Trip Report Lessons in Geography

We've been back for about a month now, and I got my pictures all sorted, and I don't have daily rehearsals or performances now, so I guess this is the time to start my trip report.
I never finished the one from 2016, but I took notes this time, which should make it a bit easier, but it's still a 3 and a half week trip, so there's a LOT to cover.

The basic details:
July 20th-August 3rd at Disney with my four: Myself, my husband M, my Daughter E (13) and my son A (11)
My brother's family joined us for the first week: My brother J, his husband also J, and their daughter N (6).
My cousins met up with us the first day, and we all had dinner together....I believe there were 20 of us in total.
August 4th-6th was just whatever we wanted to do.
August 7th-11th at Universal Orlando
August 12th- Flying home

We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort for the Disney portion of the trip, and at Royal Pacific (Universal's version of the Poly) for the Universal part. In between we were at the Doubletree at Seaworld, and for the last night before we flew out, we were at Allure resort.

Here's my 4, my brother's 3, and 3 of the cousins' group.
Adults left to right:
My brother-in-law J,my brother J, me, my cousin's boyfriend K, my cousin C, my husband M.
Kids:
My niece N (6), My cousin's daughter L (8...yes, she's tiny), my son A (11) and my daughter E (13)

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Got all that? Good! Let's go!
 
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Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Our story begins on the last day of school: Friday, July 19th, 2019. (sorry, this first bit will be text heavy) I didn't know this, but neither of my children actually had school this day. Because the Dutch are weird. My son finished 6th grade, and the only thing he had in the last week of school was "camp" and then he was free the rest of the week. My daughter only had to turn her books in and get her report card on the Tuesday, and then she was done as well. So we had everything packed up and we went to my in-laws' on Friday since they would be driving us to the airport at early o'clock Saturday morning.
We got up and got ready at 4:30, and planned to leave at 6:30. My brother-in-law would drive one car, and my parents-in-law the other. But my brother-in-law was late...he lives half a block away. Once he got there, we split up, boys in one car and girls in the other.
We got to the airport at about 8:15...we were cutting it close, since you are supposed to arrive 3 hours before for an international flight.
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DH went to look for a luggage trolley and my son wasn't wanting to be in pictures.
Every time our flight has originated in Amsterdam, we've flown directly to the US, and we had to be in this one section of the airport to check in, and then immediately after security, there is a McDonalds. Our plan was to eat breakfast at that McDonalds before our flight.
This time, we were flying to Frankfort Germany first, and then going to the US. The check-in is on the other side of the terminal. Once we got to check in, we stood in line for quite a while, and there were several flights checking in. We saw one of E's classmates from elementary school on her way to Sudan (I think that's where they are from originally?) to visit their family back home.
It was finally our turn to check in and we spent ages and they couldn't get E's passport entered. It just wasn't working. They call over a supervisor and the supervisor tells my husband that he entered the number incorrectly on the ESTA form, because he put in zeros and it's supposed to be O. He tells her no, he looked it up and Dutch passports do not use the letter O. They do some searching and realize he's correct, and that THEY had entered it incorrectly and now it wouldn't let them redo it. It took forever for them to figure it out, but we were patient. Then at the check-in desk next to us, one of the supervisors starts swearing at the other employees...one of the flights checking in was leaving soon and anyone on that flight needed to be checked in immediately and they hadn't been sorting them out and sending them to the front. It was an issue, but he was very unprofessional swearing at people in front of all the people checking in, including small children. He was very demeaning. I was glad he wasn't the one doing our check-in!
I was told I had to check my carryon with all the ears we had made, because it was a full flight and there wasn't enough space. :(
We got our boarding passes and noticed we weren't all together for the flight from Frankfurt to MCO, so we went to the gate to ask if they could fix that. But they changed the gate, so then we went to the right gate, but they told us we had to do that in Frankfurt.

We were still sitting at the gate when our flight was supposed to be leaving. They hadn't even started boarding...this did not bode well for transfer times in Frankfurt. We ended up taking off an hour late, so we didn't have much time in Frankfurt. We had to get from terminal A to terminal Z, AND go through passport check again in the process. We follow the signs and go through passport check, we're in a hurry since we only have 30 minutes...A really needed to go to the bathroom and then they chose DH for extra security check, and he's told to wait for someone to come get him. I had to take the kids back out to get to the bathroom and when we came back, DH was gone and nowhere to be seen. I had no idea if he was still in security or if he had gone on without us, and our phones didn't work in Germany, so I had no way to call him to find out. With very little time left, I decided to just go to the gate and hope he made it there. He was there waiting for us when we got there, but there was no time to ask about switching seats as they were already boarding. We had 2 seats together with one behind that, and one on the other end and other side of the plane, and they had E sitting in that one seat. So she and I were going to switch seats so I was the one by myself. But they checked our passports and boarding passes again upon entering the plane, and so we had to switch our boarding passes back, and they sent me to the wrong side and I had to climb over people to get to the right place.

