Trip Report Hey Elsa...the cold really bothers the rest of us! A Christmas Time Report

mlegerto · Mar 7, 2018

Day 0 - The Day Before - December 25, 2017

Needless to say, this was one heck of a busy day. Not only was it the day before our trip, but it was Christmas Day!

The night before we spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's family, which meant that Christmas Day was spent with my family. Although we love our families dearly, we also appreciate some alone time to rest (especially before a busy trip!) over the holidays so we spent Christmas morning at home; just the two of us with our two fur babies Moss and Gus Gus.

New Year, new Disney PJ's, same Mickey Hat! Everyone in their Christmas Bests!

Moss

Gus Gus...he REALLY lives up to his name

Christmas Day was wonderful, but it was over far to fast! Before we knew it drinks had been drunk, gifts had been opened and played with, food had been eaten and everyone was starting to depart home. This meant there was only one thing left to do; pack! YUP...you heard me right, I decided to start packing on Christmas Day with less than 8 hours before leaving. WHAT in the world was I on; truthfully, work had been so busy leading up to the trip and I THOUGHT I'd have more time at home the days leading to the Christmas, but it didn't happen. Oh and CLEAN. You know that feeling where you have to clean your house before you go on vacation because someone will be coming over to check on the house and feed your pets. Yikes!

Needless to say, the rest of the night was a blur and we were finally in bed just before 1:00 am with a 2:05 am alarm set; at this point, I don't even know WHY we tried to sleep all I really did was squeeze out the last bit of kitty cuddles I could before leaving.

mlegerto · Mar 7, 2018

Day 1 - Travel Day - December 26, 2017

After getting a TON of sleep

, our alarm went off at the ungodly time of 2:05 am. Ryan's parents kindly offered to drive us to Toronto Pearson Airport to help us avoid the cost of parking while we were gone and they arrived right on time at 2:45 am.

We said our goodbyes to Moss and Gus Gus, loaded up the car and went on our way with dreams of palm trees, sunshine, pixie dust and the excitement of heading home for the holidays. We got there in record time, probably because no one else was crazy enough to be on the roads at this hour.

Our flight to Orlando with United Airlines was scheduled to take off at 6:00 pm. According to the rule of thumb, we should have arrived to Pearson 2 hours before our scheduled flight time. With the empty roads, we arrived at 3:45 am just ahead of the 2 hour timeline. ONLY TO FIND THAT PEARSON AIRPORT WAS CLOSED. Now when I say closed, I don't mean the doors were locked and we couldn't get it...but it might as well have been. All gates, check in areas, restaurants, etc. was closed. I can't say that I was surprised, I mean it was freaking 3:45 am. But then it was 4:00, then 4:15, then 4:30...now I was starting to get nervous. HOW COULD THEY KEEP ME AWAY FROM MY MAIN MOUSE. All I could think was "We're not going to make it, we're not going to make it!"

FINALLY at 4:35 am someone showed up to the United Airline check in counter and started working her way through the line. A few minutes later another UA employee showed up and before I knew it we were checked in and our bags taken. We got through security quite quickly given the time of day and finally got to our gate at 5:40 am. PHEW...looks like were going to make it after all.

Just before 6:00 am they started calling groups up to the loading zone and finally it was our turn. Much to my surprise, the hallway that you'd usually take to enter the plane led me onto the tarmac....in Toronto....at 6:00 am...in winter...WITH NO COAT BECAUSE I'M GOING TO FLORIDA, where we waited...and waited...and waited. It felt like we were waiting forever before being allowed to walk over to the plane. WHY would you have us all wait out here like this rather than inside until you were ready for us.

What felt like forever...was really only 8 minutes LOL

We got seated, got out snacks and electronics out and we were on our way!

NOT!

All of a sudden it was 6:05...then 6:10...then 6:15 and we were still here! Finally an announcement was made that we wouldn't be able to take off until 6:30 am as the control tower does not open until then :banghead:

WHY oh WHY was our flight scheduled for 6:00 am if it isn't possible to take off until 6:30 am. I will never understand this.

FINALLY at 6:38 am we pulled away from the gate, made our way to the runway and took off. Toronto seemed so cold and so small in that moment. I remember thinking to myself "see ya' later suckers, I'm heading to sunny Florida"...maybe I jinked myself!

