2018 Club Trip

[KeithS]

Day 5 – 3 October 2018. Anaheim and Los Angeles
Today is our bus tour of Los Angeles and associated Disney sites.  This meant an early start which was hard as I didn’t get to bed until 1am again.  We got up at 6:15am and had an early breakfast.  We then headed out to the Harbor Blvd bus stop and met up with all the club members going on the trip.  It wasn’t long before the bus arrived and we met Tom, our guide and driver.  Tom was terrific and a fountain of knowledge on Walt Disney and his life – especially his presence around the Los Angeles area.  Brian and I sat together at the front, with Della and Patti behind us and Karen across the isle.
 
Our first stop was the Garden Grove historical society who had saved the garage from Walt Disney’s Uncle Robert’s house. The garage was used by Walt and Roy in their early days of film making and included a table and small dark room. Today it contains donated memorabilia relating to Disney from around the world.  The museum also had a great old fire station and fire truck, as well as other donated buildings from the local city area. It was only 10 minutes from Disneyland but you’d never know about it.  The lady in the gift shop was originally Australian but had lived in the area for over 50 years! She never lost her accent as she said it always helped in business negotiations there.
 
Next we got on the freeways and headed up to Hollywood. We stopped outside the Pantages Theatre where the first of Walt Disney’s two Hollywood walk of fame stars is.  After a quick photo stop, we moved further up Hollywood Blvd to the Chinese Theatre and El Capitan theatre to visit the Disney shop and Ghirardelli soda fountain store.  We saw a lot more Disney related stars, and we walked up to Walt’s second star just beyond the Chinese theatre.
 
Back on the bus, we next stopped outside the original Hollywood Tower Hotel – inspiration for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride. We got photos there and moved on the Kingswell Ave where Walt and Roy Brothers Studio was located.  This was their first proper cartoon studio and the build still stands today.  We were able to visit with the current owner and see the history of the building.  I can always remember the photo of them standing in front of that premises, and it looked so similar today. It was amazing to stand there.
 
We drove further down Kingswell Ave past Walt’s Uncle’s house (where the garage in Golden Grove was moved from) and learned that the Disney family had bought the house back after a developer failed to get permission to pull it down and redevelop.  The house has now been protected and will be restored by the family.
 
We did a quick drive by of Walt and Roy’s original homes (still privately owned today) and the location of the Hyperion Studios, which is long gone now – replaced by a mall, but there is still a plaque outside marking the site.
 
Next we dropped off half the group at the Tam O’Shanter pub in Glendale while the rest of us went up to the Forest Lawn cemetery. That was an amazing place and we got to see the Disney family plot. We also had a look in a mausoleum that contained many famous people including Nat King Cole and others.  I’d seen it on TV before, but it was interesting to see it in person.
 
We returned to Tam O’Shanters for lunch while the other group headed up to the Forest Lawn cemetery. Tam O’Shanters was Walt’s favourite lunch spot, meeting with actors, artists, studio and theme park people all the time there.  There were photos of him on the wall (along with many others) and his table is marked with a plaque. Della, Brian, Patti and myself sat in a booth that was John Wayne’s favourite table! The place was full of history, atmosphere and good food – we could only imagine the deals that had been done in that restaurant!
 
After lunch, we got back on the bus and headed to the Disney Studios – we stopped at the main gate and animation gate to get photos while not loitering too long to annoy the security guards there.  We then headed on over to Griffith Park, but as we were a little early, we stopped for ten minutes at Travel Town – a railway museum I’d been to on a number of previous occasions. I first went there in 2006 with the club’s world tour and I took my Dad there in 2011 as well, so this was my third trip.  We didn’t stay long though, and got back on the bus to go to Walt’s Barn which was opened especially for us.  We had been here previously on the 2006 trip, but there were new items now including the original 101 carriage from the Disneyland Railroad from 1955 – it was in beautiful original condition and its story told by the guide there was great.
 
We then went into Walt’s Barn which originally was built on his Carolwood Drive property to house his model trains, but was moved to Griffith Park when the house was sold by his family.  It has a lot of Disney artefacts there and is worth a visit.
 
