Trip Report Shookie's Family Four Pack...Plus Two (I think that equals six)

Hey Everyone –

My daughter convinced me to jump back into the TR game.

She says this is going to be an epic trip, and I must agree.

It is the first time the family 4 pack is back together in almost three years (wooHOO)!

It's going to be our longest WDW/Uni Vacation ever (almost thirteen full days)!

Even more exciting?? We’ve got a couple of new (newbees) players in the game AND my daughter said she would help me along with the TR, so how can I not??

What I will be submitting for your approval is a

  • 1 Pre-Trip Report
  • 1 Live Trip Report

A regular old trip report seems like it MIGHT be too much work, but we will see.

Let’s start with this PTR and see where it takes us.


We are less than 2 weeks away from our “Epic Trip” so I probably shouldn’t waste anymore time.

Let’s get rolling.



The Players:

Shookie, Mrs. Shookie, Son, Daughter...and their other halves!
We've always been park commandos, squeeze every little bit out of our vacation type family, so this will be a true test for our kid's other halves. I should probably warn them...but what fun would that be?

The pressure is on.

Anyway - here we are:


Daughter: Avery (25)
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Son: Pace (21)


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Shookie & Wife: Enzo & Tina (50 something old people)

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All of us together on the last trip in 2018 last time we went as the family four-pack

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And introducing our two new players:

(My Daughter &) Boyfriend: Chris
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(My Son &) Girlfriend: Jill

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Both Chris and Jill have been to WDW when they were young, minus a quick 4 day trip Avery and Chris took in August 2019 (That picture above is from that trip) anyway they're basically WDW newbs. Well as newb as you can be living in this household. These kids have been subjected to all things WDW since the day they started dating our kids.

Here is someone that is part of our immediate family that won’t be making trip with us.

Meet Chewbacca:

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I think he may have sensed he was NOT going to be part of this trip because yesterday he decided to take a little trip of his own.

First let me just let you in on something. My wife worries about that dog like you would not believe. She worries about EVERYTHING with him. What he eats, what he doesn’t eat, is he sleeping ok, Is he hot is he cold, is his fur too short, too long, did he have bowel movement? It drives the household crazy.

Of course, when I first decided I wanted to start taking him for rides in the car she yelled after me “hold onto him, he's going to jump out the window”
I laughed at her and said, “come on, what kind of dog would do that?” Well, I know what kind of dog would do that now.

The kind of dog I own. The kind of dog that goes by the name of Chewbacca.

Chewie and I usually cruise around our neighborhood or out to get gas right down the street. He’s just starting to get used to the car and honestly beside tug of war with his rope toys, these rides are part of how we bond.

I will keep the window down and he’ll occasionally pop his head out. But usually just sits on my lap. Well yesterday I was pulling up to our house after our trip and I saw my neighbor.
So I waved hello, well apparently Chewie wanted to say “hi” too, so he jumped out the window of our CRV.

Yup. You read correctly he jumped out of a moving vehicle. He tried to land on his feet, but from that height with the car moving it kind of turned into a barrel roll/chest plant sort thing…I don’t know how he’s alive or how in the world he doesn’t have any broken bones, I just don’t know.

He did get the wind knocked out of him, but THAT’S IT. He got up and tried walking up the sidewalk to our house, but I tentatively picked him up waiting for him to yelp because his ribs were shattered or maybe his leg would be hanging there limp, I don't know, but there was nothing wrong with the dog. I don’t get it.

I am grateful as heck but I just don’t get it. My neighbor sat there with her mouth agape. We both couldn’t believe what happened.

Yikes - I would NEVER have forgiven myself. My wife would have never forgiven me that's for sure.
This PTR would have been titled "Shookie's Solo Trip to the Doghouse, and Other Tales of Woe"

Did I mention I am grateful? Wow.

Sorry, I digress……back to my PTR.


The Dates

May 2nd – 14th


The Plan:

  • 1 Night at an offsite hotel
  • 2 Nights 3 Days at Universal Royal Pacific
  • 8 Nights 9 Days at WDW (gotta save the best for last right?) Wilderness Lodge Boulder Ridge Villas
  • 1 Night at an offsite hotel

The Breakdown:

  • May 2nd- Flying into MCO late afternoon. Shopping for snacks and beverages and staying at a cheap hotel acquired via Priceline.
    • Dinner: Maybe somewhere at DS

  • May 3rd– Checking into Royal Pacific at Universal first thing in the AM hitting the parks. IOA\US
    • Dinner at Mythos


  • May 4th– Volcano Bay\US
    • Dinner at CowFish


  • May 5th– Getting up early and trying to get boarding pass for ROTR – If this doesn’t work out, we’ll spend the day IOA\US. Head to WDW check in and MAYBE hit EPCOT
    • If we do get ROTR we will plan our day based around our boarding group, but it will of course involve heading to DHS and then POSSIBLY back to Uni for a couple of hours to touch on anything we may have missed. At some point, during this crazy day check into the WL

  • May 6th– Our first full day at the World. We’re kicking it off with MK and hopping to EP
    • Dinner: Biergarten