Sadly we didn't have a direct flight into Orlando booked; the cost of flights for this time of year were outrageous, but we weren't too upset as we found ourselves a flight with a short 1 hour stop over in Washington. This would be perfect....except the flight that was supposed to leave Toronto at 6:00 am was delayed so we didn't quite have the time we expected.

I am NOT a runner...nope, nope nope. But tell me I'm missing my flight to Orlando and I can break world records LOL.

We arrived at our gate for the next part of our flight with minute (literally) to spare. They had already called our groups boarding, so as soon as we arrived we were able to walk right onto the plane. To sit there...for 40 minutes. This really was turning out to be a terrible travel day! I just kept telling myself that I was on my way, I couldn't control it and that next stop was MCO, House of Mouse!

FINALLY we landed at MCO. We originally expected to arrive around 11:20 am, but arrived closer to 12:15 pm. Still not to bad considering how things could have gone! We headed down to baggage, grabbed our bags and headed over to the car rental terminal.

Sadly our day and luck weren't getting any better :arghh:

. When we arrived at the Budget line, there was quite the line, but I was optimistic as it was only as long as the roped queue and no longer. So we waited...and waited...and waited. Man was this frustrating; they would have attendants at every computer, then they would slowly disappear one by one. At one point, there was only 2 attendants working...with a full queue of people waiting. Then you started overhearing angry traveler making comments like "well I made a reservation and paid for a van, I can't take a car, what do you mean you don't have any vans".

This is ALL I could think of....and I dreaded the thought of waiting in this line only to be told they no longer have my reservation.

At nearly 2:15 pm; that's right folks, 2 hours spent waiting in the rental car line after flight delays, we were called up to the next available agent. Now I've heard others complain about pushy car rental attendants trying to up sell and force unnecessary insurance on renters, but I had personally not experienced it. UNTIL TODAY. The guy just kept telling me that I needed to accept and pay for insurance, when I tried multiple times to tell him that I had coverage through my personal insurance AND on my credit card. He then told me that it was "mandatory" and that I didn't have "the option to decline" so I brushed him off and said whatever, fine. Got to the final stage when I had to sign off on the screen and could see that it was in fact OPTIONAL; all additional options and insurance was listed as "declined" meaning it was an option, except for one of the insurances which had increased my bill by nearly $400 USD

NOPE NOPE NOPE. I questioned the guy again and mentioned that the screen shows that I "elected" coverage and there seemed to be a option to decline and all of a sudden his tune had changed. He tried to talk around in circled "Oh I said you SHOULDN'T decline it, not that you can't" etc. etc. I stood my ground, told him that there was NO way I was paying for that and to remove it as I am declining it. He then started to mumble under his breath and said "well, if you don't want it I need to redo your order which will take some time". For freak sakes...I've been here all day anyways, whats another few minutes so I told him "I'll wait".

FINALLY...FINALLY at 2:35 pm WE WERE ON OUR WAY!

First stop...checking in at Old Key West!

I instantly felt a sigh of relief as I passed by security and was told "Welcome Home". Honestly...is there a better feeling?!

riverside · Mar 7, 2018

Wow--what a rough start!! I hope things got better quickly. Looking forward to reading more!!

LeighM · Mar 7, 2018

I know exactly what you mean about having to clean before you leave for vacation. I have so much cleaning to do on Friday before we leave on Saturday because a pet sitter is coming to stay for our dog and 2 cats. And 2 more loads of laundry. And an interview Friday morning. Who schedules an interview the day before vacation when there are tons of chores to get done before flying out? This girl!!! I'm sorry you had so many travel difficulties. How stressful! Can't wait to read more about your trip

becca_ · Mar 7, 2018

Wow!! I hope things got better for you!! The worst is when you start a vacation off on a bad foot!!

Matt and Kelly · Mar 7, 2018

Not a good travel day! Hopefully things turned around. How could they not, your in Disney!

Tiggerlovr90 · Mar 8, 2018

Thank you for sharing, can’t wait to read the rest. I hate pushy rental car sales people, trying to get you to buy something you don’t need. As soon as you show proof of insurance and your credit card ,that should be the end of it.

Bullseye1967 · Mar 8, 2018

Following, sorry I missed the pre TR but I am late on everything.

mlegerto · Mar 8, 2018

riverside said:
Wow--what a rough start!! I hope things got better quickly. Looking forward to reading more!!

It was quite the travel day I tell you...and things only get worse before they get better, but they DO get better! It was just made that much worse after the craziness of Christmas the day before and the extremely early start/lack of sleep. Thanking for joining in!

