Trip Report **COMPLETED** A Grand Christmas Trip (in November!)

Hey all! We have been back for about a week now so I will slowly work on my Trip Report :) Not sure if anyone even knew I went on this trip aside from people who follow me on IG and snapchat :joyfull:

Who?
Who else...my Mom (Mary) and I (Megan)
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When?
November 16-19

Where?
The Grand Floridian :) First time stay for us....and won't be the last! We fell in love! :inlove:
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Why?
We wanted to see the Christmas decorations...and well, why not?

T-1 Day November 15, 2017
We had a very early morning flight so instead of making my Dad get up early to drive us we planned on staying at a hotel across the street from the airport the night before. For some reason this plan continued to morph and we decided we should eat at the Cracker Barrel before going to the hotel. I have no idea why but it felt like a thing people do before Disney trips and we had never been before so why not?
So, after a busy day at work I headed to my parents house and we packed up the car and drove off to dinner.
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My Mom and I both got the Southern Chicken biscuits
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We both got Mac and Cheese and she got fries while I got hashbrown casserole (which had a bit too much onion for my taste).
My Dad got the chicken fried chicken (with mashed potatoes and hashbrown casserole) just because it seemed like a thing people eat in the South/at Cracker Barrel. I don't know...we are very Northern :)
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Yum!!! I have no idea why it took us so long to eat at Cracker Barrel but we really enjoyed it! It was way too much food though, my Mom and I should have shared. My Dad ate the rest of it over 2 meals the next day :joyfull:
Is it a visit to Cracker Barrel without a rocking chair picture?
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Anyway, after dinner my Dad drove us to the hotel and dropped us off. The worker was like "where are you visiting from?!" and we sheepishly said we were from here and just staying over for an early flight :p
We dropped our stuff off in our room and headed to the bar for a drink but it was full of business men who were sitting every other seat and we didn't feel like asking someone to move over or having to make awkward/polite small talk so we went back to the room. :p I talk to people all day long...sometimes I just don't want to talk anymore!
This is the only picture I have of the room because I thought it was funny that the phone was extra old :)
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We watched some TV then went off to bed early.....only we didn't. We were on the first floor and could hear everything outside including cars parking, backing up beeping, etc etc. :banghead:

Day 1 November 16, 2017
After a very eventful night of minimal sleep we both got up around 3:30 to get ready. We have an early flight coming up in a few months and we, after some discussion, decided it was not worth staying at the hotel the night before again. Too hard to sleep. If I am going to have to get up early I would rather it be from my own bed (because yes I still have a bed at my parents house...because I'm the baby child aka the most important :joyfull:) :hilarious:
I know you guys think these pictures are weird but its our tradition!
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Next up: flight time
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 November 19, 2017
Well we got up at like 4 am for our 9:30 am flight thanks to the new DME pick up time (which was 5 am for us). I said it in a previous post but DME now comes 4 hours ahead of the flight because they were having trouble getting people to the airport on time apparently. Not sure if this is permanent or just during the holiday rush. We wanted to make sure we were still able to check in our luggage and thankfully we were able to. I think they extended the check in time an hour earlier - probably to accommodate the new DME times.
Bye Conch Key
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Grand Floridian is especially beautiful in the morning, despite being cranky about the new pick up times
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We got to see the Gingerbread House with no one around :)
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Took a picture of my stuffed animals like a weirdo :joyfull:
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Some random lobby pictures :)
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Random weird thing that happens in the middle of the night is that they apparently water everything. EVERYTHING! We navigated through tons of sprinklers and hoses :joyfull: Makes sense why the sidewalks are always wet!
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We waited for our DME which for once was on time and we were the last stop so while we hoped to waste some time on the DME we went right to the airport. We had TSA precheck and of course we were right through security so we had tons of time (like 3.5 hours). We ate breakfast, booked FPs for our next trip, did some online shopping and then eventually made our way home. I think maybe I would have been comfortable taking an uber to the airport if I was guaranteed to have TSA precheck but we have had it on our boarding passes in the past when we didn't actually have it so it made us nervous. Although we did actually formally go through the process of getting TSA precheck they still say its not a guarantee that you will have it. Oh well, despite the early DME time it was a fantastic trip!! As I said we adored the Grand Floridian and can not wait to go back !

