Adventures and Mousecapades: A Podcast About Disney

201. Disney's Halloween on the High Seas

• Alicea & Nathan Novak • Episode 201

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The ship greeted our guests Ryan and Tegan with a surprise: a pumpkin tree called Ginger, glowing at night with character-carved pumpkins and just enough Halloween vibe to make the decks feel new. From there, this sailing became a golden birthday story—father–daughter photos on formal night, a cake from the dining team, and a towel-cake masterpiece waiting in their stateroom. Of course they didn’t abandon the classics: Tegan still chased Broadway-style shows, met characters on the fly, and Ryan found quiet moments on a midship veranda as the Eastern Caribbean drifted by.

What stood out most? Choice. Younger cruisers looped trick-or-treat stations for as much candy as they could carry, while teens enjoyed a surprisingly chill Edge and Vibe thanks to school-season timing. They caught the Sanderson Sisters, then sprinted to a rare Oogie Boogie meet-and-greet where he made them dance and applauded Tegan’s pirouette. Because the Treasure is new and sailing near capacity, they expected crowds—but the kid density felt lighter, which meant easier access to lounges, shows, and those spontaneous character moments in hallways and stairwells that parks can’t always deliver.

We get practical too. If you’re planning a surprise cruise, match the reveal to your kid’s style and consider weather season; two weeks out hit the sweet spot for packing, costumes, and excitement without spiraling into hurricane-tracking anxiety. Book late and be flexible on staterooms; book early if room category matters. And if you’re debating a themed sailing, think of Halloween on the High Seas as a refined bonus: character costume rotations, atmospheric décor, and a tree lighting that adds texture without taking over your itinerary.

Come aboard our Halloween recap for tips, stories, and the kind of Disney Cruise Line details that help you plan your own memory-rich voyage. If you enjoy the show, subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a Disney friend.

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Adventures & Mousecapades is a passion project from Alicea & Nathan Novak - two Seattleites addicted to The Mouse. We are not affiliated with Disney, nor are we travel agents. Opinions are our own.

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Alicea:

Hello everyone, I'm Alicea.

Nathan:

I'm Nathan.

Ryan:

I'm Ryan.

Teagan:

I'm Tegan.

Alicea:

Welcome to this week's episode of Adventures and Mousecapades. Today's episode is a special treat, no tricks here, as we set sail into the spooky magic of Disney Cruise Line's Halloween on the high seas. Joining us are seasoned Disney cruisers Ryan and his daughter Teagan, who recently embarked on a surprise golden birthday daddy-daughter adventure aboard one of Disney's spooky seasoned sailings.

Nathan:

We'll chat about what makes a themed cruise feel different, explore the unforgettable birthday magic, and hear reflections on cruising as a duo. Plus, we'll test Teagan's Disney devotion with Alicea's patented Disney torture test. Anyhow, uh grab your pumpkin spice latte, settle in, and let's cruise into the magic together. Boy, this copy is cheesy.

Alicea:

You know, I wrote some of that. Thanks.

Nathan:

Love you. Good job.

Alicea:

Not all co-pilot.

Nathan:

All right. First off, Ryan, you've been on a few times with us. Welcome back.

Ryan:

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Nathan:

Teagan, this is your first chance to sit in front of a microphone. Well, at least this microphone. Um we're gonna start off with kind of our standard get to know you question. What does Disney mean to you? Would you consider yourself a Disney kid?

Teagan:

Um, I would. I've been going to the Disney park since before I turned one. Like my first birthday was in Disney Worlds. I've grown up going to the parks, and it's definitely something that's very special to me, and I hold it dear to my heart.

Nathan:

How many cruises have you been on at this point?

Teagan:

That um my ten.

Nathan:

Ten. Nice.

Alicea:

Oh, so it'll be platinum next time you go. Nice.

Nathan:

Excellent, excellent. The status matters. Status does matter, yeah.

Alicea:

Yeah, yeah. As seasoned Disney cruisers, what has made Halloween on the high seas cruise feel different or special than the other ones?

Ryan:

I I guess for me, uh walking into the ship and seeing the Halloween tree was just something really cool to kick off the you know, the Halloween on the high seas cruise. Um, I didn't really know what to expect from a pumpkin tree, but uh I thought they did a really good job and it was really cool. I think it even had a name Ginger, Ginger the Pumpkin Tree. So that was pretty cute. Excellent, excellent.

