Trip Report COMPLETE...And that's how you give a cat a pill - an August trip report

Hello all. Thanks for reading the 2015 version of the Burnett family trip report. Hopefully you find it enjoyable. I'll add days as I find time, but this may take a while.

Anyone want to read the pre-trip report - here's the link: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/the-trip-that-almost-wasn’t….898587/#post-6672384

Intros

So nothing much has changed in terms of the travel party (other than every time I do this we seem to be a year older than the last time).

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From left to right there is our DD Stephanie (14), myself (Graham – 40), my DW Tammy (XX) and our DS Liam (12). We were down at WDW from August 15th to the 25th. We spent 6 nights at a Poly studio and 4 nights at a WL studio.

Some background

So if you read our last trip report (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...in-between-an-august-2014-trip-report.889324/), you may remember that near the end of the trip it was announced that the company I worked for (Tim Hortons), had announced that they were merging with Burger King. There was a lot of uncertainty about what the future would hold after that announcement, and we weren’t sure when we’d be back to WDW. Fast forward to January 26th of this year…I’m sitting in my office when the phone rings and I’m called down to one of the “extra” offices we have. Long story short, my position was deemed redundant, and I was relieved of my duties.

However, a few weeks later I had a new job. After taking a few weeks off to relax, I started my new job…and our next WDW trip was back on.

Once we knew the trip was on we started our normal prep stuff (buying gift cards at Sam’s club or Target each month). By the time we were ready to leave we had enough cards to pay for all the meals etc. I then went on the Disney gift card website and merged all the cards into 3 cards. This made life easier for us (fewer cards to carry) and for the CMs (who didn’t have to scan a bunch of $50 cards when we went to pay our bill).

Well, that’s it for background….So here we go


Day 1 – Aug 15 – A different start

So August 15th finally arrived. Everyone was really excited and had trouble sleeping the night before…Speaking of the night before…this was the first year we didn’t stay at a hotel near the airport. Being so close to the Buffalo airport, we always book flights on either Southwest or Jet Blue out of Buffalo, as they are significantly cheaper than flying out of either Toronto or Hamilton (our hometown). However, this year our flights weren’t until later in the afternoon (3:45), so we didn’t need to stay overnight since it’s only a 1 hour drive from our home to the Buffalo Airport.

So there we were, up nice and early, car already packed and ready to go. We were going to take the kids to their karate class (Steph is a yellow belt and Liam is a brown belt), but then decided it wasn’t worth risking one of them getting hurt so decided we’d just head out early. We made a quick stop at the bank to pick up some US $, and then headed out.

The trip down to Buffalo was fine until we got to the border. We have NEXUS cards (basically means we are pre-screened so we can get through customs quickly – think of it like a customs Fast Pass). However, this time we presented our cards to the officer, and we were then asked to pull over. It turns out there wasn’t anything wrong, but we had been selected for a compliance check. We weren’t really sure what that meant, but we were asked to pull over and get out of the vehicle. A few minutes later another officer came over and did a quick search of the interior of our vehicle, then handed us back our cards and our keys and said we were good to go. Well that was different.

After crossing the border we made a quick stop at Sam’s Club and Target to pick up a few last minute things, and then headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch. After a good lunch we headed over to the airport. We went to the long-term parking lot and found a spot. Right after we pulled in the shuttle came up behind us, and before we knew it we were at the main terminal…which was absolutely packed. It turns out the Baltimore airport had a power loss, so no flights were going in and out, which was causing a back-log. The line inside to get to the Southwest desk wasn’t moving, so we headed outside and did the curbside check-in which was much shorter. Our bags were all within the right weight, so all was good.

Next up was airport security. Fortunately, since we have NEXUS cards, we can sign up for pre-screening at the airport, so there was no wait there either – other than Liam got pulled over for a secondary check (seems to be a theme). They did a hand swab and then put the swab into a computer and a few seconds later he was given the all clear. After that all was good

Waiting to board selfie:
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It's funny how things change. Here is a picture of what our kids were doing waiting for our first trip to Disney (7 years ago):
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and this is what pre-flight boarding looks like now:
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There's our plane:
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On the plane selfie:
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Our flight left on time, and was relatively uneventful (I fell asleep for most of the flight which was great).