Next up: 2 weeks and 1 day until we leave again :)
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
They did change it back to 3 hours starting Jan 11th, so our next trips will be back to normal ;)

Hopefully we'll see you in the World!! 14 days :happy:

OMG THIS MADE MY DAY! that was terrible :joyfull::joyfull: Ah I was just looking back at your PTR to see when you are leaving because we moved our trip up a day but you are still a day ahead! Thought maybe we would be on the same flight :) We are in AK on the same day!
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Day 4 November 19, 2017
Well we got up at like 4 am for our 9:30 am flight thanks to the new DME pick up time (which was 5 am for us). I said it in a previous post but DME now comes 4 hours ahead of the flight because they were having trouble getting people to the airport on time apparently. Not sure if this is permanent or just during the holiday rush. We wanted to make sure we were still able to check in our luggage and thankfully we were able to. I think they extended the check in time an hour earlier - probably to accommodate the new DME times.
Bye Conch Key
View attachment 253967
Grand Floridian is especially beautiful in the morning, despite being cranky about the new pick up times
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We got to see the Gingerbread House with no one around :)
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Took a picture of my stuffed animals like a weirdo :joyfull:
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Some random lobby pictures :)
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Random weird thing that happens in the middle of the night is that they apparently water everything. EVERYTHING! We navigated through tons of sprinklers and hoses :joyfull: Makes sense why the sidewalks are always wet!
View attachment 253974
View attachment 253975 View attachment 253976
We waited for our DME which for once was on time and we were the last stop so while we hoped to waste some time on the DME we went right to the airport. We had TSA precheck and of course we were right through security so we had tons of time (like 3.5 hours). We ate breakfast, booked FPs for our next trip, did some online shopping and then eventually made our way home. I think maybe I would have been comfortable taking an uber to the airport if I was guaranteed to have TSA precheck but we have had it on our boarding passes in the past when we didn't actually have it so it made us nervous. Although we did actually formally go through the process of getting TSA precheck they still say its not a guarantee that you will have it. Oh well, despite the early DME time it was a fantastic trip!! As I said we adored the Grand Floridian and can not wait to go back !

Next up: 2 weeks and 1 day until we leave again :)
How do you actually get precheck? I've never had it...does it cost extra? And what does precheck do??
 

DryerLintFan

Premium Member
How do you actually get precheck? I've never had it...does it cost extra? And what does precheck do??

You have to apply and pay for it and then attend an in person interview. It gives you a separate line to go through at the airport where you don't have to take anything out of your bags or remove your shoes. Basically you become a time traveler to 1995 where all you had to do was drop your stuff on the conveyor belt and walk on through
 

Jedi Stitch

Well-Known Member
Oh My Goofyness, you and your mother always have such great trips. I am very Jealous. Sounds like you are going back in a few weeks, What? What is your secret to so many trips? I love your matching outfits, My wife ebayed our outfits for our trip. We wore matching outfits on our travel days. We find that the TSA can easily identify we are a family unit and don't break us a part during screening. Brown Derby has great food, but we ran into a service issue too. They do tend to forget about you for a portion of the meal. We had the Fantasmic dining meal when we went, so worth it. I see you are from upstate NY, so I can see your travel to WDW is easier than us from Seattle, we have to dedicate an entire day of travel, going across country. I think I will try to figure out a cheaper trip to DLR. I just love your trip reports and look forward to the next one.
 

becca_

Well-Known Member
OMG THIS MADE MY DAY! that was terrible :joyfull::joyfull: Ah I was just looking back at your PTR to see when you are leaving because we moved our trip up a day but you are still a day ahead! Thought maybe we would be on the same flight :) We are in AK on the same day!
Yay!! I'll keep an eye out for you!! :D:D

I was wondering about this as well!!! I will keep an eye out for you guys...it’s getting so close!!
So exciting! :joyfull: If you see me be sure to say hello!!
 

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Day 3 continued
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Finally it was time for Jingle Bell Jingle Bam. I made sure we watched the movie Prep and Landing before we left so we would have a clue what was going on but it definitely wasn't necessary because it had a ton of other characters in there as well. I mean, the movie was cute so its not like we regretted watching it :)
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The show was great! The music was awesome, the projections were so cool and the fireworks were just an added bonus :) Overall we had a fantastic time. The only negative was honestly how crowded the tables were (I did also write that in the survey they sent us). I realize its over now but I highly recommend it for next year if they keep it :)
After the show we headed out
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We went off to bed early because we had a very early DME :)

Next up: last morning

Maybe @Tuvalu can chime in on this.. We were at a sold out party last year but didn’t have to share a table, and it didn’t appear to have tables too close to each other. We were the last to arrive an unfortunately only high tops were left though.
I wonder if they added more tables this year to fit more people.

Sounds like they had new desserts this year as well. Glad you enjoyed it!
 