LeighM said:
I know exactly what you mean about having to clean before you leave for vacation. I have so much cleaning to do on Friday before we leave on Saturday because a pet sitter is coming to stay for our dog and 2 cats. And 2 more loads of laundry. And an interview Friday morning. Who schedules an interview the day before vacation when there are tons of chores to get done before flying out? This girl!!! I'm sorry you had so many travel difficulties. How stressful! Can't wait to read more about your trip

Thanks for joining in! Ugh, I just can't manage to leave my house dirty when I know someone will be coming in to take care of our kittens..I feel like I clean more for them than for myself haha! OH good luck with your interview, I hope you nail it! If it makes you feel any better, I interviewed, accepted and started a new job the month before my wedding (while in final wedding planning stages). It was crazy, but so incredibly worth it, so I hope the added stress of the interview timing works out. Things happen for a reason!

becca_ said:
Wow!! I hope things got better for you!! The worst is when you start a vacation off on a bad foot!!

Awful travel day and there is more to tell. Thanks for joining in!

Matty30 said:
Not a good travel day! Hopefully things turned around. How could they not, your in Disney!

You'll have to stay tuned in to see what happens next! But you are right, you're in Disney who cares if things don't go as planned - a little birdy soon reminds me of exactly that. Thanks for joining in on the adventure!

Tiggerlovr90 said:
Thank you for sharing, can’t wait to read the rest. I hate pushy rental car sales people, trying to get you to buy something you don’t need. As soon as you show proof of insurance and your credit card ,that should be the end of it.

Couldn't agree more. I think he was just trying to take advantage of us and the situations; we were clearly tired and frustrated so I think he thought he could pull a fast one on us. For that cost though, no way! I WISH I remembered his name so I could call to complain, but in the moment that was the last thing on my mind. Thanks for following along!

Bullseye1967 said:
Following, sorry I missed the pre TR but I am late on everything.

HAHA...me too, I feel your pain. But you're here now, so that's all that matters! Thanks for following.

mlegerto · Mar 8, 2018

Just after 3:00 pm we pulled into the Old Key West Check in area and headed over to the hospitality house to get our Magicbands and finalize check in - I completed the online check in process in advance, but as we live in Canada, we can't receive our bands until we arrive at the resort.

Our luck was finally changing, we were officially here in the bubble!

Sadly our room was not ready, even though it was quite late in the day; guarantee check in time for DVC bookings is 4:00 pm. They gave us our Magicbands and told us that we'd receive a text message with our room assignment.

At this point we were flustered and a bit annoyed (not specifically because our room wasn't ready, just an accumulation of everything), so we weren't exactly sure what to do. We figured the best thing to do is to go back to our plan, which happens to be our arrival day tradition.

If you've read my PTR or any of my previous TR's you'll know what our plan was.

We hopped back in the car and made our way over to the Premium Outlets on Vineland!

Except...remember the day we've been having. Yup, bad luck strikes again! We got stuck in the worst traffic jam and before we even got close to the parking lot it's approaching 4:00 pm. We inch closer and closer....only to find out that the traffic jam is because the outlets are "closed due to capacity" and people are having to turn around :banghead:

Well...there goes that plan.

At this point, I am beyond flustered....when will this day turn around.

Ryan being the calm, cool and collective one of the bunch reminds me that we are in my "happy place", that we can come back to the outlets another day and that we should just move on to the next item on our to do list. Over to Publix we go; it's just across the street from the outlets, but it still takes us quite some time to get there because of the traffic delays.

But soon enough we arrive and get the items on our list for the week. We purchased bottles of water, breakfast items and snacks. We also like going through an American grocrey store; the selection and prices are crazy to us! By this point we are STARVING as we hadn't had anything to eat since our snacks on our morning flight; too many things had happened throughout the day that we were simply distracted and forgot

Once we finished browsing and shopping, we realize that we still hadn't received a text message and it was almost 5:00 pm by now. Panic began to set in as I lost track of time and we had a 5:25 pm O'hana dinner reservation...and still no room. We hadn't unpacked, freshened up or even really made it into the world yet. I was grumpy, annoyed and ready to lose it as we jumped back into the car; amazing how fast time passes when you feel like you have all the time in the world!

As we were driving back, traffic wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either so I was basically driving like a mad women!