I didn't choose the thug life...(and my kids think I'm a total dork now).
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We arrived in Orlando around 6:30, right in the middle of the daily storm (which freaked Tammy out. She’s a very nervous flyer). We got off the plane and headed over to the ME desk. That’s when I realized I had forgotten the ME boarding passes at home. No big deal though, they just printed off new ones for us there, and sent us on our way. Our bus was waiting, and we boarded quickly (around 7:00).

ME Selfie:
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A half hour drive later and we pulled up to the Poly.

Check-in went smoothly, other than our Magic Bands were no where to be found. It turns out they were waiting for us at Kidani? I guess it kinda makes sense since we had originally booked at Kidani, but we changed that back in February when Poly bookings opened.
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Oh well. They gave us four magic bands (and had our colours available), and sent us off to our room.
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to be continued
 
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fractal

Well-Known Member
Wow! What a great night at MK - you hit all those big rides with little wait and all alone on Splash and an extra round! Good for you, I'm sure you won't forget that night.

Going back to Blizzard Beach - I did Summit Plummet once and it scared me so much when I was up top I almost chickened out. Last few times we have stuck with Typhoon Lagoon but now I may push for BB next trip.

Trail's End looks pretty tasty.

Loving the report!
 

smk

Well-Known Member
We discovered Trails End years ago when we stayed in the cabins at FW. It is a great buffet,breakfast is best in my opinion.
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Your daughter has some pretty awesome shirts! I am a HUGE penguins fan, so I smiled when I saw it!! I also love the Hogwarts shirt! :)
Yeah, she's a Sidney Crosby fan (I used to work with his uncle at my previous job). It's tough since I'm a Leafs fan (it's even worse since my son is a Bruin's fan).
 

Nubs70

Well-Known Member
Yeah, she's a Sidney Crosby fan (I used to work with his uncle at my previous job). It's tough since I'm a Leafs fan (it's even worse since my son is a Bruin's fan).

Your daughter would not happen to be on the school dive team, would she??
 

Jae99

Well-Known Member
Loving the TR.....What a great night at MK being able to book 3 FP+ after dinner and have little to no waits on multiple rides. Being a fellow Canuck I have a question about the quality of the wifi in the parks. When we visited last December I had a hard time with the app and website, it seemed that the quality of the wifi was weak at best.

How did you find the wifi on your trip? We are heading back to WDW this December and I am hoping that the wifi is a little better this time.
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Loving the TR.....What a great night at MK being able to book 3 FP+ after dinner and have little to no waits on multiple rides. Being a fellow Canuck I have a question about the quality of the wifi in the parks. When we visited last December I had a hard time with the app and website, it seemed that the quality of the wifi was weak at best.

How did you find the wifi on your trip? We are heading back to WDW this December and I am hoping that the wifi is a little better this time.

WiFi was OK. Not great, not terrible. I found it sluggish in the parks (probably because there were so many people on it). It was dead in some spots. Having said that, it was great to keep in touch (we all downloaded the Viber app on our phones which allows you to text over wifi. It was great for when the kids went off on their own).
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Your daughter would not happen to be on the school dive team, would she??

No. While she loves swimming, she's not on any water sport teams. Karate is her thing right now. Does she look like someone you've seen on a dive team?
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We discovered Trails End years ago when we stayed in the cabins at FW. It is a great buffet,breakfast is best in my opinion.
We went for breakfast there on our last day and had a great time. Our server was fantastic, and the food was amazing. It should be much more popular than it is.
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow! What a great night at MK - you hit all those big rides with little wait and all alone on Splash and an extra round! Good for you, I'm sure you won't forget that night.

Going back to Blizzard Beach - I did Summit Plummet once and it scared me so much when I was up top I almost chickened out. Last few times we have stuck with Typhoon Lagoon but now I may push for BB next trip.

Trail's End looks pretty tasty.

Loving the report!
Yeah, it was probably the best night we've had at the MK (maybe because we weren't expecting much, but got do so much).

Blizzard Beach is awesome. I hear you on Summit Plummet. I kind of go back and forth on how I feel about it. Last year when I went on it I was really nervous for some reason (butterflies in the stomach, and actually thought about not going down). This year I didn't feel nerves at all. Can't explain it. Liam did say it seemed to hurt more this year, but he would still do it multiple times if he could.

Trail's end is great. Would fully recommend it.
 