Alicea:

This was on the Disney Treasure, correct?

Ryan:

Yes, correct. And it and just by happenstance, it happened to be the very first uh Halloween on the high seas on the Disney Treasure.

Nathan:

Awesome. That's right, because they didn't do official Halloween on the high seas cruises last year in this first year, so awesome. You got to see Ginger the first uh the very first time. Yeah, very cool, very cool. What were your expectations going in as uh a themed holiday, you know, Halloween cruise?

Teagan:

Um, I didn't know really what to expect, actually. I did a little bit of research when I found out I was going on a Halloween of the high seas cruise. So I was like, oh, there'll be like a party and there'll be like some fun act Halloween themed activities, and then I could also go to like the like there's a like a whole light up ceremony for the tree. So I only I knew what like the events some of the events were. Yeah, but it seemed like a lot of things that would be fun. Yeah.

Nathan:

Yeah. Was it?

Teagan:

Yeah, it was really cool.

Alicea:

Did you attend any of the Halloween-specific events?

Teagan:

Um, I attended the lighting of Ginger. I did the Mickey's masquerade party. It was it wasn't very fun for younger for older kids, but it had candy involved. So there you go.

Nathan:

It's a win.

Teagan:

Yeah, free candy.

Nathan:

Excellent.

Ryan:

Yeah, I think the one of the cool things about the the masquerade party, I think, for younger kids was it was it reminded me a lot of the uh uh pirate night party they do between the two dinners. So the one for that's kind of targeted for the younger kids who might be able to stay up for the fireworks show. Right. And so it was as as Teagan said, definitely more themed towards the younger kids, but they did have trick or treating, so that was pretty fun. Awesome.

Nathan:

And the eighth graders are of course gonna enjoy the candy. Yeah, yeah. What's better? Halloween on the high seas on the ship like candy payout or in the parks for like a Halloween party?

Teagan:

I'd say the cruise.

Nathan:

Nice.

Teagan:

Because you could just go around as many times as you wanted. Like you could just keep going the entire, like it had like 45 minutes. You could just walk around, you didn't even have to stop and watch the show. They had the candy booths open the entire time.

Ryan:

Perfect.

Teagan:

No, you could just get like seven seven giant bags if you wanted.

Alicea:

That's cool. Did they have good um good candy?

Teagan:

Um, it wasn't my preference candy, they had like sour skittles, a lot of Skittles, actually, and like MMs, and they also had like allergy candy. So, like just like your standard candy.

Alicea:

Yep, yep. Were there any touches in like decor entertainment or food that stood out?

Nathan:

There's a tree, Alicea. There's a whole tree.

Ryan:

Yes. So while the tree was definitely cool, and I think the um the uh it was very cool because when you saw the tree unlit during the day, it just kind of looked like a tree with some pumpkins hanging from it. But then at night, when they actually lit it up, it had all of these themings like from Aladdin and all these characters on the pumpkins. Oh, it's just Aladdin?

Teagan:

It's because it was themed, it's like themed to whatever movies. Oh, yeah, like that's what it was for the treasure at least. Like it was all Aladdin characters.

Ryan:

Um, but they also had these decals on all the portholes that were really cool. Oh, yeah. Um, they and it was some of the deeper cut villains like um Yzma and Dr. Facillier and stuff, so that was kind of cool to see on the portholes. Nice.

Nathan:

I think the last time we did a Halloween in the high seas,

Alicea:

it's been a while.

Nathan:

It's been a hot minute. I want to say it was like it turned a porthole into a pumpkin.

Alicea:

It was jack-lantern faces,

Nathan:

it was just nothing, uh, nothing, you know, Yzma would have been very cool. Oh well. You win some, you lose. We'll have to go again.

Alicea:

We will. Okay.

Nathan:

Teagan, how did it feel to find out this was kind of a surprise cruise? Like your your golden birthday. That's kind of cool.

Teagan:

Um, so in February, we got off of the Treasure.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Teagan:

And I was like, I was like really sad. Like that was one of my favorite, yeah. That was one of my favorite cruises I've ever been on. And I was like, so they are doing like a birthday, there's like a Halloween on the high seas one week of my birthday, like we should go. And I like sent my dad the link the like day after we got off the cruise. I was like, we should do this, please. I'm begging you. So when I got surprised, I I had no clue, like, I had given up on it by that time. But I was really surprised and I was like, actually, I was really happy. Yeah, and it just felt really special because like when we got to the hotel, it had happy birthday Teagan, and we got on the cruise, and they got me like pins and they gave me like chocolate cake.

