30 so our rooms were open now. After we dropped off our carry on’s we would get some lunch in Cabana’s.

Claire and I headed to the back of the ship as that was a bit closer to our room and I was hoping those elevators would be less busy.

 

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Claire posing for my elevator shot!

 

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We had a bigger room this cruise and we really liked the extra space. Now we would be happy even if we were in an inside room, but the extra space was nice!

 

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This time I remembered to take a picture of under the bed to show the space where you can store your luggage.

 

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The murphy bed, which Claire ended up sleeping on half of the time.

 

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A peek at the bathrooms.

 

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We then headed up to Cabana’s where I took absolutely no pictures. There was a lot going on. We found an area to sit and everyone joined us and we all pigged out. I had told everyone about the free 50MB’s of internet and we all kept trying to sign in to get it and also set up the chat feature and it would not let any of us in. That is so odd because this was a late boarding for us and in the past I was able to do it as soon as I boarded. I checked out the facebook group and everyone was having the same issue so I guess it had not been turned on yet.

 

Amanda had talked to some CM’s about her allergies and they pointed out a few items she could have, but it wasn’t a lot and she was worried she wouldn’t have much to eat this cruise. I tried to comfort her and let her know that this turnaround time is busy for the CM’s and I can guarantee that dinner would be much better.

 

As we got done eating it finally came on and we all setup our free internet and connected with the chat and programmed each other in our phones.

 

Like I said before, this was the first time I have used the DCL transportation and I knew going in that when you take it from a resort you arrive later. The ride was stress free, as was check in at the port, but honestly I didn’t like arriving so late. Usually after I eat I have time to really check out the ship. I did have a bit of time, but it went fast. I lost a couple of hours and I didn’t like that.

 

Lunch was over and I think we went back to the room to unpack a bit. I have some random pictures, so I think I must’ve walked around a bit too.

 

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Cabana’s was closed and it was almost time for the Muster Drill.

 

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Claire and I headed off to our station and we were lined up tallest to shortest according to family and we had to invade each other’s personal space. We took a selfie as we waited. Claire was giving one of her “looks”.

 

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It was a little cooler today than it had been the previous few days but it was still really nice.

After the drill we made our way to the sail away party. We got a drink beforehand and I noticed they had the Halloween cups. Sadly they were still the small sized ones. I knew that the Magic had these cups but they were the bigger size and I was hoping we would have them too.

 

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The sail away party was actually kind of calm. I was surprised how much room there was.

 

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We spotted Gail and the kids across the pool and I waved at them and I swore she saw me but she turned and walked away. I later found out she did see me but Abby was impatiently asking to swim and Gail just wanted to hurry up and get her swim suit on so that she would stop complaining.

 

We watched the party a bit and then watched us sail away.

 

 

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I wanted to get to the back of the ship and I realized it wasn’t possible from where we were, but I took pictures along the way.

 

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We found a spot on the railing and watched the world go by…our cruise was officially starting now!

 

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Claire went and got her swimming suit on and joined the girls to swim a bit. I just chilled out.

 

After the fun swimming it was time for the show.

The Show was called Fantasy Come true and I believe it was kind of a preview show of what would be coming this week. I didn’t take notes or pictures so I could be wrong.

 

Claire loves popcorn and I will admit I do to. As we were entering the theatre we noticed a popcorn bucket. I want to say it was around $8-10, but again I could be way off. We decided to get it. It could be refilled for 1.50 and I knew we would take advantage of it each night.

We settled into our seats with Mom and Amanda and started munching on the popcorn when we saw a Vampire Mickey go by. Wait! That’s the same one they had at the parks! We waved the waiter down and I ordered one of them and mom ordered one for Abby. Again these could be refilled for$1.50. I am glad I got it on the ship! We would put this guy to good use.

 

We enjoyed the show. Amanda is like me and really likes to take in the shows. Gail likes them but I don’t think her family is into them as much so she only came to about half of them. Geoff typically would join us too but he often was running late and would end up in a seat near us.

 

I’ll address seat saving now. It’s a no no on the ships. Now I don’t mind(and Disney probably doesn’t either) if you save 2 or 3 seats if part of your party is running late or going to the bathroom or getting snacks. That to me is fine. But those who save 10-15-20 seats! UGH! That’s not right. And those are the families that either don’t show up or come really late.