I approach "my" seat (glad we didn't send E there!!) and I have the window seat and the 2 people with the middle and aisle are already seated and NOT happy about having to move to let me into my seat. After much eye rolling and exaggerated sighing and some rude comments, they get out to let me through and I put the arm rests up to get to my seat. I sit down and I'm looking for my seatbelt, and the guy informs me that he is going to have to put the arm rest down. Well yes, I know that. He looks me up and down and asks if I will fit. Then he puts the arm rest just a couple of inches down and looks at me. He moves it a bit more and looks at me questioningly. He says he doesn't think it's going to fit. I'm not THAT big...yes, I know I'm fat, but seriously, I didn't even need a seatbelt extender. I shoved the armrest down all the way.

Just my luck, there is a screaming baby across the aisle from us, and the Judgy McJudgersons, or at least Mrs. Judgy McJudgerson is not happy about this, and complains for the whole 10 hour flight about EVERYTHING. The family with the screaming baby is Desi and has dietary restrictions, so they have ordered special meals, which are served before the rest of the meals. And Mrs McJudgerson does not like the smell of the food and is not afraid to show it. She makes quite the production of holding a stack of napkins over her nose, and alternately using the napkins to waft away the scent, while repeatedly saying "It's absolutely disgusting!" She had what I consider to be a New York accent. I kept thinking "I wonder if this is what a 'flid' is".

Then they go to serve the meal to the rest of the plane and before they even get to our row, she says to me in very slow English like I'm a moron "Do you want chicken or pasta?". Now, I don't know what kind of pasta it is or what is served with the chicken, so I really don't know, and I didn't know why she needed to know, but I thought it would be rude to tell her to mind her own business, so I said "I don't know. Probably pasta...we'll see." and as soon as the FA got to us, she orders for all three of us "We all want the pasta." and as I'm sitting in the window seat, I can't get the FA's attention to tell her I actually don't know, and she's already opened the meal for me and is passing it to me. It was awful and I wish I had gotten the chicken. Then they come to bring headphones. The FA is still 2 rows ahead of us, and Mrs. McJudgerson stands up and reaches over the people in front of us so she can get her headphones first. I think if I had been that FA, I'd have made her wait her turn. She got the last pair. They came around with more...it's not like she couldn't have waited for 30 seconds. Then the lady decides she wants to rest, so she mimes and says that she's going to rest and do I want to go to the bathroom before that? And the way she says it, very slowly, annunciating each syllable like I don't understand English, "I'm. go-ing. to. rest. Do you need the bathroom? Bathroom? I'm going to rest. You won't be able to get out. Bathroom??" So I get up and go to the bathroom and come back and they spend 3 minutes trying to figure out how to turn their lights off while leaving mine on and the woman insisting they ALL have to be off or she won't be able to rest. But her husband is next to me and insisting that I need to leave my light on, because I'm reading. The person in back of me had their window shade open, so I could see just fine, but she's insisting it needs to be dark and he's telling me I need to leave the light on because it's bad for my eyes to turn it off. She was just driving me nuts with her "But how am I going to rest??" so I told him to just leave it off. The poor baby kept screaming...he apparently had an ear infection, so he was uncomfortable. Mrs. McJudgerson made a point of telling everyone how disgusting it was that they brought a sick baby on vacation! And how annoying it was that he kept crying. Then they came around with snacks and again they were still several rows ahead of us and she's asking me "Do you want more food? Moooore. Foooood." I have no idea what it is, and I don't want her to order for me again, I want to be able to make a choice myself, and I didn't know why she was treating me like an imbecile, so I must have been looking at her like she had 3 heads because she looks at her husband and says "Will you tell her? Will you ask her?" When the FA got to our row, she looks at me to ask me what I want, and Mrs McJ doesn't wait her turn, just says what she wants before I can even open my mouth. Well ok then.
At some point toward the end of the flight, they decided to try to make conversation. DH had come back at some point to get one of the bags from the overhead compartment and was speaking English to me, and they had noticed that he was sitting pretty far away from me, and they were asking about my family. When they asked where we were from and I said the Netherlands, she points to the lady behind her and says "OH! She's from the Netherlands, too! Do you know her?" Yes....I know every single one of the 17 million people who live in the Netherlands. :rolleyes: "No, I'm afraid I don't." She asked about our trip, and have I been to Disneyworld before... yes, several times....and then she proceeds to the unsolicited advice portion of the conversation. Make sure you wear sunscreen! You have very light skin and you can burn in minutes in the Florida sun. "Yes, I have several bottles because I burn easily." And you'll need to drink lots of water, too, because it gets very hot. "Yes, I ordered 2 cases of water to be delivered to our resort." Make sure you do this, and make sure you see that, and bla bla bla.
And finally we got off the plane.