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Love, love, love your Trip Reports! I'm so glad your job situation turned out OK - I was so sad for you in your last TR. Awesome pictures! That ice-cream bucket from BB looks amazingly yummy!
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love, love, love your Trip Reports! I'm so glad your job situation turned out OK - I was so sad for you in your last TR. Awesome pictures! That ice-cream bucket from BB looks amazingly yummy!
Thanks for your kind comments

The ice cream bucket was great (according to the kids at least).

Thanks for reading.
 

Nubs70

Well-Known Member
No. While she loves swimming, she's not on any water sport teams. Karate is her thing right now. Does she look like someone you've seen on a dive team?
Just a running joke from a Wings fan as Crosby tends to be a bit "artistic" when bumped into. Hence the term The Sydney Crosby Dive Team.
 

DWLove

Active Member
After crossing the border we made a quick stop at Sam’s Club and Target to pick up a few last minute things, and then headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch. After a good lunch we headed over to the airport. We went to the long-term parking lot and found a spot. Right after we pulled in the shuttle came up behind us, and before we knew it we were at the main terminal…which was absolutely packed. It turns out the Baltimore airport had a power loss, so no flights were going in and out, which was causing a back-log. The line inside to get to the Southwest desk wasn’t moving, so we headed outside and did the curbside check-in which was much shorter. Our bags were all within the right weight, so all was good.

Where is there a Cracker Barrel?! I guess it depends on what bridge you cross at…we always cross at Peace Bridge and have never seen one.
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Where is there a Cracker Barrel?! I guess it depends on what bridge you cross at…we always cross at Peace Bridge and have never seen one.
It's about 5 minutes from the airport. Let me see if I can explain this...Pass in front of the airport and keep going until you hit the lights at the end of the airport property. Take a left at those lights (you'll pass the long-term parking lot for the airport on your left and the Sleep Inn on your right). You'll come to a little roundabout, and you take the first right. Follow that road down to the next set of lights, and then turn left. Cracker Barrel is on your right hand side. There's also a Friendly's, a Bob Evan's, a Dunkin' Donuts, a Tim Hortons and a few other restaurants.
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 – I think we’re famous

Wake up…coffee…I need coffee…the late night last night naturally resulted in us sleeping in a bit. We were all up around closer to 9, and out the door around 10. The plan was Hollywood Studios today.
On our way (they couldn't decide if they were heroes or villains today).
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I like the park, but it is definitely in need of that upcoming park-wide refurb. We got to the park around 10:30 (where we saw someone try to sneak in a contraband selfie stick…that got me thinking….wouldn’t it be funny to take a selfie stick, and then when CM comes to take it, ask if you could take a selfie with them (while using the stick of course). Not sure why I found that idea funny, but I did).
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One thing we decided to do today was to co-ordinate our outfits.
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A few months before our trip we went to Target and got Captain American shirts (the boys in dark blue, and the girls in light blue). This really got us noticed in the parks. We got a lot of “Hail Hydra’s” from CMs when we passed them. It was kind of fun.

The first stop today was Tower of Terror.
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I think this is Steph’s favourite ride in any of the parks. We had fastpasses for it (although I do like the que..but that heat though…). Now Steph’s love of the ride is equally matched by Tammy’s hatred of it. She did it once on our first trip, and hasn’t been on it since. This does work out well for us though, as I’ll explain in a minute.
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So Liam, Steph and I went on ToT, and had a great time.
After the ride I stopped at the Joffrey’s coffee cart that is at the exit to ToT, and bought Tammy a Vienna Latte (the “DVC” coffee – it’s not actually on the menu).
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I felt bad that Tammy had to sit with the bags, waiting for us to get off the ride, so I offered her this peace offering. However…this is where Tammy not liking the ride works out well for us. Follow me here…Liam and I both like Rock and Roller Coaster, but Steph and Tammy don’t. I booked four fast passes for ToT, which 3 of us used. Tammy still has the fastpass on her band. So, for a few minutes, Steph gets to be Tammy, and they switch bands so Steph can use the other fast pass.

While Steph does that, Liam and I go over and do the single rider line for ToT.
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Like clockwork I’m tellin’ ya (of course the one person this doesn’t seem to work out for is Tammy (or in this case me, as I get a text from Tammy while I’m in line with Liam for RnR saying she just bought some nice scarves at one of the stores she had time to walk through
while we were all riding).

I'm not sure what he's looking at
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on ride selfie
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"official" picture
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Anyways, we all had fun on our rides (and Tammy’s shopping).

to be continued
 
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