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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Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Here’s the thing, I want to be POd. But there is only so much fury I can muster here.
We’re extremely fortunate to be in a position where a 2 hour line at a rental car place (and a couple of knuckleheads that can’t grasp mask wearing) are the biggest problems I am facing!

This is ridiculous, I am going to complain, mostly for everyone here’s enjoyment, but honestly, I am not going to allow this to get me mad.

What’s that German word, for finding enjoyment in when things go bad for others?
“Fahrvergnügen”!!?? Nope that has something to do with driving cars and having fun...that’s definitely not this!! Hahahaha
“schadenfreude” that’s the word!

Bask in a little bit of “schadenfreude”, for the dude that’s on vacation while you’re stuck at home!

I am here for your enjoyment friends!!

See you’re feeling it now! 😂
I read about this.....apparently rental cars are hard to come by at the moment because when Covid shut everything down, no one could travel, so car rental places sold off most of their inventory to stay afloat. Now that people are traveling again, they haven't been able to restock, and manufacturers can't keep up with the demand for new cars to replace the ones that were sold off. So now there's a shortage of cars at these rental companies, and what inventory they have is much more expensive because demand is high and stock is low. I hope they had a car for you and that it didn't break the bank!
 

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
I read about this.....apparently rental cars are hard to come by at the moment because when Covid shut everything down, no one could travel, so car rental places sold off most of their inventory to stay afloat. Now that people are traveling again, they haven't been able to restock, and manufacturers can't keep up with the demand for new cars to replace the ones that were sold off. So now there's a shortage of cars at these rental companies, and what inventory they have is much more expensive because demand is high and stock is low. I hope they had a car for you and that it didn't break the bank!
I read that as well. However, I had long since booked and paid for our vehicle. None of the other car counters were like this. Only Thrifty and Dollar combo counters.
For giggles, I had my wife and kids check the other counters and all car companies had vehicles to rent on the spot. So there is no shortage!
Also I wanted to mention in the line I was in, they made no designation between people that had reservations and those that were walk ups. 😀. When we got up there the employee at the counter actually did the typical up sell spiel.

Again if this was a business trip to east
Nowhere North Dakota in mid January and I didn’t have this overwhelming feeling of being lucky to even be on this trip, I might have said something a little different than “no thank you” 😀
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
I read that as well. However, I had long since booked and paid for our vehicle. None of the other car counters were like this. Only Thrifty and Dollar combo counters.
For giggles, I had my wife and kids check the other counters and all car companies had vehicles to rent on the spot. So there is no shortage!
Also I wanted to mention in the line I was in, they made no designation between people that had reservations and those that were walk ups. 😀. When we got up there the employee at the counter actually did the typical up sell spiel.

Again if this was a business trip to east
Nowhere North Dakota in mid January and I didn’t have this overwhelming feeling of being lucky to even be on this trip, I might have said something a little different than “no thank you” 😀

Wow. Crazy that they didn't have separate lines - something like -- (1. PREPAID Reservations; 2. Reservations Made/pay at counter; and 3. "Need to Make a Reservation Today").

LIne #1 should move much quicker than the other two. It's a benefit to the car company to have prepaid reservations all set ahead of time -- and those customers should be pushed through faster. Can't believe they threw everyone into one cattle call line. 🤦‍♀️

Anyway, glad you have your car now, and enjoy your vacation! :)
 

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
Long night in our Priceline hotel.
Warning;Do not under any circumstances stay at Holiday Inn on South Kirkland road, unless you like air conditioners that don’t work, cockroaches and broken appliances. 😂

This place is a little nicer. 😀The room isn’t ready yet, but we checked our bags.
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Got our express passes and we’re here!
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I am not sure what I am looking at...
 

senor_jorge

Barbara Eden+? Bring it!!
Premium Member
I read that as well. However, I had long since booked and paid for our vehicle. None of the other car counters were like this. Only Thrifty and Dollar combo counters.
For giggles, I had my wife and kids check the other counters and all car companies had vehicles to rent on the spot. So there is no shortage!
Also I wanted to mention in the line I was in, they made no designation between people that had reservations and those that were walk ups. 😀. When we got up there the employee at the counter actually did the typical up sell spiel.

Again if this was a business trip to east
Nowhere North Dakota in mid January and I didn’t have this overwhelming feeling of being lucky to even be on this trip, I might have said something a little different than “no thank you” 😀

I don’t know that I’d wait two hours, but you got a story out of it. For that I’m grateful!

Truth be told we had a long wait at LAX once, with Enterprise. The kid helping us had a long day and was doing the minimum. The absolute minimum. Then he got an attitude and claimed he couldn’t do anything, that I’ve had done for me countless times. My wife’s first job out of college was with Enterprise. Hilarity, for me at least, ensued when she snapped and the Kraken was released.

Thanks for sharing!!
 

amjt660

Well-Known Member
Great live reporting
Too bad about the rental line
Always frustrating when you are making decent time getting off the plane/ getting the luggage and then you run into the rental car wall!!
Usually slow because they try to sell the extra insurance.

rental jerry seinfeld GIF


Following along

Max
 

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