Nathan:

Nice, that's awesome. Good job, dad.

Ryan:

Thank you. Good job, dad. There were a lot of whispered next to my head, Disney cruise.

Nathan:

You picked up on that. Yeah, I picked I picked up on that vibe. Yeah, very cool.

Alicea:

Were there any birthday specific celebrations or other Disney magic moments that made the day unforgettable?

Teagan:

So I'm gonna start backwards because I can't remember anything else. But at dinner they brought out cake and they sang, and it was a lot of the servers. The cake was really good. It had like a sugar candle. And then in Edge, they ended up singing to me because one of the counselors saw my pin that they gave me earlier, and they were like, they all sang. They made everyone stop what they were doing. It was kind of embarrassing, but like I got the it was like a good message. And the room service made me a birthday cake towel towel. I took a three-tier cake. Yeah, three-tier cake.

Nathan:

That's awesome.

Teagan:

And I think that was about it.

Nathan:

Yeah, that sounds fun.

Alicea:

Yeah.

Nathan:

I did birthday. No, I haven't done birthday in a ship yet. I've done birthday in a park.

Ryan:

And and you forgot one thing though, because uh I had Palo brunch and uh the Palo server made a special plate that they let me take back that was decorated with happy birthday Tea gan and chocolate with like little uh drop chart little drop um candies and everything.

Nathan:

V ery cool. Disney takes care of people.

Ryan:

Yep, yeah.

Alicea:

Yeah, once once you hit 18, you can you can go there in person. We did that with our daughter. She um she liked the brunch a lot.

Nathan:

Yes. Yes. All right, so you had to cruise with your dad. Sorry. No, I'm me. Maybe. No, no, no. It was okay. Maybe what was it like cruising just the two of you?

Teagan:

It was different.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Teagan:

Like I didn't have to keep tabs on what my sister was doing. Every day, I'd be like, Brynn, Brynn, where are you? What are you doing? What counselors are in vibe? What counselors are in edge? No, just like bugging her constantly, and then also like constantly calling my mom, like, I need help. I need help. Wait, what time are we seeing the show? It was like it was like usually a lot of back and forth, and it's much more chaotic with four people compared to two. So I was like more peaceful. Like we we saw each other at like dinner, maybe in the halls. Like that's about it.

Nathan:

Did you enjoy having a little bit more room in your room?

Teagan:

Yes.

Nathan:

Without having four people all on top of each other?

Teagan:

I took up most of the space, but true statement.

Ryan:

True statement.

Alicea:

Did you plan any special father-daughter traditions or moments during the trip?

Ryan:

Um, well, I I did insist that I get a couple of photos with her. So on her birthday, we did um we had dressed up because it was formal night. And so we got we got some photos that day. Um, and then we also went and saw the Sanderson sisters um when they were out. So that was pretty cool. That was pretty fun. So we had a a dad and daughter picture there, and then I think we had one for Pirate Night too, and maybe a couple others.

Teagan:

We took one from the like we did so when I was in when we were there when I turned nine, we recreated one of those.

Ryan:

Right. That's r ight.

Nathan:

And Sanderson sisters were Mickey and Clara or Minnie and Clarabelle and Daisy.

Ryan:

And Daisy, yes, yes, not perfect. Yes, they were, and the line was always really long, so we made the decision to get there like 35 minutes early. So we're like the eighth family in line.

Nathan:

So yeah. Wow. All right, so what advice you you've you've done this now. What advice, Ryan, would you give for another parent who's trying to kind of do the same thing? You know, pull a surprise, do a do a special trip with with one of their kiddos?

Ryan:

Yeah, so I think um definitely well for me, this was probably the shortest time I've like booked a Disney cruise. Oh so because we only we got off in February and then I booked in March or like late March. So it was only you know less than five or about five months out. Yeah. Um, so you know, if you're gonna do the surprise, I think, and you're gonna kind of book late, then you gotta be flexible with you know what rooms you have, yeah, or you're looking for. Um, you know, obviously, if you're more of a planner like I normally am, you know, booking a little bit further out gives you more opportunity to kind of pick your room, pick your room category. Yeah.