Ryan (being the reasonable person), suggested multiple times between my cursing that we just go directly over to the Polynesian for our dinner reservation and worry about our room and check in later. Me being crazy, quickly dismissed his recommendation (which probably was the better idea) and continued on my way back to Old Key West.

We pulled up to the check in desk again, I parked and was about to run into the hospitality house to ask for our room assignment, but just as I started walking in I got to text message with our room assignment. No time to think, I just mumbled some unpleasant words under my breath and walked back to the car to drive over to our villa for the week.

We literally ran in, dropped our bags, I grabbed a sundress out of my suitcase and put it on and we were back in the car. We couldn't have spent more than 5 minutes in the room, but we had a room so I can't complain.

We frantically drove over to the Polynesian, told security that we were here for a dinner reservation and quickly parked. No time for pictures, we were late!

We arrived at the O'hanas check in desk at 5:31 pm...only 6 minutes late. I know late is late, but I was quite impressed that we were only 6 minutes late given how the day had gone. We were told that our table wasn't ready yet (PHEW!) and given a buzzer.

We walked over to the comfy chairs to wait and when I sat down I let out a huge sigh of relief...FINALLY we were in Disney, about to have our traditional arrival day dinner and I could begin to relax. Ryan must have read my face like an open book and spoke to sweetest words I've ever heard...

Ryan went over to the Tambu Lounge and grabbed us our first drinks of the holiday. When he handed me my drink, he gave me a kiss and told me not to worry anymore. We were here. We were in Disney World. It was Christmas time and he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

And in the moment...everything was right with the world.

amjt660 · Mar 8, 2018

Hi Michelle
Great to see you and Ryan in this TR on your way back to the world
It was great meeting you last July at the Jays game
Rough start but I hope the rest of the trip improved
Following along

Max

mlegerto · Mar 8, 2018

Ryan brought me the well known Lapu Lapu - Myers's Original Dark Rum and Tropical Fruit Juices served in a fresh Pineapple topped with Goslings 151 Rum $14.25 and it was quite a strong drink, and treated himself to a Walk the Plank - I can't find the description of this drink sorry, but I did note that it was $12.00 and that he enjoyed it.

Just as we started on our drinks and finally relaxed our buzzer went off and we were whisked away to what would be a wonderful meal!

As expected, dinner was delicious and never ending. We were served by Elena and she was wonderful.

Elena had noticed that we were sporting our Happily Ever After buttons and brought over a special dessert to honor our anniversary - but who are we kidding, we're here for the bread pudding. The gesture was very sweet though and very much appreciated; funny enough we ate here on our honeymoon and it wasn't recognized LOL

Dinner came to a total of $91.00 without the drinks that were previously purchased and I forgot to ask for our DVC discount; don't worry I didn't make that mistake again! I really do enjoy the dinner service at O'hana and we will continue to try an book this as our arrival nights dinner.

Now that dinner was done, I had only one thing on my mind....

MAGIC KINGDOM!

We rolled ourselves over to the monorail station, went through bag check and our chariot arrived in the blink of an eye! Hello blue monorail!

We boarded and waited for our departure. I was SO excited...I felt like I was finally here, finally on vacation and that things were starting to look up. Which means its time for a monorail selfie!

Soon after our departure I was home, my castle was waiting for me just where I left it. Main Street looked AMAZING with all it's Christmas decor out. I was ecstatic to be home!

We couldn't enjoy Main Street for as long as I would have liked as we had some Fastpasses quickly approaching and I knew I wanted to get a good spot for Happily Ever After; this would be the only night in the trip that we'd get to see it as the next time we'd be in Magic Kingdom at night, they would be showing Fantasy in the Sky their NYE show.

We ran over to our 6:20 - 7:20 FP for Space Mountain and soared through space, then over to play the role of foolish mortal to 999 happy haunts during our 7:30 - 8:30 FP for Haunted Mansion.

I was determined to get a good view for HEA, so at 8:15 I insisted we head back to the hub and find our viewing spot. We kill some time waiting for the show by playing Heads Up on our phones and by taking photos...what else would we do!

mlegerto · Mar 8, 2018

These photos certainly are not of the best quality, but they make me so happy. The just bring me back and remind me of a time where I felt so at peace after feeling so worked up. It really is true, home is where the heart it and Magic Kingdom truly holds my heart!

I only took one photo during Happily Ever After...I really just wanted to take it all in.