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Day 4 November 19, 2017
Well we got up at like 4 am for our 9:30 am flight thanks to the new DME pick up time (which was 5 am for us). I said it in a previous post but DME now comes 4 hours ahead of the flight because they were having trouble getting people to the airport on time apparently. Not sure if this is permanent or just during the holiday rush. We wanted to make sure we were still able to check in our luggage and thankfully we were able to. I think they extended the check in time an hour earlier - probably to accommodate the new DME times.
Bye Conch Key
View attachment 253967
Grand Floridian is especially beautiful in the morning, despite being cranky about the new pick up times
View attachment 253968
We got to see the Gingerbread House with no one around :)
View attachment 253969
View attachment 253970
Took a picture of my stuffed animals like a weirdo :joyfull:
View attachment 253971
Some random lobby pictures :)
View attachment 253972
View attachment 253973
Random weird thing that happens in the middle of the night is that they apparently water everything. EVERYTHING! We navigated through tons of sprinklers and hoses :joyfull: Makes sense why the sidewalks are always wet!
View attachment 253974
View attachment 253975 View attachment 253976
We waited for our DME which for once was on time and we were the last stop so while we hoped to waste some time on the DME we went right to the airport. We had TSA precheck and of course we were right through security so we had tons of time (like 3.5 hours). We ate breakfast, booked FPs for our next trip, did some online shopping and then eventually made our way home. I think maybe I would have been comfortable taking an uber to the airport if I was guaranteed to have TSA precheck but we have had it on our boarding passes in the past when we didn't actually have it so it made us nervous. Although we did actually formally go through the process of getting TSA precheck they still say its not a guarantee that you will have it. Oh well, despite the early DME time it was a fantastic trip!! As I said we adored the Grand Floridian and can not wait to go back !

Next up: 2 weeks and 1 day until we leave again :)

Can’t wait to read your next report! This trip looks like you had so much fun! You and your mom have such a great relationship. More matching outfits next time?
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
Oh I am glad I am not alone! Did you guys do the dining package for Fantastic? We didn't and it seemed like those people who did got more attention maybe..I don't know...maybe it was just a bad spot
We did the Fantasmic dining package. She still wasn't thrilled with us, checked on every table around us three times before she'd ask of we needed anything.
 

wdwfamilynh

Well-Known Member
It took me all the way to the end of your TR to realize we were in the parks at the same time! We left LATE on 11/17 but our park plans didn’t line up :arghh: Great TR, as always...looking forward :cold: to the next one!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
How do you actually get precheck? I've never had it...does it cost extra? And what does precheck do??

Yep as @DisneyBound2017 said its an online TSA precheck application and then you just have to do a quick fingerprinting and interview. I think it was like 85 dollars for 5 years

I was wondering about this as well!!! I will keep an eye out for you guys...it’s getting so close!!

Please say hi if you see us! So exciting !
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Oh My Goofyness, you and your mother always have such great trips. I am very Jealous. Sounds like you are going back in a few weeks, What? What is your secret to so many trips? I love your matching outfits, My wife ebayed our outfits for our trip. We wore matching outfits on our travel days. We find that the TSA can easily identify we are a family unit and don't break us a part during screening. Brown Derby has great food, but we ran into a service issue too. They do tend to forget about you for a portion of the meal. We had the Fantasmic dining meal when we went, so worth it. I see you are from upstate NY, so I can see your travel to WDW is easier than us from Seattle, we have to dedicate an entire day of travel, going across country. I think I will try to figure out a cheaper trip to DLR. I just love your trip reports and look forward to the next one.

My secret is that I don't spend money on essentially anything else :joyfull::joyfull: Plus southwest credit card and AP help! Matching outfits on travel days seems like a great idea! My family sometimes matches but usually its like a theme and not an exact match (unless its just my Mom and I). Weird about Brown Derby issues ... great food though! Thank you for reading! We are very lucky that its only a 2 hour flight for us!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Maybe @Tuvalu can chime in on this.. We were at a sold out party last year but didn’t have to share a table, and it didn’t appear to have tables too close to each other. We were the last to arrive an unfortunately only high tops were left though.
I wonder if they added more tables this year to fit more people.

Sounds like they had new desserts this year as well. Glad you enjoyed it!

We had assigned tables that were all sit down..maybe thats why we had to share? It was PACKED in there...was yours in front of the Great Movie Ride or no because the ride was still open?

Can’t wait to read your next report! This trip looks like you had so much fun! You and your mom have such a great relationship. More matching outfits next time?

Thanks for reading :) I don't think we have any matching outfits unfortunately but thats not to say it won't accidentally happen haha
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It took me all the way to the end of your TR to realize we were in the parks at the same time! We left LATE on 11/17 but our park plans didn’t line up :arghh: Great TR, as always...looking forward :cold: to the next one!

Oh really? awww too bad we didn't see each other! Thanks for reading
 

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