Back on the bus and we headed up to Griffith Park Carousel.  This carousel is the only surviving four abreast horse carousel in the world where all the horses, including the outside ones move.  It still runs its original motor and pipe organ and is a great historical machine.  It is only open on weekends, but again the owner opened it for us and told us many stories from its past. The owner left school and his first job was working on the carousel – and he’s been there ever since. When the last owner past away seven years ago, it was left to the current owner in his will! That’s payment for dedicated service.  Now it is used in many movies and tv shows.  It is a very fast carousel, with speeds up to 25 mph, although state law governs it at 18 mph. He let us have a go on it and it was very fast – much faster than a Disney carousel, and he told us we only went at 10 mph, so it must have been a sight to see at 25!
 
Our final stop of the day was the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA.  It was a quick stop at the main steps for a group photo but when we got back on the bus, Gerard was missing. Della had seen him heading down the street, so I figured he’d gone to see the Lillian Disney memorial fountain on the roof of the Hall.  Our driver said he needed to move the bus, so we headed off and we saw Gerard heading back waving his arms!  We had to keep going across the street to avoid blocking traffic and Gerard finally caught up with us and we all clapped his return.
 
After that, we started to head back to Anaheim, but we did get to see a major film being shot in downtown which looked interesting and involved a school bus – we might never know what it was related to but we saw it!
 
When we got back to Anaheim, Della and I dropped off our bags and we headed to Earl of Sandwich for dinner with Brian and Patti, before finally retiring for the night after a little bit of last minute shopping at the Wonderground Gallery.  Tomorrow, we’ll start in DCA, then head to DL for a group photo in front of the castle!

[KeithS]

Day 6 – 4 October 2018. Anaheim
It is day six already and we are getting close to the end of our Anaheim portion of the trip. It has been a great trip so far with good company, fun events, nice crowds and weather.  Today we were scheduled to meet everyone at the castle at 9:30am, so we dressed in our tour shirts and after breakfast, headed across the road to the park. Security was busy and Della and I were running late, but we made it right on 9:30am.  It was good to see Lauren there too as she had been on a cruise out of New York.  Michelle wasn’t well so she didn’t make the photo, but everyone else was there. We all lined up in front of the castle and got our photo taken.  Wayne then suggested we all go to the Jungle Cruise as a final attraction together, so we did just that and basically took over a whole boat which was fun.
 
After the Jungle Cruise, Della and I, along with Brian and Patti, headed to DCA.  First thing we did was grab a fastpass for Guardians of the Galaxy-Breakout, followed by hopping in the standby line for the ride itself, although Patti wasn’t feeling great so she looked after our bags. The queue was 30 minutes long but soon we were in the preshow which is great with an animatronic Rocket taking over. I really liked the old Tower of Terror, but now I think I like this version even more!  The special effects are great, the soundtrack awesome and the tower ride is just brilliant with more random stuff happening.
 
After the ride, we caught up with Patti and decided to go to the Frozen musical. This blew me away – it is a very impressive production that basically follows the movie and has all the songs. The girl playing Anna today was particularly impressive – a great singer.  I wasn’t too excited to see it, but I’m glad I went!  The show was over an hour log too – that’s a big commitment at a themepark but it was worth it.  After we came out though, Patti wasn’t feeling great so she headed back to her hotel, but Brian stayed with us.
 
Next, our fastpass for Guardians was due, so we went for a second ride but got the same sequence as this morning.  After Guardians, we thought we should get a fastpass fr Radiator Springs Racers but the return time was for 9pm which was when we were watching the parade so we didn’t get it. Instead we went to Ghirardelli and bought Nob Hill Chills (thick shakes) which we tasty. 
 
We headed back to Radiator Springs Racers and the wait was 65 minutes, so we decided on the single rider line.  That only took 10 minutes and Brian and I got the same vehicle, just a couple of cars behind Della. I hadn’t ridden the ride since 2012 and had forgotten how much fun it was!
 
After that, we headed to Luigi’s to ride the dancing cars, but it had broken down and didn’t look like working anytime soon, so we got back in the single rider line. We got to the front of the queue quickly, in fact Della and Brian were organised into rows and I was next when it broke down!  But it was nothing serious and it wasn’t long before it was working again.  I was a few cars behind but had a great time, although I’ve now ridden four times and have never been in a winning car!
 
After that, Brian headed back to his hotel to check on Patti and get dressed for tonight’s dinner reservation, while Della and I decided on a little more shopping before also heading to the hotel for a change of clothes.  We were going to the Napa Rose restaurant and wanted to dress better and drop off our bags.  At 5:30pm, we headed across the Esplanade and into the Grand California Hotel and the Napa Rose Restaurant.
 