  • May 7th– AK and hopping to MK
    • Dinner: Liberty Tree Tavern

  • May 8th- DHS – Don’t know where we are hopping to but we are making a stop at Olga’s Cantina
    • Dinner Sanaa

  • May 9th- We have a DHS Park pass but this is a safety net in case we miss (knock on wood) ROTR
    • Dinner: California Grill

  • May 10th- Park pass for DHS –This was real DHS day – We’re scheduled to build a droid or two. We effed up on the light sabers. – More about that later
    • Dinner: Garden Grill

  • May 11th– Park pass for MK – Hopping to DHS
    • Dinner: Prime Time

  • May 12th– Park pass for AK – Hopping to ???
    • Dinner: Tiffins

  • May 13th- Park Pass for MK – hopping to ???
    • Dinner: The Wave
    • Staying at a cheap hotel acquired via Priceline

  • May 14th - Departure day – Our flight home was originally first thing in the morning. It has since changed to an evening flight home so we’ll figure out something to do this day. Maybe DS who knows.


A couple of quick notes. I've always been the trip planner, my daughter has since started helping me out and she's pretty darn good at it too. Well the two of us had booked this trip last May then rebooked for July, then rebooked again...at some point we had made reservations at Savi's Workshop.

I say "at some point" because we BOTH thought we had it booked for this time around...Well that wasn't the case.
It slipped out minds...and we realized the other day that we missed out. We'll keep trying and see what happens, but like my daughter's boyfriend, Chris said,

"If we can't get in this trip, it will give us an excuse to go next year" << The kid is learning!

Anyway. Trip starts in T-minus 11 days.

I will be spending the next few days getting everything in order here at home. Believe it or not, I am fully packed.

To answer your question: Yes there is something wrong with me.

Speaking of packing. My last PTR was in 2016. At the time I included this pick of my brand-new luggage

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I probably should post a side-by-side pick of me then and now too…hahahaha
I'll tell you what: that beat up luggage has fared a lot better than I have.

I will add anything I think of between now and then, but I should probably just leave you all alone for now because LTR is coming next. And you're going to be seeing plenty of us in 11, 10, 9, 8……
 

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John Dulmage

Active Member
OMG , my wife is always telling to roll up the windows because she doesn’t want one of the dogs to jump out! I always tell her a dog isn’t that crazy! Oops! I guess I better be more careful from now on! Glad Chewie’s OK.
Looking forward to following your trip. We’re going to be at the Royal Pacific for the first time at the end of May, so I’m anxious to hear about it and your adventures!
 

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
OMG , my wife is always telling to roll up the windows because she doesn’t want one of the dogs to jump out! I always tell her a dog isn’t that crazy! Oops! I guess I better be more careful from now on! Glad Chewie’s OK.
Looking forward to following your trip. We’re going to be at the Royal Pacific for the first time at the end of May, so I’m anxious to hear about it and your adventures!
Learn from my mistake my friend. Your dog just MAY be that crazy. This dude, didn't think twice, just hauled it right out that open window like he was about to run through and open field of grass after a rabbit. Not a care in the world.

You're going to LOVE the RP. I will provide as much pics as possible in my TR so you can get yourself pumped up for your trip. :cool:
 

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
Ooooh fun! I'll be at Disney from the 4th to the 9th so we might pass each other. Can't wait to follow along!!!
Keep and eye on the report, it will be as 'live' as possible so you should be able to track me!
Or just keep an eye out for a very young, attractive guy (that will be my son or my daughter's boyfriend. I will be the fat grey haired old guy hanging out with them) who is part of a party of (4+2...carry the..yup that's) 6 and say hello.
 

38053WDW

Well-Known Member
Awesome! That's one tough pooch, which for your sake is a very good thing!

Plans look great Enzo and I'm looking forward to following your adventures. I haven't gotten to the point of kid's boyfriend/girlfriends tagging along but I know I'm close.
Out trip May 17th the BF and GF are coming along. GF has never been (what!) and the BF only went because of us last time! Pic 1 BF - Cole and Daughter Bailey .. Pic2 - GF Gracey and son Nick
 

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ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
Ok, so one more day. This is usually the day cut the grass and cut my hair. That's how I know I am ready to go.

Car clean (the inside anyway :p ):

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Grass cut

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Hair (and beard) :

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Yeah......not so much.

I've been growing this mess out for quite a while. I usually let it go a bit prior to the trip, but with the whole COVID thing you may have heard about, I have not really needed to be presentable. Needless to say it got a little wild.

It's been driving my wife nuts. I will come out with different hair styles, man buns, you name it. I makes her crazy, it makes me laugh.

Anyway, we were supposed to cut it this morning (my wife does it) but a board on our furnace went out so no hot water. I can't cut my hair and not take a shower right after. I will go nuts. So for now, the coif remains as elaborate as ever.

Anyway, we're looking to get it done later, as a friend of mine found a replacement board one town over, and we should be replacing that soon. Fingers crossed this doesn't cost too much. Either way nothing is going to ruin this trip.
 

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