Now those of you who know me, know that Wishes was everything to me; I grew up watching this show year after year, experienced many trips bringing friends and family for the first time, Ryan proposed to me during Wishes on a Christmas trip back in 2013 and most recently I watched it for the last time, for the first time as husband and wife on our honeymoon in 2015. I was devastated...mortified even when they announced that Wishes was leaving. Happily Ever After had HUGE shoes to fill.

I LIKED Happily Ever After.

I cannot lie, it is a stunning show and it is superior to Wishes in terms of technical abilities, but it isn't Wishes. Wishes had a way of pulling at my heart strings; granted I had a lot invested and many many happy memories which are attached, but when I brought first timers to see it, they somehow managed to feel the same emotions I did....and I didn't get that feeling from Happily Ever After. I can appreciate that all good things must come to an end and that it MAY (**shakes head no no no**) have been time, but I just didn't love it the way I had hoped...and I HATED the main song, far to pop inspired for my liking. All in all, I enjoyed it and I will give it another chance....but Wishes still has my heart!

We had one last pit stop on the wildest ride in the wilderness on our 8:50 - 9:50 FP for Big Thunder Mountain.

After this, we were shattered. It was 10:00 pm by now and we had been on the go and experiencing an emotional roller coaster since 2:00 that morning...it was time for bed. We enjoyed the slow boat ride back to the Polynesian, walked to our car and drove back home.

I don't remember much after that, I assume because I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow....I can assure you that I had a wonderful sleep and sweet dreams of what was to come tomorrow.

There you have it...day 1 in the books!

*Flynnderella* · Mar 9, 2018

I’m in!! What a busy first day- you did so well to stay awake.. I think I’d have been having a meltdown :in pain:

Looking forward to hearing more

mlegerto · Mar 9, 2018

amjt660 said:
Hi Michelle
Great to see you and Ryan in this TR on your way back to the world
It was great meeting you last July at the Jays game
Rough start but I hope the rest of the trip improved
Following along

Max

Hey Max, great to see you following along, thanks! It was wonderful to meet last July...maybe we can arrange another meet up this summer! It was a rough start (maybe the worst travel day I've ever experienced!), but it SHOULD get better...you'll have to follow along to see.

*Flynnderella* said:
I’m in!! What a busy first day- you did so well to stay awake.. I think I’d have been having a meltdown
Looking forward to hearing more

Thanks for joining in! We were shattered and you will see that this busy day back fires on us a bit on the next day, but I think closing the night off at Magic Kingdom (I love MK at night so much!) was the only cure for the day we had LOL

Doc Disney · Mar 9, 2018

mlegerto said:
This meant there was only one thing left to do; pack! YUP...you heard me right, I decided to start packing on Christmas Day with less than 8 hours before leaving. WHAT in the world was I on;

Ah! This gives me anxiety for you :joyfull:

I've already started packing for my trip 49 days away :hilarious:

Anyway I am so glad the day turned around for you guys! I agree with you about HEA - its good but I just dont feel like emotional connection I did with Wishes...maybe with time I don't know...

Rista1313 · Mar 9, 2018

I was all a panic for you! I'm glad you did finally get to where you were going! I"m in for the rest of the TR!

mlegerto · Mar 9, 2018

Doc Disney said:
Ah! This gives me anxiety for you I've already started packing for my trip 49 days away
Anyway I am so glad the day turned around for you guys! I agree with you about HEA - its good but I just dont feel like emotional connection I did with Wishes...maybe with time I don't know...

HAHA, trust me packing and cleaning so late in the game is completely out of the ordinary for me; with the holidays and work, there was just way to much going on. I don't think we will ever schedule another trip to leave on December 26th (unless I go crazy OR it's a trip the whole family is taking). Hopefully we both learn to love HEA; maybe once we start having specific memories tied to it like Wishes had? Who knows!

Rista1313 said:
I was all a panic for you! I'm glad you did finally get to where you were going! I"m in for the rest of the TR!

FINALLY RIGHT! Looking back now it wasn't AS terrible, but in the moment, it felt like to world was ending LOL. Thanks for joining in!

amjt660 · Mar 9, 2018

One of my favourite fw shows is remember
We saw it in Disneyland for the 50th in 2005

Everthing wonderful about Wishes + a virtual tour of Walt’s park through fw and projections

And add in Julie Andrews and you have the best

IMHO of course

Max

Trip Report Hey Elsa...the cold really bothers the rest of us! A Christmas Time Report

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