We then had an amazing meal with Brian and Patti – this restaurant was excellent and everything from the breads, wine, mains and desserts was terrific.  I’d go there again next time we go to Anaheim.
 
After that, we headed up to Brian and Patti’s room to drop some stuff off and then headed into DCA. Patti had arranged VIP seating for Paint the Night just across from The Little Mermaid.  Great seats too, with a view down the parade route and no obstructions. The parade is also brilliant!  We saw it in 2015, but this was probably our best viewing of it and I really liked it again.
 
After the parade, we walked along Paradise Pier, and then into Cars Land, taking photos as we went. The park was closed by then and we said good night to Brian and Patti then headed into the shops for a while.  We ran into Karen and chatted about our day, then Neville and Sylvia arrived and we chatted to them too.
 
Finally it was time to leave the park and head back to the hotel, but not until we had arranged to catch up with Karen tomorrow for a few rides.  Della and I also plan on a final Anaheim shop tomorrow as well – it is our last full day in the resort before we head to San Diego on Saturday!

[calisota]

Great posts, Keith!!

I especially love the way you seem to casually run into other people in the Park. 

Greg

[Barry McB]

Hi Barry - I don't think you can get those seats anymore. Our friend Patti got them through her Anaheim cast member connections.  Even she doesn't know how those seats are allocated - I don't believe there is a process for general public to get them now - I think it is a VIP arrangement only.

Hi Keith,
Sorry I'm only just catching up on your posts today.
That is what we were thinking.
Cheers,

[KeithS]

We are off the cruise! It was awesome fun and I've type up some journal entries but I'm a bit behind as I was having too much fun. I'll try and get some uploaded soon, but it might have to wait until I get home on Friday.

[KeithS]

Day 7 – Friday 5 October 2018. Anaheim
We’d promised Karen we would take her on some rides she’s never been on before, so after breakfast, we arranged to catch up with her in DCA. As is normal, we got an all-day locker for our jackets, before heading down to Radiator Springs Racers for a fastpass. We didn’t want to do single rider as we wanted to go on with Karen.

We moved straight from the fastpass queue over to Toy Story Mania and joined a 45 minute standby line. This is another ride Karen hadn’t been on, and we hadn’t ridden the Anaheim version since around 2009 or so when it first opened. The queue was long and kept moving, but it remains a fun game even if the games haven’t been updated much since it opened. Karen went okay on it too.

Afterwards, we moved on around Pixar Pier to the Paradise Gardens area where they had nice displays featuring Coco. This included big character statues, artwork, and strings to tie Remember Me cards to.

We all then headed up toward Soarin’ Around the World and had a go on that. We got middle row and had a fantastic experience. As soon as we got off, we decided to get a Fastpass for later in the day.

Next, we headed over to seeing Talking Turtle with Crush which was funny. Della even got to sit on the lily pad like the kids.

Once that was over, the three of us headed into Disneyland to see Mickey and the Magical Map. Della and I hadn’t seen this before as it had always been down when we’d been there in the past and I was surprised by how good a show it was – we really enjoyed it!

After the show, we headed straight back to use our Soarin’ fastpass, only to discover the ride had gone down – so no fastpass! But at least our Radiator Springs Racers one was now due so we headed over there and I finally did the attraction where my car won – that’s 1 from 5 attempts. So Karen was able to tick that ride off her list too. At this point, Karen left us and Della and I stayed in Carsland for a bit. Della had to exchange a top she’d bought that was too big.

After that, we headed to Pixar Pier and went for a ride on the Incredicoaster – the upgraded California Screamin’. The coaster is still the same but has new theming and a new soundtrack – I quite liked it and wished I had done it a few more times, but usually it was too busy. We just lucked in when we went past as it was only a 15 minute wait. After the coaster, Della went shopping and picked up a t-shirt before getting something from Ghirardelli. I went looking for a churro, but the Cosy Cone machine broke and they were running behind on orders so I missed out.

We headed to the front of the park and watched the Newsies show in the DCA hub before going to Off the Page shop. Then we went to Elias and Co for more shopping which took a while as Della was buying more jewellery. We put everything in the locker then went to the shop opposite Soarin’ where Della managed to purchase an Annual Passholder pin which was refused to her earlier in the day. The lady in that store allowed her to buy it, so she was lucky.

