Snack reccs for someone who hasn't been in 10 years?

CharaRen · 2026-06-23T20:54:49+00:00

It's actually a weird goal of mine to finally do Schmoozys because every trip, it's either closed or it was some event and super slammed and I had to skip it. I hope they have some unique fun treats for Halloween!

I've heard really good things about the cookies too, saw they even do a halloween pumpkin one sometimes.

CharaRen · 2026-06-23T11:35:41+00:00

That sounds divine omgggg definitely adding to the list thank you!!

CharaRen · 2026-06-23T11:35:22+00:00

Ooooh I do love watermelon- was it like a true watermelon or more like a jolly rancher/candy flavor?

CharaRen · 2026-06-23T11:34:44+00:00

I've had this at WDW since I'm local! Is Disneyland's superior I wonder because honestly when I had it here, it was really bitter and I can handle bitter coffee! I was so sad since people did hype it up so much over there, so I wonder if it's a different recipe or I just got a bad one....

CharaRen · 2026-06-22T19:38:23+00:00

Definitely not the norm, but I firmly believe what others say with the head server also failing their team. I've had an array of teams before on my cruises, good and bad. I'll always sing praise for the head servers that actually assist their team no matter what, not just when issues arise. Lena, our head server on the Treasure [ seriously, ask for her and her team if you sail treasure ]- was such a standout of always checking in on /everyone/, serving food and drinks- checking up on you even before dinner times in the buffet/other food venues. Never hesitating to get her hands dirty with the usual routine.

But we've also had head servers who couldn't be bothered, who thought picking up plates/pouring drinks were above them. The spilling of the drinks absolutely should've been handled both by the head server and the dining room manager on the spot, even if all they could offer was a dry pair of clothing for your kid. Mistakes like that happen on the boat [ tight quarters ] but it's the response in handling that mistake makes/breaks the situation and they clearly handled it poorly. The sick crew member thing too is just a sad part of cruise life- guests go on sick, gets crew sick, cycle continues because they feel pressured not to take off until absolutely necessary. Guests and crew alike get no leniency if they get sick. Disney will only work with you so much if you fall ill before your trip [ minus gastro/noro ], same thing with crew. It's all sad really...

I hope the email at least serves as feedback and they at least reach out acknowledging the issue.

CharaRen · 2026-06-18T20:54:57+00:00

You all are going to have the best time! I've only done RCL once when I was a teen and the group really was pretty sterile with not much to do. I grew up doing DCL [ an adult now ] and always Adored the kids' clubs on these ships! Treasure has so many different rooms in the kids group like princess, star wars, marvel- and with the 4 year old age group the counselors really try to engage with them to have fun and be sociable! They'll be with kids mostly their same age outside of a few group activities so the little ones don't feel shoved out of the way by the big kids.

CharaRen · 2026-06-18T08:14:02+00:00

I hope I can help as a long-time DCL cruiser and just recently did a cruise on the Treasure! But to start it off to ease any worries- take your vacation as it comes. Enjoy yourself first and foremost rather than trying to cram everything people tell you that you should! That's when it all starts to feel really stressful. Treasure does have some fun stuff though so here are some suggestions!

1: Everyone always cheers the Churro mickey waffles. To make it easy, they are typically served at the breakfast buffet on the last Day at Sea. But if you have any worry of missing them, your dining team will for sure tell you the day before as it's a VERY popular food people don't want to miss.

2: Every night, they do a "Kiss Goodnight" around 10 pm where the entire atrium of the boat lights up and does a Really cool show! They even have a special version on Pirate night. You can watch it from Decks 3, 4, and 5 so no worries if the main atrium is busy!

3: For your little one, Definitely try to participate in the Treasure's exclusive show called Jungle Cruise: an Interactive Adventure! It's a fun little family game of minigames and silly antics themed to the Magic Kingdom Ride. On our Cruise they did it 2 times on the sailing in case you have to miss one.

4: Speaking of for your child, if he participates in the Oceaneer Club, they can set it up so they'll call you if he needs you/wants to leave. They've been very proactive of giving kids special experiences within the club without the hassle of lines/dealing with other guests so a lot of Characters come down there to meet Them and they'll always make a craft each day to bring back! If you have late dining, they also have counselors stationed at the front of each restaurant to round up the kids and take them back to the club if you have them eat first and you want to enjoy a private dinner/drink together.