It's a VERY long walk to customs/passport check, and you get there and you are not allowed to use your phone or camera or any other device. So, I apologize, still no pictures.
There was an adorable boy in a buzz lightyear suit, though.
One nice thing is that we no longer have to fill in the customs form we used to have to do. So we got through and then we were told we couldn't take a luggage cart out of the baggage area. Why do they even have them if you can't use them? So we were able to send the bags up on a conveyor belt, and then we went in search of food because we were starving and the kids hadn't eaten the food on the plane. I knew @Tuvalu was leaving the day we were arriving, so I kept an eye out, but we never saw her. :( We grabbed some McDonalds food and A was eating and I was telling them about the McJudgersons when he stopped eating and started crying. Apparently the mention of the sick baby grossed him out and he couldn't eat anymore.
We went to pick up our luggage and dh went to find an ATM so we could rent a cart and A fell asleep on the floor. We got right on the magical express and soon we were on our way to CBR. A fell asleep in the bus right away. He was exhausted!
When we got to check in, I was hoping to get my requests. We had a preferred room, and I had requested a first floor room with an adjoining room with my brother's room. My brother's family had arrived in the morning, and they gave HIM a first floor room, and it did have an adjoining room next door, but we were given the room above him instead. So we had to drag all our luggage up and down the stairs, and I had to drag it up and down the stairs every time I did laundry, too. I had actually used Touring plans to figure out which room we wanted, and I made sure to request a specific room on the first floor that also had an adjoining room next door, but obviously that's not where we were placed. The person who checked my brother in commented on how lucky he was, that I knew what I was doing when I requested first floor in the building I chose. Yeah....so why did you give it to HIM and not to ME, the person who requested it? Oh well, he was happy, and that was the point of my planning. I wanted them to have a great time and maybe be willing to go again sometime.
I had ordered our magic bands, just the plain colored ones, when they had just come out with the special upgrades and there were problems with accessing the app to order. @Rista1313 had suggested using incognito mode as she heard people had success with that, and I was finally able to access it. But when we got our bands, they were just the grey ones, so apparently our order didn't go through. Good thing I had skins!

DH was in a mood by this time. He was being such a jerk I was hoping he wasn't going to be like that for the whole 3 and a half week trip. He was mad that I ordered so much water....he didn't think we needed it. I had ordered 2 packs of 32 bottles, figuring there were 4 of us and we were there for something like 25 days. When I told him that that wasn't even enough for each of us to have one bottle per day, he informed me that he wouldn't be drinking it, and how was I going to drink all that myself? Had I known no one would drink it but me, I'd have only ordered one. I went to discuss plans for the following morning with my brother and when I got back to our room 10 minutes later, DH was sound asleep and the lights were off, so there would be no discussing plans with him.

Would he be in a better mood the next day? Would everyone make it on time to the agreed upon meeting place? Would I have to throttle my entire group in frustration?
 

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Our story begins on the last day of school: Friday, July 19th, 2019. (sorry, this first bit will be text heavy) I didn't know this, but neither of my children actually had school this day. Because the Dutch are weird. My son finished 6th grade, and the only thing he had in the last week of school was "camp" and then he was free the rest of the week. My daughter only had to turn her books in and get her report card on the Tuesday, and then she was done as well. So we had everything packed up and we went to my in-laws' on Friday since they would be driving us to the airport at early o'clock Saturday morning.
We got up and got ready at 4:30, and planned to leave at 6:30. My brother-in-law would drive one car, and my parents-in-law the other. But my brother-in-law was late...he lives half a block away. Once he got there, we split up, boys in one car and girls in the other.
We got to the airport at about 8:15...we were cutting it close, since you are supposed to arrive 3 hours before for an international flight.
View attachment 409297