Brian and Patti messaged us they were heading to DCA so we sat and waited for them. The park was now getting really busy as Disneyland was closing at 7pm for the Halloween Party. By the time Brian and Patti arrived, the crowds were getting crazy. We headed to Flo’s V8 Café in Cars Land for dinner, Della had the Cob Salad, and the rest of us had the fried chicken which was awesome. Most attractions now had 100+ minute waits. We headed to Guardians of the Galaxy to watch the laser projections and Della bought the baby Groot drink sipper which is awesome.

That went back to the locker and I texted Karen to see how she was. She was contemplating a wine or leaving when my message came through, so she joined us at the lockers, and we all decided to go to the Winery as we couldn’t get on an attraction. At the winery, Della and I managed to jag a big table so we all parked ourselves there and was able to watch the Paint the Night parade from that spot which was good.

After the parade, we were hoping the crowds would die down, but if anything it was getting worse. We went to Pixar Pier in case we could get on Incredicoaster again, but it was too busy. Brian and Karen both bought Jack-Jack Cookie Nom Nom, which is a giant choc-chip cookie. After that, we decided it was too busy to hang around, so we all headed to the exit after getting our stuff from the lockers. It was a very busy evening, but a good day! Tomorrow, we have the Disneyana Fan Club breakfast and then the train trip to San Diego.

[KeithS]

Day 8 – Saturday 6 October 2018. Anaheim – San Diego
It is our last day in Anaheim and this morning we were attending a breakfast put on by the Disneyana Fan Club (DFC) at the Magic Kingdom Ballroom in the Disneyland Hotel. Our club is the Australian Chapter of the DFC.

Firstly though, we had to check out of our hotel. We had pretty much packed the night before, so it was an early start, a final pack, then we dragged our bags to the lobby. Wayne and Jennifer were there too and we checked out, leaving our bags at the hotel for storage.

We walked across to the Esplanade and into Downtown Disney – noting that the World of Disney Store had opened the park-end of their rebuilt store this morning – we would go back via there later. We got to the Disneyland Hotel and went to the ballroom. Our group was all there, and after a quick registration, we were sat at our tables. We had to swap Jan and Les to get Brian and Patti on our table. The first presentation of the morning was from a bunch of voice artists. The current voice of Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Disneyland, and DCA announcers. They were all great to listen too while we ate our breakfast and had some funny stories to tell of their careers.

At the break, though, Della wanted to leave as it was eating into our last day. We thought it was just a breakfast, but realised it was going to go much longer. We decided to leave with Brian and Patti so that they could all hit the shops once again. I’d prefer to stay, but was out voted. We headed to the Disneyland Hotel store first, followed by the newly opened World of Disney. When we got into WoD store, it wasn’t too busy, but by the time Della wanted to purchase – the lines were huge. Della jumped on and Brian and Patti were also buying stuff so it took about 40 minutes to get out of there. I just sat outside the shop waiting for them.

When they all came out of the store, we said our final goodbyes to Brian and Patti – they were going to lunch with a former colleague of Brian’s. We decided to head into Disneyland – but unknown to us, it was an unofficial Gay-Day in Disneyland and the place was packed!!!! The crowd was very colourful but just too many people once again. We went for a walk around the park, but couldn’t move in the New Orleans area at all. We did managed to get to Adventureland and buy a Dole Whip, and then Della also got a hot dog at Coke Corner. We just headed down Main Street through the incoming crowd and did a final Grand Circle Tour on the railroad (surprisingly, this wasn’t too busy at Main St Station).

As soon as we exited the station, we headed out of the park one last time. A quick visit to our brick in the Esplanade before going back to the hotel. When we got there, Wayne and Jennifer we resorting their bags. Everyone at the DFC breakfast was given a wall clock, so we were more grateful that we left early so we didn’t have to figure a way to pack two giant wall clocks!

We got our suitcases from the hotel, then Wayne got the front desk to call a local transfer service who could pick the four of us up and take us to Anaheim transport interchange. We got there around 4:20pm and were met by Jan and Les – Jan was in a bit of a panic as our bags needed to be checked in by 4:47pm for the early train and she thought we’d miss it, but in reality, that train was running 3 hours late, so our bags were going on our 5:51pm train anyway. We calmed her down and all of us got checked in with plenty of time to spare.