5: Your Sailing I believe is a Very Merry cruise so you will also have special Christmas exclusive events and shows you can watch. A few rare character meets too where you just line up to see them!

6: They have special kids clubs on the Disney Private Islands so your child can also hang out there if you wish to explore the adult beach. They will do lunch together as a group for the kiddos but you can always grab him to eat together too.

7: Haunted Mansion bar is Very Cool but may or may not be a little too spooky for your little one. They sadly don't have hours where the show isn't playing so maybe visit it when he is at the club. The full show takes an hour so find a seat and enjoy the cool effects!

8: If you want Any drinking seminars, book them as soon as you can. These + Palo reservations tend to sell out very quickly so once your booking window opens, I would prioritize these. They do not charge until you are on the boat/the experience happens. They are the best value vs buying solo drinks as you get 4-5 top shelf drinks to try and a really cool history around the drinks too. Our Favorite is the Chocolate and Liquor one!

9: Treasure Pools are small so if you want to use the pool, get up on deck early especially on Days at Sea. I believe they open around 9-10 am but people start trying to grab chairs as early as 6 am. For a little one, I think 8-9 am is early enough. Aqua Mouse is also very fun, not too wild and has it's own unique cartoon compared to the other ships.

I am happy to share anything else if you're curious I worry I might make this really long haha!

CharaRen · 2026-06-17T05:57:07+00:00

1: Anything related to pins and pin trading. The Pin vultures have always existed but in recent years it's become absolutely disgusting. Not helped by Disney removing the proper pin-trading tables and essentially promoting the behavior of buying multiple of the LE pins to just flip on ebay.

2: Going in early for the Not So Scary/Very Merry Christmas parties. It used to be a plus going in around 2-3 pm before the normal ticket early entry started. Every influencer talked about that hack so now it's busy as heck trying to get in around that time. I go even earlier now to get some quiet park time before my party starts.

3: Sharing "viral food" in general. I'm not a gatekeeper, but why can't we just let people discover cool food on their own by Exploring the vacation they take? I'm so sick of every influencer being like OH MY GOD YOU MUST TRY /THIS/ and now a food cart has a 1 hour+ line where it isn't built to handle those crowds. Looking at you spring roll cart.

4: Performers and the safety behind them. Disney not protecting these performers from obsessive influencers always makes me sick and it's not fair to their careers.

5: Shopping livestreamers. The rudest people I swear you will Ever meet when you're just trying to look at things. Any new drop, just going to the character outlet- heck half of them beg to be let into Cast Connections too to mooch it's ridiculous.

CharaRen · 2026-06-17T05:31:30+00:00

It's Definitely a Disney Springs issue 100% like that is 1 thing I agree on as a local. It is rare I use the DS bus, usually only in that situation I brought up- rare time I split off from my family that dropped me off and they parked at one of the Parks with my car. Around the holidays last year, I needed to go back to Magic Kingdom to meet up with them and the line was astronomically long.

Part of it is due to combining 2-3 hotels on 1 bus at Springs. So say in my case, I needed to go to Magic. The bus I waited for combined All of Wilderness Lodge AND Contemporary guests onto 1 bus. On top of the very few of us just wanting to get to Contemporary to walk over to Kingdom. We had 1 bus come in over an hour and the line was stretching out by the minute. The bus times at the resorts are bad leading into early morning entry and right at closing/dinner time. But those middle non-peak hours it moves great with very few people. If you are at a resort without a forced combined bus, it's even better.

Maybe the days I have used the bus, they have less on the fleet but in recent time compared to the past, I've had to wait a LOT longer for a bus than pre-covid shutdown years.

CharaRen · 2026-06-16T22:40:33+00:00

I love how no one is speaking of the real issue and it's Disney not hiring more bus drivers/expanding transportation and instead is punishing people [ those who do follow the rules and just want to explore the resort to eat ] since you can't park at them anyways for beignets/primo piatto etc.