Nathan:

Um I was gonna say five months, that's like spontaneous.

Ryan:

For Disney Cruise Line, totally, totally. Um so yeah, so I think uh, you know, and then obviously the the hardest thing is figuring out when to tell your kid. Yeah. Um because I think you have to know how much of a surprise, how much like from a surprise standpoint your kid likes. Like do they want do they want to know the day before they can they get everything packed or or do they need to know a couple weeks in advance? Um I had I had initially thought about telling Tegan just like two days before we left, but I Tegan is shaking her head for the audience. Um but I thought that might be too little warning. Sure. But I also didn't want to tell her too far in advance because it was hurricane season, so I didn't want her constantly checking like the NOAA website. Right. Yeah right. So uh we settled on like two weeks, about two weeks before we um before we sailed, and so I think that was that was really good timing, yeah.

Nathan:

And probably I mean you're 15 now, right? 14. 14, 14 math, whatever. Um like we were able to do that with our kids when they were much smaller, and literally we packed for them, threw them in the car, they thought we were taking them to school, and then we went to the airport. Like I you can do that when they're eight and like three. Yeah. So it's it's different when you're a little, you've got to get your your your hair and your costumes and

Alicea:

ears, ears, all of them. You have to pack the ears.

Nathan:

Very true, very true, very true. Okay, cool. So you're platinum now, take in ten cruises in, you've been cruising for an awfully long time. Uh how has Disney cruise line changed for you over the years? Like DCL itself has evolved and you've gone through all of the um the kids' clubs and and and on up into vibe at this point, right? Like, how is your how do you think Disney has changed? Disney Cruise line has changed, and and then what is your experience? Like, how has that evolved too?

Teagan:

Um I think it's definitely become more like like I've had so many more activities that I've wanted to do. Like it's like so hard picking what to do because there's so many things that are happening at the same time now. Yeah. Cause I can just walk around the ship whenever I want. And so it's like more freedom that once as you get older, and then there's also like so many more opportunities to do things. Like I could go to the show three times if I really wanted, like the Broadway style shows. Or I could like skip dinner and order room service. It's like just there's just so many options now.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Teagan:

And then as I got older, I felt like I had so much more to do, like the more opportunities, too. Like I've had so many more experiences that are like because I like okay, I think it was in February, but my dad like texts me, it's like midnight, I'm heading back to the room, and he's like, by the way, they're doing an understudy run of the pirate show on deck 11. If you want to come like watch.

Nathan:

Oh, cool.

Teagan:

So I was like, okay, I'll be up in a second. And then I ended up staying out to like one, maybe, yeah, because of that.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Teagan:

And there was just like so many experiences that happened because I went that day.

Nathan:

Yeah. Do you like it more than you did before, having a little bit more freedom?

Teagan:

I think yes and no. Okay. Because the kids club was really fun.

Ryan:

Yeah.

Teagan:

Like there were so many events that I could do. Like, one of my favorite things was like a Captain Hook game. I barely remember it, but like it would be like there's Captain Hook and you're on a treasure hunt or something.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Teagan:

So I do miss like some of those things, but like when you got to like nine, you kind of got bored of everything in the kids' club. So like Edge was really fun when I first got there. And now I can go into vibe and stuff, so that's really cool.

Nathan:

Yeah. Do you think you'll miss the kids' clubs? You're I mean, eventually at some point you're gonna age out.

Teagan:

Yeah. I think I'll definitely end up missing it because it like all you can really do when you're old is like go to the bar and go to game shows and boring things adults do.

Nathan:

That sounds great to me, but

Ryan:

don't knock it till you try it.

Nathan:

Exactly.

Ryan:

That's uh I I think that you may be underplaying your uh being sad when you age out because uh your the first thing you do when you get on a cruise ship is check every single club from deck two on Oceaneer's lab and club up to deck five for Edge and deck 13 for vibe to see which counselors might be on the ship that you know and then give them like the biggest hug if you see them. That's awesome. That's very cool.

Alicea:

You guys have any go-to Disney Cruise traditions that you always include?

Teagan:

Seeing the Broadway style shows. I will never miss them.

Nathan:

Yeah. Did you see three shows in one day? You brought it up.

