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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donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
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) :

View attachment 553837
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.

Cool...!!!!! :cool::hilarious:
I too went a bit bonkers with the Covid hair and beard, and DWifey definitely hated it...!!!!! :hilarious::inlove::happy:;)
This was on Easter Sunday at my folks relatively recent fire rebuild home, and the first time we were able to hug our precious granddaughter, Emy, and other beloved family, in well over a year...I begged DWifey to let me sport it one more time...she agreed, but, it was gone later that afternoon...no after pics, as I thought I was much prettier with the fuzzy...!!!!! :hilarious::D:hilarious:

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ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
Stopped in for a River Adventure to see some dinos. This dude had a rough night.
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this was the last pic I got, before I realized your not supposed to be taking pics...yeah I was “that guy” got “yelled” at over the intercom.

Seriously though, I love this ride. WWoHP attractions justifiably get all the love, but this and the mummy, are both top notch attractions as well. Except for the dude with the crick in his neck we all had a good time.
 

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
Lines were pretty long as mentioned. We honestly never waited in lines this long at Uni.
I think it’s cheer week, and I think there is also pass holder previews for Velocicoaster so that may be contributing, but we saw 120min or more all day for Hagrids Motorbike. So we counted that one out for today. Time for dinner
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Songbird76

Well-Known Member
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.View attachment 554202
Got our express passes and we’re here!
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I am not sure what I am looking at...
RAVENCLAW! My whole family is Ravenclaw.
 

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
So we are at Volcano Bay because we had such a blast last year. When we were in line waiting we remembered that a Team Member told us what a good deal the cabanas were. So we inquired and there was one available. Split up 6 ways it came to 75 bucks a piece. Water all day, snacks for breakfast Tapu Tapu station right there and a waiter and as many towels as you need. Oh also the view.

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From left to right:
Volcano Blossom
Wha-Watermelon
Non alcoholic Pina colda
Vol’s Fire Punch
Another Volcano Blossom.
The beer was ok. I wasn’t mad, but wouldn’t order again. Pace was ok with it.
The girls loved their mixed drinks and said they were super strong. I may have sampled one.😎
 

ShookieJones

We need time for things to happen.
Original Poster
I am going to back track a bit after dinner at Mythos, we got on FJ and FotH, it’s about then you that we realized that Hagrids was down.
Well that put Chris on high alert for when it would open back up. The kid is becoming a theme park pro I swear.

Anyway, a couple of butter beers later and we saw some team members “rebuilding” the queue so we jumped in line.
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Even though we got on after the storm, the line didn’t move very quickly, and we didn’t actually board until after park close. What a ride though. Back in July we rode it quite a few times but there was something about rip around the track at dusk that was just...”wow”

plus when we got off we had hogsmeade almost to ourselves.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
So we are at Volcano Bay because we had such a blast last year. When we were in line waiting we remembered that a Team Member told us what a good deal the cabanas were. So we inquired and there was one available. Split up 6 ways it came to 75 bucks a piece. Water all day, snacks for breakfast Tapu Tapu station right there and a waiter and as many towels as you need. Oh also the view.

View attachment 554661
View attachment 554663From left to right:
Volcano Blossom
Wha-Watermelon
Non alcoholic Pina colda
Vol’s Fire Punch
Another Volcano Blossom.
The beer was ok. I wasn’t mad, but wouldn’t order again. Pace was ok with it.
The girls loved their mixed drinks and said they were super strong. I may have sampled one.😎
I am sooo jealous!! We have a little over 2 months before we will be there! We love the cabanas! We've had the one nestled right up to the volcano both times we've been there. We're hoping to get the same one this year! We are now spoiled and I can't imagine going to VB without having a cabana! Somehow we got the one this summer for $250!! I reserved it right after they announced the reopening of VB, so I feel super lucky to have gotten that price for July! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!!
 

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