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

[jenseib]

With drinks in hand we went on to look around some more.

 

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Claire wanted to go bowling again, but I wasn’t feeling it right now and we had plans later tonight. Honestly I really wanted to take a nap, but that wasn’t going to happen.

 

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I took a picture inside this conference room. I have been told that these rooms are almost never used, which is a shame.

 

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Looking at the food court area from the balcony.

 

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We headed outside down a ramp and came to the other pool area.

 

 

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You can see the 2 new Cabana Bay towers being built here and also Volcano Bay, the new water park that will open this coming up May.

 

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Did they really have issues with people swimming in the fountain? LOL!

 

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I love the white sand here.

 

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You have to buy tubes if you want to use them in the lazy river.

 

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We had vacation stomach going on…You know …when you need to eat every 2-3 hours…so we decided to get some lunch.

 

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I also bought a 1 day use refillable mug…good for 24 hours. It was cute and I knew I would make good use of it.

 

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We got a table and waited for our food to be ready.

 

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Burger and fries for me….and it was YUMMY!

 

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Hot dog and fries for Claire.

 

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[jenseib]

We headed back to the room and Claire and I put our suits on and headed back over to the lazy river to give it a try.

 

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I had never done it last Feb and I regretted it so it was on my bucket list to do this time. We just swirled around on our own without tubes and the water current moved us right along. We made several trips around and had some fun.

 

After we had a fill of that we did go and sit in the hot tub for a little bit as well.

 

We then headed back to the room to get cleaned up and chilled out for a bit and then decided to head over to City Walk. There was one place I wanted to eat dinner at…and it was brand new…..so I knew lines would be long. We might as well go put our name in early.

 

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Out to the bus stop.

 

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This sign is misleading. Many think you wait for the bus right here, but you don’t….you go a little further down to wait for it.

 

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A look at the new towers from this spot.

 

 

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[jenseib]

And Sapphire Falls is across the street. I had originally booked a room there but then after it opened I wasn’t impressed with the pictures I was seeing and I heard that they were still having a lot of issues still with it being so new. I decided to rebook at Cabana Bay because I loved the resort so much and I knew Claire would like it too.

 

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Finally a bus came.

 

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And we were whisked off over to the drop off point which is near the parking garages.

 

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Everyone has to go through security before heading into City Walk. I love this! Once you clear it you can park hop or do whatever and not go through it again.

 

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There is Toothsomes across the lake!

 

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We headed in and it was packed!

 

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There was a line going out the door for the to go area and a line just to put you name in to eat here.

 

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It didn’t matter…we WERE eating here.

 

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Mom grumbled about how crowded it was and I told her it had just opened a month ago and was bound to be crowded.

 

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We made our way up and they said it would be an hour or so. Mom said no and I said yes and put our name in. I told her she was welcome to not eat here with us, but the main reason I booked a stay at Universal this night was to come here and try it out. I knew it would have a long wait…and I told her that when we left Cabana Bay too. They took my cell number and said they would text when it was our turn.

 

Since we had time to waste went off walking.

 

 

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[jenseib]

Tonight there was a Halloween party going on at Universal Studios.

 

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They had things set up for people to wait in line to enter.

 

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I said we should walk over towards Hard Rock hotel.

 

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There regular entrance was closed off as they were making a new security booth so we had to go around.

 

 

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We headed off and were just chatting away and not paying attention to where were going. Another family was close on our heels too. I look up and realized we took a wrong turn and were heading towards a loading dock on the side of the hotel so we turn around to go back. That family was so mad and huffed off. Now was it my fault that they were following us? LOL. No, and I assume they were staying here, so they should have known their way back. We totally laughed at how they acted.

[Host Mick]

Sweet. Another Jen cruise thread. I always enjoy there. It's like taking a virtual cruise.

Claire sure has grown. Compare her to that little girl in the signature picture.

[jenseib]

Our legs were pretty tired and we decided just to head back to City Walk and find a spot to sit and people watch. We did have to go through security again since we had left to go to a hotel but it is very simple and fast at this entrance.

 

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Evidently lots of people had this same idea.

 

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I realized later that these people were probably waiting to get in line for the Halloween party.

 

Mom and Claire found a spot to sit and I walked around a little bit.

 

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I then joined them for a bit and Mom had called dad, who was so happy to hear from her and could not wait for her to get home. I called Skip and we talked to him too. He never acts like he misses us, but I am sure he does.

 

As it got closer to the allotted time we headed back over to Toothsome’s again.

 

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We looked at this digital menu and started planning on what we wanted to eat. Mom was starving to death again.

 

 

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We then went inside to look at the store.

 

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Mom had been looking for a longer sleeved shirt to wear and found one here. I like it so much I bought one for myself too.

 

 

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We got a text to come to the podium so we did.

 

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I told them we got a text and they asked for our name and told us our table would be ready soon.

 

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Mom was freaking out because others who came up after us were being seated and told me to ask again, so I did…She asked our name and then said our table would be ready shortly.

 

We watched through this window while we waited.

 

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I went and asked a couple more times and they kept saying the table would be ready soon. This girl was dumber than a box of rocks. I know she was probably new and it was busy,but she never once recognized me as the same person asking her over and over. I finally said to her that we received out text a while ago and we get this answer every time we come up….what is going on…..your table will be ready shortly.