Teagan:

I saw two in one day. I went to the matinee of Beauty and the Beast. Okay. And then I went to the 8:30 show of Beauty and the Beast.

Nathan:

Okay. How did you, Sterling's in the same musical theater group that you are, Uh like I'm at this point kind of done with Beauty and the Beast. I need another probably year to get back into that. Like you and twice, huh?

Teagan:

Well, I wasn't planning to see it twice when I went to the matinee. And then there was like something special that came up, so I ended up going back to see it again. Got it because of it. But I I just enjoy the show, especially um the movie musical version they have, because it's just so gorgeous, and they were like so good, all the actors.

Nathan:

Yeah, yeah. They do such a great job. Yeah, for sure.

Ryan:

And this was their first week of running all the shows because we we learned that this was the third uh entertainment team, okay, and they had just gotten on the ship the same day we had, and so they were running all the shows for the full first time in front of a live audience themselves like themselves. Oh my gosh. Um, you know, so that was really cool.

Nathan:

I had always thought that they had a little bit of an overlap, like there was a cruise or like a week or two overlap with the prior cast, but they just do a a hard, a hard roll, huh?

Ryan:

Yeah, so we we heard that some people sometimes stay over, but not always. Okay. So it can be like a full switch, basically.

Nathan:

Wow.

Alicea:

Were there any uh Coriander and Ssage Halloween events that you saw or knew of?

Ryan:

Um, I don't think that or was there one?

Teagan:

Um, so they did do the ginger tree lighting. That was them.

Ryan:

That's right, yep, yeah.

Teagan:

Because they were like they had a like it was a whole story with ginger in them. But that's the only one I can think of.

Ryan:

Okay. Yeah. But they did their all the other normal ones that we've seen, and and Teagan even got to go see "Indiana Jones: Choose Wisely". I snuck her, I snuck her into the second or into the balcony.

Nathan:

We'll we'll bleep that out. Don't worry.

Alicea:

That's such a good show.

Nathan:

It is. Yeah. But that it that is the problem with that venue. Don't take no offense. But like with it being open. With it being open up there on that second floor. It it is it is easy for for that to happen intentionally and unintentionally, depending on the uh the thing that's going on there. Yeah.

Alicea:

What ports did you all stop at and did you have any excursions?

Ryan:

So we did Eastern Caribbean, the same thing we did in February with you guys. So we had Tortola and uh St. Thomas. Uh I told Teagan, like, hey, because this is your birthday cruise, we're not gonna go do any excursions this time. Yeah. Um, also because we had just been Tortola to Tortola and done the zip lining, which we thought was obviously that's a blast. We love doing that. Yeah. But since we had just done it, we were like, oh, well, let's um, you know, just skip it. Yeah. And did we get off? I can't even remember.

Teagan:

I did not get off the boat.

Ryan:

Did not get off the boat. just stayed on the boat until until it cast away, yeah, obviously. Um, I think I got off at yeah, no, I did get off at St. Thomas for just like 30 minutes and walked around. Okay.

Nathan:

Okay. Okay.

Alicea:

Nice.

Nathan:

That's right. We missed you guys on Tortola because we went out on the uh on the sailboat charter.

Ryan:

Yes, but Kristen went with you.

Nathan:

Kristen went with us. Yes. She was honorarily uh inducted into our our uh big cruise family. So yeah. We'll have to get you guys next time.

Ryan:

Yes, for sure.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Alicea:

What kind of room did you have?

Ryan:

Uh so we had uh a veranda room. Okay. Um so it was uh deck nine midship. Um just it was about halfway actually between

Teagan:

it was 13 and 18 doors.

Ryan:

Okay, yeah. So we counted because we couldn't figure out which set of elevators were better to go to, forward versus aft. And it was just a tiny bit closer to the forward ones, 13 versus 18 cabs to get to the room.

Teagan:

Around 17 and 18. There we go, close enough.

Ryan:

Yeah, it was I mean, it was it was very close. Um, and and we were pretty fortunate. It was very uh calm seas. You know, we were a little worried about being hurricane season, but we we lucked out.

Nathan:

So yeah, it's a good thing you're not down there right now.

Ryan:

Yes, absolutely.

Nathan:

Man, Jamaica's about to get like wiped out of uh it's not it's not looking good. Yeah, it's not looking good. Um, we have Coriander and Sage, we had the Sanderson sisters, lots of stuff going on with a lot of characters and performers on the cruise. What was like the the biggest character moment that stuck out to you that was most impactful or that you enjoyed the most?

