HHN 2025 The First Three Houses

 This year, I once again got the 4 week option with express.  I'd like to get the full event ticket, but it is just so stinking expensive.  

In the 4 weeks I believe I was able to go 9 times.  Wednesdays we went through about 3 houses, Fridays we would go through all 10, and once we went on Sunday for a full night. 

Rather than ranking them, I am just going to put them in the order we would go through them. 

1. Galken: Monsters of the North

Storyline according to Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

-  A woman lived in a Norse village and was believed to be a protector. However, in reality, she was searching for her own dark powers. She sacrificed the village livestock and children to gain power. The villagers found out, took her up to the caves above the fjords, and gutted her to protect the village. However, she survived and swore her revenge on the village. 

The woman, now referred to as the Beast summons a horde of monsters to attack the village, based on Nordic folklore. The villagers are ripped apart by these creatures. As time goes on, she absorbs the creatures into herself beginning in the process. At the end, the Beast is extremely large, and guests enter their chest cavity and are "absorbed" into them. 

This was a solid middle of the road house for me -  it wasn't one of my favorites, but it was a fun house to walk through. 

Walkthrough credit to Attractions Magazine.

2. Fallout

This house was based on the Amazon series and video game by the same name. 

Storyline 

- Post apocalyptic L A

This was low on my list.  Probably the second worst house if I had to rate them.  

Walkthrough credit to Attractions Magazine

3. Dolls: Let's Play Dead

Storyline according to Halloween Horror Nights Fandom

- The story follows Lyla, a sadistic little girl who likes to torture and rip apart her dollies.  Guests are shrunk to the size of a doll and are faced with the task of trying to escape. 

Walkthrough credit to Theme Park Insider

This house was another middle house for me.  I enjoyed it, but it was not up there with my favorites.  It reminded me of Sid's room in Toy Story.  

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The Services (Back in January)

I realized I never blogged about my parents' service. Honestly, some things I still don't like to spend too much time thinking about.  Editing these photos today was not easy.  

 Losing your parents is so difficult - losing them both in just 3 weeks is almost unbearable.  Looking back at that time period, I was living in a fog from mid November to mid January (at least).  

One thing I am so grateful for is that my parents had their final arrangements all prepared and paid for in advance.  All we had to do was show up at the funeral home, listen to the options they chose, and sign paperwork.  

Their wishes were to be cremated and placed in a National Cemetery.  My dad was eligible because he spent time in the army (Korea) back in the early 1960's.  My mom was eligible as his spouse. 

They had selected the National Cemetery in Jacksonville because at the time they made their arrangements, that was the only one in Florida. But since then one opened near Cape Canaveral and was much closer for us, so we switched it to that one. 

We had the service on Friday January 31 and it was perfect! The weather was a beautiful sunny 80* and we commented more than once that my mom would have definitely been at water aerobics on that day.  Everything about the ceremony was so professional and well done. The most difficult part was having to listen to Taps being played.  

We were so grateful for the people who came to support us and who loved our parents and family from Wisconsin who were unable to attend but I know kept us in their thoughts and prayers.  After the service we drove back to Daytona Beach and took everyone to Manny's.  

  

The only disappointing part of the day is that we were assuming after the service that we would go to the vault for the internment.  Instead, the service was over at noon and they were not putting their ashes in the vault until 4:00.  So we could not be there for that.  

During Spring Break, on what would have been my dad's 90th birthday, we finally drove over to the cape to see their vault.  

I chose the saying on their vault 

True Love is Selfless

Because that was how they lived!!

Cruising Day 4 (and Day 5)

 Thursday June 5

Day at Sea

The day began ----yes early again (6:45 ish) and with some Starbucks coffee.  We decided to go down to breakfast in the dining room and were lucky enough to get a great table right next to a window.  

Most of the day was spent walking around or reading on the balcony.  We made our way up to the taco bar for lunch, but it was so loud on the pool deck that we brought the food back to our room to eat. 

The Boardwalk area of the ship:

 While we ate we watched a good documentary on the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union.  

For our last dinner we both had lentil soup, crusted salmon, and apple crisp for dessert.  

We did some more quiet reading out on the balcony.

In summary, I am glad we had the experience and the time together was great for us, but I do not foresee any more cruises in our future. 

Friday June 6

    We were awake bright and early (6:15) because again the beds were shaking as we docked at Cape Canaveral.  

Disembarking was just as easy as embarking and I was home by 10:00 am! 

Cruising Day 3

 June 4

        Today was probably the day my sister and I realized that we were not really cruise type people😳.   

      The day began just like the past two - early (7:15)!!! And with a trip down to the Starbucks for morning coffee and a little reading out on the balcony.  We were already docked at Coco Cay - which is what really woke us up because the beds were shaking.