The Anaheim station is massive – it looks great but only caters for a handful of trains a day. As the time approached for our train, we headed across the tracks and waited for the train to arrive. Ashley was a little worried as he couldn’t see our bags, but soon enough they arrived on the platform just before the train came into view. We all climbed onboard and were soon heading south to San Diego.

The train included a free drink and a box of snacks which Della and I ate. It also had pretty good free wifi which I also took advantage of. The journey took about 2.5 hours and soon enough we pulled into San Diego. Ashley organised for the hotel to send us their courtesy bus and we climbed on board for a short trip. We checked in and Wayne and Jennifer were opposite our room on the ground floor. We headed to a local restaurant to get a take out dinner (it was about 10pm now) and we ate it in our hotel room while watching the Japanese F1 Grand Prix.

[KeithS]

Day 9 – Sunday 7 October 2018. San Diego – Disney Wonder
Sailing day has arrived! First thing this morning I tried looking out our window for our ship but couldn’t see it, so I headed out the door next to our room and discovered the ship was right across the road at the traffic lights behind our room! I went and got Della and we had breakfast at a café opposite the ship and watched all the other cruisers heading to get on board. Back in our room, we put all our bags in the hotel corridor, along with Wayne and Jennifers. Jennifer and Della looked after the bags as Wayne and I checked out, then we all headed across the road with our bags and dropped them off at the curbside. We headed into the terminal building and got in the check-in queue. The process was quick and we took a seat waiting for our boarding number to be called – we were number 24 and they were up to 20. We sat with Neville and Sylvia until they got called, and we followed minutes later.

As usual, we got a pre-board photo taken, and then headed up into the ship where we were announced to the lobby. Immediately afterwards, we headed down the corridor to the lounge and took a seat and ate pretzels until our 1:30 room ready time. We got into our room okay but our bags hadn’t arrived yet. We met our stateroom host Luis first and he is really nice. After a short stop in our room, we decided to go for a familiarisation walk. It had been three years since we were last on the Wonder but it didn’t take too long to rediscover everything.

We came back to our room and my bag was here but Della’s wasn’t. We had to go to the lifeboat drill anyway and the alarms started sounding – so we headed down to station P and got our names ticked off. Then we headed straight to the top deck of the ship for the Adventures Away party which is always fun. The When You Wish Upon a Star tune blew from the horn and we backed out of San Diego harbour – we were on our way!

I should mention now that there is a major hurricane in our way – Hurricane Sergio is expected to hit the coast of the Baja Peninsula later in the week, but we are sailing south anyway! We’ll see what happens in a few days.

After the party on deck, we headed to our room to get changed and Della’s bags had arrived. We got dressed and went straight to the Walt Disney Theatre to see the opening night’s act – The Beverly Belles who were fantastic. Next up – we headed to dinner. Our whole club was on a single table – table 19 and our rotation meant we went to the Animators Palette on night one. We met with our servers, Daniel from Columbia, and Edouard from France. The meal was just sensational again – you can’t fault the food on these cruises! After the dinner, we chased down Capt. Mickey in the atrium for a photo. Then I ran into Cinderella in a hallway and she invited me for a walk down the hallway to a staircase where we took photos. Next, we caught up with Elissa, Judy and Nola for a photo with Daisy Duck and then headed to the shops for some serious shopping with the girls. It was so serious, me, Elissa, Judy, Della and Nola were all locked in the shop after closing time! We had a great time with the merchandise staff and a lot of laughs (mainly at my expense but all in good fun!).

We were finally released from the shop and headed to bed – a great start to a week at sea.

[KeithS]

Day 10 – Monday 8 October 2018. Disney Wonder – Day at Sea
Today is a sea day – and it has dawn bright and sunny with smooth seas all around. Still no sign of any hurricane. The first thing we did was head to Cabana’s on deck 9 to visit the buffet breakfast. We just grabbed the usual bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, mushrooms etc, along with orange juice and coffee – a good start to the day! I knew Della was keen to knock over the character greetings today, so there would be a lot of queuing and up and down staircases.