DH went to look for a luggage trolley and my son wasn't wanting to be in pictures.
Every time our flight has originated in Amsterdam, we've flown directly to the US, and we had to be in this one section of the airport to check in, and then immediately after security, there is a McDonalds. Our plan was to eat breakfast at that McDonalds before our flight.
This time, we were flying to Frankfort Germany first, and then going to the US. The check-in is on the other side of the terminal. Once we got to check in, we stood in line for quite a while, and there were several flights checking in. We saw one of E's classmates from elementary school on her way to Sudan (I think that's where they are from originally?) to visit their family back home.
It was finally our turn to check in and we spent ages and they couldn't get E's passport entered. It just wasn't working. They call over a supervisor and the supervisor tells my husband that he entered the number incorrectly on the ESTA form, because he put in zeros and it's supposed to be O. He tells her no, he looked it up and Dutch passports do not use the letter O. They do some searching and realize he's correct, and that THEY had entered it incorrectly and now it wouldn't let them redo it. It took forever for them to figure it out, but we were patient. Then at the check-in desk next to us, one of the supervisors starts swearing at the other employees...one of the flights checking in was leaving soon and anyone on that flight needed to be checked in immediately and they hadn't been sorting them out and sending them to the front. It was an issue, but he was very unprofessional swearing at people in front of all the people checking in, including small children. He was very demeaning. I was glad he wasn't the one doing our check-in!
I was told I had to check my carryon with all the ears we had made, because it was a full flight and there wasn't enough space. :(
We got our boarding passes and noticed we weren't all together for the flight from Frankfurt to MCO, so we went to the gate to ask if they could fix that. But they changed the gate, so then we went to the right gate, but they told us we had to do that in Frankfurt.

We were still sitting at the gate when our flight was supposed to be leaving. They hadn't even started boarding...this did not bode well for transfer times in Frankfurt. We ended up taking off an hour late, so we didn't have much time in Frankfurt. We had to get from terminal A to terminal Z, AND go through passport check again in the process. We follow the signs and go through passport check, we're in a hurry since we only have 30 minutes...A really needed to go to the bathroom and then they chose DH for extra security check, and he's told to wait for someone to come get him. I had to take the kids back out to get to the bathroom and when we came back, DH was gone and nowhere to be seen. I had no idea if he was still in security or if he had gone on without us, and our phones didn't work in Germany, so I had no way to call him to find out. With very little time left, I decided to just go to the gate and hope he made it there. He was there waiting for us when we got there, but there was no time to ask about switching seats as they were already boarding. We had 2 seats together with one behind that, and one on the other end and other side of the plane, and they had E sitting in that one seat. So she and I were going to switch seats so I was the one by myself. But they checked our passports and boarding passes again upon entering the plane, and so we had to switch our boarding passes back, and they sent me to the wrong side and I had to climb over people to get to the right place.

I approach "my" seat (glad we didn't send E there!!) and I have the window seat and the 2 people with the middle and aisle are already seated and NOT happy about having to move to let me into my seat. After much eye rolling and exaggerated sighing and some rude comments, they get out to let me through and I put the arm rests up to get to my seat. I sit down and I'm looking for my seatbelt, and the guy informs me that he is going to have to put the arm rest down. Well yes, I know that. He looks me up and down and asks if I will fit. Then he puts the arm rest just a couple of inches down and looks at me. He moves it a bit more and looks at me questioningly. He says he doesn't think it's going to fit. I'm not THAT big...yes, I know I'm fat, but seriously, I didn't even need a seatbelt extender. I shoved the armrest down all the way.

Just my luck, there is a screaming baby across the aisle from us, and the Judgy McJudgersons, or at least Mrs. Judgy McJudgerson is not happy about this, and complains for the whole 10 hour flight about EVERYTHING. The family with the screaming baby is Desi and has dietary restrictions, so they have ordered special meals, which are served before the rest of the meals. And Mrs McJudgerson does not like the smell of the food and is not afraid to show it. She makes quite the production of holding a stack of napkins over her nose, and alternately using the napkins to waft away the scent, while repeatedly saying "It's absolutely disgusting!" She had what I consider to be a New York accent. I kept thinking "I wonder if this is what a 'flid' is".