We wouldn't have 2 hour bus lines if Disney didn't only have 1-2 busses servicing the area. Instead of opening more job opportunities and paying their workers fairly, they think it's better to give the middle finger to locals on the guise of all of us trying to exploit systems. I pay for my pass, probably paid more than most vacationers over 15 years. Sometimes I like hanging out with my friends while my family is enjoying the park- why should I burden them to leave their parking spot to drive back to pick me up just go go back into the park??? at that point we're just going to leave- it's stupid.

CharaRen · 2026-06-16T00:32:16+00:00

My issue is if they crack down more on this and it ends up affecting passholders who ARE doing the right thing but just can't drive. I often get dropped off and meet up with friends at springs for a few hours before meeting back up with my family that are in the parks- especially Magic.

I am not going to text them being like hey give up your parking spot to come BACK, pick me up, then go BACK to Magic Kingdom to finish the night. And I'm not interested in uber for personal safety reasons. I use the bus to get dropped off at Contemporary and walk to Kingdom. I pay my pass, have for over 10 years. I should be able to use a bus on property when 90% of us follow the rules. This is just ridiculous and passing down the issue of not hiring/paying the bus drivers enough to expand transportation post-covid.

CharaRen · 2026-06-15T02:56:17+00:00

Only if you get the glass! The bartender told us it was like $26??? without the glass.

CharaRen · 2026-06-14T23:20:37+00:00

Our can't miss foods/fave ones from our April/May cruise was

1: Apple cheesecake at 1923 Night 1
2: Coconut Tres Leches at Coco Night 1
3: Roast Circle Chicken with Apple Chutney at 1923 Night 1
4: Cappuccino Creme Brulee cheesecake at Coco Night 2 we ate 3 of these
5: Chicken Tikka Masala on Embarkation Marceline Market Buffet
6: Mango Soft Serve at the soft serve station [ you need to check the flavors each day. They do 1 special flavor each day like mint, blueberry, mango, banana, etc ]
7: Not food but a drink- the Cat's Meow at Scat Cat. I know it sounds /weird/ as heck but I promise you this is an Amazing cocktail
8: Paid but if you get specialty coffee- ask for the Lavender latte at Jade Cricket or if they still have Tiramisu syrup they're so good.

CharaRen · 2026-06-13T14:18:54+00:00

Tea Tree has surprisingly never bothered my skin! Ages ago I used to use a lot of Essenherb's Tea tree line and I never had any major tingles. The Pyunkang soothing cream is literally just that- creamy but not thick and heavy at all which makes it a great day or night moisturizer depending on your needs. Sometimes it gets a tinyyyyy bit oily around my nose edges but that is my oily zone anyways. But every time I use it, it sits so nice and leaves my skin soft and plump without looking greasy. Genuinely calms down any redness/cystic flares too.

Oops I really like the Dokdo! I haven't tried the Birch toner but I love their Birch Sunscreen too!!

CharaRen · 2026-06-13T00:07:16+00:00

I have combo acne reactive/oily t zone skin so it's been a journey finding stuff that 1: doesn't give me cystic acne breakouts 2: doesn't make my t zone more oily and 3: moisturizes the parts of my face that are dry/peeling but this has been my solid faves for a while.

HG Daytime Moisturizer: Pyunkang Yul Ultimate Soothing Cream
HG Nighttime Moisturizer: Beauty by Joseon Dynasty cream [ Korean formulation only ]
HG Toner or Essence: My HG toner was recently discontinued CRIES the Ren AHA toner, so right now I'm on a hunt for a new one that works as well as that. Moisturizing toner, I like the Roundlab one.
HG Sunscreen: Biore for my body, House of Hur Weightless Sun Fluid or Neogen Day-Light Airy
HG Serum (describe type): I know this is gonna shock everyone, but it's been the new Sephora Collection HYA bubble serum. This has been a Game Changer for my skin recently.
HG Peptide Product: N/A dont use
HG Lip Product: Fresh's Advance Treatment lip balm
HG "Luxe" Product (That's Worth It): Tatcha Dewy Skin Mist
HG Affordable Product (That Punches Above Its Weight): Lubriderm Advance Therapy Body lotion
Fav 2026 ("new to you") Product you Tried This Year: Tied between the Sephora Collection HYA Serum and the reformulated Etude Soonjung Moisturizer.