So I then reached out to Eric. He went to see what the issue was and then sat us.

 

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We were taken upstairs to sit.

 

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We browsed the menu and settled on a few things we wanted. I asked mom if she wanted to share a Caesar salad with me and she said sure…and then we were going to get some other appetizers.

 

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As we waited I took some pictures and video.

 

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[jenseib]

The waiter had told us there was a backup on the milkshakes so we had ordered those before anything else. I thought they came out pretty fast for being backed up.

 

I had wanted the peanut butter shake, but Claire did too.I thought we should try different things so I went with the strawberry cheesecake one.

 

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Both were totally awesome, but I liked the peanut butter one better and vowed to get that one for myself next time….which I did this past Feb.

 

Claire got truffle fries. She had these when we sailed the NCL Jewel to Alaska and were an instant favorite for her. These were not quite as good but still yummy.

 

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Mom got nachos to share….they weren’t your everyday kind of nachos but they were good.

 

We also got spinach artichoke dip which was very good.Claire doesn’t like this sort of thing, so it was up to Mom and I to eat it and she only took a couple bites.

 

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And I got the salad which I guess I never took a picture of…but was huge. It was good but I felt it needed more dressing. I should have asked for more but I just never did. I told mom to hand me a plate so she could have some….remember she said she would share with me. Then she tells me she doesn’t like Caesar salad! UGH! We had way too much food and barely made a dent in all of it…except Claire ate all her fries.

 

We also ordered dessert to try.

 

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It is called “Must contain Nuts” and it’s pretty much heaven on a plate. The only bad thing was we had ordered it early because the ice-cream kitchen was supposedly backed up, but when it came out, it was already starting to melt.

 

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We barely made a dent in that as well because we were now so full. Here is my tip….decide on a shake or ice-cream dish, but not both because it is impossible to finish both,especially if you order food with it. The shakes themselves could be a meal.

 

The shakes come in a cup that you get to keep. They look like mason jars but they are plastic. After we were way too full to eat any more, we paid our check and headed back out to city walk. We carried our shakes with us. We had one more thing yet in our plans tonight. We were going to see the Blue Man Group. I had seen this the previous Feb. and Mom and Dad saw it in March, but Claire had not seen it yet so I promised her I would take her.

 

It was still early so we went and picked up our tickets and just walked around for a bit.

 

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It was getting chilly and I decided to get Claire and I sweatshirts. There was a little shop right there and I got us each a Blue Man group sweatshirt. I have since lost mine. I know I wore it home on the plane and on the drive home. I swore I put it in my closet with all my other sweatshirts (I have an obsession with them), but when packing for this Feb. trip to Universal last month I could not find it. I looked in every spot imaginable and even asked my mom to look at her house in case I had left it in her car or something….nope! No one has seen it. The only thing I can think of is that I wore it somewhere and left it without realizing it.

 

We got in and seated and there were quite a few empty seats, which I was happy about and hoped no one would sit next to me. Right before the show was about to start a couple of guys came down our row and sat right next to me. He sighed really loud, like he was upset he had to sit next to someone as well. Listen buddy, I am no more excited about.

 

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I took some really bad video before the show started.

 

 

 

The show did eventually start and the guy next to me leaned on the armrest next to me the whole time and it was driving me nuts. Invasion of personal space for sure!

[jenseib]

The show was good, but it was the exact same show that both I and my parents had seen earlier in the year…EXACT! No differences at all. Claire enjoyed it though.

So as we were watching and I was getting to know my neighbor more than I wanted to, the week started catching up with me. I tend to get anxiety and I know I have it and what typically triggers it. Sitting here, super tired and so close to Mr next door neighbor was kicking it in. I couldn’t move my legs much or I would be playing footsie with the guy….and I was getting restless leg syndrome. One of my triggers is knowing I have to sit for a long time and that I can’t get up to move. It happens more when I have lack of sleep or just a long tiring day.

I was really feeling restless…and my back was killing me too. At one point I just stood up and walked out of our row and went to the seats across the aisle where no one was sitting and sat by myself. I knew I would feel it less if I had more room and air to breath. It was better, but still it wouldn’t go away completely, which was a shame because it made the show less enjoyable for me and I had loved it so much the first time and wanted to share that with Claire.

 

So the show ends and I walk back to get my milkshake,which I left on the floor, and my purse…only to find that our friendly neighbor had knocked the milkshake over and it was ALL over my purse. UGH!

I picked them up and wiped off the purse as much as I could and we headed out to the bathroom where I tried to rinse my cup off and clean my purse better.

We totally laughed as we both were trying to clean our cups out. The whipped cream must be made us plastic! It would not rinse out and when it did it would not dissolve and go down the sink. I can only imagine what it is made of….but it is darn good!

 

Once we were semi-clean we headed out of City Walk.

 

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I love the way City Walk looks at night!

 

And as we walked out I took a video on not what to do on a moving walkway.

 

 

Moving walkways are for walking faster…..no standing and it drives me INSANE!!!! If you want to stand then everyone should stand to one side so others who are walking can actually walk. When I use them and get behind a stander I say excuse me and they have 1 chance to move before I start barging through. Sorry…but it is a HUGE pet peeve of mine.

 

We found the bus to Cabana Bay and were quickly whisked back to our hotel.

 

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We got ready for bed and set our alarms. Unfortunately we had to get up fairly early to head home tomorrow.