Then they go to serve the meal to the rest of the plane and before they even get to our row, she says to me in very slow English like I'm a moron "Do you want chicken or pasta?". Now, I don't know what kind of pasta it is or what is served with the chicken, so I really don't know, and I didn't know why she needed to know, but I thought it would be rude to tell her to mind her own business, so I said "I don't know. Probably pasta...we'll see." and as soon as the FA got to us, she orders for all three of us "We all want the pasta." and as I'm sitting in the window seat, I can't get the FA's attention to tell her I actually don't know, and she's already opened the meal for me and is passing it to me. It was awful and I wish I had gotten the chicken. Then they come to bring headphones. The FA is still 2 rows ahead of us, and Mrs. McJudgerson stands up and reaches over the people in front of us so she can get her headphones first. I think if I had been that FA, I'd have made her wait her turn. She got the last pair. They came around with more...it's not like she couldn't have waited for 30 seconds. Then the lady decides she wants to rest, so she mimes and says that she's going to rest and do I want to go to the bathroom before that? And the way she says it, very slowly, annunciating each syllable like I don't understand English, "I'm. go-ing. to. rest. Do you need the bathroom? Bathroom? I'm going to rest. You won't be able to get out. Bathroom??" So I get up and go to the bathroom and come back and they spend 3 minutes trying to figure out how to turn their lights off while leaving mine on and the woman insisting they ALL have to be off or she won't be able to rest. But her husband is next to me and insisting that I need to leave my light on, because I'm reading. The person in back of me had their window shade open, so I could see just fine, but she's insisting it needs to be dark and he's telling me I need to leave the light on because it's bad for my eyes to turn it off. She was just driving me nuts with her "But how am I going to rest??" so I told him to just leave it off. The poor baby kept screaming...he apparently had an ear infection, so he was uncomfortable. Mrs. McJudgerson made a point of telling everyone how disgusting it was that they brought a sick baby on vacation! And how annoying it was that he kept crying. Then they came around with snacks and again they were still several rows ahead of us and she's asking me "Do you want more food? Moooore. Foooood." I have no idea what it is, and I don't want her to order for me again, I want to be able to make a choice myself, and I didn't know why she was treating me like an imbecile, so I must have been looking at her like she had 3 heads because she looks at her husband and says "Will you tell her? Will you ask her?" When the FA got to our row, she looks at me to ask me what I want, and Mrs McJ doesn't wait her turn, just says what she wants before I can even open my mouth. Well ok then.
At some point toward the end of the flight, they decided to try to make conversation. DH had come back at some point to get one of the bags from the overhead compartment and was speaking English to me, and they had noticed that he was sitting pretty far away from me, and they were asking about my family. When they asked where we were from and I said the Netherlands, she points to the lady behind her and says "OH! She's from the Netherlands, too! Do you know her?" Yes....I know every single one of the 17 million people who live in the Netherlands. :rolleyes: "No, I'm afraid I don't." She asked about our trip, and have I been to Disneyworld before... yes, several times....and then she proceeds to the unsolicited advice portion of the conversation. Make sure you wear sunscreen! You have very light skin and you can burn in minutes in the Florida sun. "Yes, I have several bottles because I burn easily." And you'll need to drink lots of water, too, because it gets very hot. "Yes, I ordered 2 cases of water to be delivered to our resort." Make sure you do this, and make sure you see that, and bla bla bla.
And finally we got off the plane.

It's a VERY long walk to customs/passport check, and you get there and you are not allowed to use your phone or camera or any other device. So, I apologize, still no pictures.
There was an adorable boy in a buzz lightyear suit, though.
One nice thing is that we no longer have to fill in the customs form we used to have to do. So we got through and then we were told we couldn't take a luggage cart out of the baggage area. Why do they even have them if you can't use them? So we were able to send the bags up on a conveyor belt, and then we went in search of food because we were starving and the kids hadn't eaten the food on the plane. I knew @Tuvalu was leaving the day we were arriving, so I kept an eye out, but we never saw her. :( We grabbed some McDonalds food and A was eating and I was telling them about the McJudgersons when he stopped eating and started crying. Apparently the mention of the sick baby grossed him out and he couldn't eat anymore.
We went to pick up our luggage and dh went to find an ATM so we could rent a cart and A fell asleep on the floor. We got right on the magical express and soon we were on our way to CBR. A fell asleep in the bus right away. He was exhausted!
When we got to check in, I was hoping to get my requests. We had a preferred room, and I had requested a first floor room with an adjoining room with my brother's room. My brother's family had arrived in the morning, and they gave HIM a first floor room, and it did have an adjoining room next door, but we were given the room above him instead. So we had to drag all our luggage up and down the stairs, and I had to drag it up and down the stairs every time I did laundry, too. I had actually used Touring plans to figure out which room we wanted, and I made sure to request a specific room on the first floor that also had an adjoining room next door, but obviously that's not where we were placed. The person who checked my brother in commented on how lucky he was, that I knew what I was doing when I requested first floor in the building I chose. Yeah....so why did you give it to HIM and not to ME, the person who requested it? Oh well, he was happy, and that was the point of my planning. I wanted them to have a great time and maybe be willing to go again sometime.
I had ordered our magic bands, just the plain colored ones, when they had just come out with the special upgrades and there were problems with accessing the app to order. @Rista1313 had suggested using incognito mode as she heard people had success with that, and I was finally able to access it. But when we got our bands, they were just the grey ones, so apparently our order didn't go through. Good thing I had skins!