        We got off the ship but the only thing to really do here was swim and we were not wearing our swimwear, so we just walked around and looked through a few souvenir huts. We both bought a bracelet and my sister also bought a Cuban cigar for her friend. I was curious about where the people who were working lived so I asked a lady and she said they all lived at a nearby island and come over by boat - about a 15 minute boat ride. 

        There was another Royal Caribbean ship docked across from us (Grandeur of the Seas) and I was shocked to see how much larger the Utopia was!!! 

        Again, the day was cloudy, hazy, and rain was coming so we made our way back to the ship.  We were really excited to check out the solarium.  It was an over 18 area and I had visions of peace, quiet, sipping a fruity drink, reading, and maybe taking a little dip in the hot tub.  That was far from the reality! 

Photo Credit: Gangwaze.com

Photo Credit: Business Insider

        It was packed with people. One guy in the hot tub was talking so LOUD AND PICKING HIS TEETH WITH A FLOSS PICK!!!! Right there in the hot tub!  It was so disgusting, I was NOT getting in the hot tub after seeing that.  We found some lovely deck chairs (We sat on the green chairs in the background) but it was so loud it was hard to concentrate enough to read. So after only about 20 minutes, we decided it would be more peaceful to read on our deck. We also bought things from the taco bar back to the room.  The pulled pork was amazing. 

        Dinner that evening was tomato soup (this prompted my sister and me to remember an old babysitter of ours forcing us to eat tomato soup and how much we hated it when we were younger), shrimp scampi, and blueberry cobbler for dessert. We also both had a fancy red alcoholic drink this night. 

    After dinner we walked around and ended up in the Central Park part of the ship sipping a kalua and cream and talking about mom and dad - especially how much they enjoyed cruises.  

    Before bed we read a little more on our balcony and watched September 5 again since we both enjoyed it so much.  

Cruising Day 2

 June 3

The day began at the crack of dawn - thanks to my sister who cannot sleep in. I went down to get some Starbucks and ran into the other early risers (old people).  I brought the coffee to our room and went out to the balcony to read and watched as we pulled into port in Nassau.  One interesting touch in the elevators was a little gold plate which they changed daily to match the day of the week. 

 We were lucky enough to be on the side of the ship facing Atlantis. Unfortunately, it was hazy and cloudy so the pictures aren't great. 

We docked at the empty dock space in front of the light blue ship on  the far left.

Later in the morning, we got off the ship to walk around.  We passed many other cruise ships that were also docked.  It was a busy day in Nassau. 

We walked through a couple stores, but spent most of our time in this skin care store, where they conned my sister out of quite a bit of money (which she is attempting to get back).

 

Dinner that evening was french onion soup, salmon, and apple crisp for dessert.  We walked around the ship after dinner - mostly on the 16th floor which we didn't get to last night. It was hazy and cloudy and sprinkling just it was all day long.  We ended the day by reading on the balcony and renting the movie September 5 which we thought was very good.  

                                     Mouth of the Abyss slide 

Photo Credit: Me and the Mouse Travel

                                       The Flow Rider

Photo Credit: Flow Rider

                                         Miniature Golf

 Photo Credit: Business Insider

 

Cruising Day 1

 After losing our parents, my sister and I decided we needed to get away together.  After considering several options, we decided a short cruise would be the best option.  After some research I settled on a 4-night cruise to the Bahamas with Royal Caribbean.  

Day One

Monday June 2

    We arrived in Port Canaveral about 12:30 and were not scheduled for check-in until 2:00 so we walked to a nearby restaurant called Grills Tiki Bar. We ordered an appetizer and couple drinks. 

An added bonus was being right by our massive ship (this was the back of it). 

Boarding was very easy because I had all the documents I needed...actually finding the necessary documents was NOT easy and more than once we wondered whether we'd even be able to go on the cruise.  Thankfully, everything worked out and we sailed right through the boarding process (pun intended).  

Finding our room was pretty easy also.  We were on the 7th floor in room 128.  

Having a balcony was a must for us and, as it turns out, was the place we were the happiest and most content. We spent a LOT of time out there reading. 

Right after we left port, it was time to get ready for dinner.  We chose the earlier dining option (5:00) and felt very awkward sitting at a six person table all by ourselves and wished we had a smaller table.  But the service was great and the food was amazing!  On this day, I had soup for an appetizer, whitefish for the main course, and chocolate pudding for dessert.  

After dinner we walked around several decks on the ship just looking around.  

We ended up back in our room at about 8:00.  I took a shower and then we sat outside and read and then rented the movie Companion before turning the lights out.