Trip Report **COMPLETED** The 4 M's (Plus two J's and a N): A Birthday Christmas Extravaganza

Hello everyone - we got back from the World yesterday so time to start our trip report.

Who ?
The whole family (as the title indicates)
My sister Jill and my brother in law Nick
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My other sister Betta (her name is Elizabeth we call her Betta) and my nephew Max
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And my parents (Jeff and Mary) and myself (Megan)
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When?
December 3-8, 2019
Jill and Nick were there November 30-December 6, 2019

Why?
To celebrate Jill's 40th Birthday and Christmas :)

Where?
Port Orleans French Quarter - our favorite moderate

The title:
I like the title the 4 M's because that's what Max calls my Mom, Betta, him and I - Mary, Mom (Betta), Max and Megan :) Then - just added some initials :hilarious:

Day 1 December 3, 2019
After work I headed home and met up with my Mom, Dad, Max and Betta and we headed to the airport. We were originally supposed to leave the next day, but that flight got pushed to 5 am and I work typically until 9 pm on Tuesday nights. So, I adjusted my schedule and we took this flight instead of having to get up SUPER early after a late work night.
I should mention that Betta was on crutches this trip - this is from her surgery I have mentioned before (hip surgery) that she had 8 weeks ago. Needed some help getting around long distances.
I had a hard time taking photos this trip just due to pushing the stroller mostly so sorry in advance.
We had some dinner in the airport then headed to our gate.
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Our room was ready and it turns out we were next to Jill and Nick and Betta and Max were next to us. We did not ask for this so that was a nice surprise.
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Our plane was at the gate but for some reason no one got off for forever. Then, we had 10 wheelchairs that needed to go on one at a time.
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Finally we boarded about 20 minutes late.
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We ended up having to de-ice. It was SUPER dry out at the time we were supposed to leave but all of a sudden started snowing SO hard right before we left.
You can kind of see it outside the window
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So...in the end we ended up leaving about 45 minutes late :confused:
The flight felt like it took forever but eventually we landed at 9:30 pm.
New Star Wars Galaxy's Edge stuff around the fonorail
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Next up: more arrival
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued
We only waited about 5 minutes for this :)
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We were starving after this because the only thing we had to eat all morning was a cookie my Mom had in her backpack from the Christmas party :joyfull: We were debating about to eat when we walked by TSM and it had a 10 minute wait so we figured why not!
We could complete the Toy Story Land trifecta!
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We always try to guess who will be on the car and I ALWAYS guess Hamm but I am never right. For once!
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:joyfull: Not my best
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Next up: more HS
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued
Chess board wall?
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At this point they were already at boarding group 25 and it was not even 9 am yet. We thought about going back to POFQ, but we figured it was better to stick around-ish just in case. You have 2 hours to get back to the park when your boarding group is called, but we did not want to take any chances. Nothing appealed to us to eat at HS so we decided we would head out and take the Skyliner to Epcot.
PP picture on the way out.
My Mom is wearing the baby Yoda shirt my sister made me :)
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I took this photo at 8:53 am
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Thumbs up only that we got one...I do feel bad for people who did not know to get there early.
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Then it was Skyliner time!
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Next up: Epcot
 

Matt and Kelly

Well-Known Member
I’m scared we won’t get a boarding group when we go next week! We are planning to go to Hollywood studios the day of the 5k. So Matt has already said I better run fast and get to the park. I think they changed the park opening to 7 am. With all the races you have ran, is it pretty easy to exit soon as pass the finish line? Also we always guess our character for toy story too!
kelly
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
I will not share any of them except this one of my Dad with his Jack tsum tsum because you will see it in pretty much all the photos :hilarious:

Great pic of your dad!

Club Tinsel

I'd never heard of Club Tinsel but now I'm excited about it for next year!

When we got off our first ride the line was much shorter so we hopped back in! This time we waited less than 20 minutes. Clearly everyone went to SDD then left

Wow! I am glad I read these TR's so I know to get to the park super early for the RotR boarding line!

We always try to guess who will be on the car and I ALWAYS guess Hamm but I am never right. For once!

May the odds be ever in your favor!o_O
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I seriously don’t know how we missed each other! Looks like we arrived at DHS at nearly the exact same time, then hung around TSL at about the same time, then got on the skyliner at about the same time!

What really !?!?!? That's so crazy !

I’m scared we won’t get a boarding group when we go next week! We are planning to go to Hollywood studios the day of the 5k. So Matt has already said I better run fast and get to the park. I think they changed the park opening to 7 am. With all the races you have ran, is it pretty easy to exit soon as pass the finish line? Also we always guess our character for toy story too!
kelly

Yes definitely! I have never done a 5K but I would imagine its pretty similar to the rest. As soon as you get your medal its like a 3 minute walk to the buses back to the resorts. We usually don't stick around and get right on a bus. Good luck with the run(s) both of you! I'm still stalking the app and it looks like they are sticking pretty close to the opening time thankfully (now that they have been changing hours).
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great pic of your dad!