Ryan:

I have one. Do you wanna you wanna think?

Teagan:

Yeah, I need to think.

Ryan:

Okay, uh so when we got to meet Oogie Boogie.

Teagan:

Oh, I forgot about that.

Ryan:

Yeah, so uh we going back to the night of the um Halloween party, uh we watched a little bit of the start of the Mickey's Mousquerade party and you know realized it was more towards younger kids, and then I happened to check the um navigator app and I was like, oh, Oogie Boogie is meeting people right now in the hero zone. And so we went back there because he had very few meet and greets, and there were what probably like 15 families, but they said, Oh yeah, you can you can definitely wait in line. So we got to, and I think we were this last family or close to last family. So we got a ton of like photo time with him and everything, and he was he was definitely uh the character was definitely hamming it up, which was really fun. Yeah, you know, he made us uh dance a jig, and so that was pretty cool. That was that was my character moment. I don't know. How about you?

Teagan:

I only met the Sanderson sisters and Oogie Boogie, but I definitely liked Oogie Boogie a little bit more because it was much more he was like so interactive. Yeah, like he started dancing, he was like, What can you dance? And I like kick ball change, pirouette, no.

Nathan:

You got technical with him, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Ryan:

He did there was lots of clapping for you from from him, though. He was very impressed. Then he asked me to dance a jig, and that was not that that was not nearly as impressive.

Nathan:

There is something about those more just open character moments, especially on the cruise, that happen way more than they do at the parks. Like you can just walk into a character and just have an interaction in a random hallway or in an elevator, or yeah, um, Aulani is the other place where that happens.

Alicea:

Occasionally Disneyland, but occasionally not as much.

Nathan:

No, no. But yeah, that's we we love those opportunities.

Ryan:

Yeah, there were there were definitely moments when we were on walking around the ship and you'd see a character go like coming to or going from their formal meet and greet, yeah, and they would just do the spontaneous interaction like you're talking about with like a kid who was nearby or whatever, and it was so cool.

Teagan:

Yeah, I actually I forgot about this, but they were playing jazz music one night because I think it was semi-formal night or something, and there was a tap dancer and they were all performing, and Tiana was doing like just like a walk-around, and she was just hanging out and she scared me. So she comes up behind me and she's like, Are you enjoying the jazz music? And like I jumped physically because she I didn't like I thought she had left by the time I was watching, and it was it was like actually scary, but I was like, Yeah, and she was like enjoy your night, and then she walked away.

Nathan:

That's awesome. What would you say to other folks who have been like you haven't done a Christmas cruise yet either, right?

Ryan:

Not when two months we will be, but not yet.

Nathan:

So so this is your you've done, you know, Teagan, you've done 10. Ryan, I know you've done a a few more than that.

Ryan:

A few more fourteen fourteen now.

Nathan:

Yeah. To other cruisers who haven't done one of these themed cruises before, like what sticks out to you as m most different? What should people keep in mind? Do you recommend?

Ryan:

I would definitely recommend it. I would it's a nice bonus. I think that it's not like a must-do. If you had to if you could only cruise like one time in a year, I think just picking whatever time works best for you for for us would probably make sense. So um, but you know, if it happens to work out that you can get a themed cruise, I think is a great bonus. Yeah. I mean, just the the amount of additional um things you get um from a theming standpoint, from seeing characters dressed up in Halloween costumes. I mean, throughout the week, there were they were in their normal costumes, they were in Halloween costumes, they were in formal costumes. So just the opportunity to you know get a lot of different pictures if you're if you're really into character meet and greet, I think is really good. Um and I think just the the few you know additional magical touches they do with the the holiday theming was really fun. It wasn't over the top, and so it didn't necessarily distract from the standard Disney theming, but I think it complemented it really well. Nice. What do you think?

Teagan:

Yeah, I don't think it took away from anything, it just added a little bit more magic here and there. Yeah, like he was saying, there was characters in their normal attire and then they were in their Halloween attire and their formal attire on like rotation. And they would also be in their private attire, of course. Yeah. But it just was still magical and it's just so fun the way they did it. I think you could it's definitely like a great opportunity if you can do it and if it works with your schedule. Yeah.