Amanda is a seat saver. I had to tell her a couple of times to only save 2 or 3. She typically would arrive before everyone else or with Claire and I, or Mom. I told her as more arrive then you can add 2 more seats if they are available, but if the family is running late, we can’t save them. After a couple of times of reminding her she no longer tried. Yes, it was nice to sit altogether, but we have some family members who are notoriously late and I don’t want to have them disrupt the show trying to find us and not allowing those who came on time to not have a good seat.

 

While in the show I got a message from Aunt Laura and I took a peek. EEK!!!!!! She said that Dad had called Jan’s phone and was devastated because he missed Mom’s phone call and he needed her to call immediately.

I didn’t tell Mom till after the show. I didn’t want her upset or worried. She headed off to Jan and Laura’s room after the show to find out more. Jan let her use his phone to call Dad. He was practically in tears because he missed her call.

She on the other hand was livid. She had given him all the phone numbers for emergency reasons only and we were only a couple of hours out to sea and he was already calling. He had called every number but Jan was the only one who had his phone on, which was for work reasons. She had told him we would have to have our phones off at sea, yet he still tried. She ended up having to call him every other day from Jan’s phone because he was such a mess. We sure hope he has learned his lesson about saying no.

 

After the show we browsed the stores and then we hit the bathroom. I love the bathrooms on the ships and I take pictures!

 

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There was a Pumpkin Tree event, with stories and stuff and we walked by, but it was crowded.

 

 

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I captured the light fixture. I still think the Dream’s is my favorite though.

 

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Because the midship was crowded we made our way to the aft elevators to head to our room.

 

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Making our way through the bars of Europa.

 

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We had a towel animal and chocolates set out already.They changed the chocolates! They are now Ghirardelli.

 

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We got all prettied up and headed down to Enchanted Garden. It’s kind of funny as every time I have been on the Dream this was my first restaurant of the rotation and it was again the first one on the Fantasy.

 

Most of the family was there and Abby was dressed up in acute super girl dress. She loves dresses and costumes.

 

 

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And the light fixture.

 

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Soon they started letting people in and we were seated. Because we had such a large group, we knew that we would probably have 2 or 3 tables. When we arrived there were 3 separate tables but all next to each other for the most part. Our servers came over and when they found out we were one big happy family they moved 2 tables together and the 3rd one wasn’t able to be moved, so Gail and her family sat there. Every night after that they did their best to keep us all at 1 big table and Jan and Laura often ate at Palo so they weren’t with us most nights.

 

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Ferdi was our server and he was really good and did so well with our big group. I believe Quam was the assistant and I am sure I am misspelling her name. She was good too.

I would put Ferdi at the top of the list for favorite servers. He really was good. I had a really good team on my first Dream cruise, but I no longer remember their names. I had seen that the server had moved to the Fantasy when it first sailed, but not sure if he is even still with DCL. My first cruise on the Magic had anothe rfantastic team. Honestly, as far as teams, they were the best set. They worked together well and were so friendly. And then this past Feb we had Jason on the Magic and he was fantastic too. I have also had some mediocre to bad servers/assistant servers over the years. The last family cruise we did not have a good team and it was so nice for the family to get to know Ferdi and experience good service.

 

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I was trying to get the light fixtures, as they are flowers that open during the night.

 

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Abby got some sort of chocolate chocolate shake. She is a lover of chocolate. So much so, that if her chocolate milk is not chocolatey enough she sends it back. This girl is NOT shy!

 

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Claire is kind of picky, so many nights she didn’t get an appetizer unless it was a soup that she likes.

 

I kind of slacked at food pictures this cruise. So much was going on and I just kept forgetting. And then some nights I got others food…I wasn’t consistent at all.

 

My appetizers.

 

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I laughed at the salad. I know this is “fancy” but we call it the lazy man’s salad. They were too lazy to shred it up. Hahaha.

 

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I believe I got prime rib…or something along that line.

 

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I did not take a picture of Claire’s meal till several days later. This picture is what she got every single night.

 

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Two steaks and fries…and of course they threw some veggies on that she refused to eat. Claire LOVES steak and she had asked if she could eat one every night and I told her yes. Ferdi told her the steaks weren’t very big (and they seemed to vary in size each night), so she should order 2. She was a fast friend of Ferdi. She enjoyed her meal every night. One night Rob decided to order 2 steaks too and he got 2 small ones and Claire got 2 big ones. It was pretty funny as there have been other times we have gone out to eat as a family and Claire and Rob order the same thing and Claire almost always gets the bigger piece of meat. It’s now a running joke.