First up, we lined up for Pluto for a picture and autograph, and immediately we went upstairs to join the end of the Spiderman queue as we knew there was going to be a character swap and Black Widow was coming out. Sure enough – when we were two from the front, Spiderman left and Black Widow came out – wow is all I’ll say…We did have a good conversation about ensuring Hydra Agents weren’t on our ship and she asked me to maintain my vigilance. I told her I was stalking princesses and she told me she thought Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were princesses…

Next up, we headed down for Donald Duck photos before running into Elissa, Judy, Nola, Felicity and Maddie. We got Maddie to take a group photo of us all on the Deck 4 balcony which was cool. By now, it was almost time for the Princess Gathering, so we got in line and Tiana, Ariel, Cinderella and Belle arrived. They were all great and we had some fun as we went down the line. But that wasn’t the end of the princesses, as Princess Minnie came out, so we had to get her photo, and that was followed by Princess Daisy!

It was lunchtime by now, so we just grabbed a mix of wraps from the Deck 9 café and ate them with Wayne and Jennifer. As we were sitting there, we talked to an Australian officer on board who is in charge of the outdoor food service. He said he had been on board 13 years and went on his first contract as a joke and never left! He even met his wife on board.

After lunch, we went and saw a presentation by D23’s Jeff Epstein (The Disney Geek) on upcoming Disney events such as movies and themepark upgrades which was excellent. Della and I would have liked to stay and chat to him afterwards, but we had tickets to the Frozen Gathering in the Animator’s Palette. We headed to the restaurant and got our photo with Anna and Elsa – but no Olaf this year much to the disappointment of Della!

We then headed down the hall to Shutters to view our photos. They no longer print all the images – instead it is all digital and you need to view them on touchscreens. We are doing as many as we can as we’ve purchased the package! We also headed to the shops again to get some Pandora that Della wanted – as well as a new bracelet as she had filled hers up again.

After the shops, we headed back to the room to get changed for formal night. I had ordered a tuxedo again and after getting changed, we headed to the atrium and got in line for a bunch of professional photos, followed by a photo with the Captain. Next it was time for the Golden Mickeys which is still a great show. This was followed by character photos with Mickey then Minnie – who were also in their formal gear.

Next up was dinner in Tiana’s Place – this is the new restaurant that replaced Parrot Cay which was there when we last sailed on the Wonder. It is a nice restaurant themed to The Princess and the Frog, and it included live music, with Tiana and Louis – it had great atmosphere.

After dinner, we headed to the Azure nightclub with Elissa, Judy and Nola to see the Beverly Belles again – they did an adults only set of modern songs in their Andrews Sister’s style which was amazing. After the show, we also lined up and got photos with them which was fun. We all headed to the pumpkin tree in the atrium again and it was empty except for us and the band on stage. We got photos under the pumpkin tree with no one else around. After that, we got some drinks from Deck 9 before heading to bed. Tomorrow is our first port day – Cabo San Lucas.

[KeithS]

Day 11 – Tuesday 9 October 2018. Disney Wonder – Cabo San Lucas
Today is our first port day. I had the alarm set early as we had room service arriving with breakfast at 7:30am. We elected to eat it on our balcony while watching the land pass us by, including the famous sea arch which is on the tourist brochures. We pulled into the harbour and watched as the tender fleet came out to meet us.

We headed down to the Azure nightclub at our allotted time and met Wayne and Jennifer there as they were on the same tour as us. We registered and were soon taken down to Deck 1 where we boarded a tender to take us ashore – that was a fun experience! When we got to shore, we were met by our tour guide (German) and directed to the bus we would have all day (driver Carlos). We then headed on to San Jose which is the old port – Cabo San Lucas being a much more modern area (a bit like the Gold Coast with tequila bars…).

On arrival at the San Jose town square, we saw the old town hall and mission. We headed up to the mission for a look, and then spent around an hour looking at the shops in the town. We found all the locals were very friendly although we also noted a very high military (marines) and local police presence. Lots of machine guns etc to keep the tourists safe! We ran into Elissa and the girls there (they were on another tour) before getting back on the bus. We thought we were heading to the lookout, but instead we just headed to another shopping area which was similar to the one we had just spent an hour at. This was another 1 hour stop and I was bored as there are only five shop types – ceramics, leather, jewellery, t-shirts and handbags – and often these are all in one store.

We got back on the bus for the 30 minute trip back to Cabo and were dropped off at the tender pier. Della and I went for a short walk where we ran into Wendy and Ashley, before we got on the tender to go back to the Wonder. It wasn’t a great Port Adventure – in fact, the tender rides were the best thing of the day. I just hope tomorrow is better in Mazatlan.