Ryan:

I would say the other benefit if you're if you're willing to take your kids out of school, um, it was not nearly as many, uh it wasn't nearly as crowded from a kid standpoint. And so um there was a lot more, I think, opportunity for um lower like turnout from kid activity standpoint. So if you're if you're stressed about your your kids being able to get to kid activities or do kid activities, because there might be some some you know large amount of kids in the boat. Like when we were on in February, that there was a ton of kids. Yeah. And I think um when we were on for our cruise in September for the Halloween and the high seas, it was much more probably evenly split or even more adults than kids. Oh wow, okay. Because I think you said there was only like 18 kids in vibe all together or something like that.

Teagan:

There was like 20 kids in vibe and like 30 kids in edge.

Nathan:

Wow. Oh wow. Okay.

Alicea:

Yeah, because it's during the school season. Yeah. And you're just not gonna have as many. Yeah. Did you did you find out how many people were on the ship altogether or anything like that?

Ryan:

Um it was pretty near capacity, they said. Um didn't get a full count, but they said um, you know, they had said the Treasure's been, you know, because it's the newest ship, it's been cruising near capacity most cruises, so it was more than 90% full. Okay. So it didn't it didn't feel any more it didn't feel more or less crowded to me than in February, maybe a little bit less.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Ryan:

Um, but not like, oh my gosh, there's like super easy to do everything you want.

Nathan:

Well and the kid density makes a big difference with that. I mean, you kids, oh, just everywhere.

Alicea:

Did you guys have costumes for the costume night?

Teagan:

I did. He did not. Not on theme.

Ryan:

Not on theme.

Teagan:

I was Sharpe Evans from High School Musical 3. A lot of the like counselors got it, but some of the kids didn't, but that's okay.

Alicea:

Yeah.

Nathan:

That's a them problem, not a you problem. Yeah. Nice. Well done. Anything else we haven't talked about about this cruise you want to bring up?

Teagan:

I don't think so.

Nathan:

All right. Would you do it again?

Teagan:

Yes.

Nathan:

Yeah?

Alicea:

Definitely.

Nathan:

All right.

Alicea:

Brian, would you do another surprise cruise or is that it?

Ryan:

No, no, I would I would definitely do another surprise cruise. Um, I think that this might have been the last hurrah for a little bit, just because you know, uh Bryn's already in high school and Teagan's gonna be in high school next year. So it's getting a little bit harder to take him out during the school year, unfortunately. Um, you know, though I can see I can see larger frowns on the the teachers' faces when when we when we talk to them about that. So, but this was a good kind of last hurrah for at least a little bit, I think.

Nathan:

Yeah. Then you and Kristen get to do what what we do to to our daughter Kaitlyn, which is just like, yeah, we're we're going on cruises and you're still in college. Goodbye. Like enjoy that.

Ryan:

Yeah, I think I think Teagan's gonna get to enjoy that statement once Brynn goes to college. Be like, oh yeah, I'm still in high school. We're going cruising for spring break. See you later, Bryn.

Nathan:

All right, Teagan. This is the moment you've been dreading. But you've been going to Disney Parks since like before you were born, probably. And you know, you've you are a platinum cruiser now. You've got this. It's it's Alicea's patented Disney torture test, but still good luck.

Teagan:

Yeah, I got this.

Alicea:

This is just your favorite. From anything under Mickey's umbrella. So Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, anything. Um, your favorite character?

Teagan:

Duffy and Friends.

Alicea:

Ooh, nice. Your favorite movie.

Teagan:

I really like Guardians of the Galaxy volume one right now. Okay. But I also like a classic Disney movie. I really like like Beauty and the Beast. The original.

Alicea:

The original, the animated. Your favorite ride.

Teagan:

Guardians of the Galaxy rewind rewind.

Alicea:

Cosmic Rewind. Yeah. Disney World or Disneyland?

Teagan:

Disney World. Okay.

Alicea:

Out of all the individual parks that you've been to, which one is your favorite?

Teagan:

Hollywood Studios.

Alicea:

That was fast.

Nathan:

Why Hollywood Studios?

Teagan:

I think it's the most immersive with all the different lands, especially when they used to do the like live performers in like Sunset Boulevard. Yeah.

Nathan:

They still do that in California Adventures. Yes, they do. The streetmosphere. Um, but yeah, they Disney. If you're listening, please

Alicea:

bring it back.