DH was in a mood by this time. He was being such a jerk I was hoping he wasn't going to be like that for the whole 3 and a half week trip. He was mad that I ordered so much water....he didn't think we needed it. I had ordered 2 packs of 32 bottles, figuring there were 4 of us and we were there for something like 25 days. When I told him that that wasn't even enough for each of us to have one bottle per day, he informed me that he wouldn't be drinking it, and how was I going to drink all that myself? Had I known no one would drink it but me, I'd have only ordered one. I went to discuss plans for the following morning with my brother and when I got back to our room 10 minutes later, DH was sound asleep and the lights were off, so there would be no discussing plans with him.

Would he be in a better mood the next day? Would everyone make it on time to the agreed upon meeting place? Would I have to throttle my entire group in frustration?

Gray bands!? Did they still charge you?

I think I would have yelled at that judgy lady... and the dude who insinuated you didn't fit in the seat...
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday July 21st

I don't know about anyone else, but I have a hard time adjusting to time differences. Even though the bed was super comfy (way better than my bed at home!) I couldn't stay asleep. I gave up at 4:00 am and decided just to go ahead and shower and start unpacking. Everyone else was sound asleep, so I had to be quiet, and I was missing a bunch of E's dresses. I did finally find them after everyone else was up. We had gotten sim cards for our phones so we could use them in the US, so M started trying to get them set up, but it wasn't working. It said to call this number and if the call went through, it was working, but he couldn't get it to connect. We were supposed to meet my brother's family at 7:30, so we gave up and decided to see how it went with wifi in the parks. Then we could use Facebook or whatsapp at least. We went down to my brother's room and knocked....no answer.

My brother is perpetually late. I'm one of those people who is always 10-15 minutes early, and he's always late. We had an ADR for the Bon Voyage Breakfast on the boardwalk, so we had to get to Epcot and take a boat. Fortunately, even though J was late, we managed to get there a bit early and got checked in. My niece N had WAY too much energy and was bouncing off the walls. My daughter was doing everything she could to entertain and reign in the little terror, but I have to admit I was glad when they called us in.

Our server was Patsy, and she was so sweet. She noticed J's birthday button right away and brought him a cupcake and as adult beverages are included in the meal, she also brought him a celebretory drink...I have no idea what it was.
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They were so on the ball here! I was a bit worried with 2 different groups and A being really picky that it might get confusing, but they handled it so well. A got the pancakes, but without all the stuff on top....just some maple syrup.

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N also got the pancakes, but she got the works. I don't seem to have a picture of them, but the main difference is a lot of fruit.

I believe everyone else got the Breakfast Royale, which was Steak, eggs florentine, and fried potatoes. That steak was SO good. The pastries were really good, too.
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For those of you who have never done this experience, the characters are introduced one at a time and do a bit of a dance through the dining room before going to tables, and of course, it can take a while before they get to your table, depending on which order they visit the tables in, etc. N was a bit upset that she didn't have any autographs yet, and Rapunzel was announced just before Flynn got to our table, so then he had to go do his thing with her before coming back. N was very disgruntled. E did her best to keep her contained.

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Flynn told us that when Eric was introduced, we should call him a Pirate! N was totally on board. She's the only one who remembered. Eric was quite understandably shocked at this verbal abuse and responded by pointing out that Flynn was a thief. Flynn showed us his smolder before moving on.
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When Rapunzel and Flynn did their entrance number, Rapunzel noticed E's hair. She was bounding as Rapunzel for the day. The Js got it all on video, but I can't post it on here. E got a LOT of compliments that day.
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HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Yay!!! I kept checking to see if you started your TR. That sounds like some flight! I couldn't imagine being trapped on a plane with those people for that kind of time. So glad to hear about comfortable beds at CBR...also sounds like I'll be asking for a first floor room. Not cool that you didn't get the one when you were the one making the request. Looks like a lot of fun at the Bon Voyage breakfast. We went there back in Dec 2017 and it's one of the best character meals we've been to in some time.