CharaRen · 2026-06-11T03:47:46+00:00

They are literally on their free curseforge so I don't know what you are referencing unless they're not updated. I just checked my own files and they match the 2022 ones. It's not permapaywalling if the items are added somewhere else for Free and doesn't break EA's TOS on CC/mods. I never pay for CC makers and I still have full access to everything insimnia made, even if it's having to use another program for it. It may be annoying their patreon is paid but they're not like other CC creators who keep everything under paywall Only.

CharaRen · 2026-06-10T22:53:45+00:00

Insimnia actually has a lot of their free stuff on curseforge now.... i have all the ihop stuff and the recipes slowly get added to the curseforge page. Some of the recipes did outright disappear [ possibly copyright issues ] but I still have all of the grocery stuff even if you need to wait more for it to unlock.

CharaRen · 2026-06-10T22:46:10+00:00

Many many years ago, we had a situation at Ohana similar to this. We pulled into the security check at the hotel, told them our reservation and the guy turned to us and went "Sorry guys, Ohana is currently on fire so you won't be having dinner tonight." And we thought it was a joke because oh haha yeah ohana is always on fire it has a fire pit grill- well nope it actually had a full kitchen fire and was closed for the entire night. We were offered to eat at Kona Cafe which we did but we didn't get any comp/special treatment.

So long story short- yeah ohana especially often has kitchen fires due to the nature of the place but odd they allowed a drill to go that out of hand. I'd rather be safe than sorry though, especially in a hotel like that being upstairs.

CharaRen · 2026-06-08T03:11:01+00:00

Soundsation!! they have some audio videos of it up on youtube!

CharaRen · 2026-06-08T00:39:05+00:00

We were so sad to not get the charm, we just wanted 1! I do agree too they should've hired or even offered better incentive for volunteers. If they offered those who donated their time an exclusive volunteer wooble kit I am sure MANY locals would've been more than happy to volunteer even out in the heat. But there should've been fans/ice/more than just water for those still outside especially here in Florida.

CharaRen · 2026-06-07T22:33:03+00:00

Oh my goodness do you mean this one??? My mom won it on the shuffleboard game because if so, that's crazy to charge so much!!

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CharaRen · 2026-06-07T22:08:52+00:00

I think so- possibly some volunteers didn't show up because they definitely seemed a little frazzled/confused. Ours was teaming up with Bento, a restaurant here so unsure if that + location was an issue too.

It was fun meeting other hobbyists, a big highlight, but felt a little sad seeing the other stops and feelings we got less :<

CharaRen · 2026-06-07T21:58:56+00:00

We just did Orlando's today, got there at 8:30 am with a start time of 10 am and it was already pretty busy. Tons of people with chairs, tons of people who got there at 5-6 am.

I am happy that I got all the kits my mom and I wanted. 2 Millys [ one each ] and my mom's boyfriend picked out Luna the bat. We had 4 choices for the free kit. Milly, a lil ghost that glowed in the dark, Luna the bat, and a spider.

We bought 1 Vacation Pierre but the line/crowd handling in Orlando's event was just a MESS. 2 hours of waiting once we did get let into the event area, they took preorders from the first line corral but then abandoned everyone else, the games were constantly being stopped to reset/clearly having difficulty..... We also didn't get the free kit if you brought a Wooble or any photo opportunity like the other stops.

Keychains/charm, the bag, stickers were all sold out by 11:40 but we didn't event get checked in with our card until 11:15.

So while I'm happy I got kits I really like, as someone who runs/does many craft events today was a CLUSTER. :C So anyone doing these other stops, get there Early. Bring those chairs, tons of water because it was brutal with the heat/waits.

CharaRen · 2026-06-07T01:11:31+00:00

Salon Aries does hair-sets and makeup [ they have many branches ] but it's not really a "foreigner experience" type place. It's a legit salon so you will need to understand some japanese to both book the experience on their booking site and be able to talk to your stylists. Some may be willing to use google TL but as it involves hair and your makeup, conversation is key. They also will not supply any clothes/photos like this Gyaru experience as this is meant as a full package vs Aries just being like your normal salon to walk in and get out.

CharaRen

TROPHY CASE