Once back on the Wonder, we dumped our stuff in the rooms before getting some turkey sandwiches from upstairs and eating in our room. I also spent quite some time updating the journal as we didn’t have to get ready for the show for a while. Eventually it was time to head to the show and it was comedy night with Heath (the husband of one of the Beverly Belles). He was totally awesome, doing a physical comedy routine that killed us laughing. We then lined up for Halloween Chip n Dale, and then zombie/mummy Goofy!

Dinner was in Tritons and had a French theme. Again each course was amazing – I haven’t heard anything bad about the food all voyage. Our servers were improving as well as they got to know us. Our drinks server is new and it is taking a bit of time for him to learn the Disney Way but he’s getting there!

After dinner, Della, Elissa and myself headed to Azure to watch the Match Your Mate show – the show’s host Jo was hilarious, as were the four couples they selected. You must see this show if you are on a Disney cruise because it is too much fun. After the show, we all decided to head to bed as tomorrow is another port day as well as a Halloween Party night – should be a lot of fun!

[KeithS]

Day 12 – Wednesday 10 October 2018. Disney Wonder – Mazatlan
More smooth sailing overnight saw us arrive in Mazatlan and the sun was rising. As with yesterday, we took room service in our stateroom at 7am today as we had an earlier port adventure registration time. This time, we met in the Walt Disney Theatre and were allocated the same open air bus as Jan and Les. I’m usually sceptical of open air buses in hot climates, but was pleasantly surprised by this one in the end.

Our guide today was Armando and driver Luis – they were both great and we did a very scenic tour of old Mazatlan which included the cathedral. It is a very nice town that continues to grow on tourism, jumbo shrimp and mangoes. We headed to a number of shopping districts (again, the same type as yesterday but much cheaper and with even nicer people). We also stopped to watch a cliff diver in the town (who we tipped $5 for risking his neck) and then ended the tour at the dock again. There were a lot of shops at the cruise dock, so Della hit them all and bought more jewellery. We’ve learned to haggle a lot here – don’t take face value at all, you can drive prices right down. They just want a sale.

After the tour (much better than yesterday – the guide gave us great information about the city and took us to interesting places) we headed to the ship and had lunch in our room and did more journal updates. We then started to get ready for tonight’s Halloween party. We just wore character t-shirts so we didn’t need to pack much – but when we got to the ships atrium, there was a crazy number of incredible costumes! Our favourites were the three people from the Haunted Mansion Stretching room – so detailed it was unbelievable.

Once we were in the atrium, we began a round of Halloween character pictures to finish what we’d done the night before. We got Pluto, followed by Minnie, Donald and Mickey. Next, we headed to Shutters to view our photos before heading down to Preludes to get more professional photos in front of a Halloween background. We had a quick look through the shops to see if they had released any Halloween merchandise, but there was nothing there. For some reason, there has been no Halloween or Mexican cruise specific merchandise on this sailing – and virtually no medium sized shirts, it is like they missed their delivery at San Diego on Sunday, so that has been a little disappointing.

After the shops, we caught up with Elissa and co. and got a group photo in front of another backdrop which was a lot of fun. We then headed to Deck 5 to watch the Halloween Dance Party which was fun. We thought we’d be able to go Trick or Treating as it was classed as “All ages” in the Navigator, however only kids were given collection bags in their stateroom so no adults without children got to play – again I’m wondering if the delivery failed to make the ship.

Next up, we headed to the Crown and Fin pub to play movie music trivia – we got 16 out of 25 but the winners got 21 – it was very hard! As soon as that ended, it was time for dinner (no Showtime tonight due to Halloween). Dinner was in the Animator’s Palette and it was the animation show tonight, so that was fun as we hadn’t done it since being on the Fantasy in 2013.

After dinner, Della and I headed to Azure to watch the costume judging competition, before finally retiring to bed. We had to move our clocks forward so it was 1am when we got to bed. Tomorrow we are heading over to Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco State.

[Lauren05]

Wow Keith, i've just caught up on all of your posts.  Sounds like you've had a great and busy time!  It was fun to see everyone in Disneyland even if it was only for a short time.

My cruise sounds very different to yours - we had so much Halloween merchandise as well as Canadian Coast merchandise.  It was the first Halloween on the High Seas cruise of the season so not sure if that may have made a difference???
Our Halloween party day they gave the trick or treat bags out at the tables.  We only had around 300 kids on board so adults were given bags and probably the same amount of candy as the kids which was cool.