Can't wait to read more!
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday July 21st, continued

Prince Eric was pretty good at interacting with the kids. Not quite as good as Flynn and Rapunzel, but way less awkward than Ariel. Here's N calling Eric a pirate.

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We were on the dining plan, so all we had to pay was the tip, and thanks to opting out of mousekeeping, I had a giftcard to use for that. It worked so nicely!

We got back on the boat to Epcot, and slathered the munchkins with sunscreen. We went through bag check and I realized I couldn't find my phone. I knew I had had it in the boat. So we exited back to the boats, but they hadn't seen my phone. I double checked my bag because it had to be somewhere...there it was tucked deep in the front pocket where it was quite well hidden. Crisis averted, we went through bag check. Again.
This was the only day that we would have to visit with the cousins. They had come the week before because they had teachers in their group who needed to get back for school, so this was our only overlapping day. We went to look up our first fastpass on the app and couldn't figure out which ones were ours and which were my cousins'. Because they had such a large group, they had had to split some of them up, and the app wasn't loading on my phone at all, so I couldn't see any of the fastpasses. We were just wandering aimlessly and a CM noticed the birthday button. She called us over to let J make a phone call. I think he said it was Goofy?

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We finally managed to get into the app and figure out which fastpasses were ours. We had thought we were running late, but it turned out the cousins had a fastpass for SSE, as did we, but ours was much later, so with no fastpasses to rush to, we decided to find Guest relations to get a DAS pass for A. So we looked it up on the map....it's outside the park, JUST outside of bag check....so out we went again, got that all straightened out, and got some celebration buttons for our Family Reunion, and then went through bag check. Again. And now my brother had too many buttons and set off the metal detectors. It amused me. I had to tease him about being such a flamer that they thought he was a weapon.
Now the Js decided they needed lanyards. Someone had pixie dusted N with some pins, and they decided to go pin trading, so we stopped at the pin kiosk just inside.

The kids played in the fountain as we walked a bit further in. We had entered the park on the International Gateway side, but we were heading to future world. One of my high school classmates' daughter was finishing up her college program and only had a couple of days left, and I wanted to go meet her. She worked at Mousegear, but we never found her. We still had a bit of time, and we were all really warm, so we headed to club cool. I was really looking forward to capturing faces with the Beverly, but it wasn't working at any of the stations. We headed to the bathrooms. I had been communicating with my cousin through facebook, and while we were standing outside waiting for everyone to get out of the bathroom, we heard "Hoo hoo family!!" C and half their crew was there with their big summer blow out shirts. She had made some tshirts for my 4 because I hadn't been able to order them on Etsy. Shipping to the Netherlands was ridiculous. Here's my cousin M, C's younger brother. Doesn't he look hot in the ears we made?
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That's C's daughter L in the background with the ears we made for her. Having exchanged gifts, we went to our respective fastpasses until it was time to meet up for dinner.
My husband went to Mission Space by himself because that's one we can't/don't want to do. Then we went to Spaceship Earth for our fastpass. The fastpass line was pretty long, and right in the sun, but it went a lot faster than I expected. E took N with her, M took A, the Js went together, and that left me all by my lonesome. *singing dramatically* All by myself......don't wanna ride....all by myself....
Ok, got that out of my system. So we thanked the Phoenicians and then let the kids play. My BIL studied anthropology in college, so SSE is right up his alley. I asked him if they had it all right, and he said that the Sumerians were actually the first transporters of knowledge? I remember him saying something about the part about Egypt being incorrect, and I have in my notes "Transporters of knowledge", so I'm guessing that was the part he corrected, but I could be wrong.

My 4 had a FP for Turtle Talk, and J's family had one a bit later for Nemo, but you usually don't need a FP for Turtle Talk, so they came with us. There was some lady standing in front of the FP entrance, blocking everyone from entering...she was looking for something or someone and wouldn't move to the side to let other guests pass, so the Js ended up getting in faster than we did. But it was fun that we all got to go to the show together and there were many laughs. Someone asked what sea turtles eat, and Crush said grass, then asked what he eats and the kid said fish. N asked why Crush eats grass. Crush answered and asked what she eats, and she said fish, too, so he said "Well at least you're consistent." Then when Dory came in, he told her she'd better watch out for these guys.

There was only a 10 minute wait for Nemo, so J's family used their FP and we went in standby. We took some pictures first....I don't remember where M and A were...maybe the bathroom? But they weren't with us when we did pictures.