Teagan:

Bring it back.

Nathan:

Bob, Josh, I don't care who, somebody.

Alicea:

Bring it back.

Nathan:

Bring it back, please.

Alicea:

Do you have a favorite hotel or resort?

Teagan:

Old Key West.

Alicea:

And your favorite ship.

Teagan:

The Treasure.

Alicea:

Me too. Do you have a favorite restaurant?

Teagan:

Teppan Edo.

Alicea:

Okay. And last one, your favorite Disney snack.

Teagan:

Either a Mickey Pretzel or a Mickey ice cream bar. Not sandwich. Bar.

Alicea:

The bar. Got it. Got it.

Ryan:

Gotta be the bar.

Teagan:

Yeah. I don't like the sandwiches. They get all over my hands.

Nathan:

Congratulations, you survived.

Alicea:

See, Wasn't that bad, Wasn't that bad.

Nathan:

You were actually probably the quickest person to answer on all these things of anybody we've ever had on. Congratulations. I don't have to edit that as much.

Alicea:

A lot of people are like, ah, which one? Yeah. Yeah.

Nathan:

Okay, so what's next? You've got uh Christmas cruise coming up.

Ryan:

Yep. So we well, we have our annual uh Thanksgiving tradition week in Disney World. So that's something we do every year. Looking forward to that here in less than 30 days. So that's exciting. And then we are doing the very Merry Christmas cruise, the week of Christmas, because we finally decided that uh kids were old enough they didn't have to wake up in their house for for Christmas. So that's that should be super exciting. Back on the treasure. Okay. Very cool. But yeah, hopefully see some new Christmas or some new uh holiday traditions. So that should be fun.

Alicea:

Yeah. Do they have they had a tree on treasure last year, didn't they? Yes, they did.

Nathan:

Okay. But they didn't have any official Halloween or Halloween uh Christmas. Merry Christmas. They didn't have any holiday sailings. Got it. Womp, womp, got it. My brain is tired, y'all. Sorry. Um, yeah, so the tree was out, but they didn't like go overboard with the whole cruise. So got it. Get it overboard.

Alicea:

Now we have done a couple of Christmas time Merry time cruises, and I like those a lot as well. Um they have gingerbread houses, like big gingerbread houses, like the Disney World ones, yeah, where they put big ones up, um, and it makes the ship smell so good.

Ryan:

Yeah, I'm I'm excited to you know compare and contrast the Disney World like Christmas theming they have at the parks compared to a ship. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nathan:

And I think that everybody who's sailing with you gets into it more than they do on a Halloween cruise. Because on a Halloween cruise, there's still a bunch of people who are just like they're just there for a regular cruise. And oh, by the way, it's Halloween. But it at least it always feels to me like everybody just gets more into that holiday spirit, and there's more kind of camaraderie with with all of your fellow cruisers on the on the Christmas cruisers. So that should be fun.

Ryan:

Yep, we got our PJs all picked out.

Teagan:

So we also got a sneak peek at the shows because they were practicing the tech side, so they were doing all the projections on the big screen on deck eleven, and they were doing their fake snow.

Alicea:

Mm-hmm. The Snowap.

Nathan:

That's awesome. Well, cool. Well, we can't wait to hear all about that. It'll be exciting.

Ryan:

Ye ah, it should be a lot of fun.

Nathan:

Yeah, we'll have to have you all back on.

Ryan:

For sure.

Nathan:

Sweet. All right. Well, with that, shall we, Alicea? Yep.

Alicea:

All right. We're gonna do our little outro here.

Nathan:

Yeah. Remember, we are not affiliated with Disney or their subsidiaries. These are personal opinions and suggestions based on our and our guests' own experiences. We recommend working with the travel agent or contacting Disney directly to plan your perfect vacation.

Alicea:

If you have any questions or suggestions or would like to be interviewed on our show to share your own Disney experiences, please send an email to podcast at our mousecapades.com.

Nathan:

You can follow us on social media. We're at Our Mouse Capades. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube.

Alicea:

Please give us a rating and review in your podcast app. It really does help people find us.

Nathan:

And of course, don't hesitate to share us with your friends and fellow Disney lovers of all ages.

Alicea:

Thank you for listening. We'll be in your ears next week. Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.

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Alicea Novak

Host
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Nathan Novak

Host