Looking forward to reading about the end of your trip and catching up on November 3rd

[KeithS]

Hi Lauren. Yes, we think they just didn't get a merchandise delivery before we sailed because there are still more Halloween cruises to go. There was no halloween merchandise at all and not much candy and no bags for adults. It is strange as they are usually really good with that stuff

[KeithS]

Day 13 – Thursday 11 October 2018. Disney Wonder – Puerto Vallarta
Another port day means another room service breakfast on our balcony. As soon as we were done, we headed down to the D-Lounge this morning for port adventure registration.  Today we were doing a tour of Puerto Vallarta – with Elissa and the girls coming along, as well as Jan and Les.  Our tour guide for the day was Temo, and he was full of interesting information about the port.  We did a walking tour along the waterfront to begin with (it reminded me somewhat of the Corso in Manly – but with a Mexican feel of course!). 
 
We also took in the obligatory Catholic Church before hopping back on the bus and going to the shopping district. Again the shops were similar to previous ports but Della found some stuff to buy.  We next headed to a restaurant high up on cliffs looking over the sea and beaches – it was a great view and we had a snack included in our tour which consisted of cheese in tortilla wraps with a fresh salsa – it was really nice!
 
After lunch, we headed to a park in the centre of town and then went for a walk up to Elizabeth Taylor’s and Richard Burton’s former residence.  We had to cross a strange footbridge to get there which wobbled with every step despite it being made of steel and concrete.  After the house visit, we were taken back to the cruise terminal, where Della and I got straight back on the ship.
 
Once on the ship, we had a late lunch (Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich) and I did some more journal updates.  We then went character chasing again (we did a lot of that!). Today it was Captain Jack, Tinker Bell, Pirate Stitch, Pirate Mickey, Pirate Goofy and Pirate Minnie.  We then headed to Showtime for a ventriloquist act which was great – but it was just ventriloquism…
 
We had time before dinner so we headed to the Crown and Fin for trivia with cruise host Jo, but once again we didn’t win – but winning isn’t really the point, it is just fun being there with Jo who knows how to make every  adult on the ship have a great time.
 
After trivia, we headed to dinner at Animator’s Palette again – tonight the restaurant was themed to Pirates of the Caribbean with all the screens showing the awesome artwork from attractions and movies.  Della and I ducked off as soon as we could to go up on deck for a good view of the deck party and the fireworks, before heading back to the room and bed.

[KeithS]

Day 14 – Friday 12 October 2018. Disney Wonder – At Sea
After a few days of port adventures and very early starts, we decided today not to get up early.  As an additional bonus, the clocks went back one hour so that allowed us a slow start too.   That said, when we awoke, the ship was moving quite a lot as we were now in the area that the hurricane was in a few days before.  We had 5 metre waves, but it never bothered me or Della and it was fun to watch the water breaking over the portholes on the lower decks. We headed up to Cabana’s for breakfast and got a big table which was perfect as we were able to invite Elissa, Judy and the girls to sit with us as we saw them come in.  We’ve enjoyed hanging out with those girls and have had a lot of laughs with them.
 
After breakfast, we all went to the pub for the TV Tunes trivia – we didn’t win again but it is always fun. We all then went up on Deck 9 for lunch and Della and I had a hot dog each. We then went to the Promenade Lounge and caught up with Wayne to do the Pixar trivia.
 
Next up, we headed back to the shops, before going to the pub for Movie Quotes trivia.  That was great fun as Jo was hosting again and made a fuss of Della with a Dirty Dancing reference.  After trivia – we had to get changed for semi-formal night.  While we were getting changed, Elissa messaged us to say the characters were in Mexican outfits and to get down to the Atrium, so we hurried out and got photos with Mexican versions of Pluto, Minnie, Chip and Dale and Mickey.
 
Showtime was next and tonight it featured an amazing magician – Shawn Farquhar – who is two time world magician champion.  He managed to fool Penn and Teller twice and is often on the Ellen show.  He was completely bonkers!  His show was just the best magic show I’d ever seen – Youtube him! After his show, we headed to Azure to watch the Heath Hyche show which was very funny again. Dinner was next in Tiana’s place and we were visited by Louis the alligator from The Princess and the Frog.  After dinner, we just headed to the room to do some pre-packing and journal updates.
 
Tomorrow is our last day at sea but is sure to be filled with more activities.