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Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Gray bands!? Did they still charge you?

I think I would have yelled at that judgy lady... and the dude who insinuated you didn't fit in the seat...
No, they didn't charge us, because we had only ordered the plain colored ones. I think I ordered blue, and we ordered green for A because his skin was like a turtle shell, and I don't remember what color we ordered for E, so without any special ones, they don't cost anything anyway. It was no biggie, because we were covering them up with the skins anyway.

As a rule I'm generally pretty patient and I HATE confrontation, so I didn't say anything to the McJudgersons. I guess I kind of hoped that they would learn something, you know? Like, that you don't have to speak every thought you have out loud, and you don't need to make an issue out of small things. It was probably lost on them, but I hope that after talking to me, they realized I'm not a complete idiot and that they misjudged me, and then next time they won't be so quick to treat people with disrespect. I had every reason to be rude in return, but I wasn't, and I hope they got that.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I always find the pillows at the Resorts alot softer than i like. Since we drive, i always think about taking my pillows, but somehow i always forget...
Oh, I like my pillows really soft. I'm very sensitive and if the pillows aren't soft, they hurt my ears. I get sores on my ears if the pillows are too hard. I wish I had that bed and those pillows at home! I was so comfortable.
 

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
No, they didn't charge us, because we had only ordered the plain colored ones. I think I ordered blue, and we ordered green for A because his skin was like a turtle shell, and I don't remember what color we ordered for E, so without any special ones, they don't cost anything anyway. It was no biggie, because we were covering them up with the skins anyway.

As a rule I'm generally pretty patient and I HATE confrontation, so I didn't say anything to the McJudgersons. I guess I kind of hoped that they would learn something, you know? Like, that you don't have to speak every thought you have out loud, and you don't need to make an issue out of small things. It was probably lost on them, but I hope that after talking to me, they realized I'm not a complete idiot and that they misjudged me, and then next time they won't be so quick to treat people with disrespect. I had every reason to be rude in return, but I wasn't, and I hope they got that.

It sounds like it's too late for them to learn this... sadly
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yay!!! I kept checking to see if you started your TR. That sounds like some flight! I couldn't imagine being trapped on a plane with those people for that kind of time. So glad to hear about comfortable beds at CBR...also sounds like I'll be asking for a first floor room. Not cool that you didn't get the one when you were the one making the request. Looks like a lot of fun at the Bon Voyage breakfast. We went there back in Dec 2017 and it's one of the best character meals we've been to in some time.

Can't wait to read more!

I wanted to start a long time ago, but the town where my choir rehearses was celebrating its 600th anniversary of becoming a city, and they had this theater production that we were involved with, so we had rehearsals and performances all of last week, and a few times the week before that, plus the kids started school last week....I haven't been on here since July! I'm soooooo far behind. And then I had to get my pictures all sorted....more on that drama later.

I love your story! Your daughter is so beautiful !


Im so mad at those people on the plane. How petty and immature do you have to be to complain about a BABY
Thank you! I agree about my daughter...she's smart, too. She's going to be quite the heartbreaker.

I figured the people had no children and just didn't realize how hard it is...but nope...they even had grandchildren. I hate to say it, but I think it had more to do with the fact that the people with the baby were a Desi family than anything else. By her reaction to their food...she kept saying it was absolutely disgusting, and I think all it was was like a chicken curry. It wasn't anything weird, but the way she was carrying on, you'd think it was skunk or something. I think they were just very close-minded people. They obviously weren't happy to be sitting with a "fluffy" person either. They were just so negative about everything. And then when they finally decided to start a conversation with me, she just kept saying how she didn't like traveling, and they had just been on a cruise and she didn't like being on the boat, and she didn't like being away from home, and she didn't like flying. And maybe that's part of it....she was completely stressed out and took it out on everyone else. But I can't fathom why they went on a cruise in Europe if she hates traveling and doesn't like being away from home. She just seemed like she was miserable and was making sure everyone around her was just as miserable as she was. But I felt really bad for the family with the baby, because they were trying so hard to keep him quiet, and here this lady was making a huge deal about it very loudly, making sure they heard every comment so they would be ashamed. But they kept silent and let her rant away.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Oh, I like my pillows really soft. I'm very sensitive and if the pillows aren't soft, they hurt my ears. I get sores on my ears if the pillows are too hard. I wish I had that bed and those pillows at home! I was so comfortable.
The beds are to die for for sure!
 

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