I'd never heard of Club Tinsel but now I'm excited about it for next year!



Wow! I am glad I read these TR's so I know to get to the park super early for the RotR boarding line!



May the odds be ever in your favor!o_O

Club Tinsel is the best! I swear its the only think we ever really do at the Christmas parties :hilarious: They have both reindeer and polar bears that dance with you - as well as elves! I know its kind of a shame how early you have to get there but at least they changed the opening times to better reflect when they actually open. I'm sure they got some backlash from the first few days
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued
At Epcot our first goal was to find something to eat so we headed to Norway for some Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe
I had a troll horn
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And my Mom had this adorable Bruni cupcake
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Then some random Norway photos
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The boarding groups were barely moving at this point. It never occurred to me we may not get on at all/get evacuated off the ride until around this point :joyfull: I was starting to get super nervous about how slow it was moving. Anyway - we pressed on and headed to ride Soarin'. It is weird when you don't have any FPs (we had some for the evening at HS) - we usually don't wait in stand-by lines much to be honest :)
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Then we checked out the Epcot Experience
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Next up: more Epcot
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued
Even though we just ate like an hour before this we were still hungry so we headed to La Cantina for lunch (well - I should say after some shopping and changing into shorts because it was getting super hot).
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We both got kids cheese empanadas :happy: YUM
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We made a promise we would not check the boarding pass until 11:30 so we checked at lunch. They finally moved and they were on boarding group 37 ! Woohoo!
After this we wandered around World Showcase !
We stopped for a treat in Germany.
Sea Salted Caramel for my Mom
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And I had this butter cake thing - I can not remember its actual name but it was so good!
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Then we really meandered around World Showcase
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Next up: some more wandering
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued
We waited awhile to look at the boarding group and it was still progressing nicely so we decided to walk over to HS via the Boardwalk.
We got to HS right around the time they got to boarding group 46 - so close!!
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At this point my sister, Dad and Max were getting ready to head over and meet us after the ride. Their journey over took well over an hour due to multiple reasons so my Mom and I felt good that we ended up not going back. This could have made us miss our ride time.
Anyway...while we waited for our number 50 to be called we took some photos
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Then we sat outside of Galaxy's Edge waiting for 50. It was 49 for awhile....
There seemed to be a ton of people leaving the land.
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Then 50 was finally called!!!
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Next up: Rise of the Resistance
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued
Ah!! We were so excited! There is something so amazing/nerve wracking/exciting about knowing you are going to ride an attraction for the first time ever. This time was even more exciting because everyone said this one was incredible!
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When we first checked in we only had to show them my phone which I thought was odd. However, further in the line they did scan everyone's Magic Bands.
I am going to put the rest of the photos under a spoiler just in case someone does not want to see the attraction. My photo's aren't that great because I was not planning on actually taking them :joyfull:

Que photos:
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Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued
Again - spoiler just in case you do not want to see them

Pre- show
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After the pre-show you head outside again (which I thought was cool) before loading the first part of the ride.
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The ride is broken up into so many pieces - it is kind of hard to explain. This next part you get on a ship and stand while you travel. Honestly - I need to ride this attraction like 10 more times to fully get all the detail.
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Next up: more Rise
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued

The ship you are on is captured by the First Order and they storm the ship - everyone is SO in character its crazy. It did not even feel like we were actually traveling yet somehow we end up in this giant room of storm troopers. SO COOL! It's hard to appreciate just how big it is in there.
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After this room you get into another que of sorts
Then the first order people (I honestly don't know what to call them :hilarious: ) sort you into a jail type area!
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This is one of the coolest parts - I won't spoil it but the resistance rescues you...
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Then you get in a vehicle that they commandeered
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Ride photos - this is the actual main part of the attraction
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And you end up back outside when the ride is over.
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All I can really say is - WOW! This was unlike anything I have seen before. Its a ton of attractions all rolled up into one!!! I am so happy we got to experience the whole thing without it breaking down too. I would not consider myself a huge Star Wars fan and my Mom definitely is not one at all and we both had a blast. I even got a little teary eyed just thinking about how amazing of a job Imagineering did! Did I understand everything ? Nope ! Like I said I need to ride it a bunch more times to understand it or see things completely! I definitely can not wait to ride it again! AHHH !! I literally had such an amazing endorphin and adrenaline rush after riding too - it was so action packed. All I can say is - you need to ride it!!

Next up: more HS
 

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